Firefox's product roadmap: see what's next and share your thoughts

[dsandoz]

Hi everyone. Today we published a roadmap for Firefox. Now you can see what the team is actively working on across desktop and mobile. You can find it at https://www.firefox.com/whatsnext/

Firefox has always been built in the open, but we know it can sometimes be hard to separate roadmap reality from speculation, leaked code discoveries, or incomplete context. Our goal is to give you all a clear view into where Firefox is headed. 

Here are a few highlights from the roadmap:

• Firefox UI Refresh (Project Nova)
• Ad blocking on iOS
• VPN on Mobile
• PDF Editor Improvements
• Customizable Hotkeys
• Containers
• Power Saving Mode

We’re hosting an AMA on r/firefox with a few folks from Firefox leadership on June 24th at 12pm ET (9am PT) to answer any questions you have about the roadmap and hear about what you’d like to see Firefox build next. Or, share your ideas below!

[Tony2077]

Thanks for the new website. In general seems useful.

But I see that in multiple occasions new features mentioned link to websites that don't speak about the feauture. For example:

• Tab groups on mobile, it links to the Mozilla Support page about the topic on desktop, that has no mention about the feature on mobile.
• PDF editor improvements, the specific improvements discussed don't appear on the firefox.com page linked.
• VPN on mobile, same, the link provided only speaks about the VPN on desktop.

Then, with other features, it's about something not new at all:

• Containers (for desktop), it simply list this feature as something new (I wish this was in progress for mobile).

In the way this list is written it doesn't let the reader know what's the progress of every feature.

How can you make the list clearer?

• If you add a link button make sure that the upcoming feature is discussed in the link destination.
• Add version labels to each feature. For upcoming features add Beta, Nightly, In Progress, or Coming Soon. If the feature is already released, label it as Released and add the number version in which it was released. And make sure you can filter by these version labels.

[dsandoz]

We don't have blog posts/support pages up for some of the features still in development, but linked to the closest corollary at times to at least give you some reference materials. Once things are live in Nightly and we have posts/updates on them we will change the links. 

Great ideas on the version labels, we can look into adding those. Love being able to tag when something is already in Nightly.

[suikaz]

only hotkeys make sense for me

no idea what's the deal with containers 

PDF, iOS, tunneled proxy that's not a VPN even if uses the same tech (I know, you haven't started that trend) and power saving mode look like misassigned resources

Nova is a severe UX degradation and should be scrapped 

[fed-up]

I don't see any mention of the Android UI redesign, but it seems like giving an option for the old menu is an extremely popular idea. Any word on when that will be addressed?

[suikaz]

yeah, somehow the new toolbar is even worse, pushing the actually useful part of address bar further left, why?

[breakingspell]

Their roadmap tags Android under the "Design system refresh (Nova)" section. So far that is the only official acknowledgement that they've changed the Android UI over the last year, and unfortunately I think it means we are stuck with it. 

I'm still not giving up on the old UI, though. Today I found out that unofficially, ESR branches can be built for Android, just built and installed an apk for v140.12.0. The only missing feature I've noticed so far is the horizontal Tab Bar, which I don't personally use. 

[ikpjr]

Safari has AI to aid in extension development. Would it make sense to have an integrated Firefox AI for that, or maybe a general external use AI is enough?

[suikaz]

you may not be able to harness all the power Quantum and Fenix have and need to tweak the manifest sometimes, but generally models do pretty well as the API is very similar to Chrome (which has drawbacks too but it is what it is)

[spartanatreyu]

Getting AI to write code is a great way to have terrible performance, bugs galore, more security issues or just get hacked outright. But don't worry, it'll sound confident when it tells you everything is working.

Please don't get LLMs to publish extensions, it's only going to make the extension security team's job worse.

[Kvin]

I don't know how to let the developers know that they've added the ability to move the horizontal tab bar down in the mobile version of Firefox...
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2012357
https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/discussions/tab-access-from-the-bottom-of-the-phone-screen-firefox-an...

To ensure full functionality of the tab sleep feature
https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/ideas/firefox-should-suspend-tabs-to-better-performance/idi-p/6255

the portable version for windows
https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/ideas/portable-version-firefox/idi-p/7957

and bug fixes

Thank you

[samyotix]

Could you add a feature that will prevent unwanted advertising for FIFA?

[Mkn]

Hi, we appreciate the improvements to our favorite browser, Firefox!

When will we be able to choose our own background image in the mobile version of Firefox?
Will these features and capabilities be available, or are they in the plans?

Workspaces
Blurring the interface across the entire browser?
Bringing back icons to context menus?

I really wanted and had been waiting a long time for the ability to group tabs, and you’ve implemented it—I’m thrilled! But I’d like to see even more improvements to tab grouping:

In the desktop version, and perhaps in the mobile version as well

1. Automatic tab grouping by website or title.
2. Pinning tabs within tab groups.
3. The ability to create subgroups within tab groups.
4. Improved preview of tab groups, showing the number of tabs in each group, the ability to rearrange tabs within the preview, and support for context menus for tabs in the preview.

[wutongtaiwan]

Why can the iOS version of Firefox block ads and trackers directly, while the Android version lacks this feature? On Android, you have to install an ad-blocking extension to block ads and trackers. I would like to see ad-blocking functionality built directly into Firefox; I personally prefer using the AdGuard extension, as I find it more convenient to use.

[wutongtaiwan]

I hope the Android version of Firefox includes a built-in AdGuard ad-blocking extension and stops discriminating based on region—such as preventing users with Chinese IP addresses from installing ad-blocking extensions. Since Mozilla no longer operates in China, it is no longer bound by Chinese laws; I hope the IP-based restriction can be removed.

[wutongtaiwan]

In Firefox for Android, I would like the option to position the address bar in the middle of the screen, rather than being restricted to the top or bottom.