topic Re: handoffToAwesomebar set to false no longer keeps focus on search page. Very annoying. Please fix it. in Discussions

handoffToAwesomebar set to false no longer keeps focus on search page. Very annoying. Please fix it.

APWFF — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 11:07:53 GMT

handoffToAwesomebar set to false no longer keeps focus on search page. in latest windows update 148.0 64bit. It forces cursor into address bar. Very annoying. Please fix it. Keeping search text midpage is a choice, please restore it.

Re: handoffToAwesomebar set to false no longer keeps focus on search page. Very annoying. Please fix it.

Agentvirtuel — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 11:14:52 GMT

Hello

https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/discussions/firefox-148-0-is-not-allowing-me-to-use-the-search-bar-it/td-p/118704

Re: handoffToAwesomebar set to false no longer keeps focus on search page. Very annoying. Please fix it.

PaulFirefoxUX — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 11:56:25 GMT

Hello!

Firefox search UX designer here.

It sounds like you have been using the unsupported config setting that allowed the search bar in the middle of the homepage screen to work instead of jumping you up to the address bar.

As a result of seeing other threads on Connect and on Reddit about this, we've decided to revive this config setting asap. You can track this from comment 7 here: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2017049#c7

For context: we're working on an improved search experience for the homepage so that everybody can have a much better search without being bounced to the address bar. (we call this bounce the 'handoff', and we know it's not a good user experience).

The first part of prepping for that work was to change the code for the existing homepage search bar – but we hadn't ancitipated that some people were using the unsupported 'disable the handoff' config setting as an accessibility workaround.

Since we saw that that was happening, we're reinstating it until the longer term improvements are ready.

Re: handoffToAwesomebar set to false no longer keeps focus on search page. Very annoying. Please fix it.

PaulFirefoxUX — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 18:41:10 GMT

The fix is in Firefox Nightly now, so if you download that then you can use it today, and it should be in Release at the next dot-release of the main browser on March 10. That's the earliest opportunity.

Re: handoffToAwesomebar set to false no longer keeps focus on search page. Very annoying. Please fix it.

Lawnmowerman — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 22:46:32 GMT

What on earth are you talking about?
This has been going on for so many years now how can you you say that?
In addition, the search bar is redundant. Takes up screen space.
Why not just have a button to push if a person wants access to its functions and it pops out for them?
Searching within the middle of the page just makes sense. Heck, allowing us to drag that search bar around just like on mobile makes even more sense.
You CAN design it in if you wanted. I just don't get it. Tens of years its been a source of constant frustration for many. And after each release you put it back to the stupid address bar.
We look downwards. Not up. Unless you have your monitor a lot lower than your head, looking up all the time is a real pain.

Re: handoffToAwesomebar set to false no longer keeps focus on search page. Very annoying. Please fix it.

APWFF — Sat, 28 Feb 2026 14:55:05 GMT

Thanks. Using the Nightly, and it works great again (after toggling handoffToAwesomebar to false). Also the Nightly is somehow much zippier than the standard FF release.

Re: handoffToAwesomebar set to false no longer keeps focus on search page. Very annoying. Please fix it.

PaulFirefoxUX — Tue, 10 Mar 2026 16:21:42 GMT

This config setting has now been reinstated 🙂 (in 148.0.2 – released today, March 10)

And more good news: we hear what people are saying in this thread and others like it, and we agree! We're moving towards making the search bar on the Firefox homepage work for everybody, without needing a hidden config setting.