Give web apps in Firefox a try on Labs and tell us what you think! (Release 142)

[itskaren]

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.

What it does

 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: 

• Simplified web app window: The site you pin opens in a window with a simplified interface. It has less icons and less distractions, so you can focus on that site's content.
  
  
• Add-ons functionality: Add-ons will still work in your web apps!
  
  
• Website icons in the taskbar: Firefox windows are given the icon of the website and run separately from the main Firefox icon in the Windows taskbar. 

How to try it

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. 

We’d love your feedback

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! 

[boeck]

Nice PWAs are back!

As others have already mentioned, it would be great if Mozilla could improve PWAs with the following:

• Declutter the address bar (no address, only minimal controls like extension/settings icon, reload, back, forward).
• Allow us to choose which extensions should or shouldn’t be active for each PWA individually.
• Remember the window size and position of each PWA.
• Apply site theme colors to the address bar for a more integrated look.
• Allow free resizing of the window (no minimum size restrictions, etc.).
• Bring proper media controls.
• Provide an overview of all installed PWAs.

BTW: Thanks for bringing PWAs back to FF and for all the work that goes into making them better.

[Phoglenix]

Please make this use PWA manifest values on the current page (or ideally allow the user to customize them to some extent when installing)! My immediate use-case was to try to use it for a Google Chat standalone window, but it seems to ignore the PWA manifest values on that page and instead installs a shortcut to Google Mail (which weirdly is on the same origin, but has a different PWA manifest, which is allowed in the PWA spec unfortunately).

Very happy to see web apps coming (back) to Firefox! This is the one thing I regularly use Chromium for currently.

[Greecey_Monkey]

So far, so great! I think the window sizing doesn't allow the user to shrink the window enough though. The Chrome version allows the user to shrink the window pretty far. I typically use the webapps for Google Messages and Google Tasks, so I like them in a slim window on the side of my screen as I work.

[lionelw]

The WebExtensions windows API needs to at least help us distinguish PWAs from other browser windows.

From Chrome's documentation https://developer.chrome.com/docs/extensions/reference/api/windows#type-WindowType:

---

"app"
Deprecated in this API. A Chrome App window. Extensions can only see their app own windows.

---

 Seems to suggest that PWA windows should be restricted from extension access in general?

[SanguinePar]

I've been using this in Nightly for a few weeks and really enjoying it - one thing though, is there any way to replace pinning a PWA as a tab, with a desktop shortcut instead? Such that when we open the shortcut the right site opens in the right PWA interface. This would be a great help if it was possible. Even if there was some string we could manually append to URLs to make them open in a PWA?

Great stuff though, cheers FF team!

[SanguinePar]

Oh, and also, I'd add my voice to the chorus of people saying that the address bar should be removed - it doesn't appear to be functional anyway, so all it does is take up space and make it harder to drag the window around.

[SanguinePar]

Have worked out a way to do what I want, so for anyone else who wants it too (this applies in Win 10, can't promise it'll work elsewhere)

1. First open the site you want to make a web app
2. Now use the Add Tab to Taskbar button on the right end of the address bar
3. Windows will (or should) prompt you if you want to pin the tab to the taskbar - this is where I was going wrong, because I did not want to do that. I wanted a desktop shortcut (or rather a Quick Launch toolbar shortcut, but same principle). So, say Yes to this for now
4. Having done that, go into C:\Users\[your username]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Nightly Web Apps (or if using regular FF, it will be Firefox Web Apps)
5. Your shortcut should be there - you can now copy or move this to your desktop, or your Quick Launch toolbar or wherever you want an icon to live.
6. You can now unpin the app from the taskbar - but the shortcut file will remain wherever you put it, and when you use it, it should launch in FF (or FF Nightly) in PWA form.

For some reason I cant get this to work with Google Docs and Google Sheets - I don't get prompted to pin them, no idea why. But for everything else I've tried, it seems to work fine:

• Outlook 365
• Gmail
• Google Keep
• Google Calendar
• Google Messages
• MS Teams

Hope that's useful to someone 🙂

[myspace]

Thanks! Really liking it so far. 

[hsiktas]

The first implementation looks nice, but I have found a site that causes trouble: app.raindrop.io

While other web apps can be pinned to the taskbar under their own name, Raindrop.io still shows itself as a generic Firefox window.

Here is how it should look:

And finally, a little nitpick, and I am not sure how much influence Firefox can have on this, but some sites only have a low-resolution favicon that does not fit on the taskbar.

[HellDuke]

Looks good so far. This was something that kept me going away from Firefox from time to time, because it always meant that I must by necesity run 2 browsers: FIrefox for the browsing and then eithe Edge or Chrome for this feature.

Two slight comments from me, both on the same topic essentially: perhaps remove the " — Mozilla Firefox" from the window title or shorten it to something like (FF) so it doesn't take as much space. The other one might be something that is tricky as it seems like it uses the titlebar customization for the window bar, which is actually quite well and god, but has the slight downside of displaying the URL front and center instead of the window title. Ideally both could fit in side by side or we get the option to customize this bar separately.

Bonus points that it works with the containers. One use case for me is actually using YouTube Music. Google has the annoying habbit of requiring you to use the profile with your real name on it when listening to music you uploaded, but that's not something you want to use when let's say leaving a comment on a YouTube video. This means that in YouTube you use one profile, while in YouTube Music you use another. The kicker is that switching on one page switches it on the other as well. This is where containers come in handy. Now I can both use a container to not have to deal with it AND have the music player as a separate window!!! Awesome

[itskaren]

Hi everyone,

Thank you for the feedback so far. Apologies for the delay on this, here's the video demo:

Have a great weekend!

[SirOliTheCool]

Yay!  Thank you for adding this feature!!  I am so grateful.

[Anonymous]

hi. a very useful feature!! I checked on Windows, everything is working as it should. thank you very much!

[Anonymous]

I dearly hope, there will be a permanent option in the setting or in about:config to disable the entire PWA functionality ... and by disable i mean that the browser wont try to detect or parse/interpret any pwa related data (starting with the linked manifest on a site ref.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_web_app  ) 

[Heath]

I just found out that printing from a PWA (in my case, Gmail) freezes Firefox and stops responding. 

[eltutz]

Great option, but at the moment it does not work for every website. A notable one is "gemini.google.com". It simply won't create an attachment.

[eltutz]

Sorry, I meant it won't create a shortcut and offer to pin it to the taskbar.

[DrDug]

I have the same issue.

[alex12]

This is a must! "Remember the window size and position of each PWA."

[sharp]

browser.taskbarTabs.enabled set itself to "true" on my 142.0.1 install, is that supposed to happen? I had no idea what it even was when I noticed the icon in the URL bar. I tried it and it worked and is pretty cool but when I closed my browser and reopened, it opened to my homepage instead of my previously opened tabs. No big deal in my case since I automatically save my tabs with an extension. I'm just confused on why it enabled itself and if that's supposed to be possible or not.

[Agentvirtuel]

Hello

---

@sharp wrote:

browser.taskbarTabs.enabled set itself to "true"

---

Take a look at https://www.camp-firefox.de/forum/thema/139484-frage-zu-progressive-roll-out-von-firefox-funktionen

Probably, consecutive to the study, below.

An test Remove button next to the study you want to opt out of.

An test Add sites to your taskbar.

[Agentvirtuel]

Hello

An test Add sites to your taskbar.

About Studies.
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/shield
An test Remove button next to the study you want to opt out of.

An new test Add sites to your taskbar.

[SimplySand]

this feature is perfect at the moment, but i noticed that occasionally the web app opens multiple tabs sometimes? (the actual website installed as a web app + the default New Tab or previously open tabs)

i am not sure how reproducible it is, as i can't reproduce now. you can close the extra tab and then it defaults to looking like expected.

[leavemealone]

Make this annoying popup stop trying to coerce me into using it when I open Youtube. I'm not some convenience-addict who's incapable of typing 3 letters and choosing the url I want from the address bar, I don't need this sort of **bleep**. The button being on my address bar is annoying enough, but having that stupid **bleep**ing popup show up every so often is just too much. And I don't even have "Add sites to your taskbar", or any other labs options, toggled on in the first place. This sort of trash doesn't need to exist and only does because you can't find something actually useful to make with your time, so instead you're just making trash no one needs to satisfy issues that don't exist to justify your paycheck to shareholders and execs that would otherwise put you out on the street like you deserve. **bleep**'s like AI summaries of searches/emails, only useful to most braindead among us who shouldn't be as needlessly coddled by tech-fetishists as they are. You are making society worse. You are reducing the capabilities of the average person. You are scum. **bleep** off with the **bleep**ing popups.

[Ekol]

---

@leavemealone wrote:

This sort of trash doesn't need to exist and only does because you can't find something actually useful to make with your time, so instead you're just making trash no one needs to satisfy issues that don't exist to justify your paycheck to shareholders

---

What are you talking about, this feature has been requested by users thousands of times for years.

[Agentvirtuel]

Hello

For information purposes.

Under Firefox Nightly, the preference, browser.taskbarTabs.enabled, set to true, by defaut.

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

[Agentvirtuel]

An other icon https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/about-picture-picture-firefox#w_launch-picture-in-picture-from-...
Other subject https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/discussions/blinking-picture-in-picture-icon/m-p/104633

[Anonymous]

We need an uninstall web app option, and the website icon should display on the start menu as well as on the taskbar. I also wouldn't mind having open as window/open as firefox tab as an available setting for each web app, and a chance to edit the app name when installing a site.

[RealLyfeSux]

I agree with you. But for now, this is what you can do:
Start > All > Scroll to 'Firefox web apps' folder > Right-click a web app > More > Open file location.

You'll be able to rename or delete the shortcuts.

[Stokkolm]

Will you support an app flag from the CLI to launch a site as an app like Chrome does? For example, chrome.exe --app https://mail.google.com

[Voro]

Finally a leap towards the return of official PWA support on Firefox! Yess!

Feedback:
I like how seamless it is to put a site into PWA mode. Much simpler than the unofficial extension.
On the other hand I despise how currently the official method only allows me to pin the PWA to the taskbar.
Please make it possible to pin the tabs to the start menu so pinned sites can actually be used as PWAs!
Thanks!

EDIT: Okay, so I just realized that adding a page to the taskbar also adds it to the start menu. The browser made no note about it, so I didn't find it out instantly. Scratch what I wrote above, it's fine as is.
EDIT2: Found an issue: in the start menu the PWA has the site's favicon in the list of all programs as it should, but if you pin it to the start menu the tile has the Firefox icon instead.

[SanguinePar]

I had a similar process, although I was trying to make a desktop/quick launch shortcut:

https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/firefox-labs/give-web-apps-in-firefox-a-try-on-labs-and-tell-us-what-...

I found that this works pretty well, but not for the Google Docs suite for some reason.

[nathaishik]

It looks awesome. One thing I would like is an option to remove everything (the address bar, the individual pinned extensions; these can be clubbed with the extension icon) cause these make it still look like a browser. Also, it would be great if there was an option to hide the profile icon that is currently shown on the taskbar icon. Otherwise, it is a much appreciated feature.

[Pilot_Al]

HI everyone, I got this feature on release of Firefox and found some strange things.
1) If you adds tab at taskbar, it has some extra buttons on left and right sides of url bar (may be make cleaner)
2) When you removes from taskbar by urlbar button, icon from taskbar is not removed - that behavior is not appropriate
3) Some sites has very blurry icon because internal firefox code takes 16px square icon and setup as icon of site. It can be viewed for example by pinning google translate site or other.

Feature is good. But it must has improvements which has been noticed in the comment and other comments at this post.

[itskaren]

Hi everyone!

Thank you so much for interacting with web apps in Firefox and sharing your feedback in this channel. Just wanted to share an update: pinning Firefox to the Taskbar has officially graduated out of Labs and is now live for our Windows users, starting in Firefox 143! 🎉