Mozilla Firefox 150 Officially Released, Enhancing Split Screen Browsing and PDF Editing Features
Mozilla today officially released the new version of its desktop browser, Firefox 150, bringing a batch of functional upgrades focused on ease of use and privacy protection to this popular browser, including improved split screen browsing, new PDF editing capabilities, improved multi-tab sharing, optimized profile management for Windows users, and package updates for Linux users, among others.
In terms of split screen browsing, Firefox 150 has significantly enhanced Split View. Users can now right-click on any link and directly select "Open Link in Split View" to display the new page side-by-side with the current tab, facilitating comparative reading or multitasking. When creating a split view, users can also search through open tabs and quickly swap the positions of the tabs on the left and right sides using the newly added "Reverse Tabs" option in the tab right-click menu.
The multi-tab sharing function has also been strengthened. Users can select multiple tabs at once, right-click and choose "Share X Links," and then when pasting the generated content into other applications, each link will simultaneously include the webpage title and URL, making it easier to clearly display the list of shared pages in emails, chats, or documents.
The built-in PDF editor is another highlight of this update. Firefox 150 allows users to reorder, copy, paste, and delete pages in PDF documents, and supports exporting by page, enabling the browser itself to meet more complex PDF management and editing needs, reducing reliance on external tools.
In terms of security and privacy, Firefox has extended the local network access restrictions, previously only available to users with "Enhanced Tracking Protection" set to "Strict," to all users, and is implementing a phased rollout. In the future, when a website attempts to access devices on the local network or connect to applications and services on the user's device, the browser will require user authorization, preventing webpages from scanning or exploiting local network resources without the user's knowledge.
Regarding translation functionality, Mozilla continues to advance its local, real-time, and privacy-friendly translation solution. Users can quickly bring up the about:translations page by entering "translate" in the address bar to experience real-time translation capabilities without uploading content to the cloud. The corresponding interface and functionality have also been updated in the new version to improve usability.
For different platforms, Firefox 150 has also added several customized improvements. Linux users can now use the GTK system Emoji picker to insert emojis into the browser via system shortcuts (usually Ctrl+. ), maintaining consistency with the desktop environment experience. For Windows users who installed Firefox through the Microsoft Store, web applications (PWAs) are now officially available, making it convenient to pin and launch frequently used websites as "applications."
The profile management system has been fully opened to users in this version, covering more platforms including Windows 10. Firefox 150 allows Windows 10 and Windows 11 users to back up browser profiles as separate files. This function also applies to users adopting the new profile management system, which is beneficial for migration, recovery, or synchronizing browsing environments across multiple devices.
For Linux distributions, Mozilla has provided new .rpm installation packages for RPM-based systems (such as Red Hat, Fedora, openSUSE, etc.) to make it easier for users of these distributions to obtain and deploy the latest version of Firefox. In addition, for users accustomed to managing tab groups through the right-click menu, Firefox has added a related option to disable the "Drag tabs to automatically create tab groups" behavior in the settings, located at "Settings > Tabs > Drag tabs to create tab groups."
Currently, Firefox 150.0 is available for download via Mozilla's FTP server, and existing users will receive update pushes in the coming hours: