Try out Link Previews in Firefox Labs 138 and share your feedback with us!

[itskaren]

Hi all!

I'm Karen, the product manager in charge of Firefox Labs. Today, Joy (@mozpm) from the Firefox product team is joining me to share some awesome news!

We’ve just introduced a new experimental feature in Firefox Labs on Beta and Nightly called Link Previews, and we’d love for you to give it a try and let us know what you think.

What it does

We created Link Previews to help you browse more efficiently by showing a quick snapshot of what’s behind a link before you open it. It’s designed to help you get to the most relevant info faster, reduce tab clutter, and stay focused and organized as you browse the web.  

Most links you preview will include an image, the webpage title, and AI-generated key points. 

Firefox uses AI that runs locally on your device to read the linked page and create the key points. Because the AI runs locally, it works in a way that prioritizes your privacy since your browsing data is not shared or stored. 

And, as with all of our AI-enabled features, Link Previews is entirely optional: it only appears in Firefox if you enable the feature and consent to local AI processing. 

How to try it

This feature is currently available through Firefox Labs 138 in limited regions:

1. In Firefox, type about:settings#experimental into the address bar
   
   
2. Check the box next to Link Previews to turn it on
   
   
3. Hover over a link and press Shift + Alt/Option to see a preview
   
   Edit as of June 3, 2025: Please note that the shortcuts for Link Previews now also include "Press Shift key while you hover over a link" and "Click and hold the link for 1 second (long press)." These shortcuts can be configured in Settings.
   

What to expect

This is an early version: it’s functional, but you may run into some rough edges. Your feedback will help us shape this feature as we continue to improve it! 

Known limitations 

• Keyboard shortcuts: The current shortcut (Hover + Shift + Alt/Option) may overlap with system shortcuts on some devices. We’re working on ways to make this more accessible. 
  
  
• Language support: Right now, Link Previews work best on English-language pages. The feature also may not be available in all regions while testing in Firefox Labs.
  
  
• Accuracy of Key points: In some cases, the AI that generates the key points may miss context from the webpage and make mistakes.  Your feedback on these mistakes helps us improve the feature.

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, content quality, or ideas for how this feature could better support your workflow – we’re all ears. 

Thanks for helping us build a better Firefox! 

 ------

**UPDATE on April 29**

We’ve just incorporated a bug fix to optimize the Link Previews experience. This is a rare occurrence when you may need to “restart” this now fixed feature in Labs--if you’ve been using Link Previews in Firefox Labs on Nightly, Beta, or Developer Edition, please visit Labs (about:preferences#experimental in the URL bar) and re-check the “Link previews” checkbox to get the feature back.

Sorry for the inconvenience, and thank you for your support!

[thumper1019]

I'd prefer this gave a preview of the webpage instead. The Arc browser does something similar, and it's very helpful if you just want to glance at something without opening a new tab and navigating to it.

I'm not a fan of the AI usage here. It is not accurate and requires additional compute power. Please add an option to disable the AI overview.

[PaulFirefoxUX]

Thanks for the feedback, Thumper1019. That's in the plan 🙂

[dds]

I believe that with the preview of the webpage (or simply with more of the actual content of the webpage), the feature will be more helpful.

[itskaren]

Hi everyone!

A quick update: we’ve just incorporated a bug fix to optimize the Link Previews experience. This is a rare occurrence when you may need to “restart” this now fixed feature in Labs--if you’ve been using Link Previews in Firefox Labs on Nightly, Beta, or Developer Edition, please visit Labs (about:preferences#experimental in the URL bar) and re-check the “Link previews” checkbox to get the feature back.

Sorry for the inconvenience, and thank you for your support!

[shakeel]

Just tried out Link Previews in Firefox Labs 138—really impressive! It’s a great time-saver to see a snapshot of a link before clicking. The design feels clean and non-intrusive. Looking forward to more customization options in future versions. Keep up the great work!

[Maupertuis]

is there any information about what underlying model is being used and other such technical details?

[PaulFirefoxUX]

In this blog post: https://blog.mozilla.org/en/mozilla/ai/ai-tech/ai-link-previews-firefox/

[lackey]

It currently says

"This is currently powered by wllama (WebAssembly llama.cpp) with SmolLM2-360M from HuggingFace"

[PaulFirefoxUX]

More details here:
https://blog.mozilla.org/en/mozilla/ai/ai-tech/ai-link-previews-firefox/

And if you're using Firefox Nightly (and coming soon to Release), you can see details of all AI models that you have added to your Firefox in about:addons (because they don't come with the browser, they're all optional components that are added on to it)

[JPRuehmann]

Hovering would be the Best I think.

[TriceratopsGang]

Would be cool if I can turn off the AI generated key points.

[PaulFirefoxUX]

Thanks TriceratopsGang! The plan is that if you don't consent to the AI model being added to your Firefox (or if you do consent to add it, but then you remove it later) you will see just the top part of the preview without the key points. And if you do have the AI model added, then you can also collapse the key points section so that it doesn't generate again until you open it again.

[777X]

Very cool feature.. although, not able to scroll down when text is too long .. using Firefox 138 on ubuntu 24.04

[shakeel]

It loads quickly, looks clean, and saves time by showing what’s behind a link without opening a new tab. Would love faster previews and more link types supported. Great feature overall!

[menkuri]

I don't need the AI features, but the preview function is excellent. I just wish it were a bit larger so the content would be easier to understand.

[jack525]

I think the biggest concern of the users with AI is privacy and the fact that it could see all we do in the browser. If all AI features in Firefox work locally and can be disabled with a simple switch, you should be even more explicit on this in your communication and put this in first place in your website and your other communications : "We offer private AI that work offline and can't share your browsing with AI models and companies.". ucharts

[aria1]

The activation keys you've chosen conflicts with changing keyboards on Windows, that's a very serious conflict. Even if it didn't, it's too cumbersome for something that's designed to save you a click. It should only require one input or perhaps zero inputs to access. Perhaps it can be part of the right-click menu?

I'd also like to be able to customise the UI. (Perhaps I can with user-chrome). Currently the font size and size of the window is a bit too small for me depending on where I'm using my computer. A half-way solution for that could be to follow the zoom-level of the page. 

[PaulFirefoxUX]

Thanks for your feedback, aria1.

We've changed the keyboard shortcuts to be:

• shift-hover
• long-click

You can turn either of these off in settings if they conflict with something else, and you can open a link preview by right clicking a link and selecting 'Preview link' if you prefer.

Currently the link preview panel inherits its style (text size, colors etc) from the browser UI because it's part of the browser not part of the web page, but thank you for the feedback – it is something for us to consider!

[probablywrong]

Hi, where are these options? I don't see them anywhere in Settings and for me this feature still only works with Shift + Option + Click which I find awkward to press.

[aria1]

I think this is a good feature, but I'm more interested in two related features. Can someone in the know please comment on this?

1) Pre-fetching links on hover. Perhaps this is already implemented, I don't know. It doesn't feel like hovering over a link for longer makes it load quicker. But if we're now crawling sites with this preview, can't that be repurposed for quicker full loads?

2) Thumbnail previews. I understand that the site being crawled isn't the full site, and I'm generally opposed to content moving as I'm reading it. However I think there's great value in an image preview of a site (greater than the AI summary -- though AI summary is nice too). Could prefetching the site be leveraged to show an image preview of the site? I would like to propose a UI where the scraped text is displayed leftmost in a column, and then AI summary is displayed right of it in a separate column, and the image preview in the third and rightmost column. With such an UI, things can be displayed immediately as soon as they exist, without shifting or encroaching on any of the text the user is reading.

[meow_meow_meow]

HI, is this using CPU to run the LLM locally? When the summaries are being made, I can see that my CPU usage goes up, but GPU usage stays the same. If so, can you please use GPU for this? It will help in speeding up the responses.

My current config. Thinkpad L13 gen 2, i7 1165g7 with iris XE integrated graphics using Arch linux.

[casperschorr06]

Does the AI run on the GPU or CPU?

[chrisssssss1]

Moi , mon gros problème , c ' est la langue ! Vivement  que l ' on ait des versions 100%  françaises. Merci pour l ' avenir .

[DonutRush]

Another day, another pile of "AI" crap jammed into Firefox, another forum thread of replies from people asking Mozilla to knock it off and replies from Mozilla employees baffled that people don't want Lying Autocomplete in every square inch of the browser.

[PaulFirefoxUX]

Hi DonutRush

Mozilla employee here to say we understand that there are people who don't want AI in their browser.

Before we started designing this feature, we did user research to understand how people feel about AI in Firefox. We heard from people who don't want it – and also from people who said they would find it useful. That’s why we've designed the feature to be completely optional.

The AI model behind Link Previews isn’t bundled with Firefox, and it won’t be downloaded unless someone actively chooses to use the feature and consents to adding the model.

I’m not sure where the idea comes from that this is being “jammed into every square inch” – that’s exactly what we've avoided doing. We’re being intentional and cautious, because we’re listening to – and acting on – feedback like yours.

[PaulFirefoxUX]

Hi DonutRush

Mozilla employee here to say we understand that there are people who don't want AI in their browser.

Before we started designing this feature, we did user research to understand how people feel about AI in Firefox. We heard from people who don't want it – and also from people who said they would find it useful. That’s why we've designed the feature to be completely optional.

The AI model behind Link Previews isn’t bundled with Firefox, and it won’t be downloaded unless someone actively chooses to use the feature and consents to adding the model.

I’m not sure where the idea comes from that this is being “jammed into every square inch” – that’s exactly what we've avoided doing. We’re being intentional and cautious, because we’re listening to – and acting on – feedback like yours.

[DonutRush]

---

Mozilla employee here to say we understand that there are people who don't want AI in their browser.

---

We’re being intentional and cautious, because we’re listening to – and acting on – feedback like yours.

---

Tell that to the almost 4,000 replies in here from people loudly rejecting your bundling of an "AI" chatbot into the rebuilt sidebar that was promptly met by you guys pushing it into production, with the only responses from Mozilla in that thread being people absolutely baffled we don't also worship at the altar of Lying Autocomplete.

Mozilla has formed an entire subsidiary to chase this idiotic trend around Statistical Word Guessing.

Mozilla developed and released an add-on for more Lying Autocomplete with another pile of negative feedback they chose to ignore. Mercifully, this is an add-on for the moment. But y'all are no stranger to pushing boneheaded changes to main branch despite the reaction from your most tuned-in users, so I am not counting on that staying separate.

You guys couldn't stop yourselves from putting it in tab groups of all things. 

Your reply does not match up with Mozilla's behavior for the last year.

[DonutRush]

And today we find out you guys are advertising for one of the scummier AI companies!

[as-warp]

SkyNet is coming for your doughnuts

[pigg_klippa]

I used this feature very well, but I strongly oppose button preview. Automatic preview is what I want!!!

我使用了这个功能非常棒，但是我坚决反对按键预览，自动预览才是我想要的！！！

[draconicrose]

I was excited at first about trying link previews only to be immediately disappointed by the unavoidable AI integration. I would love to have link previews without it.

[PaulFirefoxUX]

Thanks Draconicrose. You can run the feature with the AI turned off – it's will still give you a preview without the AI-generated key points. Simply press 'cancel' when it offers you the AI option.

At the moment I believe it will offer you that option every time you show a link preview, but in a future release (soon) it will remember your choice for next time.

[Iden_Ayre]

It would be great if we could just... turn off the AI and have the link preview alone. I would use the feature, I just really don't want to use any AI. A feature to see what's behind a link is something I missed from Mac.

[PaulFirefoxUX]

Hi Iden_Ayre

Thanks for the suggestion!

The latest update in Nightly allows you to do exactly what you have suggested. When it prompts you for consent for adding AI to your Firefox, just click 'cancel' and link previews runs without generating key points.

If you've already consented to the AI being added, you can revoke that consent in settings and the link previews will run without the AI key points.

[FormularSumo]

I've just been testing this in the 140 beta (I don't have the option in nightly) and it works as described, but after clicking "cancel" the AI summary part is still shown, either with a drop-down to open the key points or with the text "We can't generate key points for this point". Maybe this is already noted/planned to be changed, but it'd be a much better use of space to not have this part show for people who don't (want to) use the AI summaries, and perhaps to extend the page's own description which is currently quite small in comparison.

[00FF00]

I keep forgetting to use it since it requires the button combo and I'm often only using my mouse with the  keyboard off to the side, but when I have used it it's been nice.

Maybe an option in about:config saying after X amount of time hovering a link, the link preview pops up?

Or maybe I'll finally get around to suggesting to the Microsoft Powertoys people to do something about the inability to remap extra mouse buttons and solve the 'issue' that way.

Either way, I think "AI" is suffering from the erosion of trust in... I guess trust in general, but with a heavy focus on the tech industry - for valid reasons. Safe to assume you all are more than aware 😄

[PaulFirefoxUX]

Hi 00FF00

If you're using the latest Nightly, we have changed the shortcut. There are now two options to trigger a link preview (both should work, you can turn either one off in settings if they conflict with a shortcut you use for something else).

• shift-hover
• long-click (hold the mouse button down for a second)

Hopefully that solves your issue, as you can trigger a link preview from only the mouse.

[00FF00]

I didn't have it downloaded and I'll probably stick to the release build for normal browsing, but I downloaded it to test it out and the long-click works great! Thanks for the suggestion, hope to see it in the regular release soon 😃

[wellington1993]

Good Morning,

In my last update, the links preview is working more than necessary.
I liked the old way, when the preview is only generated if alt as pressed or something like that.

Actually, the preview is showing in all links and in links buttons. 
Some pages use buttons with buttons, and the preview makes de navigations strange.

I want to use the links preview, but if they will less invasive.

My best regards! 

[PaulFirefoxUX]

Hi wellington1993

We've simplified the shortcut from alt-shift-hover to just shift-hover, and added the new shortcut of long-press. You can now turn either of these off in settings if you prefer to use the other one (or neither – you can right click a link and choose 'preview link' instead).

We've noticed a bug in that if your mouse is over a link while you're typing then each time you press shift it will trigger a link preview accidentally (that might be what you're experiencing). We're working on fixing that by suppressing the preview if you've started typing.

[system5]

Your tech blog already indicates which model you use, so why not add a UI to let users choose the model, pull it from Hugging Face, and apply it to the function? btw a GPU/NPU inference option will be also good.