Firefox is the second most used web browser, behind Chrome. Although more and more users are using the Google browser, Mozilla continues to develop its browser to serve all those users concerned about their privacy who want a fully open source browser that does not collect or sell their own personal data. Like any other browser, keeping Firefox updated is very important in order to have the latest in security and privacy. And, for a few hours, the new Firefox 81 is already available to everyone.
The new Firefox 81 comes to all browser users as one more minor update. However, although we will not find major changes in this new version, what we will find will be several better changes that will allow users to continue using the browser safely, comfortably and privately. And, of course, a significant number of bug fixes to make it even more stable and fast.
What’s new in Firefox 81
The first of the novelties that we are going to find in this new version of the browser is a – . From now on, users will be able to control this playback from the keyboard or headphones while on another tab, and even with the PC locked, this being a long-awaited function that has finally become a reality.
Another interesting novelty is that, finally, this browser is now compatible with AcroForm . This means that, very soon, we will be able to use Firefox to fill out PDF documents, print them and save them already filled in without having to resort to other software to do so. Also, the PDF viewer now has a much more neat new look.
Firefox 81 launches a new theme, Alpenglow , which offers all users a much more colorful appearance in buttons, menus and tabs. This theme can be activated from the browser preferences, and has both a light and a dark version.
Other interesting changes that have come to the browser are:
- The passwords section, within the configuration, now tells us if there is an extension controlling the option to remember and save passwords.
- The MSI installer now uses the “install for one user” option by default instead of all.
- Audio and video HTML controls now have accessibility improvements.
- New icon for PIP mode.
- After importing bookmarks, the bookmarks bar is automatically displayed.
- Firefox now opens XML, SVG, and WEBP file formats automatically.
- Users in the United States can now save their credit cards.
- Users in some European countries now see recommendations for downloading and installing Pocket.
- Fixed a serious (non-security) bug in Firefox ESR for Windows.
Finally, it should be noted that this new update brings with it several security fixes, as well as patches for bugs that could affect the correct functioning of this.
Download Firefox 81
The new Firefox 81 is now available to all users as an OTA update . This new version will be downloaded automatically while we are using the browser, or we can download it manually from the Help> About Firefox menu. If we want, we can also download it from this link .
Users who still use version 68 ESR of Firefox, when they run out of support, will be directly updated to version 78 ESR of it in order to continue using the extended support branch.
The next stable Firefox 81 will reach users at the end of October 2020 (about the 20th, more or less) and, for now, all the news that it will include is not known.
