Mozilla has rolled out Firefox 106 Stable and Firefox 102.4 ESR. The latest Firefox 106 Stable release includes support for Firefox View, PDF editing, text recognition, and extraction on macOS, as well as new Colorways themes.
All development editions of Firefox have also been updated. Firefox Beta and Firefox Development have moved to version 107, while Firefox Nightly is now at version 108. Firefox for Android aligns its versioning with that of Firefox for desktop, now at Firefox 106.0.
Summary:
- Firefox 106 Stable and Firefox 102.4 ESR address security concerns.
- 6 unique vulnerabilities have been rectified in Firefox 106, along with 4 in Firefox 102.4 ESR.
Downloading and Updating Firefox 106
Firefox 106.0 and Firefox 102.4 ESR are already available for download. Most Firefox installations will automatically receive these updates through the browser’s built-in updating feature. Users eager to expedite the update process can manually check for updates or download and install Firefox from the official Mozilla website.
To check for updates in Firefox, follow these steps:
- Select Menu > Help > About Firefox.
Firefox will display the installed version and automatically check for any available updates, downloading and installing them promptly.
Alternatively, direct downloads are accessible by visiting Mozilla’s download website to obtain the latest browser version.
New Features and Improvements in Firefox 106.0
Firefox View
Firefox View is a key addition to this release, enhancing access to previously opened tabs in the browser and potentially other Firefox browsers on desktop or Android. A new pinned icon on Firefox’s tab bar activates the feature, with a brief guided experience explaining Firefox View.
The Firefox View screen is segmented into three primary sections: Tab Pickup, Recently Closed, and Independent Voices. Tab Pickup necessitates a Firefox account as Mozilla utilizes Firefox Sync to exhibit recently viewed pages on other devices in this section, facilitating continuity in browsing experiences.
The Recently Closed section displays the most recently closed tabs within the current browsing window. Independent Voices section promotes Colorway themes.
For a comprehensive overview of Firefox View’s functionality, refer to Ashwin’s detailed review here. Mozilla also offers a support page for more insights.
Firefox View can enhance the user experience for those utilizing Firefox across various devices and signed in to a Firefox Account on all of them, while others may find limited utility in this feature. Removing the Firefox View icon from the main toolbar is simple by right-clicking on the icon and selecting “Remove from Toolbar,” or by relocating the icon to another position, like next to the Firefox Menu on the right.
Basic PDF Editing
The latest release of Firefox’s built-in PDF Viewer supports fundamental PDF editing capabilities, enabling text input, drawing, and adding signatures to PDFs open in Firefox.
While text and drawing options are visible in the main toolbar of the final release, the signature option may be added later or have specific prerequisites not detailed in the official release notes.
Additional Changes and Fixes
- Firefox users on Windows can now pin a shortcut to private browsing mode on the taskbar directly from the private browsing start page.
- Setting Firefox as the default web browser on Windows now designates it as the default PDF application on the system.
- Linux users can now use swipe-to-navigate functionality to move back or forward in history on Wayland.
- Text recognition and extraction are supported on macOS 10.15 or newer systems, with English language support available for macOS 10.15 and additional languages for macOS 11.0 or above.
- 18 new Colorway themes have been introduced, available until January 16th, 2023.
Developer Enhancements
- The WebRTC platform received an upgrade, transitioning from libwebrtc version 86 to 103, leading to improvements such as enhanced screen sharing on Windows and Linux Wayland, reduced CPU usage, increased frames per second during screen capture on macOS, better RTP performance and reliability, and compatibility enhancements.
- A default option now allows setting the “background” manifest key property “persistent” to false for Manifest V2 (making a background page non-persistent).
- The object-src directive within the “content-security-policy” manifest key is now optional (bug 1766881).
Enterprise Adjustments
No updates provided.
Known Issues
No reported issues.
Security Updates and Fix Summary
Security patch details are typically disclosed post the browser’s official release. Further information can be found here following the release.
Firefox 106 patches 6 security vulnerabilities, while Firefox 102.4 ESR addresses 4 unique vulnerabilities. The severity level of these vulnerabilities is classified as high.
Upcoming Outlook
Expect Firefox 107 Stable to be released on November 11, 2022.
Image Source: PREMIO STOCK / Shutterstock
