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Mozilla today launched Firefox 57, branded Firefox Quantum, for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS. The new version, which Mozilla calls “by far the biggest update since Firefox 1.0 in 2004,” brings massive performance improvements and a visual redesign.
This add-on, called Block Site (by Ray), lets you block individual websites in Firefox. It also lets you set up a private password so you'll be the only person who can remove sites from the block list. This Firefox add-on is a part of Firefox's Recommended Extensions program, which means Firefox staff has vetted its functionality and security. Firefox 59: Firefox 58 2017-11-14 Firefox 57 Firefox 52.5 2017-09-21 Firefox 58: Firefox 57 2017-09-28 Firefox 56 Firefox 52.4 2017-08-02 Firefox 57: Firefox 56 2017-08-08 Firefox 55 Firefox 52.3 2017-06-12 Firefox 56: Firefox 55 2017-06-13 Firefox 54 Firefox 52.2 2017-04-18 Firefox 55: Firefox 54 2017-04-19 Firefox 53 Firefox 45.9; 52.1.
The Quantum name signals that Firefox 57 is a huge release that incorporates the company’s next-generation browser engine (Project Quantum). The goal is to make Firefox the fastest and smoothest browser for PCs and mobile devices — the company has previously promised that users can expect “some big jumps in capability and performance” through the end of the year. Indeed, three of the four past releases (Firefox 53, Firefox 54, and Firefox 55) included Quantum improvements. But those were just the tip of the iceberg.
Firefox 57 for the desktop is available for download now on Firefox.com, and all existing users should be able to upgrade to it automatically. The Android version is trickling out slowly on Google Play, and the iOS version (which is usually updated separately from the other platforms) should eventually arrive on Apple’s App Store.
Mozilla doesn’t break out the exact numbers for Firefox, though the company does say that “half a billion people around the world” use the browser. In other words, it’s a major platform that web developers target — even in a world increasingly dominated by mobile apps.
Speed
Mozilla says that Firefox Quantum will feel speedier when you browse your favorite websites, thanks to faster page loading, smoother scrolling, and a more responsive user interface. The company noted three ways Firefox now bests the competition:
- Firefox Quantum is 2X as fast as Firefox was 6 months ago, according to the (still-in-development) Speedometer 2.0 benchmark
- Firefox Quantum is oftentimes perceivably faster than Chrome in a side-by-side comparison
- Firefox Quantum often uses less memory than Chrome (~30 percent less using a Windows 10 PC)
While Firefox has historically run mostly on just one CPU core, Firefox Quantum finally takes advantage of multiple CPU cores on desktop and mobile. Firefox Quantum features a faster CSS engine written in Rust that runs quickly, in parallel across multiple CPU cores, instead of running in one slower sequence on a single core. “No other browser can do this,” Mozilla claims.
Firefox Quantum prioritizes the tab you’re actively using — that tab downloads and runs before other tabs you have open in the background — and includes a new CSS engine called Stylo, which takes better advantage of multiple CPU cores that are optimized for low power consumption. Mozilla has also fixed hundreds of issues related to Firefox speed in the past several months, which adds to the feeling of a faster browser.
You can check out Mozilla’s tests here and the technical background here.
New features
Performance aside, Firefox Quantum includes a visual refresh, called Photon, that “feels fast, fluid, and at home with modern operating systems.” Photon takes advantage of today’s High DPI displays and other hardware across Windows 10, macOS High Sierra, Android Oreo, and iOS 11.
“We call this initiative Photon, and its goal is to modernize and unify anything that we call Firefox, while taking advantage of the speedy new engine,” the team explained. “You guessed it: The Photon UI itself is incredibly fast and smooth. To create Photon, our user research team studied how people browsed the web. We looked at real-world hardware to make Firefox look great on any display, and we made sure that Firefox looks and works like Firefox, regardless of the device you’re using. Our designers created a system that scales to more than just current hardware but lets us expand in the future.”
Photon on a Windows PC with a touch display, for example, adjusts the menu size based on whether you click with a mouse or touch with a finger. You can expect square tabs, a dark color scheme, smooth animations, and a restructuring of menus. There’s also a Library feature that provides quick access to bookmarks, Pocket, history, downloads, synced tabs, and screenshots.
Speaking of Pocket, Firefox Quantum integrates the read-it-later app, which Mozilla acquired in February, even further. When you open a new tab, you’ll see currently trending web pages recommended by Pocket users, in addition to your top sites. Firefox Quantum lets you save to Pocket right from the address bar. If you have the Pocket app for Android or iOS, you’ll also get offline access to your saved stories.
In Canada, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the U.S., Firefox will use Google as its default search provider. Back in November 2014, Mozilla swapped the default from Google to Yahoo for these countries. Firefox default search providers in other regions are Yandex in Russia, Turkey, Belarus, and Kazakhstan; Baidu in China; and Google in the rest of the world. Firefox still lets you swap between search providers — Mozilla says Firefox offers more than 60 search providers pre-installed across more than 90 languages, which is more than any other browser.
Here’s the full Firefox 57 for desktop changelog:
- A completely new browsing engine, designed to take full advantage of the processing power in modern devices
- A redesigned interface with a clean, modern appearance, consistent visual elements, and optimizations for touch screens
- A unified address and search bar. New installs will see this unified bar. Learn how to add the stand-alone search bar to the toolbar
- A revamped new tab page that includes top visited sites, recently visited pages, and recommendations from Pocket (in the US, Canada, and Germany)
- An updated product tour to orient new and returning Firefox users
- AMD VP9 hardware video decoder support for improved video playback with lower power consumption
- An expanded section in preferences to manage all website permissions
- Various security fixes
- Firefox now exclusively supports extensions built using the WebExtension API, and unsupported legacy extensions will no longer work. Learn more about our efforts to improve the performance and security of extensions
- The browser’s autoscroll feature, as well as scrolling by keyboard input and touch-dragging of scrollbars, now use asynchronous scrolling. These scrolling methods are now similar to other input methods like mousewheel, and provide a smoother scrolling experience
- The content process now has a stricter security sandbox that blocks filesystem reading and writing on Linux, similar to the protections for Windows and macOS that shipped in Firefox 56
- Middle mouse paste in the content area no longer navigates to URLs by default on Unix systems
- Removed the toolbar Share button. If you relied on this feature, you can install the Share Backported extension instead.
- Some older versions of the ATOK IME, including ATOK 2006, 2008, 2009 and 2010, can cause crashes and are therefore disabled on the Windows 64-bit version of Firefox Quantum. To fix those incompatibility issues, please use a newer version of ATOK or one of other IMEs.
- The default font for Japanese text is now Meiryo
- Complete visual refresh of both the Light and Dark DevTools themes, matching the new visual style of Firefox Quantum
- The Inspector shows the values of CSS variables on hover
- Completely new and re-designed Console panel. Joining the Debugger and the Network Monitor, the Console has been rewritten using modern web technologies such as React and Redux. It now also allows to inspect objects in context.
If you’re a web developer, more details are available for you here: Firefox Quantum 57 for developers.
Here’s the full Firefox 57 for Android changelog:
- Performance improvements for faster page loading and stability
- Updated interface, including a revamped new tab page that includes top visited sites, recently visited pages, and recommendations from Pocket (in the US, Canada and Germany)
- Video decoding is shut down when the tab playing the media is sent to the background. Video resumes when the tab is brought to the foreground. Audio will not be affected.
- Added an option to enable tracking protection outside of private browsing
- Automatically enable private mode on compatible keyboards during private browsing
- Long URLs in the URL bar are now scrollable
- Added Wolof (wo) locale
- Various security fixes
- Firefox for Android now exclusively supports extensions built using the WebExtension API, and unsupported legacy extensions will no longer work. Learn how we made extensions faster and more secure
- Allow Android Apps to launch a customized web browser
Mozilla releases new Firefox versions every six to eight weeks, and Firefox 58 is currently slated for late January.
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This schedule is based on the current RapidRelease plan. Future dates may change if the process changes. Code is not always released to users on the same day as the branch migration. The release to users may be a few days later, to allow for manual testing and sign-off. Thunderbird tracks the ESR schedule column per Thunderbird release info.
Calendars
This wiki page may not always have the most current information. Please refer to one of the following calendars for up-to-date scheduling:
- Firefox Merge/Release Dates (ICS for Thunderbird/Lightning or your calendar app) (low noise)
- Firefox Merge/Release Full Scheduling Calendar (ICS) (highly detailed - 99.99% up to date)
Future branch dates
| Quarter | Soft Freeze | Merge Date | Nightly | Beta | Release Date | Release | ESR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q2 2021 | 2021-05-27 | 2021-05-31 | Firefox 91 | Firefox 90 | 2021-06-01 | Firefox 89 | Firefox 78.11 |
| 2021-06-24 | 2021-06-28 | Firefox 92 | Firefox 91 | 2021-06-29 | Firefox 90 | Firefox 78.12 | |
| Q3 2021 | 2021-07-22 | 2021-07-26 | Firefox 93 | Firefox 92 | 2021-07-27 | Firefox 91 | Firefox 78.13; 91.0 |
| 2021-08-19 | 2021-08-23 | Firefox 94 | Firefox 93 | 2021-08-24 | Firefox 92 | Firefox 78.14; 91.1 | |
| 2021-09-16 | 2021-09-20 | Firefox 95 | Firefox 94 | 2021-09-21 | Firefox 93 | Firefox 78.15; 91.2 | |
| Q4 2021 | 2021-10-14 | 2021-10-18 | Firefox 96 | Firefox 95 | 2021-10-19 | Firefox 94 | Firefox 91.3 |
| 2021-11-11 | 2021-11-15 | Firefox 97 | Firefox 96 | 2021-11-16 | Firefox 95 | Firefox 91.4 | |
| 2021-12-09 | 2021-12-13 | Firefox 98 | Firefox 97 | 2021-12-14 | Firefox 96 | Firefox 91.5 | |
| Q1 2022 | 2022-01-20 | 2022-01-24 | Firefox 99 | Firefox 98 | 2022-01-25 | Firefox 97 | Firefox 91.6 |
The Nightly soft freeze is typically during the week prior to merge day. During this period high-risk patches should avoid landing until after the Nightly version bump lands on mozilla-central on merge day.
Past branch dates
More details on contents of releases can be found in the release notes archive or Wikipedia: Firefox version history.
| Soft Freeze | Merge Date | Central | Beta | Release Date | Release | ESR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-04-15 | 2021-04-19 | Firefox 90 | Firefox 89 | 2021-04-19 | Firefox 88 | Firefox 78.10 |
| 2021-03-18 | 2021-03-22 | Firefox 89 | Firefox 88 | 2021-03-23 | Firefox 87 | Firefox 78.9 |
| 2021-02-18 | 2021-02-22 | Firefox 88 | Firefox 87 | 2021-02-23 | Firefox 86 | Firefox 78.8 |
| 2021-01-21 | 2021-01-25 | Firefox 87 | Firefox 86 | 2021-01-26 | Firefox 85 | Firefox 78.7 |
| 2020-12-10 | 2020-12-14 | Firefox 86 | Firefox 85 | 2020-12-15 | Firefox 84 | Firefox 78.6 |
| 2020-11-12 | 2020-11-16 | Firefox 85 | Firefox 84 | 2020-11-17 | Firefox 83 | Firefox 78.5 |
| 2020-10-15 | 2020-10-19 | Firefox 84 | Firefox 83 | 2020-10-20 | Firefox 82 | Firefox 78.4 |
| 2020-09-17 | 2020-09-21 | Firefox 83 | Firefox 82 | 2020-09-22 | Firefox 81 | Firefox 78.3 |
| 2020-08-20 | 2020-08-24 | Firefox 82 | Firefox 81 | 2020-08-25 | Firefox 80 | Firefox 68.12; 78.2 |
| 2020-07-23 | 2020-07-27 | Firefox 81 | Firefox 80 | 2020-07-28 | Firefox 79 | Firefox 68.11; 78.1 |
| 2020-06-26 | 2020-06-29 | Firefox 80 | Firefox 79 | 2020-06-30 | Firefox 78 | Firefox 68.10; 78.0 |
| 2020-05-28 | 2020-06-01 | Firefox 79 | Firefox 78 | 2020-06-02 | Firefox 77 | Firefox 68.9 |
| 2020-04-30 | 2020-05-04 | Firefox 78 | Firefox 77 | 2020-05-05 | Firefox 76 | Firefox 68.8 |
| 2020-04-02 | 2020-04-06 | Firefox 77 | Firefox 76 | 2020-04-07 | Firefox 75 | Firefox 68.7 |
| 2020-03-05 | 2020-03-09 | Firefox 76 | Firefox 75 | 2020-03-10 | Firefox 74 | Firefox 68.6 |
| 2020-02-06 | 2020-02-10 | Firefox 75 | Firefox 74 | 2020-02-11 | Firefox 73 | Firefox 68.5 |
| 2020-01-02 | 2020-01-06 | Firefox 74 | Firefox 73 | 2020-01-07 | Firefox 72 | Firefox 68.4 |
| 2019-11-25 | 2019-12-02 | Firefox 73 | Firefox 72 | 2019-12-03 | Firefox 71 | Firefox 68.3 |
| 2019-10-14 | 2019-10-21 | Firefox 72 | Firefox 71 | 2019-10-22 | Firefox 70 | Firefox 68.2 |
| 2019-08-26 | 2019-09-02 | Firefox 71 | Firefox 70 | 2019-09-03 | Firefox 69 | Firefox 60.9; 68.1 |
| 2019-07-01 | 2019-07-08 | Firefox 70 | Firefox 69 | 2019-07-09 | Firefox 68 | Firefox 60.8; 68.0 |
| 2019-05-13 | 2019-05-20 | Firefox 69 | Firefox 68 | 2019-05-21 | Firefox 67 | Firefox 60.7 |
| 2019-03-11 | 2019-03-18 | Firefox 68 | Firefox 67 | 2019-03-19 | Firefox 66 | Firefox 60.6 |
| 2019-01-21 | 2019-01-28 | Firefox 67 | Firefox 66 | 2019-01-29 | Firefox 65 | Firefox 60.5 |
| 2018-12-03 | 2018-12-10 | Firefox 66 | Firefox 65 | 2018-12-11 | Firefox 64 | Firefox 60.4 |
| 2018-10-15 | 2018-10-22 | Firefox 65 | Firefox 64 | 2018-10-23 | Firefox 63 | Firefox 60.3 |
| Merge Date | Central | Beta | Release Date | Release | ESR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-09-04 | Firefox 64 | Firefox 63 | 2018-09-05 | Firefox 62 | Firefox 60.2 |
| 2018-06-25 | Firefox 63 | Firefox 62 | 2018-06-26 | Firefox 61 | Firefox 52.9; 60.1 |
| 2018-05-07 | Firefox 62 | Firefox 61 | 2018-05-09 | Firefox 60 | Firefox 52.8; 60.0 |
| 2018-03-12 | Firefox 61 | Firefox 60 | 2018-03-13 | Firefox 59 | Firefox 52.7 |
| 2018-01-22 | Firefox 60 | Firefox 59 | 2018-01-23 | Firefox 58 | Firefox 52.6 |
| 2017-11-13 | Firefox 59 | Firefox 58 | 2017-11-14 | Firefox 57 | Firefox 52.5 |
| 2017-09-21 | Firefox 58 | Firefox 57 | 2017-09-28 | Firefox 56 | Firefox 52.4 |
| 2017-08-02 | Firefox 57 | Firefox 56 | 2017-08-08 | Firefox 55 | Firefox 52.3 |
| 2017-06-12 | Firefox 56 | Firefox 55 | 2017-06-13 | Firefox 54 | Firefox 52.2 |
| 2017-04-18 | Firefox 55 | Firefox 54 | 2017-04-19 | Firefox 53 | Firefox 45.9; 52.1 |
| Merge Date | Central | Aurora | Beta | Release Date | Release | ESR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-03-06 | Firefox 55 | Firefox 54 | Firefox 53 | 2017-03-07 | Firefox 52 | Firefox 45.8; 52.0 |
| 2017-01-23 | Firefox 54 | Firefox 53 | Firefox 52 | 2017-01-24 | Firefox 51 | Firefox 45.7 |
| 2016-12-13 | Firefox 50.1.0 | Firefox 45.6 | ||||
| 2016-11-14 | Firefox 53 | Firefox 52 | Firefox 51 | 2016-11-15 | Firefox 50 | Firefox 45.5 |
| 2016-09-19 | Firefox 52 | Firefox 51 | Firefox 50 | 2016-09-20 | Firefox 49 | Firefox 45.4 |
| 2016-08-01 | Firefox 51 | Firefox 50 | Firefox 49 | 2016-08-02 | Firefox 48 | Firefox 45.3 |
| 2016-06-06 | Firefox 50 | Firefox 49 | Firefox 48 | 2016-06-07 | Firefox 47 | Firefox 45.2 |
| 2016-04-25 | Firefox 49 | Firefox 48 | Firefox 47 | 2016-04-26 | Firefox 46 | Firefox 38.8; 45.1 |
| 2016-03-07 | Firefox 48 | Firefox 47 | Firefox 46 | 2016-03-08 | Firefox 45 | Firefox 38.7; 45.0 |
| 2016-01-25 | Firefox 47 | Firefox 46 | Firefox 45 | 2016-01-26 | Firefox 44 | Firefox 38.6 |
| 2015-12-14 | Firefox 46 | Firefox 45 | Firefox 44 | 2015-12-15 | Firefox 43 | Firefox 38.5 |
| 2015-10-29 | Firefox 45 | Firefox 44 | Firefox 43 | 2015-11-03 | Firefox 42 | Firefox 38.4 |
| 2015-09-21 | Firefox 44 | Firefox 43 | Firefox 42 | 2015-09-22 | Firefox 41 | Firefox 38.3 |
| 2015-08-10 | Firefox 43 | Firefox 42 | Firefox 41 | 2015-08-11 | Firefox 40 | Firefox 38.2 |
| 2015-06-29 | Firefox 42 | Firefox 41 | Firefox 40 | 2015-06-30 | Firefox 39 | Firefox 31.8; 38.1 |
| 2015-06-02 | Firefox 38.0.5 | |||||
| 2015-05-11* | Firefox 41 | Firefox 40 | Firefox 39 | 2015-05-12* | Firefox 38 | Firefox 31.7; 38.0 |
| 2015-03-30* | Firefox 40 | Firefox 39 | Firefox 38 | 2015-03-31* | Firefox 37 | Firefox 31.6 |
| 2015-02-23 | Firefox 39 | Firefox 38 | Firefox 37 | 2015-02-24 | Firefox 36 | Firefox 31.5 |
| 2015-01-12* | Firefox 38 | Firefox 37 | Firefox 36 | 2015-01-13* | Firefox 35 | Firefox 31.4 |
| 2014-11-28* | Firefox 37 | Firefox 36 | Firefox 35 | 2014-12-01* | Firefox 34 | Firefox 31.3 |
| 2014-10-13 | Firefox 36 | Firefox 35 | Firefox 34 | 2014-10-14 | Firefox 33 | Firefox 31.2 |
| 2014-09-02* | Firefox 35 | Firefox 34 | Firefox 33 | 2014-09-02 | Firefox 32 | Firefox 24.8; 31.1 |
| 2014-07-21 | Firefox 34 | Firefox 33 | Firefox 32 | 2014-07-22 | Firefox 31 | Firefox 24.7; 31.0 |
| 2014-06-09 | Firefox 33 | Firefox 32 | Firefox 31 | 2014-06-10 | Firefox 30 | Firefox 24.6 |
| 2014-04-28 | Firefox 32 | Firefox 31 | Firefox 30 | 2014-04-29 | Firefox 29 | Firefox 24.5 |
| 2014-03-17 | Firefox 31 | Firefox 30 | Firefox 29 | 2014-03-18 | Firefox 28 | Firefox 24.4 |
| 2014-02-03* | Firefox 30 | Firefox 29 | Firefox 28 | 2014-02-04* | Firefox 27 | Firefox 24.3 |
| 2013-12-09 | Firefox 29 | Firefox 28 | Firefox 27 | 2013-12-10 | Firefox 26 | Firefox 24.2 |
| 2013-10-28 | Firefox 28 | Firefox 27 | Firefox 26 | 2013-10-29 | Firefox 25 | Firefox 17.0.10; 24.1 |
| 2013-09-16 | Firefox 27 | Firefox 26 | Firefox 25 | 2013-09-17 | Firefox 24 | Firefox 17.0.9; 24.0 |
| 2013-08-05 | Firefox 26 | Firefox 25 | Firefox 24 | 2013-08-06 | Firefox 23 | Firefox 17.0.8 |
| 2013-06-24 | Firefox 25 | Firefox 24 | Firefox 23 | 2013-06-25 | Firefox 22 | Firefox 17.0.7 |
| 2013-05-13 | Firefox 24 | Firefox 23 | Firefox 22 | 2013-05-14 | Firefox 21 | Firefox 17.0.6 |
| 2013-04-01 | Firefox 23 | Firefox 22 | Firefox 21 | 2013-04-02 | Firefox 20 | Firefox 17.0.5 |
| 2013-02-19* | Firefox 22 | Firefox 21 | Firefox 20 | 2013-02-19 | Firefox 19 | Firefox 17.0.3 |
| 2013-01-07* | Firefox 21 | Firefox 20 | Firefox 19 | 2013-01-08* | Firefox 18 | Firefox 10.0.12; 17.0.2 |
| 2012-11-19 | Firefox 20 | Firefox 19 | Firefox 18 | 2012-11-20 | Firefox 17 | Firefox 10.0.11; 17.0 |
| 2012-10-08 | Firefox 19 | Firefox 18 | Firefox 17 | 2012-10-09 | Firefox 16 | Firefox 10.0.8 |
| 2012-08-27 | Firefox 18 | Firefox 17 | Firefox 16 | 2012-08-28 | Firefox 15 | Firefox 10.0.7 |
| 2012-07-16 | Firefox 17 | Firefox 16 | Firefox 15 | 2012-07-17 | Firefox 14 | Firefox 10.0.6 |
| 2012-06-05 | Firefox 16 | Firefox 15 | Firefox 14 | 2012-06-05 | Firefox 13 | Firefox 10.0.5 |
| 2012-04-24 | Firefox 15 | Firefox 14 | Firefox 13 | 2012-04-24 | Firefox 12 | Firefox 10.0.4 |
| 2012-03-13 | Firefox 14 | Firefox 13 | Firefox 12 | 2012-03-13 | Firefox 11 | Firefox 10.0.3 |
| 2012-01-31 | Firefox 13 | Firefox 12 | Firefox 11 | 2012-01-31 | Firefox 10 | Firefox 10.0 |
| 2011-12-20 | Firefox 12 | Firefox 11 | Firefox 10 | 2011-12-20 | Firefox 9 | |
| 2011-11-08 | Firefox 11 | Firefox 10 | Firefox 9 | 2011-11-08 | Firefox 8 | |
| 2011-09-27 | Firefox 10 | Firefox 9 | Firefox 8 | 2011-09-27 | Firefox 7 | |
| 2011-08-16 | Firefox 9 | Firefox 8 | Firefox 7 | 2011-08-16 | Firefox 6 | |
| 2011-07-05 | Firefox 8 | Firefox 7 | Firefox 6 | |||
| 2011-06-21 | Firefox 5 | |||||
| 2011-05-24 | Firefox 7 | Firefox 6 | ||||
| 2011-05-17 | Firefox 5 | |||||
| 2011-04-12 | Firefox 6 | Firefox 5 |
*Some release dates and merge dates are rescheduled to avoid conflicts with holidays.
Notes:
Firefox 57.0.1 Download
- Four week schedule starting late 2019.
- Irregular schedule targeting six to eight week intervals, adjusting for holidays, starting 2016.
- Six week schedule from 2011 to 2015 (with some dates delayed to avoid conflicts with holidays).
- Firefox 5 was on a slightly different schedule. It spent five weeks each on Aurora and Beta while later releases spent six weeks on each branch.
Firefox 57 Release Date