Feedback on Address bar focus mode - Android

[fipoac]

I am apparently "lucky" to be in an nimbus experiment group on Firefox 157 on Android, where a feature called "Address bar focus mode - Android" is enabled.

I just want to provide a quick feedback on this feature:

I do not care for it at all, having to click an edit button to edit the current URL is such a hastle. I personally do not see the advantage over the previous behaviour, where it on tapping the address bar already highlighted the whole URL, so you could begin searching immediately OR edit the URL right away.

Chrome on Android already behaves this way, and I do not like it over there either. If this feature is to go forward anyway, please, please let me change that in the settings.

Another small addition, how do I get out of this experiment? It reenables itself after a few hours.

[philwills]

Subject: Address Bar Focus Mode is a usability regression, not an improvement

I'm extremely disappointed with the new Address Bar Focus Mode experiment in Firefox for Android.

The previous behavior was simple, predictable, and efficient. Tapping the address bar selected the current URL. From there, I could immediately type a new address or search, or position the cursor to modify the existing URL. Both workflows were supported naturally, without additional steps.

The new behavior introduces unnecessary friction into one of the browser's most fundamental interactions. Editing an existing URL now requires discovering and using an additional control, despite the previous interaction already handling both use cases effectively.

This isn't simply resistance to change. I struggle to identify what practical problem this redesign solves that justifies making an established workflow less efficient.

Firefox faces an uphill battle competing with Chrome on Android. One of its strongest differentiators has historically been user choice and customization. Removing an efficient, established interaction without offering users a supported way to restore it seems counterproductive to that differentiation.

If Mozilla's experiment demonstrates that the new behavior improves usability for some users, that's valuable information. But it doesn't follow that the previous behavior should be eliminated for everyone. Different workflows can coexist without forcing one group of users to accept a regression.

My requests are straightforward:

1. Restore the previous address bar behavior as the default.
2. If the new behavior becomes the default, provide a clearly labeled, persistent setting to retain the original interaction.
3. Evaluate the impact on existing Firefox users, not just engagement metrics or the experience of users arriving from Chrome.

I appreciate Mozilla's willingness to experiment, but experimentation should improve the product without unnecessarily sacrificing the workflows of its existing users.

Firefox doesn't need to become more like Chrome to compete with Chrome. It needs to preserve the reasons people choose Firefox in the first place.

Please treat this as a genuine usability regression, not merely a preference for familiarity.

[Shakuhachi39889]

Oh no. I had to use Chrome on Android once and interacting with the address was made very annoying thanks to that box. Returning to Firefox where you can just use the address bar like normal was very welcome.

Hearing that this'll come to Firefox is genuinely saddening. I hope there's going to be enough feedback so we can at least disable the extra work just to interact with the address.

But knowing what usually happens with pleas for restoring old behavior... I just really hope this key feature of a browser, entering and editing addresses, doesn't get messed up...