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Mozilla Firefox

Also known as: Phoenix, Mozilla Firebird, Firefox for Fire TV, Warpzilla, Firefox for Windows 7, Fenix, Firefox Preview, Metro Firefox
2002 – present Active
90

The Mozilla Foundation's free browser, which broke IE's monopoly. The only major browser not based on Chromium or WebKit.

Facts

Developer
Mozilla
Website
www.mozilla.org
Current engines
GeckoWebKit (iOS)
Former engines
Blink (WebView, Fire TV)
Derived from
Mozilla Application Suite (Phoenix)
Current platforms
WindowsmacOSLinuxAndroidiOSBSD
Former platforms
BeOS/HaikuOS/2
Details
Firefox for Fire TV (Dec. 2017 – Apr. 30, 2021): Fire OS (Fire TV, then Echo Show), based on the Android WebView; BeZilla community port (Firefox 2 “Bon Echo”) for BeOS, ZETA and Haiku, discontinued; OS/2 and eComStation: official OS/2 port of Mozilla products (Firefox 2.0.0.14, SeaMonkey 1.1.9, Thunderbird 2.0.0.12 in April 2008), then bitwise works' port for ArcaOS (Firefox 45.9.0 GA2, May 2018, last release); third-party “Firefox for Windows 7” rebuild (e3kskoy7wqk, 2025–2026) for Windows 7, which Mozilla dropped after Firefox 115; Android: GeckoView rewrite shown in June 2019 as “Firefox Preview” (code name Fenix), which became the stable Firefox for Android in August 2020 (v79); “Metro” touch version for Windows 8, developed from 2012 and tested in preview, cancelled on March 14, 2014, four days before its planned release (never more than 1,000 daily active users)
Popularity
90/100

Lineage

Derived browsers (59)
Firefox Focus, Cambium Secure Browser, Flock, Firefox OS Browser, Iceweasel / GNU IceCat, xB Browser (Torpark), PirateBrowser, Orfox, Telekom Browser, Zen Browser, Waterfox, Pale Moon, Netscape Browser 8, Epic Privacy Browser, Cliqz, Firefox Reality, Cloud Browse, Fennec F-Droid, LibreWolf, Cyberfox, CometBird, Floorp, Minimo / Fennec, Mull, Iceraven, Swiftfox, FireDragon, Wyzo, Orca Browser, Ghostery Private Browser (Dawn), TenFourFox, Porteus Kiosk, Basilisk, Light (lightfirefox), Glide Browser, Browsh, Mercury (Alex313031), Eclipse r3dfox, Mypal 68, Abrowser, JonDoBrowser, Naenara (browser), Webconverger, InterWeb, Pulse Browser, Dot Browser, Swiftweasel, OpenKiosk, Timberwolf, Madfox, Impervious, Nocturne, Project Foxhound, Marble, PlasmaFox, AT&T Pogo, Vimma, gjoa, Aph

Key versions

  1. Phoenix 0.1GeckoFirst public release, named “Phoenix”, a standalone browser derived from the Mozilla Suite.[1]
  2. Firebird 0.6First milestone under the “Mozilla Firebird” name after “Phoenix” was dropped over a trademark issue.[1]
  3. 0.8The project is renamed “Mozilla Firefox”.[2]
  4. 1.0First final release, launched alongside a fan-funded New York Times ad campaign.[2]
  5. 1.5Drops Mac OS X 10.1; last version for Windows 95.[2]
  6. 2.0Gecko 1.8.1Session restore, inline spell checking and anti-phishing protection.[2]
  7. 3.0Gecko 1.9New download manager; Guinness World Record for downloads in 24 hours.[2]
  8. 2.0.0.20End of Firefox 2 support; last version for Windows NT 4.0, 98 and Me.[2]
  9. 3.5Gecko 1.9.1HTML5 <video> and <audio> tags, private browsing and web workers.[2]
  10. 4.0Gecko 2.0New user interface; WebGL, WebM and broader HTML5 support.[2]
  11. Android 4.0First Firefox release for Android (codenamed “Fennec”).[3]
  12. 5Start of the rapid release cycle (a major version every six weeks).[2]
  13. 13Windows support limited to XP SP2 and later, dropping Windows 2000.[2]
  14. 29“Australis” interface redesign; add-on bar removed.[2]
  15. iOS 1.0WebKitFirefox for iOS released, required to use Apple’s WebKit engine.[3]
  16. 48GeckoFirst official release with Electrolysis (multi-process architecture).[2]
  17. 53Requires Windows 7: drops Windows XP and Vista (kept on ESR 52).[2]
  18. 57 (Quantum)Gecko (Quantum)“Firefox Quantum”: Photon UI, much faster engine, legacy XUL add-ons dropped.[2]
  19. Android 79 (Fenix)GeckoViewNew Android app (Fenix) built on GeckoView.[3]
  20. 89Gecko (Quantum)Visual redesign (Proton): simplified toolbar, menus and tabs.[2]
  21. 115 ESRLast branch for Windows 7/8 and macOS 10.12–10.14, with extended support.[2]
  22. 116Windows 10 and macOS 10.15 become the minimum requirements.[2]
  23. 118Local automatic translation of web pages (Project Bergamot).[2]
  24. 136Vertical tabs and new sidebar; Linux ARM64 build.[2]
  25. 137Tab groups and a refreshed address bar.[2]
  26. 149Split View for side-by-side pages and a free built-in VPN.[2]
  27. 159Recent release: native macOS share picker and page watching in Smart Window.[2]

Version sources: [1] www-archive.mozilla.org, [2] Firefox version history (Wikipedia en), [3] Firefox (Wikipedia en)

Sources

  1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefox
  2. https://www.aftvnews.com/firefox-browser-is-leaving-amazon-fire-tv-and-echo-show-at-the-end-of-the-month/
  3. https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/firefox-tv
  4. https://www-archive.mozilla.org/ports/beos/
  5. https://matejhorvat.si/en/beos/bezilla.htm
  6. https://www.webbrowserdirectory.com/browsers/bezilla/
  7. https://www-archive.mozilla.org/ports/os2/
  8. https://github.com/e3kskoy7wqk/Firefox-for-windows-7
  9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefox_for_Android
  10. https://www.theregister.com/2014/03/15/metro_firefox_canceled
  11. https://github.com/bitwiseworks/mozilla-os2/wiki