28-07-2025 04:40 PM - edited 30-08-2025 12:36 AM
Hi all! Karen here to share some good news on behalf of the Firefox product group, who are launching a new Labs experience today! 🎉
Following your feedback and discussions on Connect, we’re thrilled to introduce web apps in Firefox, which will be available as an experimental feature in Firefox Labs on Release, starting with Firefox 142. If you’re a Windows user (excluding MSIX/Windows Store builds), we’d love for you to give it a try and let us know what you think.
Also known as “pinned sites,” “progressive web apps” (PWAs), and “single-site browsers” (SSBs), these are sites that you can pin, launch, and run as a web app directly from your Windows taskbar so you don’t have to hunt through your tabs.
Here, Gmail, Facebook, and Jira are actually Firefox windows.
Some things to know:
This feature is currently available to Windows users starting with Firefox Labs 142:
1. In Firefox, type about:preferences#experimental into the address bar. This will take you to Labs.
2. Once you're on the Labs page, check the box next to Add sites to your taskbar to turn it on.
3. Open a new tab, and look for the “Add to taskbar” icon to the right of the address bar.
4. Once you are prompted to pin a site to your taskbar, select “Yes.”
5. Launch that site in a streamlined window with all of Firefox’s protections.
If you’d like a video demo, please check it out in this link.
Once you’ve had a chance to try it, please share your thoughts in the comments below. Whether it’s UX polish, any bugs you want us to fix, or other ideas for how to make this experience better.
Thanks for helping us build a better Firefox!
20-08-2025 03:17 PM
I'm so excited! 👏👏👏
20-08-2025 05:02 PM
Is it only available on Windows at the moment?
20-08-2025 05:20 PM
Yes! It's only available on Windows at the moment.
21-08-2025 03:44 PM
From various threads this has been mentioned in, the Linux community definitely wants some information on timeline to get support with various distros.
On top of that, maybe when support for Android as well
05-09-2025 05:24 AM
is linux desktop support planned for the future? applications like teams focus on only being available as a pwa on linux.
20-08-2025 05:53 PM
por fin, hacia bastante falta esta función
20-08-2025 09:07 PM
Amazing,these are great news!
20-08-2025 09:22 PM
Hello
https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/discussions/where-s-firefox-going-next-you-tell-us/m-p/103478#M40173 i've tested, is cool.
An feedback, Add tab to taskbar does not work, if, private browsing https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/private-browsing-use-firefox-without-history, used.
21-08-2025 10:05 AM
That is correct - private browsing is not supported at the moment.
21-08-2025 02:36 AM
Is there a user interface to manage the created web apps? I have noticed that I can recall web apps that I have closed in Windows search if I still remember what their names were.
21-08-2025 02:44 AM
How isolated are the "PWAs" processes from existing browser profiles ?
Can they access ... cookies ... localstorage ... or other profiles data via shared storage or some communication api?
Or do they run in fully separated browser profiles and data can only be transfered by user interaction?
21-08-2025 04:18 PM
Web apps are not separated from the creating browser profile and have the same access as normal tabs. Like normal tabs that access can be controlled with containers, and new web app windows open in the same container as the one the web app was created with.
30-08-2025 03:09 PM
A couple things I want to note, when I open a PWA in a container then "pin" it to my taskbar. The PWA doesn't appear to open back up in the container and I don't see an option to switch it to a container. (not sure if this is intended)
If i use different profiles these create their own apps, which is fine but i can't differentiate between the two when they are closed. Would be nice if the profile icon was saved with the PWA icon for pinning. Or a different approach would be one icon per manifest and a way within the PWA to switch profiles/containers? Not sure what the preference is for that, but if there was customization on that approach it would be appreciated
21-08-2025 03:36 AM
can you also put the button somewhere else,my css wont allow buttons on the right side
21-08-2025 04:58 AM
I have some fresh feedback :), I've just tested it in my Developer Edition, not knowing what exactly the button does (the label says "Add tab to taskbar"), and my first impressions were:
- is my Firefox full screen now? (confusion)
- I can't drag the window to make it not full screen (frustration)
- my browser window is broken, there are no tabs, pressing "Ctrl + T" creates tab in a different window (confusion again)
Seeing how this is suppose to be PWA I understand now.
But my first impressions were mostly confusion and frustration that my Firefox window got downgraded.
Note that I'm a software developer, so it's hard for me to tell how normal users will approach this.
But I'm a bit skeptical.
Is PWA popular in Chrome/Edge? Maybe only on Android?
21-08-2025 06:21 AM
Need an option to Pin to Start menu.
21-08-2025 07:20 AM
Hello
For those interested, who do not practice, about:preferences#experimental.
For information purposes, 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.taskbarTabs.enabled
You can double-click on the preference to set the value to true
About, option Épingler au menu Démarrer, apparently, it work.
21-08-2025 01:33 PM - edited 21-08-2025 01:46 PM
Thank you. "about:preferences#experimental" did not work for me - I think I opted out of something it requires at some point, and so it just redirects me to the regular preferences page - but your method works. Much appreciated!
Edit: if there's meant to be a way to edit webapp settings, however, that does not work, since I still only see the regular preferences page even if I open it from the webapp window.
Honestly, I'd prefer if my pinned taskbar link would just open a regular new window, or - better - open a regular window after prompting me to choose a Container.
Seeing my extension icons, but no ability to access menus or the bookmarks bar or other tabs, just feels frustrating. I'd love to access websites directly from my taskbar like this, but I don't want artificial hinderances/"simplifications"/"anti-distraction features". I can see why some people might want that, but I hope Firefox will allow people to choose.
21-08-2025 12:13 PM - edited 21-08-2025 01:58 PM
Noice.
21-08-2025 04:12 PM
A couple things I would like to see is a cleaner window with no URL. If the URL is intended for something then I would think this should be an opt-in ability through some config or setting. Second, I have read a few people asking about what this is used for and I think it would be in Mozilla's best interest to provide some examples and ideas on how users can leverage PWAs.
Do PWA's leverage profile cookies, local storage, etc?
25-08-2025 04:45 PM
I have 5 Gmail emails I have to use for work daily. I use Brave Browser which has Web Apps enabled. I have Gmail installed as a web app and can separate it from everything else I do.
A nice bonus is that that Chromium web apps have a feature called tabbed mode, where you can actually open multiple tabs inside the same web app. So, I open all my email accounts as tabs inside the Gmail web app. It makes it easier to manage tabs and maintain focus. You get all the benefits of apps and a web browser, in a web app.
29-08-2025 04:58 PM
So thinking this through it can go of two ways, one would be a web app per profile so you can have multiple profiles with different gmail access. Two could be a single manifest web app and it can be tabbed based on amount of profiles that have activated the web app.
21-08-2025 04:14 PM
A couple things I would like to see is a cleaner window with no URL. If the URL is intended for something then I would think this should be an opt-in ability through some config or setting. Second, I have read a few people asking about what this is used for and I think it would be in Mozilla's best interest to provide some examples and ideas on how users can leverage web apps
Do web apps leverage profile cookies, local storage, etc?
21-08-2025 04:39 PM
Make the PWAs have more specific site "knowledge" - Google Docs and Google Sheets are seen as being the same app, but in Chromium browsers, you can set them individually as PWAs. Also perhaps provide a short explanation on what the feature does to people who don't know.
21-08-2025 04:52 PM
Thank you for the work the team has put in to this, the addition of this feature will be one more step towards being able to use Firefox for all of my browser needs. That being said, after a few minutes of playing with this first version I do have a couple pieces of feedback:
1. I agree with other sentiments that the title bar of the PWA window needs to be reduced in size, with the address bar being the primary issue.
a. The address bar still acting as an interactable text field causes problems when trying to move the PWA window, forcing a few extra moments to specifically position the mouse cursor in a location where you can actually click and drag the window, without highlighting the text in the address bar. Perhaps a reduction in font size, along removing the text box of the address bar to make the URL completely non-interactable (perhaps provide a new, small button to copy the current URL?).
b. The current size of the title bar and all of the browser buttons on it makes it feel much less like a standalone application. Even just a slight reduction in size and clutter at the top of the screen to provide as much room for the content of the app as possible would help.
c. If these changes are not compatible with the ethos of the Firefox team as the default behavior, then either providing an option in the settings for a "reduced title bar mode", or perhaps just providing the tools behind the scenes for an extension developer to further customize the UI of the PWA title bar would be much appreciated.
2. I experienced issues with a certain few websites not properly "installing" as a PWA. In particular, dashboards for locally-hosted services - either directly on my localhost or on an in-home server (e.g. Plex, Syncthing, router interface, etc.) - all open in a new PWA-like window and move to their own icon on the taskbar, but they never show up in the "Start Menu > Programs > Firefox Web Apps" folder in Windows, and if I try to pin the icon to the taskbar it reverts back to a standard Firefox icon and only opens a typical new Firefox session after the initial window has been closed. I can provide additional information and screenshots if needed, I'm just not sure what all information you would need for this kind of issue.
Thank you again for your work on this, I look forward to seeing it improve as it moves towards a full release!
21-08-2025 08:21 PM
Apparently, there is Pin to Start option. However, please work on these:
1. Address bar should be removed.
2. De-clutter the top bar.
3. Re-sizing should be independent from other windows including the main browser.
21-08-2025 09:48 PM
I'm already on Firefox 142, but I can't seem to find the Labs option... Is this a checkbox not shown to everyone on 142?
21-08-2025 10:02 PM
Hello
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.taskbarTabs.enabled
You can double-click on the preference to set the value to true
21-08-2025 10:37 PM
Take a look at https://www.camp-firefox.de/forum/thema/139484-frage-zu-progressive-roll-out-von-firefox-funktionen
I enabled browser.taskbarTabs.enable in about:config
22-08-2025 12:13 PM
Hi, i would like tabs and auto-save to be displayed, thank you
22-08-2025 03:17 PM - edited 05-09-2025 07:21 AM
Its impressive how close you got to the traditional pwa experience without actually making a pwa. I've been enjoying it for the short time I've been using it.
I think the ability to only have certain extensions enabled for the taskbar app, or at least a different layout for the taskbar app vs normal browsing. Maybe there's an extension I have hidden in the drop down menu that I would like on the top bar for the pinned app, or the other way around where you don't need certain extensions for that pinned app. Ideally you are able to completely disable/enable certain extensions though!
Edit: One more thing, if you have the setting enabled to start firefox when your computer starts, opening a PWA prevents the main firefox window from automatically opening. This shouldn't be the case.
22-08-2025 08:44 PM - edited 22-08-2025 10:29 PM
I am SO glad to see this being worked on, and excited for PWA support to land in Firefox! 🤩 Installing PWAs (specifically, StackBlitz) is one of the very few things for which I had to use Chromium (Microsoft Edge). Had, because I stopped using Chromium almost entirely, PWAs included, since they killed manifest v2. I tested the StackBlitz PWA on Firefox 142 and Edge 139 and have listed some suggestions which I hope will be considered as this feature is refined,
23-08-2025 04:50 PM
When Firefox is closed via menu->Exit (which is required to keep several opened windows), all the web apps are also closed. I believe that should not work like that and, therefore, should be changed.
23-08-2025 04:57 PM
And if Firefox is closed and you're starting a web app, the main Firefox process seems to be triggered as well (which may be explained by a chosen implementation, but still feels weird).
23-08-2025 05:02 PM
Also, if the goal is to make web apps feel independent, we could create kind of separate windows for all the app to open external links there.
23-08-2025 07:36 PM
I gave this a try tonight. I was pretty impressed that adding a containerized tab worked perfectly and kept the container when launched from the taskbar. Very nice.
One of the few PWAs I already use (via Edge) is Google Chat. Unfortunately, this does not appear to work and is likely related to some other Google Mail/Docs problems already mentioned above. After going to Google Chat (mail.google.com/chat), then choosing the Add tab to taskbar button, the site/app comes up in a separate window successfully, but identifies itself as Google Mail (both in name and icon). If you then close that window and re-open it via the new shortcut, you end up with a Gmail (mail.google.com/mail) window instead.
I assume we'll get badge support later, but that also seems to be missing.
Also, a feature suggestion: please consider some form of tabs support for the PWA windows. The Chromium browsers have experimented with a "Desktop PWA Tab Strips" flag, which can be optionally added to a specific PWA, and that works pretty well to avoid the situation where you end up with both the PWA window and a browser window of tabs with the same web application (negating one of the main use cases of the whole thing). Be able to have the whole sidebar available would be ideal.
25-08-2025 06:20 PM
The icon does not show up to the right of the address bar, it shows up in the address bar. When clicking the icon it shows me the streamlined window, (w/o bookmarks icon), but it never shows me an option to pin it to the taskbar. The icon changes in this window, but clicking it closes the streamlined window.
26-08-2025 02:35 PM
Windows 11 24H2 OS Build 26100.4946 - Firefox 142.0 (64-bit)
Usage Feedback
Installation and initial usage
General Usage
Managing and Uninstalling
Features I would like to see implemented
Basic
Advanced
Power User
General Notes
The ONLY reason I don’t use Firefox is because of Web Apps. They are very important to how I use a browser. I use Brave browser at the moment because it has Web Apps plus all the other features I’d like to see implemented in Firefox. If you can implement Web Apps with the same or better functionality, I will IMMEDIATELY switch from Chromium to Firefox.
Feel free to reach out to me if you’d like clarification or further feedback. Thank you for all your hard work in getting this exciting project off the ground.
26-08-2025 08:18 PM
Friend, you ate my words. You are in the precise situation I'm in, even down to the Windows Build number and my desire to switch away from chromium.