Mozilla Firefox is now available on the Microsoft Store

Ashwin
Nov 9, 2021
Updated • Nov 9, 2021
Browsers
|
25

A couple of weeks ago, we told you that Mozilla is testing Firefox on the Microsoft Store. But it wasn't available for users, that changes today. The browser has been released to Microsoft's marketplace.

Mozilla Firefox is now available on the Windows Store

Mozilla announced the news on its blog, and while it claims the first major browser to be available in the Windows Store, that honor actually belongs to Microsoft Edge. Now, the big question is, how does the new app differ from the regular Firefox?

Thankfully, the app isn't a toned-down version, it is on par with the normal version in that it is based on the Gecko engine. In other words, both browsers are identical. The MSIX package is on par with the desktop version, at 94.0.1. You can have the Windows Store version and the normal Firefox installed at the same time. Can you run both versions of the browser simultaneously? The answer is, surprisingly, yes.

Firefox Windows Store version

The Firefox Windows app  uses the Proton UI, and allows you to access about:config and make changes to the flags. The tab-bar, address bar, right-click context menu are similar to the regular version that users are accustomed to. As for add-ons, you can download your favorite extensions from Mozilla's Add-on's repository, per usual. Firefox sync is also supported in the Windows Store version.

Firefox Windows Store app interface

Mozilla has confirmed that its browser in the Windows Store supports DNS over HTTPS, Total Cookie Protection, Enhanced Tracking Protection, WebRender, Quantum CSS, Multi Picture-in-Picture, Colorways, etc.

So, why do we need Firefox in the Windows Store while we can get it from Mozilla's website? Mozilla says that the decision to makes its browser available in the Windows Store, was to provide users the option to use the browser of their choice, and since Microsoft lifted the policy that required Store apps to use Microsoft's engine, Firefox could be released in its true form. Microsoft Edge isn't bad per se, but many users prefer to use a non-Chromium browser, and having an open-source alternative is always good for privacy.

Firefox Windows Store options

There are other advantages to this move by Mozilla. It might prove to be another channel to attract more users to the browser. The app will receive automatic updates directly via the Windows Store, which is an added bonus.

Firefox Windows Store settings

Download Mozilla Firefox from the Windows Store now. The app is free, of course. Users will need to be on a 64-bit computer running on Windows 10 version 17763.0 or higher, to use the app. I tested it on Windows 11 and Windows 10, and the app worked fine on both computers. I can't comment on the performance of the app, since I have only been using it for about 40 minutes or so. It does feel snappier than the desktop browser, but it could be a placebo effect. On the plus side, I haven't experienced any bugs with it whatsoever.

Now that Firefox is in the Windows Store, I think it is a safe bet to say other browser makers could make their own products available on the marketplace. Chrome maybe an exception to that perhaps, but that would be Google being Google.

Will you switch to the Firefox Windows Store app? Tell us what you think about it.

Summary
Mozilla Firefox is now available on the Microsoft Store
Article Name
Mozilla Firefox is now available on the Microsoft Store
Description
Mozilla has released Firefox as an MSIX app on the Windows Store.
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Ghacks Technology News
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Comments

  1. Pierre said on November 10, 2021 at 7:20 am
    Reply

    I don’t like to depend on the store updates

  2. Pierre said on November 10, 2021 at 7:19 am
    Reply

    I had to add the French dictionary to have the French orthographic correction, otherwise, there is only English. Not useful in the ordinary version.
    How do you manage the profiles from this version ? What profile do it use ?

  3. Dave said on November 10, 2021 at 5:06 am
    Reply

    Even if/when they add Firefox ESR to the M$ store I wouldn’t us it because It’s a safe bet that M$ would update it every 3 days undoing all the changes I’ve done to the config.

  4. Anonymous said on November 10, 2021 at 12:26 am
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    The store is full of malwares.. try searching for ‘firefox’

  5. Anonymous said on November 9, 2021 at 10:37 pm
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    Until it ends up like this store app? https://twitter.com/Simizfo/status/1458139949669044232

    No thank you. I’ll keep getting it off the web site. We don’t need another wall garden.

  6. John G. said on November 9, 2021 at 9:36 pm
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    It’s good to have two FF installed at the same time. :]

  7. Ladyhawk365 said on November 9, 2021 at 9:24 pm
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    Great! And what about those who, for privacy reasons, do not use the Store? For example, it’s generally impossible to install the Store on my pirated version of LTSC.

    It looks like Mozilla is pushing users for Windows’ telemetry, so that They can track them. No way. I’ll continue to use my custom build FurryWolf 68 with options disabled.

  8. microfix said on November 9, 2021 at 7:08 pm
    Reply

    “Thankfully, the app isn’t a toned-down version, it is on par with the normal version in that it is based on the Gecko engine”
    or tuned-up for MiscreantSoft purposes..

    No thanks, I’ll stick with the Distro maintainers/ Mozilla PPA and FTP for Windows upgrades and updates.

  9. Pierre said on November 9, 2021 at 5:48 pm
    Reply

    I found it

  10. Pierre said on November 9, 2021 at 5:43 pm
    Reply

    Sorry, It’s not available yet

  11. Pierre said on November 9, 2021 at 5:41 pm
    Reply

    Very nice, thanks for the info, I install it and I come back
    What about the updates ?

  12. Wayfarer said on November 9, 2021 at 5:14 pm
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    Not entirely sure why anyone would consider this important.

    I’ve never had any trouble obtaining installation or update files for Firefox, nor have I ever needed much that was only available via Windows Store.

  13. ShintoPlasm said on November 9, 2021 at 4:26 pm
    Reply

    Opera has been on the Windows Store even before Firefox…

    1. Reis said on November 10, 2021 at 8:27 am
      Reply

      It says FF is first major browser in the article. When Opera become a major browser? It’s just a bloated chromium derivative.

      1. ShintoPlasm said on November 10, 2021 at 10:57 am
        Reply

        @Reis: You do realise that Opera has a very long history which predates Firefox’s (and yes I’m aware of developments in recent years) and hundreds of millions of users? So yes, it is a major browser with more users than all other Chromium derivatives combined (Edge excepted) and whose devs provide significant security contributions to the CVE database. I don’t particularly like their Chinese ownership, but the jury’s still out on how pernicious that really is.

      2. Rex said on November 15, 2021 at 3:03 am
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        And you do realize that that Opera, an originally Norwegian company, was sold out to Chinese investors in 2016, and has been using Google’s rendering engine since about 2013, making it just another Chrome clone as of today? The original company and browser are dead and gone.

      3. ShintoPlasm said on November 16, 2021 at 5:25 pm
        Reply

        @Rex: Very much aware of their Chinese ownership, though the company is not ‘dead and gone’ but simply a subsidiary of that opaque Chinese consortium. I don’t know why the Chinese bought Opera (though conspiracy theories abound), but as far as I can tell their entire dev team is based in Norway and Poland, and the company is still registered in Norway and subject to Norwegian laws. Whether anything shady is happening in secret I don’t know, but I would hope that the non-Chinese devs would sound the alarm if it did.

        As for “Google’s rendering engine” – well duh, that’s old news. Blink is not such a bad engine overall, and Presto was becoming hugely outdated without the necessary resources to maintain it. In today’s internet, only the world’s largest tech companies have the capacity to develop and maintain a browser engine. It’s no longer viable otherwise, and I believe that Opera made the right choice to transition. I didn’t like it one bit back then, but years later I can understand they couldn’t have continued otherwise.

    2. The Strutting Pheasant said on November 10, 2021 at 8:03 am
      Reply

      use brave with its’ self-absorbent cryptobats to sustain the dark overlord-bat eich

    3. Ayy said on November 9, 2021 at 5:02 pm
      Reply

      yeah but Opera has been owned by the CCP since 2016 so who cares?

      1. ChinChonChun said on November 9, 2021 at 9:48 pm
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        @Ayy I would rather take CCP who would do pretty much nothing special with the information they can get from the western world, than a garbage company like Mozilla with their virtue signaling and lies and hypocrisy, especially when they say “internet for all” but they openly support censorship while pretending the are the good guys while getting half billion dollars from one of the worst companies like Google is, at least CCP is more honest who they are and how they are.

      2. Nita Betch said on November 10, 2021 at 11:11 pm
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        So, our very own cut-n-paste, waste of space, carnival barker, chimes in under a different pseudonym.
        You can’t disguise the same-old-same old whining and writing style.
        I think your rusty heart needs a valve job.
        Pour us all a cup of strength and –Take a hike…

      3. Sebas said on November 10, 2021 at 7:16 pm
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        Mozilla is a big danger to a free Western world. their virtue signalling means nothing, they only want to have complete power and hate every one which still has a sane non woke mind.

        They don’t give anything about transgenders, black people etc etc, they just pretend. China is a big danger and so they are, but since they partly belong to the core of the woke elite, they are a far more imminent danger in silencing and harassing everyone they hate.

        Google and Facebook are the same. About Tech: the terms black list and white list are forbidden and so much more. Kindergarten level.

      4. semce said on November 10, 2021 at 1:03 am
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        If you don’t like it don’t use it. Nobody forcing you.

      5. ShintoPlasm said on November 9, 2021 at 7:02 pm
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        And your point is what exactly? Opera is a significant browser with a sizeable user base. I’m addressing the following part of the article:

        “Mozilla announced the news on its blog, and while it claims the first major browser to be available in the Windows Store, that honor actually belongs to Microsoft Edge.”

      6. Spark said on November 9, 2021 at 9:32 pm
        Reply

        His sentence has more points than yours tbf

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