Almost a month after releasing version 139, Mozilla has launched Firefox 140, the latest update to its popular open-source web browser, now available for download.
One of the most practical additions is the ability to unload tabs manually. Users can now right-click on any tab (or multiple selected tabs) and choose “Unload Tab” to free up memory and CPU resources without losing their place.
For vertical tab users, the latest version allows adjusting the size of the pinned tabs section by simply dragging the divider, giving more (or less) space to frequently used tabs.
Moreover, the “Extensions” button can now be removed from the toolbar entirely, decluttering the interface while keeping extensions accessible via the Firefox menu. Plus, users can finally add custom search engines directly by right-clicking a website’s search field or manually entering a search URL in settings.
Privacy-conscious users will appreciate two key upgrades:
- Lockable private tabs on Firefox for Android can now be secured with fingerprint or device credentials.
- Service Workers are now supported in Private Browsing Mode, enabling better functionality for websites relying on background tasks while maintaining encrypted storage.
The Full-Page Translation feature now works smarter by prioritizing content near the user’s current view, skipping off-screen text until scrolling occurs. This reduces unnecessary resource usage and speeds up translations.
Accessibility also gets attention with support for aria-keyshortcuts across Linux, macOS, and Windows, along with the new Custom Highlight API, allowing developers to style specific text ranges.
Under the hood, developers will find several noteworthy updates:
- Escaping of
<and>symbols in HTML attributes to mitigate potential mXSS attacks. - CookieStore API support for asynchronous cookie handling.
pointerrawupdateevent for high-precision, low-latency pointer tracking.
Lastly, as previously informed you, Pocket’s toolbar icon and New Tab integrations have been removed following the service’s shutdown.
Those eager to immediately download the latest version of Firefox can do so directly from Mozilla’s server.
Windows and macOS users can expect an over-the-air update within the next day. Users of rolling-release Linux distributions should look for Firefox 140 as an update in their repositories over the next few days.
