Try Link Previews in Firefox 142 - See What’s Behind a Link Before You Click

[laustin]

Ever wish you could peek at a page before you click? Now you can with Firefox Link Previews, rolling out in Firefox 142 on desktop for English for users in the US, Canada, UK, and Australia. This new feature lets you long-press a link (or right-click and choose “Preview Link”) to open a small card showing details like the page title, description, and even estimated reading time if available.

Want more context? If you have at least 3gb of RAM you can also choose to add AI-generated key points, all processed privately on your device, to quickly get the gist of what’s ahead. Thanks to feedback from Labs testers, and based on data from a release experiment, Link Previews helps people browse more confidently and save time while keeping healthy engagement with the publishers who create the content.

How to try it:

• Long press a link on desktop, or right-click and select Preview Link.
• In the preview card, click the settings gear to enable or disable AI-generated key points.
• You can manage Link Previews anytime in Settings > General > Browsing.
  
  

How to turn Link Previews off:
If you prefer not to use Link Previews, go to Settings > General > Browsing and uncheck Enable link previews. The option to preview links will be removed from right-click menus, and the long-press shortcut will be turned off.

How to remove the local AI model:
If you’ve turned on AI key points, Firefox downloads a small on-device language model to make those summaries possible. To review or remove it:

1. Type about:addons in the address bar.
2. Select On-Device AI from the menu.
3. You’ll see which models are installed, what they’re used for, and can remove any you no longer need.

This feature is available in English for users in the US, Canada, UK, and Australia, and is being introduced gradually to ensure great performance and quality.

We’d love your feedback!
Have you tried Link Previews yet? Share what you think: is it helping you decide what to click, or do you have ideas to make it even better?

[licekpetr920]

cool diystees

[JustMeToo]

Can the next version not have any AI installed at all?

[DietTonic]

For now, it looks like the Settings allows you to turn off AI features (either in Firefox settings or use the little gear that shows up in the Link Preview feature).  The only difference, per my basic testing, is that you won't see an overview of the page with AI disabled (the top half of the "preview" shows up fine).   It looks like that part is totally optional, at least for now.  Here are the settings:

[jinwoosung]

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@DietTonic wrote:

For now, it looks like the Settings allows you to turn off AI features (either in Firefox settings or use the little gear that shows up in the Link Preview feature).  The only difference, per my basic testing, is that you won't see an overview of the page with AI disabled (the top half of the "preview" shows up fine).   It looks like that part is totally optional, at least for now.  Here are the settings:

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Why are all tech companies mindlessly running behind AI? We know how to operate computers, browse the internet, read articles online and all the basic stuff. We don't need AI for that.

What is so special in this piece of code that makes all the companies go mad and shove it into our systems??

I admit that I use ChatGPT, but that's only for important stuff. That doesn't mean I want it inside my pocket 24x7

[QA_PORCHE]

When will it be enabled for INDIA?

[LeoLaberge]

Could you simply add a general "always disable AI features" option, that would keep any new AI-based feature from being turned on by default?

I'm getting tired of having something new unwanted pop up in my face and spent far too much time searching in which menu or where in about:config it is hiding.

[theodore_k]

Why is the AI nonsense "key points" still visible in the UI even when the feature is toggled off?

[gfy]

The preview window overlay stays after closing the tab or even when you open a new tab.

A screen recording of the behavior:

https://filebin.net/qae9q6yqa7c0g8js/Screen%20Recording%202025-08-28%20at%204.01.38%20AM.mov

[Dune9]

When I go to Settings>General>Browsing there is no option "Enable link previews".

Ver. 142.0.1 64-bit

[Inuya5ha]

Very nice.

What I'd like to see in Firefox as well is pretty-printed XML AJAX responses in the Network tab, instead of parsing them as raw text. Development with Firefox would be much straightforward, because as it is, I have to copy each response in an XML formatter online tool every single time for debugging purposes.

[TechHorse]

Hello. Is there any way to disable the shift+mouse hover trigger for Link Preview?

This might lead to accidental Preview triggers if the mouse pointer happens to be over a link when you press shift, when in fact you were intending to press a key combination such as ctrl+shift+tab to swich tabs say.

I would also suspect that it might interfere with shift+click to open the link in a new window?

Basically I want Preview to only trigger on explicit commands such as long pressing or selecting it from the context menu. I do not want to have to think about where the mouse pointer currently is whenever I wish to press a key combination that includes a shift. Is this possible? Thank you.

[DietTonic]

Hi, TechHorse.  You should see an option in your Firefox Settings (or about:preferences) to disable the Shift-Click option.  I use middle-click to open new tabs, so it doesn't interfere for me.  Other combinations, like Ctrl-Shift-Tab work fine with it enabled, but it's possible other shortcuts might be affected.

There's also an option for using long-presses to trigger the link previews, but I don't know if you can add other key or mouse modifiers in about:config.  I hope this helps!

[laustin]

As mentioned by a community member, there is an option to configure shortcuts, including disabling the Shift-Click option, in Firefox Settings.

The default shortcut for Link Previews is long-press. We tested out Shift-click as an option in Firefox Labs, and then in a production experiment, but decided against it after getting feedback about exactly the kind of issues you point out.

We will remove the alternative shortcuts and provide only long-press in a subsequent release.

[RPCV]

I've just updated Firefox, yet I do not see either one of these options. There is no Enable link previews in my Settings/General/Browsing. Nor so I have an option of On-Device AI in my add ons. Is this not roled out universally yet?

[beatrice_2027]

I can survive just fine without AI.

[AdrianTheFrog]

It would be nice if I could ask the model questions about the page, and use it in the "Ask an AI chatbot" menu. I know the model is fairly weak, but I feel like I would get more utility from the downloaded model if it was usable in more areas.

[Tiky]

I had to disable it on my VR machine since it interfered with the "hold page to scroll" behavior. When scrolling it would sometime show the popup where I was holding the page.

[t3t4]

This feature doesn't exist. Running v143, goto settings and search for link preview and nodda nothing! It simply is not there in the settings.

[Agentvirtuel]

Hello

I live in France.

An experiment.
1 - I used a vpn United Kingdom, of course, this is not my real ip, it is not my real location.
2 - Firefox with a new profile.

[Foxbert_Fyrango]

On firefox 143 in Canada, and link previews weren't working so I unchecked it with the intention of rechecking. But the option to recheck it went away and I cant find it using the search bar in settings. Any advice? Thanks : ) 

[Agentvirtuel]

Hello

I live in France.

An experiment.
1 - I used a vpn Canada, of course, this is not my real ip, it is not my real location.
2 - Firefox with a new profile.

[SaxenWarrior]

I have Firefox 143.0.1, I'm in the US, English, and this feature isn't in my settings?

[Agentvirtuel]

Hello

Try.

1 - Go to Configuration Editor for Firefox https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/about-config-editor-firefox
2 - Enter a search term browser.ml.linkPreview.enabled

[SaxenWarrior]

Thank you that worked just fine, I have it in my settings now.

[t3t4]

Thank you! This supposed new feature is finally an available option now. 

[Foxbert_Fyrango]

That worked, thanks!! 🙂

[licekpetr920]

cool

[Agentvirtuel]

Hello

A test.

[zakky0601]

good 

[JGR9]

Let us right-click the link in the Link Preview.  Redundant, yes, but It's just a better flow

[devidjhon]

It’s great to see Firefox experimenting with link previews it really changes how users decide what’s worth opening. While reading about this, I was actually switching tabs to check something on this page , and it made me realize how helpful previews can be in avoiding unnecessary clicks. Do you think this feature might also help reduce phishing risks online?

[fournm]

This should FUNDAMENTALLY not be enabled by default. I've given up on the idea that Mozilla will do something other than push AI, but even the feature without it is an unwelcome surprise when browsing.

[Agentvirtuel]

Hello

For information purposes.

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

https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/discussions/ai/m-p/107900/highlight/true#M41576

[aziztsh]

That’s a really handy update! Being able to preview links before clicking will save so much time while browsing. Features like this make online navigation smoother — reminds me how at OneLimo we also focus on making things simpler and more transparent for users. Great step forward by Firefox!

[Agentvirtuel]

Hello

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

Right click context menu preview link

Preview a link