Firefox 136: New Features and Improvements in the Latest Version
Mozilla has released the final version of Firefox 136, available for all supported platforms. This update brings new features and optimizations focused on performance, security, and usability.
Vertical Tabs: A New Way to Navigate
Firefox 136 introduces the highly anticipated vertical tabs, allowing users to manage navigation without relying on the traditional horizontal tab bar.
How to Enable Vertical Tabs
- Right-click on the tab bar.
- Select the "Enable Vertical Tabs" option.
- Tabs will appear in a left sidebar, which can be expanded or collapsed.
If desired, an additional sidebar can be enabled for quick access to bookmarks, history, and synced tabs. This can be configured in Settings > General > Browser Layout.
Privacy and Security Enhancements
- HTTPS-First Mode: Firefox will attempt to load all pages over HTTPS by default.
- Enhanced Tracking Protection (ETP) in strict mode: now selectively unblocks certain social media elements that were previously blocked.
- Address autofill enabled for users in the United Kingdom.
- Cookie management in Private Browsing: cookie banner handling is now disabled by default.
Optimization and Improvements in Linux
Firefox 136 introduces Linux-specific optimizations, enhancing compatibility and browser performance.
- Official binary packages for AArch64 (ARM64).
- Hardware video decoding for AMD graphics cards on Linux systems with Mesa 24.2 or later.
- Support for wp_linux_dmabuf_feedback on Wayland, improving video buffer management.
Improvements in macOS
- Hardware-accelerated playback of HEVC video.
- Background tasks are now assigned to low-power cores to improve battery life.
- Support for the text replacement feature in input fields.
- The DMG installer now uses LZMA compression, reducing download size.
New Features in Android
- New "Report Broken Site" button to submit web compatibility issues.
- The browser can now detect if the system keyboard supports autocorrect.
Developer Improvements
- Debugger editor with CodeMirror 6.
- Support for the Intl.DurationFormat object.
- Support for the :open and :has-slotted CSS pseudo-classes.
- Support for the CookieStore API.
- Ability to send multiple versions of the same video over WebRTC using the H264 codec.
- Support for encoding and decoding AV1 in WebRTC.
- Support for ARIA elements reflection.
Other Changes in Firefox 136
- Images copied from Firefox are now saved in PNG format, preserving transparency.
- The weather widget is now available for users in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, and Chile.
- On the New Tab page, the "Save to Pocket" option is now in the context menu instead of a button.
- In privacy settings, a new option has been added to participate in Mozilla's experimental studies.
How to Download Firefox 136
Firefox 136 is now available for download on all platforms:
- Linux: Available as Snap, Flatpak, and DEB packages. The binary can also be downloaded from Mozilla's website.
- Windows and macOS: Will update automatically via OTA (Over-the-Air).
- Android: Will update through the Google Play Store.
