Photo: Primakov (Shutterstock)
Mozilla just dropped Firefox version 100, and there are several new features to mark the browser’s milestone update including new accessibility options, easier payments, stronger browsing security, and more. The features are split between Firefox’s desktop and mobile versions, so we’ll cover them in their own separate sections.
New Firefox 100 features on desktop
On desktop, Firefox 100's marquee features enhance the browser’s accessibility.
First, video captions will now display while watching in Picture-in-Picture mode. At launch, Firefox supports PIP captions for YouTube, Hulu, Netflix, Twitter, and Coursera videos, as well as any other websites that use the WebVTT video format.
Screenshot: Brendan Hesse
Further support is planned for additional streaming services, and Mozilla is asking users to vote for the platforms they want Firefox to add next. To use PIP captions, enable captions from the video’s playback controls, then click the prompt to turn on Firefox’s PIP mode.
The other desktop accessibility feature is the new first-run language switcher prompt. Now when you run Firefox, the browser will check your device’s current default language settings, and will ask if you want to switch if it notices its own settings differ. This process happens automatically, but you can always change Firefox’s language settings under Settings > General > Language and Appearance.
Along with these changes, Firefox 100 also expands support for auto-filling saved payment information to users outside North America, and now includes the U.K., France, and Germany.
All of these new Firefox features are available now for Windows, Mac, and Linux users. Open Firefox and go to Settings > General and scroll down to “Firefox Updates” then click “Check for Updates” to get started, or download the latest installation here.
New Firefox mobile features
For Android users, Firefox 100’s major addition is a new HTTPS-only browsing mode. HTTPS is a more secure connection than standard HTTP browsing and is much safer to use, and Firefox will now automatically connect via these safer connections whenever possible.
The other changes to Firefox mobile are new browser wallpapers for iOS and Android you can enable in the app’s Settings menu, and a more streamlined and easier to manage browsing history and tab switcher screens. Changes include removing or combining duplicate entries from your browsing history and moving opened tabs that haven’t been viewed in over 14 days to a new inactive tabs section.
The new Firefox app features are available now for Android users, while iOS users should receive the update later this week.
