Firefox 129.0: Reader View enhancements, HTTPS and DNS improvements, and security fixes
Mozilla has released Firefox 129.0 Stable as well as Firefox 128.1 ESR and Firefox 115.14 ESR. Firefox 129 makes several important changes to the browser. Notable are the switch to HTTPS first for non-local addresses, use of system DNS settings on some operating systems, and Reader View enhancements.
All development versions of Firefox were updated as well. The new versions are Firefox 130 Beta and Firefox 131 Nightly.
Executive Summary
- Firefox 129 fixes security issues, bugs, and adds new features.
- Firefox 115 ESR will receive one additional releases until it is retired on October 1, 2024,
Firefox 129.0 download and update
Firefox downloads and installs updates automatically. It may take a while before the browser downloads the update. If you want to speed things up, you may select Menu > Help > About Firefox to run a manual check for updates.
Firefox will check for updates to install any new version that it finds.
You can also download the latest version of Firefox by following these links:
- Firefox Stable download
- Firefox Beta download
- Nightly download
- Firefox ESR download
- Firefox for Android on Google Play
Firefox 129.0 changes
Reader View improvements
Reader View offers enhanced readability for articles in Firefox. It removes distractions and includes some customization options. You can launch it with the shortcut F9 on supported articles, or by activating the Reader Mode icon that Firefox displays in the address bar when it encounters a suitable webpage.
Mozilla improved Reader View in Firefox 129 in several ways:
- The text and layout menu offers more options, including character spacing, word spacing, and text alignment.
- The new theme menu has additional contrast and gray options.
- Also new is the option to select custom colors for text, the background, and links.
Tab Previews
When you hover the mouse over a background tab in Firefox, a visual preview of the webpage is displayed now. The preview includes the title, domain, and a snapshot of the page.
This makes it easier to locate a specific tab, especially if page titles are identical or only icons are displayed.
Note: The feature is rolling out gradually. You can enable it right away in the following way:
- Load about:config in the Firefox address bar.
- Search for browser.tabs.hoverPreview.enabled.
- Toggle the preference so that its value is True.
Previews should now be enabled. If you do not want the feature, toggle the value to False to disable it.
Other changes and fixes
- Firefox tries the HTTPS protocol first now when users type a domain name in the address bar. This is true only for non-local sites. The browser falls back to HTTP is HTTPS is not supported or available.
- HTTPS DNS records can be resolved using the DNS resolver of the operating system on Windows 11, Linux, and Android 10+ devices.
- macOS VoiceOver support for multiple languages in the same document.
- Address autofill is now available for Firefox users in Germany and France.
Developer changes
This is a collection of changes. For all of them, check the Developer link at the bottom of the article.
- The Network Blocking feature in the Network panel now blocks HTTP requests in addition to blocking responses.
- The @starting-style CSS at-rule is supported
- The transition-behavior CSS property is supported.
- Float16Array typed arrays are now supported.
- The deprecated textInput event is now supported.
- The default .toJSON() methods GeolocationCoordinates.toJSON() and GeolocationPosition.toJSON() are now supported.
- MediaCapabilities.decodingInfo() can now get decoding information for a particular encrypted media configuration as well unencrypted media.
- The Ed25519 digital signature algorithm is supported by the Web Crypto API.
Enterprise changes
- The DisableFirefoxStudies policy was updated to "properly disable Nimbus, Firefox's cross-platform experimentation tool".
Security updates / fixes
Mozilla fixed 14 unique security issues in Firefox. The aggregate severity rating is high. Mozilla makes no mentions of exploits in the wild.
Outlook
Firefox 130, Firefox 128.2 ESR, and Firefox 115.15 ESR will be released on September 9th, 2024.
Recent Firefox news and tips
Additional information / resources
- Firefox 129 release notes
- Firefox 129 for Developers
- Firefox 129 for Enterprise
- Firefox Security Advisories
- Firefox Release Schedule
Closing Words
Reader View is a useful feature that offers some interesting options, such as the ability to change the width of content. The new options improve the mode further. I just wish there was an option to enable it permanently on certain sites.
Firefox 115 ESR will reach end of support soon. There will be just one more release for the old ESR version. It is unclear how Mozilla plans to keep it alive for Windows 7 and 8.1 (only).
Have you tried the new Firefox version already? What is your take on the improvements?
a Firefox 129.0.1 (point “one”) release came out Tuesday August 13 with a few non-security bug fixes:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/129.0.1/releasenotes/
I too am wondering if and/or how to replace the Firefox ESR after October. Not a chome fan and the alternatives that currently exist seem to be weaker privacy-wise than Firefox. Some of the ESR updates over the last 6 months have kept me from viewing videos on some sites like The Onion and The Guardian. I can’t even get my login token passed correctly on the Guardian anymore–It lets me in, but blocks the site’s video functionality. No one from the Guardian’s tech support can figure this out.
I know that 0patch is continuing to support security updates for Win7 and Edge–I use them, but they have not come out with a statement about Firefox yet. Are any of the forks for Firefox an equivilent substitute? Still may not solve the issues above, but at least I would have something equivient.
Is it just me who is unlucky or with the latest update the search engines bar only works if you type in a word and doing a search? Now it seems to be stuck if the search engines bar is empty and you click on a icon to open the relative homepage.
…
https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/discussions/independent-search-box-toolbar-no-longer-lets-you-hit-enter-to/td-p/62106
the comment from another commenter prompted me to thank Martin for this blog, so *thanks Martin*
as for Firefox, i see it as the lessor evil of the mainstream browsers … meanwhile my respect for Mozilla continues to plummet, but at least they’re continuing support for mv3, for the time being anyway
Personally I’m not happy with the idea of “falling back to HTTP” if HTTPS is not available for a particular site. If a site is only available using HTTP then, as a hard rule, I don’t bother visiting it. Hopefully nothing’s “really” changed and an HTTPS unavailable warning will still appear. Also, not being a computer nerd I don’t know if I like the idea of my Windows 11 Pro OS being directly involved in DNS lookups because Micro$oft will probably monetise that, too. If there was software available for Linux to keep selected cookies only (as in Ccleaner) I’d ditch Windows 11 completely. Seriously, My 14 year old Windows 7 PC runs Skyrim much better than my £2000+ PC running Windows 11 Pro, and FF ESR (a godsend) seems more responsive. Yep… I love Firefox :-)
You can already enable HTTPS Only mode from settings if you dont want to see HTTP ever.
I like FF and continue to use it (ESR, portable) as my go-to, but it’s been a long time since any of their “improvements” improved anything tangible for me.
And that’s probably a good thing; it already does what I want just fine.
Picture in Picture video is now behind all windows. New feature or bug? LOL
It can be disabled as easy as going to options and disable it with one click.
That was not what he’s asking. I too noticed that PiP was hidden behind other windows at first. Thankfully restarting Firefox fixed it, for now.
“I just wish there was an option to enable it permanently on certain sites.”
Epitome of the cultural norm of instant gratification [I would write “laziness,” but Martin has kept a blog going for many, many years, a useful, valueable blog.]
Yes, it is so unbelievably time consuming and diffcult to press the F9 key or move a mouse arrow to the Reader View icon.
I’ve updated Firefox ESR to latest 115.14.0 accordingly.
Just wondering : what has substantially improved, what substantial features (though this is subjective) have been added since Firefox 115? Should I smile, laugh or cry? :)
this depends whom you are asking …
for an end-user: nothing really relevant has changed. The rendering engine is still gecko and still displays html and images, uses CSS and the script engine is still SpiderMonkey and still runs Javascript.
Under the hood (=for devs) there have been significant changes, that the “normal end-user” never even recognizes or cares about (unless they are not omitted and after some time more and more sites start to no longer work properly as a result). Not talking of continuous security fixes.
In reality it’s the later 2 (under the hood changes and security fixes) which are the real reason a browser should be updated regularly and which define the real capabilities, privacy, security and compatibility of a browser. This is far more important, than the presence or absence of some obscure functionality like Picture-in-Picture, vertical tabs or similar irrelevant end-user nonsense.
Well, the ESR branch does get the security fixes. Under the hood fixes, or perhaps security innovations not applicable to Firefox 115 (ESR) would call my attention. Let’s not forget nevertheless that among these some do handle issues pertinent only to post 115… hence won’t lack on a 115 : the Windows 11 syndrome : fixes that fix previous fixes’ issues…
From your comment and as a Firefox 115 ESR user perhaps therefor a smile, no laugh and no cry. I admit I feared to cry on the lack of fantastic new features but at the end it seems as you write it that the major point in upgrades in the 115-129 interval is security related, done for Firefox 115 as well.
Thanks.
For all it’s faults, Firefox is alright. Hopefully someone else picks up the slack after 115 ESR is done. Having a functional browser is 1 thing, but having a browser that matches and looks good on the OS, (plus aero peak for every individual tab) is awesome.
Out of the box firefox may be puke-worthy but at least it’s fairly stable, not particularly worse than chrome, at least.
Using a Youtube 2012 themer, Firefox Echelon theme, on Windows 7, it’s like time travelling 10 years :) It’s truly a testament to how awesome people are, that you can do that in 2024.
Still hoping that Firefox decides to completely 100% copy Chromium’s history management and storage, but I guess that day will never come.
Recently Firefox has gotten faster, only issues are Youtube and animation, once they sorted out this we’ll be in a good spot.
If it was in a good spot, it wouldn’t have 3% market share. Remember that Firefox can be downloaded for free.
@Iron Heart
https://www.spacebar.news/stop-using-brave-browser/
Worry more about your precious BAT tokens than Firefox share.
That is because Google is a monopoly. Stop shilling for Big Tech.
https://www.businessinsider.com/google-violated-antitrust-law-to-keep-search-monopoly-judge-rules-2024-8?op=1
Really? Don’t you think that it’s the responsibility of Apple, Google and Microsoft setting the default in their OSs (iOS, macOS, iPadOS, Windows, Android) or marketing their browsers (Google Search, Bing)?
@Iron Heart–Cool, are there any other browsers I can download and use for free? I’ve been paying for Cocoon, but they pay me back by surfing more. I have no idea what they do with my data. :-)
@VioletMoon, cool, Iron-y is the best way to respond to stupidity.