If you use Firefox and are facing performance issues on desktop or Android, you might be able to enhance the browser’s speed by disabling its accessibility services.
Recent reports on [email protected] reveal that Firefox’s Accessibility Service may have a memory leak, which could be slowing down the browser, especially on heavy websites.
Unfortunately, Mozilla removed the option to control accessibility settings from the preferences menu some time ago. While it is still possible to disable these services using about:config, many users may not be aware of this option or feel comfortable using it.
Feedback from users varies, with some noticing a decrease in memory usage after disabling the service, while others report no change. It’s advisable to test this on your local system to see if your Firefox installation is affected by this issue.
Please note, disabling Accessibility Services may impact assistive software, extensions, and other tools that rely on this feature.
The extent of this bug’s impact is uncertain. It’s possible that it is linked to other factors, explaining why only some users experience improvements by disabling the service. Mozilla is actively investigating this issue.
How to Check Accessibility Services Status
To check if Firefox’s Accessibility Services are enabled:
- Type about:support into the browser’s address bar.
- Scroll down to the Accessibility section at the bottom of the page.
- If it shows Activated: false, the service is disabled. If it says true, the service is enabled.
Disabling Accessibility Services
If you are using the desktop version of Firefox or Firefox Nightly on Android, follow these steps to turn off Accessibility Services:
- Enter about:config in the browser’s address bar.
- Proceed if a warning page appears.
- Use the search bar to find accessibility.force_disabled.
- Change the preference value to 1 (default is 0). On desktop, double-click the line to edit it.
- Restart Firefox.
This change forcefully disables the feature in Firefox. You can revert to the default value of 0 at any time to restore functionality.
On Android, similar effects can be achieved by disabling the text sizing feature in settings.
Image Source: Pixabay
