Android add option to NOT auto show keyboard on homepage

[adamf]

aka If I wanted to search I would have tapped in the address bar.

Firefox 137 for Android now automatically opens the keyboard when closing a tab and returning to the homepage. This hides all the recently visited sites and requires another tap on some empty space just to close the keyboard.

I use the recently visited section most of the time when using Firefox on mobile and very rarely type an address or search from the address bar so this recent change breaks the experience I have got used to over the last few years of using the app.

[Jon]

Thanks for submitting an idea to the Mozilla Connect community! Your idea is now open to votes (aka kudos) and comments.

[PeterB1]

I totally agree. It is an absolute pain not to have the menu available when opening Firefox or starting a new tab.

[JBMK]

I fully support this request. Having the menu/search bar available from the home page is way more convenient for me than going straight to an active address bar. Please make this new setup a togglable option instead of a default.

Thanks!

[GTFirefox23]

Was having this problem too, but it looks like it's a study Mozilla are running rather than a completed feature. Was helping my dad setup Firefox on his phone the other day and turned studies off, then realised he wasn't having the keyboard popup like I was. Upon further investigation I found one of the studies had a description that sounded suspiciously like this issue, so it turned them off and, lo and behold, the keyboard stopped popping up!

Can't remember the exact name of the study so you'd need to check them yourself, but if you'd just like to turn them off completely then go to:

Settings > Data Collection > Install and run studies > then either "Remove" the specific study, or just turn them "Off" completely

Personally, I don't mind Mozilla running studies (it helped with a big hot fix they needed to do on desktop years ago) but something that messes with the UI/UX should be opt-in (even with studies turned on) rather than opt-out; the possibility of user frustration and dumping Firefox for Chrome, Vivaldi, etc, is something Mozilla can ill afford right now

[adamf]

@GTFirefox23thanks, that has solved the problem for now 🙂

It was the study described as "default to search" but I can't remember the exact name now either and can't seem to activate it again to check.

I don't mind the studies thing either, I must have enabled it in the past and not remembered. I didn't know it was there until you mentioned it.

I couldn't see any way to send feedback on studies so I wonder how they find out which users like the feature and which don't.

[lolrris]

I just turned off studies and the auto popup keyboard is still there, did this fix broke in just 2 days or am I doing something wrong?

[JBMK]

@GTFirefox23This was a good find! It unfortunately didn't work for me.

I did find similar settings under About>{Enable Debug mode}>Nimbus Experiments. I've never heard of these Nimbus Experiments, but it lists two experiments that relate to this: 

1. "Search V1 - Homescreen" (description: "Default to Search - Homescreen")
2. "Search V1 - Homescreen 2 - Treatment A Rollout" (description: "Default to Search - Homescreen")

I've tried every combination of having one or both of these experiments active, and testing each setting with Studies on and off, and this hasn't solved the problem. To quote @GTFirefox23, "something that messes with the UI/UX should be opt-in (even with studies turned on) rather than opt-out."

[PeterB1]

I turned off studies and it certainly worked for me, thank you @GTFirefox23.

[adamf]

@lolrris  I didn't turn off studies, I just removed the search one from the list. So maybe you need to enable studies again and remove them all from the list first before turning off studies completely.