Mozilla today officially released a new version of its desktop browser Firefox 150, which brings a number of feature upgrades to this popular browser that focus on ease of use and privacy protection, including better-use split-screen browsing, new PDF editing capabilities, multi-tab sharing improvements, Windows user profile management optimization, and software package updates for Linux users.
In terms of split-screen browsing, Firefox 150 has significantly enhanced Split View. Users can now right-click on any link and directly select "Open link in split-screen view" to display the new page side by side with the current tab, making it easier to read or multi-task. When creating a split-screen view, users can also search for open tabs and quickly swap the positions of left and right tabs through the new "Reverse Tabs" option in the tab right-click menu.
The multi-tab sharing function has also been enhanced. Users can select multiple tabs at once, right-click and select "Share
The built-in PDF editor is another highlight of this update. Firefox 150 allows users to reorder, copy, paste, and delete PDF document pages, and supports operations such as exporting by page, allowing the browser itself to meet more complex PDF management and editing needs and reduce dependence on external tools.
In terms of security and privacy, Firefox will extend the local network access restrictions that were previously only open to users with "Enhanced Tracking Protection" set to "strict" to all users and adopt a progressive push. In the future, when a website attempts to access a device on the local network, or connect to applications and services on a user's device, browsers will force user authorization to prevent web pages from scanning or exploiting LAN resources without the user's knowledge.
In terms of translation functions, Mozilla continues to promote local, real-time, privacy-friendly translation solutions. Users can enter "translate" in the address bar to quickly call up the about:translations page and experience real-time translation capabilities without uploading content to the cloud. The corresponding interface and functions in the new version have also been updated to improve ease of use.
Firefox 150 also includes a number of customized improvements for different platforms. Linux users can now use the GTK system Emoji picker to insert emojis into the browser via the system shortcut key (usually Ctrl+.), consistent with the desktop experience. For Windows users who installed Firefox through the Microsoft Store, browser web apps (PWAs) are now generally available, making it easy to pin and launch frequently used websites as "apps."
The profile management system is fully open to users in this version, covering more platforms including Windows 10. Firefox 150 allows Windows 10 and Windows 11 users to back up their browser profiles as separate files. This feature also applies to users using the new profile management system, which is helpful for migrating, restoring or synchronizing browsing environments across multiple devices.
In terms of Linux distributions, Mozilla provides new .rpm installation packages for RPM-based systems (such as Red Hat, Fedora, openSUSE, etc.) to make it easier for users of these distributions to obtain and deploy the latest version of Firefox. In addition, for users who are accustomed to managing tab groups through the right-click menu, Firefox has added a related option that allows you to turn off the "drag and drop tabs to automatically create tab groups" behavior in the settings, the path is "Settings > Tab Page > Drag tabs to create tab groups".
Currently, Firefox 150.0 is available for download through Mozilla’s FTP server, and existing users will receive the update push in the next few hours:
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/150.0/