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brixter
Making moves
Status: New idea

In Firefox Android, I often have multiple tabs open. When I scroll up and down to navigate through the tabs, I sometimes accidentally close a tab. Probably because I was swiping diagonally up. I have a few seconds to click the undo button that pops up.

I've never intentionally used this gesture since I click the x button to close a tab.

Please add an option to disable the side swipe gesture.

100 Comments
Status changed to: New idea
Jon
Community Manager
Community Manager

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

majesticmini471
Familiar face

Could we make it optional upon choosing to swipe or hit the X button to close tabs? It is a good idea to have options like you recommend.

devnull2000
Strollin' around

Yes, I have the same problem. Very frustrating.

nuskool
New member

I keep closing tabs accidently, the swipe gesture is too sensitive so would love an option to disable

majesticmini471
Familiar face

@nuskoolHave you restarted your device? Have you cleaned its cache? Mobile devices do not take commands very well without doing so. Today's hardware preforms nothing like it used to.

majesticmini471
Familiar face

@nuskoolHave you cleaned your phone's or tablet's cache? Have you attempted to restart it? Today's hardware is quite sensitive.

NegativeOne
New member

I've noticed this became common in a more recent update. The old behaviour was better which suggests this is just a bug.

I like the idea of an option to disable the swipe all together but this could also be solved by just increasing the amount of horizontal swipe required to close a tab back to how it was before?

newyork10023
New member

Seriously annoying.

I often keep upwards of 100 tabs open.  Scrolling from top to bottom (or vice versa) always risks closing tabs... multiple times to reach the other end.

Why was this "feature" even considered?  There is already an option to close tabs.  And the time-out is far too short a time to respond.

jayjay1971
New member

This "feature" is wreaking serious havoc in my life! No gestures should be turned on by default!!! I need to be able to turn this off ASAP!!!!!!!

jsbax15
Strollin' around

Adding my agreement to this.

It even closes tabs when I have the app switcher open. I will often open the app switcher, swipe to switch from Firefox to another app, and that swipe will still close one of my tabs instead!

I've never intentionally used this feature, would really appreciate an option to turn this off.

OldFart666
New member

PLEASE, Let's get rid of this swipe to close tabs. It's a PAIN in everyone's existence!!

Sunday_Scour
Strollin' around

TL;DR: Exact same issue. Add your support by upvoting and commenting on this thread; any activity helps. Also, email me if you have the same issue, especially if you know ANYTHING about developing add-ons, or would line to help me organize or be part of a campaign to make this a bigger priority for Mozilla:

sunday_scour@aol.com or jedwards0076@email.vccs.edu 

Not only does Firefox Mobile dismiss tabs at the slightest twitch, but it also ignores ANY AMOUNT of vertical movement once it has decided within the first microsecond of movement that  you want to close the tab.

That is, regardless of the total path of the swipe (mostly a vertical or mostly a horizontal swipe), once it has decided that the gesture is either vertical or horizontal, within about 10 to 15 pixels, it ignores ALL movement that doesn't align with it's premature, prejudiced decision. 

As such, Firefox Mobile's developers seem to actively hate users that have enough open tabs that they need to scroll up or down to access them. They only seem to care about users that have less than 10 open tabs at any time. (Don't even get me started about the vestigial Bookmark and History support; that's a different issue for another day). 

I am currently messing with the "about:config" options in Firefox Mobile (ONLY available in the Nightly version, yet another inexplicable decision) to attempt to change the threshold of detection for gestures.

Currently I'm looking at / working on all the [apz.*] option keys. Although [general.*] and [ui.*] option keys are also strong contenders for fixing this.  I'll try to keep this thread updated if I find any fixes or leads. I am open to any and all suggestions on this issue:

sunday_scour@aol.com (please don't send me Spam!!! However, this issue is important enough to risk it. 😤👍)

jedwards0076@email.vccs.edu (I'll have a George Mason University email address, instead, very soon.)

Glassed_Silver
New member

I have this same issue literally every day I use Firefox. This has been going on for a long time and my muscle memory just won't adjust to avoid the subtle horizontal motion that this is triggered by. (obviously just barely enough to register instead of my overall mostly vertical motion)

To say this is frustrating is a gross understatement and really takes away from Firefox feeling like a polished product I can trust.

OldFart666
New member

I must agree with everyone here - the issue is really bad but could be fixed by changing the sensitivity to the side swipe required to close a tab. It feels like it take alot more vertical motion to move thru tabs and so very very very little side motion to close a tab. Maybe it is ratio'ed to lenght vs wodth and in fact the motion is scaled to be the theoretical 'same'...

 

VERY ANNOYING. Please fix!

dlenkes
Strollin' around

Please fix this issue. I accidentally closed tabs while scrolling all the time. It is extremely annoying.

I would be happy to disable this swipe gesture all together, but at least please fix the sensitivity.

Thanks!