Firefox 64.0 Release Information

Martin Brinkmann
Dec 11, 2018
Updated • Dec 11, 2018
Firefox
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The Firefox 64.0 Stable release data is December 11, 2018. Mozilla published Firefox 63.0 in October 2018; Firefox 64 is the last major release of the web browser in 2018.

Our release overview provides you with detailed information such as a list of important changes, security information, developer changes, and known issues.

All Firefox channels are updated at the same time. Firefox Stable is updated to version 64.0, Firefox Beta to version 65.0, Firefox Nightly to version 66.0, and Firefox ESR to version 60.4.

Executive Summary

Firefox 64.0 download and update

Firefox 64.0 was first offered on December 11, 2018 to all users. The update may not yet be available if you read the guide on December 11.

Firefox is set up to download and install updates automatically. You can run a manual check for updates to pick up the new version that way.

Just select Menu > Help > Check for Updates to run a manual check for updates. The update is downloaded and installed automatically or manually then depending on Firefox's configuration.

Users who prefer manual downloads can do so by following the links below.

Firefox 64.0 Changes

Recommendations incoming

firefox recommended extensions

Only enabled for users in the U.S., Firefox may display recommendations to users based on activity and other metrics.

Users who visit certain sites, e.g. YouTube or Reddit, may notice a new recommended icon in Firefox's address bar. A click on it displays a suggested extension along with options to install it in Firefox.

Mozilla notes that users may also see suggestions for Firefox features and services based on usage.

Check out our guide on disabling extension recommendations in Firefox here. The feature is powered by this preference: about:config?filter=browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.asrouterExperimentEnabled

Extension management changes

Mozilla implemented several changes in Firefox 64.0 that affect extension management. The layout of the about:addons page was switched to a cards design. Each add-on on the page is listed as a card now in Firefox 64.0.

Cards can be expanded with a click, and the buttons to change the status of the extension, remove it, update it, or open its options are provided.

The new layout is not well suited for small browser windows.

Other extension related changes include right-clicking on any extension in Firefox's main toolbar to remove it, sticky extension installation notifications, and the highlighting of extensions that manage notifications in the Notification Permission dialog.

Multi-tab operations

Firefox users may select multiple tabs in the new version of the browser. Just hold down the Ctrl-key and left-click on tabs to select/deselect them.

Drag and drop is supported to move the selection of tabs in the same browser window or to another window.

Right-click actions, e.g. pin, close, or bookmark, are supported as well.

Selected tabs display a color on top of the tabbar.

Task Manager on about:performance

Mozilla changed the content displayed on about:performance in Firefox 64.0. The current version displays open tabs and extensions, and the energy impact of each item listed.

Firefox developers plan to add memory information to the page and other options eventually. For now, it is rather bare bones.

Other changes

  • RSS/Atom feed previews have been removed. Mozilla asks affected users to install add-ons to replace the functionality.
  • Performance improvements on Linux and Mac systems "by enabling Link Time Optimization". The feature launched for Windows in Firefox 63.0.
  • New native sharing support in Windows.
  • Policy engine update on Mac OS X.
  • Redesign of about:crashes to make it clearer when crash reports are submitted to Mozilla.
  • Mac OS X: keyboard shortcuts Apple-Enter replaced with Ctrl-Enter to add www. and .com to a URL.

Firefox 64.0 known issues

Developer Changes

  • The Accessibility info bar, displayed when you hover over items on the webpage when you are in the Accessibility tab of the Developer tools, displays color contrast information.
  • The device selection is saved in Responsive Design Mode between sessions.
  • Developer Tools GCLI has been removed. See Developer Toolbar removal.
  • The preference layout.css.filters.enabled was removed. CSS Filters cannot be disabled anymore.
  • Extensions may control context menus.
  • CSS Grid Inspector supports overlaying up to 3 CSS grids.
  • WebVR support on Mac OS X.
  • JavaScript syntax is highlighted in the console.

Firefox 64.0 for Android

  • Scrolling was improved to be "faster and more responsive".
  • File downloads are no longer deleted on the Android device when Firefox is removed.
  • Addressed performance issues for users with installed password managers.
  • Fixed a loading indicator issue that used too much CPU and power.

Security updates / fixes

  • Symantec issued certificates, Symantec, GeoTrust, RapidSSL, Thawte, Verisign, are distrusted.

All patched security issues in Firefox 64.0 are listed here.

Outlook

Firefox 65.0 Stable will be released on January 29, 2019 according to schedule. Mozilla may release minor updates for Firefox 64.0 in the coming weeks if issues are found.

Additional information / sources

Summary
Firefox 64.0 Release Information
Article Name
Firefox 64.0 Release Information
Description
The release guide for Firefox 64.0 provides you with information about the new stable version of the Firefox web browser.
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Ghacks Technology News
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Comments

  1. Krazny said on December 23, 2018 at 5:33 am
    Reply

    This is the worst “down-down-down-to-the-depths-of-hell” grade in recorded history. The reason I’ve been using Firefox for years is because of the wealth of add-ons. Now there are no add-ons worth installing. It seems that Firefox doesn’t give a s*** about it’s users, and had now joined the ranks of Microsoft by making changes that (I’ll bet) most users don’t want and don’t need. Their excuse is that developers will now be “encouraged” (read blackmailed) into updating their extensions to meet Mozilla’s “wonderful” new platform. Gag me with a shovel! This is nothing more than programmers run amok, and doing things because they can, and not because that’s what users want. I thank the stars and the heavens above that I can go back to 63.0 and turn off updates.
    Mozilla, have you lost your mind???

  2. hessam said on December 13, 2018 at 12:09 am
    Reply

    its seems mozilla silently restore *.xpi located in features folder
    in older version there was addons
    activity-stream@mozilla.org.xpi
    aushelper@mozilla.org.xpi
    firefox@getpocket.com.xpi
    followonsearch@mozilla.com.xpi
    onboarding@mozilla.org.xpi
    formautofill@mozilla.org.xpi
    screenshots@mozilla.org.xpi
    webcompat@mozilla.org.xpi
    webcompat-reporter@mozilla.org.xpi

    now in ff64 just this.
    formautofill@mozilla.org.xpi
    screenshots@mozilla.org.xpi
    webcompat@mozilla.org.xpi
    webcompat-reporter@mozilla.org.xpi

    is there place to ask remove this shits?
    like older version? that’s maked it faster.
    in ff64 i see pocket icon in address bar

  3. Anonymous said on December 12, 2018 at 6:14 pm
    Reply

    firefox 65 beta now has WebP decode functionality built-in

  4. Tom Hawack said on December 12, 2018 at 12:24 pm
    Reply

    There are core issues and inconsistencies regarding Firefox Quantum and this latest version 64.0 doesn’t address them but rather brainstorms on gadgets such as displaying recommendations and remodeling the Add-ons Manager page (awful, narrow as if a desktop displayed mobile pages).

    On BugZilla I often read “No time” to fix substantial issues or consider pertinent enhancements yet the time is found to include eccentricities. Go understand …

    1. user17483 said on December 12, 2018 at 2:51 pm
      Reply

      Yeah, that’s the current state.

      I think eccentricities are more interesting to work on, once the substantial issues become overwhelming. I can understand that it’s more fascinating to work on “cool stuff”, such things probably happen naturally when marketing people and devs come together.

      I’m seeing more evidence that Firefox should really follow Edge with their recent decision. The time is now to create an open source browser working group based on Chromium.

      How long until the engine practically implodes due to lack of compatibility? It’s a patchwork rug.

      Users are not patient, because ultimately browsing is about being productive. They leave once their favourite sites become hard to use for a couple of weeks.

      1. Tom Hawack said on December 13, 2018 at 5:17 pm
        Reply

        @user17483, if and when I criticize Firefox it’s because I cherish it as well as I cherish it’s non-alignment (at least not full alignment) on Chromium based architecture.

        You write,
        “Users are not patient, because ultimately browsing is about being productive. They leave once their favourite sites become hard to use for a couple of weeks.”

        – I believe that irritation due to a browser which would not comply with a site’s correct rendering comes in second after a browser missing what a user expects in terms of eatures, privacy and security;

        – As for sites “hard to use” with Firefox, I personally haven’t encountered any, and i’ve been using Firefox for years.

        – I’m not sure browsing is ultimately about being productive. All depends what you’re using it for and there are times when a browser is dedicated to leisure, discovery, fuzzy logic leading from one topic to another (moving out of formatted quests is the best gift one can offer to his brains in that it emphasizes on what is human-specific rather than trying to get a human to imitate a robot).

        I do hope Firefox carries on with this tough task of being specific yet able to challenge the quick shifts of technology. Balance is always the toughest choice.

      2. John Fenderson said on December 12, 2018 at 5:55 pm
        Reply

        @user17483: “I’m seeing more evidence that Firefox should really follow Edge with their recent decision”

        Doing that would be exactly the same as just ceasing production of Firefox entirely. Once it’s Chromium, then there’s no point anymore.

  5. Anonymous said on December 12, 2018 at 6:41 am
    Reply

    Is there a way to bring back the old add on page look?

    I wish there was another alternative to Chrome. I really hate all these nonsense updates that add no value.

  6. Debbie Kearns said on December 12, 2018 at 4:08 am
    Reply

    It seems that Firefox 64 for Android still hasn’t been released. When will it be made available for Android? Here’s the link:

    https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/android/64.0/releasenotes/

  7. ShintoPlasm said on December 11, 2018 at 11:42 pm
    Reply

    Just installed this update, and the add-on ‘card’ display does NOT expand horizontally. So basically, you’re stuck with tiny little ‘cards’ with scarcely any information as well as a shedload of whitespace on the right-hand side, even though there is plenty of horizontal screen estate!

    By god, Chrome’s extension overview (even the new Material Design one) is a treasure trove of information and legibility by comparison.

  8. John IL said on December 11, 2018 at 11:02 pm
    Reply

    All I see is Mozilla throwing everything at Firefox hoping some will care enough to use it.

  9. ULBoom said on December 11, 2018 at 9:37 pm
    Reply

    Who’s going to release a paid for browser with real privacy and no suggestionware?

    Why not? The subscription email service I use is the antithesis of gmail. I don’t close my eyes and cringe when opening a message. No spam, no “AI” telling me what I think; wrong every time. Time for a subscription privacy browser.

    FF is still, after 15 years or whatever, our browser but OMG it’s emulating Windows now! Just like Windows, we use only an ever decreasing portion of all the junk in it.

    Not sure it’s valid to compare anything to chrome, google calls it a search based user data collection product. I know, I know, but google doesn’t even try to hide their despicable nature. Pure arrogance.

    1. user17843 said on December 12, 2018 at 12:16 pm
      Reply

      It’s almost impossible to get into a saturated market. You need 1000 people working for a year before you even have a product people would theoretically use. There won’t be any more innovation in the browser business.

    2. Apparition said on December 11, 2018 at 10:08 pm
      Reply

      Brave Browser. At least that’s the plan.

      1. John Fenderson said on December 12, 2018 at 5:52 pm
        Reply

        @Apparition: I object to Brave on ethical grounds. Also, it’s Chromium-based.

  10. Rick A. said on December 11, 2018 at 9:19 pm
    Reply

    What the hell is up with all the white space on about:addons ?

    Half the space is just blank white space. Anyone else ?

    1. Stan said on December 12, 2018 at 3:06 am
      Reply

      Firefox will soon render a cellphone sized screen (center) surrounded with white.
      It’ll look great on wide screen monitors.
      @The white space on the right is reserved for MozFest videos ?

  11. James Flinn said on December 11, 2018 at 8:02 pm
    Reply

    Years ago you would not touch almost never the about:config settings, just for some obscure tweakings. Today half of the settings you need to do using about:config because Mozilla tries to hide more and more basic things and especially the annoying ones.

    1. aaa said on December 14, 2018 at 4:14 pm
      Reply

      This. It is unacceptable, and it’s so blatantly clear modern day Mozilla prioritizes profits over user choice and privacy!

    2. John Fenderson said on December 11, 2018 at 8:29 pm
      Reply

      @James Flinn:

      I agree. Something has gone very wrong when you have to fiddle with multiple about:config settings as part of fundamental configuration as opposed to tweaking to accommodate an edge case.

  12. Darren said on December 11, 2018 at 7:53 pm
    Reply

    “may display recommendations to users based on activity and other metrics”

    Built-in malware. This kind of garbage should be opt-in only.

  13. Robert said on December 11, 2018 at 6:47 pm
    Reply

    Where are my Live Bookmarks? Now I have to add an extension to get them back. Thanks Mozilla! And they want me to sign in so they can provide services and track me I suppose. No thanks!

    1. Stan said on December 11, 2018 at 7:49 pm
      Reply

      You don’t want to “take your Firefox to the next level” !?

      https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/64.0/whatsnew/?oldversion=63.0.3

  14. Apparition said on December 11, 2018 at 5:55 pm
    Reply

    For those complaining about Firefox’s state now: What’s the alternative? Hint: Pale Moon and Waterfox with one or two developers each aren’t it.

    1. pndy said on December 11, 2018 at 11:16 pm
      Reply

      Pick Waterfox if you want addons compatibility; Palemoon offers mostly disappointment in that field and most of all rude and overall unprofessional attitude towards its userbase.

      There’s also Vivaldi that tries to provide more customization options than standard Chrome/Chromium and other clones and claims care for user privacy; then you have SRWare Iron with removed spying components and no customization (and attempts of monetizing with custom new tab page – luckily, easily to bypass). There’s also Iridium Browser which also as Iron claims to have same components removed (and as I remember the most noticeable difference between these two was that Iron could be used with most popular streaming services while Iridium not). Then there’s ungoogled-chromium about which you can read here https://www.ghacks.net/2016/10/05/ungoogled-chromium-removes-google-traces-from-chromium Again, removed Google components but even more restrictively – to the point, you need to manually install extensions by operating on address bar.

    2. Money said on December 11, 2018 at 8:37 pm
      Reply

      @Apparition

      Pale Moon and other UXP applications are the only stable way to XUL from now on. What are your concerns?

      1. Apparition said on December 12, 2018 at 12:43 am
        Reply

        My concern is that they have far too small of a developer base to keep the browsers secure. Sure, they can backport stuff from Mozilla… until that eventually stops working.

      2. John Fenderson said on December 12, 2018 at 5:49 pm
        Reply

        @Apparition: “My concern is that they have far too small of a developer base to keep the browsers secure”

        I don’t know the size of their developer base, and being concerned about browser security is a good thing, but let’s not overdo it.

        First, even if a browser isn’t entirely secure, it’s still possible to use it in a secure way (particularly with the pre-57 forks, where you have greater flexibility).

        Second, for at least some people (well, for at least me, but I’ll bet there are at least one or two others like me), I don’t use Waterfox out of stubbornness. I use it because it’s the only browser that meets my needs.

        If Waterfox weren’t available, I’m not sure what browser I’d use. I know it wouldn’t be Firefox or Chrome/Chromium-based ones. I’d probably end up using the web a whole lot less generally. The lack of an acceptable browser is why I very rarely use the web on my smartphone as it is.

      3. Anonymous said on December 12, 2018 at 4:50 am
        Reply

        Sadly there’s no viable alternative because Web is a moving target. Pale Moon is using ancient Firefox engine and having trouble with many websites. While Basilisik and Waterfox are using newer engine, like you said they will eventually stop working too.
        Currently my Firefox 56 is already having trouble with Github and Youtube.

        Really sad end for browser who has accompanied me for 10+ years.

      4. Money said on December 12, 2018 at 4:03 pm
        Reply

        @Anonymous

        Pale Moon 28.x and Basilisk use the same underlying platform, UXP. Unlike Waterfox, it has independent development that doesn’t have to follow Mozilla’s constant refactoring. As an example, today the bloated and less secure Firefox Accounts system got booted from the UXP tree in favour of Sync 1.1.

        @pndy

        Basilisk has roughly the same add-on compatibility as Waterfox and Firefox 52. Extensions relying on Australis technologies will NOT work on Pale Moon. It has been said a million times but people seem to conveniently ignore reality.

      5. Money said on December 12, 2018 at 3:20 am
        Reply

        You may be surprised by this information, but a big chunk of security issues in recent Firefox versions come from refactored code with poor regard to safety, so Pale Moon is in many ways more secure than Firefox by not relying on young and un/lightly tested code.

        Some useful links are https://forum.palemoon.org/viewtopic.php?t=19262#p142272 and https://forum.palemoon.org/viewtopic.php?t=7818

    3. John Fenderson said on December 11, 2018 at 8:26 pm
      Reply

      @Apparition: “Hint: Pale Moon and Waterfox with one or two developers each aren’t it.”

      For you. For lots of other people, they are the only realistic alternatives.

  15. Stan said on December 11, 2018 at 4:59 pm
    Reply

    Bbbbbbbbut Firefox is ‘fighting for us’!

    With ever passing day they look more like demented LRonologists..

    https://twitter.com/i/status/1071162438102396928

    Dunno whether to laugh or cry….

  16. asd said on December 11, 2018 at 4:02 pm
    Reply

    updated to v64 but I don’t have “about:config?filter=browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.asrouterExperimentEnabled” what gives?

    so sick of keeping up with the new useless crap that Mozilla keeps adding in under the hood. thank you for you keeping us informed.

  17. Bolean said on December 11, 2018 at 3:55 pm
    Reply

    Recommended RSS FeedBro doesn’t work in private mode.

  18. Weilan said on December 11, 2018 at 2:51 pm
    Reply

    Looks like Firefox is on the mission to copy everything Chrome does. Too bad they do such a lousy job at it. xD

    Before they culled the XUL support, the browser had something going for it – powerful add-ons that were almost as fully-fledged programs running inside the browser. Now Firefox is like a gimped Chrome that can’t even load many websites properly because web developers don’t give two shits about the Gecko rendering engine.

  19. max said on December 11, 2018 at 12:44 pm
    Reply

    @Martin

    browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.asrouterExperimentEnabled was removed in Firefox 63 and the new setting is browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.asrouter.userprefs.cfr

  20. user17843 said on December 11, 2018 at 12:03 pm
    Reply

    Strangely, my beta version is 64, too.

  21. Yuliya said on December 11, 2018 at 11:46 am
    Reply

    According to statcounter, Firefox fell bellow 10% market share on desktop, for the first time in many years.
    imgur.com/T2bFyuN.png
    You can all point your finger at Moz://a Corporation and start laughing now.

    1. Weilan said on December 11, 2018 at 2:53 pm
      Reply

      They will go below 5% pretty soon too, people are realizing that this browser isn’t going anywhere. At this point they’ve given up being unique and original and are just copying Chrome, you can see it from the UI that started with Firefox 4… But at least back then it looked unique, now it looks like a blatant Chrome clone.

      1. Kubrick said on December 11, 2018 at 4:30 pm
        Reply

        Your comment makes no sense.firefox came out before chrome and a large majority of chrome engineers were in fact from the mozilla corp,so really chrome has copied chrome.
        Basic design of a browser is.
        1.tabs.
        2.home button and other interface buttons.
        3.your window.

        Most if not all browsers follow this simple basic design,so your comment claiming one copied the other is just nonsense.

      2. Anonymous said on December 11, 2018 at 6:01 pm
        Reply

        @Kubrick
        Tabs, home button, windows are not basic design. They are basic components.
        Every phone can have same components but different designs. Some have front fingerprint, some have rear.

        Let’s just compare the first version of Chrome with Firefox at that time, can you differentiate them? Now compare the current version of Chrome with current Firefox.
        Can you see who’s copying who?

      3. Yuliya said on December 11, 2018 at 3:30 pm
        Reply

        I honestly wouldn’t mind it if they were to copy certain aspects of Chromium. Afterall Chromium is open source. You should be free to use ideas from it – the way multiprocess is implemented for instance. What Mozilla has done is implement multiprocess, with all the downsides it comes with, but none of the benefits. If one tab crashes it still takes down the entire browser with it.

        Wiht v57 they decided to simplify the UI, but now there’s all sorts of rubbish in the browser hamburger menu, or whatever they call it, with no logic to the way they are aranged.

        They copied the WebExtensions model from Chromium, but in Firefox it is slow to startup – the browser starts fast, but the extensions take a while to load, and on top of that there’s a high chance of them not loading their database. Often uB0 loses its filter database and I’ve heard reports of people using those script modify extensions *Monkey (Violent Monkey, etc) reporting similar issues.

        They only seem to copy what makes Chromium bad without the things which actually makes Chromium a good browser. The UI looks like Chrome, but the performance is nowhere near the levels of Chrome. And I understand there is some browser discrimination one wher one web “developer” decides to implement something which clearly if in Chrome’s favour, but I doubt this is what everyone is doing, since Fx fell behind in almost every aspect these days.

        I kind of liked the UI of Firefox 4. It was a complete rip-off of the UI Opera had at that time. It might have not been as flexible as the UI of Firefox v3.x, but it was functional, and most of it made sense. The current UI of Fx 57 seems to do nothing other than pushing the user towards using malicious data-aggregating services like Pocket, sync, and whatever other crap there is in Firefox these days.

  22. Pedro said on December 11, 2018 at 11:23 am
    Reply

    Those tab management changes are awesome!!

  23. Sophie said on December 11, 2018 at 10:49 am
    Reply

    Well……I’ll keep it brief : the “recommendations”, and all that this implies, is not going to go down very well!!

    1. DiscoDolly said on December 11, 2018 at 12:12 pm
      Reply

      So true – disabled already, the fox devs have really lost the plot over the past few years.

    2. user17843 said on December 11, 2018 at 12:02 pm
      Reply

      I would be much happier with ads in the newtabpage centrally in one place. Recommendations border on malware.

  24. Viktor said on December 11, 2018 at 10:17 am
    Reply

    Firefox 65 2019

    1. Albert said on December 17, 2018 at 9:55 pm
      Reply

      Why oh why has Mozilla changed the shortcuts that are only ever used by advanced users? I use Firefox on a mac, and they have moved the shortcut to add .com to the address, and as far as I can tell, have removed the .net and .org shortcuts too. And they wonder why their user base keeps losing out to Chrome!

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