Firefox: Private, Safe Browser for iOS

By Mozilla Free Editors' Rating

Key Details of Firefox: Private, Safe Browser

  • Take back control of your Web experience and plunge into people-first browsing era
  • Last updated on 10/15/20
  • There have been 6 updates within the past 6 months
  • Also available on Android, Mac, and Windows

Editors' Review

shelbybrown Jul 29, 2016

Firefox for iOS update brings faster search, a handy new menu for frequently used features, and the ability to search other sites within Firefox's search bar.

Pros

Faster browsing: Mozilla promises a 40 percent decrease in CPU usage and 30 percent reduction in memory usage with the latest version of Firefox for iOS. While exact numbers may vary from person to person, we definitely noticed a significant increase in search speed.

Custom search engines: Add your favorite search-powered sites to Firefox, such as Amazon, Wikipedia, and eBay, and then you'll be able to search the sites directly from Firefox's address bar.

Convenient menu: Firefox's new hamburger menu in the bottom rail offers easy navigation. Open it up to add a bookmark, find text on a page, open a new tab or a Private Tab, set a Home page, or get to your Settings menu.

Intuitive navigation: Jump from page to page with Firefox's easy-to-decipher visual and numbered tabs.

Tab recovery: Accidentally close a tab? Recover it by tapping the new Undo button.

Sync: You can sync your tabs, history, and passwords across your iPhone, iPad, Mac, and even Android devices. You'll need to set up an account and log in on all your devices for this to work.

Private Browsing: Firefox's Private Browsing function doesn't track your history, cookies, passwords, site preferences, and temporary Internet files. To open Private Browsing, tap the purple mask at the top right of the browser. Under Settings, you can take advantage of two added safety precautions. Toggle Close Private Tabs to ensure this happens each time you stop browsing. It's also good practice to occasionally tap Clear Private Data to erase sensitive data, such as browsing history, cache, cookies, offline website data, and saved log-ins. How to tell when a tab is private: The search bar will be black with a pink border rather than white with a blue border.

3D Touch compatible: From your home screen, long-press the Firefox for iOS icon to open a new private tab or a new tab.

Cons

No bookmark syncing from iOS: If you're an Android, Mac, or Windows user, you can sync your Firefox bookmarks to iOS devices. Unfortunately, this feature does not work in reverse.

iOS 9 required for Private Browsing: If you don't want to be tracked, you'll have to upgrade to iOS 9.

Bottom Line

If you're unhappy with Apple's default browser, Safari, Firefox for iOS is a fast, intuitive, feature-rich, and privacy-minded alternative worth trying.

More stories

Mozilla Firefox for Android review

Mozilla Firefox for Mac review

Mozilla Firefox for Windows review

Full Specifications

What's new in version 29.0

Firefox fans rejoice! With the release of iOS 14 and the latest version of Firefox app, you can now set Firefox as your default mobile browser. And with Firefox widgets for your home screen, you can access your go-to actions even faster -- like Web search or opening your favorite sites.

General

Release October 15, 2020
Date Added October 15, 2020
Version 29.0

Operating Systems

Operating Systems iOS
Additional Requirements Requires iOS 11.4 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch

Popularity

Total Downloads 17,038
Downloads Last Week 22
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Developer's Description

Experience a fast, smart and personal Web. Firefox is the independent, people-first browser made by Mozilla, voted one of the Most Trusted Internet Companies for Privacy. Upgrade today and join hundreds of millions who depend on Firefox for a more personal browsing experience. FAST. SMART. YOURS. Firefox is made with you in mind and gives you the power to take back control of your Web experience. That's why we design the product with smart features that take the guesswork out of browsing. SEARCH INTELLIGENTLY & GET THERE FASTER. Firefox anticipates your needs and intuitively provides multiple suggested and previously searched results across your favorite search engines - every time. Add any search provider. Easily access shortcuts to search providers. BROWSE PRIVATELY. Your personal information belongs to you. In Private Browsing mode, Firefox won't remember any of your history or cookies, but new bookmarks will be saved. Delete your browsing history, passwords and more in a single tap. Choose the private data you want to remove. SYNC FIREFOX ACROSS YOUR DEVICES. With a Firefox Account, access your history, bookmarks and open tabs from your desktop on your smartphone and tablet. Firefox can also remember your passwords across devices so you don't have to. INTUITIVE VISUAL TABS. Intuitive visual and numbered tabs easily let you find content for future reference. Open as many tabs as you like without losing track of your open Web pages. EASY ACCESS TO YOUR TOP SITES. Spend your time reading your favorites sites instead of looking for them. Learn more about Firefox for iOS: Have questions or need help? Visit support. mozilla.org/mobile. Read about Firefox permissions: mzl. la/Permissions. Learn more about what's up at Mozilla: blog. mozilla.org. Like Firefox on Facebook: mzl. la/FXFacebook. Follow Firefox on Twitter: mzl. la/FXTwitter. ABOUT MOZILLA. Mozilla exists to build the Internet as a public resource accessible to all because we believe open and free is better than closed and controlled. We build products like Firefox to promote choice and transparency and give people more control over their lives online.
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