Feedback welcome for New Tab widgets, now available via Firefox Labs

[AmberMeryman]

Update as of December 8 - we are un-pausing this feature in Firefox Labs, as we've resolved an issue where Lists were disappearing. It's important they persist! 

Hi! I’m Amber from the Firefox team.

We’re testing a new idea: simple, built-in productivity widgets on your New Tab page. They’ll be there on every new tab to keep you on-task, or on a break. (Previously available in Nightly & Beta, they are now available in Firefox Labs in Release!)

This early experiment includes:
✅ Lists - jot down your reminders, errands, or priorities for your browsing activities
⏰ Focus Timer - track your study session, deep work research, or quiet break time

And everything stays local, is never shared with Mozilla, and it’s easy to turn on and off.

Feedback is welcome to inform our next steps! Would you like to see more widgets? Which ones? Notes, Quotes, fun ones or helpful ones? Sync for optional backup? Drop your thoughts below.

- Amber & the Firefox team

[rohankh]

Thanks for opening this discussion — I feel the same way. Two concrete points that make this a security and privacy issue:

1. Search vs navigation must be separated. A New Tab search box should always do a search; entering what looks like a URL (or IP) in that box should be treated as a search query unless the user explicitly switches to the address bar.

2. Private windows behave differently. A setting I changed in about:config stopped the handoff — but it still happens in private windows. That inconsistent behavior has caused me to accidentally navigate to potentially malicious or internal URLs I only meant to search for.

If it helps the devs, I put a short analysis and a reproducible example on my site (this is my website): https://inatbixindir.tr — the page summarizes steps to reproduce and a suggested UI change: keep search-box results contained to search and only let the address bar handle navigation.

Please consider adding an explicit, persistent “Search box only” mode for New Tabs (with a clear toggle), and make sure it applies in private windows too. Thanks!

[Agentvirtuel]

Hello

About, widgets.
For information purposes.
https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/ideas/get-weather-and-clock-built-into-the-home-screen/idc-p/110609/h...

About, browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.improvesearch.handoffToAwesomebar.
Yes, under, about:privatebrowsing, it doesn't work.
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/private-browsing-use-firefox-without-history
Always use private browsing mode or to Never remember history, it works.

[Agentvirtuel]

Hello

Ever wish you could peek at a page before you click?

Preview webpages in Firefox with link preview.
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/use-link-previews-firefox

On-device AI models in Firefox.
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/on-device-models

Preview link

Link preview

Ever wish you could peek at a page before you click?

[KutayX7]

I got to try this feature today, and immediately tried to break it. 🙂

Here's what I found:
- While this is likely to be intentional, these widgets have a mouse hover effect while the search bar doesn't.
- List items can overflow to the right when there are very long words/numbers.
- When opening the (···) menu on the lists widget, the list quickly flickers up and down.
- You can copy paste large numbers into the minutes part of the timer. But it goes back to 98 after seconds hit 0.
- When using keyboard navigation and selecting timer minutes/seconds, they remain visually selected until you switch to another text input on the page.

OS: Kubuntu 25.10
Firefox version: 146 (flatpak)

[hilirosi]

great release

[nerdbird93]

Hey

i do really like the Todo List, Because i use another Task app, i will use this for Browser specific short term tasks or Project based. I dont know if a simple journaling Widget, that saves date and some infos could be a nice idea. But i am not advanced in the topic of journaling.
Thank you for your work!

[寒冰_一只草履虫]

I hope the current time can be displayed on this homepage. Then Firefox is gonna be my next screensaver! 

[MattFyrm]

It would be really great if you could sync these with external tasks services like Todoist and Google Tasks

[hippilessrich]

1#      i hate all widgets all they do is piss me off ! more garbage that is not wanted on my computer ! i have my menu at the top of my screen and start menu thats all i want it has everything i need and use ! stop adding a bunch of crap that only clutter up my computer , you people need to leave **bleep** alone !!!

2# focus      i cant stand this app at all , if you have that much trouble focus go see a doctor ! i dont need to see this **bleep** anywhere on my computer ever !

3#         lists why what is the point of this garbage more crap to fill up my computer i will never use so dont put this garbage on my computer !

[Kallocain]

This has promise. Many others have already recommended other useful widgets that could be added and I have nothing more new to add there (my ideas would no doubt be costly - streaming Deezer, RSS integration with various aggregators, etc.).

My only suggestion for now is to make them drag-able so I can put them where I want them. For example, I prefer shortcuts, then stories and then widgets at the bottom for now - until I learn how useful widgets truly are in this context. Perhaps shorter, wider widgets to drag to the top of the page to the left of the weather box would be good as well should the content fit the design.

Other than that, this feature does indeed have promise. That is especially true as the options for widgets are hopefully expanded over time.

Thanks for the good work!

[BCodec]

very good feature, saved me having to open a notepad online or google timer

[wreckognize]

I love this feature! I love the simplicity of this to-do list and timer! Please keep this as simple as possible to prevent adding complexities to mind and possible heavier resources to this wonderful browser. To me this is equivalent to writing down quick things to do on paper and keeping an hourglass at my desk as my preferred old school methods of productivity. I do not like using complex to-do lists and using timers that require external apps and permissions to use, keeping it simple keeps me using these widgets and be productive 🙂 This is a huge win for Firefox as a built-in feature because I am trying to get away from using Microsoft and Google products. Please consider making this a feature for mobile browser which would come in very handy on-the-go(though I am a heavy desktop user). A great addition to this widget would be an export/import data option to be able to save and import previous history in convenient formats such as json/csv. A UI feature, adding some exciting colors to differentiate inputs and outputs, maybe exciting messages when completing something via notification. I do love the notification options which is a must to keep track of timers. Oh, one more thing (for now), I would like a feature that let's you know how productive you have been for current day from the timer usage.

[VictorC]

I'd like to see widgets movable around the home screen. Maybe I want something in the top-left or bottom-right, not in the center

[maricarmenmg]

Hi, I think it's a great idea. I've been testing the focus timer. It would be great if the widget could be moved and integrated into the page.