Try Out Perplexity AI Search in Firefox 139!

[gpendse]

Hi everyone,

I’m Gayatri, the product manager for Firefox Search. With Firefox, you already have more choice in how you search the web than anywhere else — and now, we’re giving you even more.

You've told us you want an AI search partner —  so we're launching an experiment with Perplexity, an AI-powered answer engine. If you're in the US, UK, or Germany, you may see it as an option in the address bar via the unified search button, which allows quick switching between search engines in Firefox. 

Why Perplexity?

Perplexity is an AI-powered search engine that offers direct, conversational answers to your questions — so you don’t have to dig through pages of results. It’s especially helpful when:

• ✅ You want quick, concise answers without getting lost in multiple sources
  
  
• 📚 You’re researching or learning and need accurate, well-cited information
  
  
• ✍️ You’re working on creative or technical content, like blog posts or code snippets
  

This pilot is part of our broader goal to give users more choice when it comes to how they search — and which tools they trust to help them get things done. If the experience is positive, we may look to support more AI answers or search options in the future. Just a heads up: when you use a search provider in Firefox, you’re also agreeing to their privacy and policy terms. Every provider is a little different, so if you’re curious, feel free to check out Perplexity’s policy here. Perplexity maintains strict prohibitions against selling or sharing personal data and only processes information for the specific purposes outlined in its user agreements.

Help Us Get It Right

You can switch between different search or answer engines depending on what you’re looking for — and we’d love your feedback on where Perplexity stands out. Are there specific types of searches — like complex questions, summaries, how-tos, or creative prompts—where it gives you a better answer? Are there cases where a traditional search engine is your preferred choice instead?

Your input will help us understand when Perplexity adds real value, so we can surface it at the right moments and make the overall search experience in Firefox even more useful.

Thanks for being part of this journey with us. We can’t wait to hear what you think!

[Cstern]

Pathetic. Who on earth asked for this--and more importantly, how do I root this useless, unethical, environmentally destructive, lie-generating trash out of my browser root and branch?

[Agentvirtuel]

Hello

For those who are interested, to try.

Take a look at https://www.camp-firefox.de/forum/thema/139576-perplexity-aus-der-suchmaschinen-liste-verschwunden (among others) https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/add-or-remove-search-engine-firefox Add a custom search engine in Settings.

You can 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.search.experiment and click on String button and click on Add button.
3 - Enter perplexity and click on Save button.

Result below

[kailasanathank]

Looking forward in Firefox Android

[orz]

Nobody ever asked for an AI search partner. Keep all that AI crap away from me or I will abandon Mozilla... The new leadership seems to be entirely detached from reality ... LibreWolf already looks like the winner in my eyes! 

[usatube]

This option is not in my firefox browser, why?

[Agentvirtuel]

Hello

Have you tried, browser.search.experiment https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/discussions/try-out-perplexity-ai-search-in-firefox-139/m-p/100560/hi...

[Deciare]

AI is excellent for extracting relevant information from a large number of sources, some of which are written in different languages, and cutting through fluff to get to relevant information. I've been using Perplexity to research hair colouring, a subject that is rife with opinions and self-promotion. It has been very helpful to be able to distill common recommendations and warnings.

[urfy]

Hi

I've been on the internet since 1996, when Netscape Navigator was the browser; that was paid-for; but that was torpedoed by Microsoft when they bundled Internet Explorer with Windows. I naturally moved to Firefox when it came out, and it has always been by far the best browser.

So I'm saddened that you have fallen for the AI fad; everyone knows that it is highly unreliable and erratic, such as the hallucinations and returning different answers to slightly differently phrased questions - I could go on. The entities involved are spending and losing billions, and it is another dotcom boom and bust in the making.

Over the years Firefox has slowly been consuming more power; I assume that AI will add to this. 

Please reconsider; AI on Firefox is the antithesis for everything it stands for.

Best wishes 

urfy.t

[Dan]

But when being aware of the risks, it's a super super useful tool! Even Jensen himself (the man behind the company that makes the LLM-hardware) endorsed Perplexity last year already 💡 💡 💡

And how did you measure power usage of solely the browser, over the years?

[Cryptomancer]

When will you remove it?

[concept]

Incredibly disappointing.

[haingdc]

I heard about Perflexity for a while but I never use it. Read this topic and I decided to gave it a try from 2 weeks ago. Let's Perplexity is as my primary search engine. I think It has good potential. It provides my more context and suggest for related things to my questions. That's a plus point. An important point is that The search engine supports very well my native language as I come from Vietnam. On the other hand, I still need use Google search. Many times, when I'm typing key words first then select search engine before submit. I have to kind of move cursor to the start and type "@" character. There is something in my mind that It's hard to say. If I select search engine first then type keyword. I feel that everything will be neat, smooth. I guess I'll remind myself the next times I will do in right order. About my using URL bar, I always use "@" character to select search engine and in search engine list I have dozen ones. I consider be a Multiple-search-engine User (> 4 search engines

[Agentvirtuel]

Hello

For information purposes.
Since https://www.firefox.com/en-US/firefox/140.0/releasenotes

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Custom Search Engines: Firefox now supports adding even more search engines. To add a custom engine, right-click a search field of a supported website and select “Add Search Engine”, or go to Settings > Search > Add (below the search shortcuts table) to manually enter a search URL.

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Add or remove a search engine in Firefox.
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/add-or-remove-search-engine-firefox.

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Add a custom search engine in Settings

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https://www.perplexity.ai/search?q=%s

[jadranka]

I have recently downloaded Perplexity on my Laptop. They gave me a link for downloading on my mobile phone where there is downloaded Perplexity as an App that I use frequently.

The name of icon of my Perplexity on my laptop desktop is Comet. I find out Perplexity as a good AI tool and now as a browser. It gives full answers on your question taking many research options from many sites etc., giving also links in addition for many refer sites and offering in addition help in form of modified questions that refer to your research topic.

I recommend anyone to try this new very good toll.

[DuskTheUmbreon]

I'm deeply disappointed by this change.

Firefox is a browser. It is designed to bring information to people. It's not supposed to offer the misinformation machine as a legitimate method of achieving actual information.

It may be trivial to remove, but it's still incredibly disappointing that it was added, without user consent, in the first place.