Mozilla have just updated their Firefox for iOS browser, the first major update of the mobile browser for iPhones and iPads since its recent release. This update brings with it support for 3D Touch on the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus and the ability to type a search query directly into the Spotlight Search Bar on iOS 9.
Mozilla, the developers behind Firefox, resisted releasing a mobile version of their popular open source browser for iOS for quite some time, due to a dispute with Apple over not being allowed to use their own rendering engine, Gecko.
Apple imposes stiff App Store standards on any potential browsers for the iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. One of those standards is that third-party browsers must use Apple’s Webkit rendering engine, which comes with its own set of restrictions limiting the feature capability of any browser.
The new 3D Touch support for Firefox for iOS adds deep pressing on the icon to open up the shortcuts menu in addition to the Peek and Pop feature, which allows users to deep press on a link to preview a web page and other miscellaneous options. The home icon shortcuts’ menu includes Open Last Bookmark, New Private Tab and New Tab.
The new update also introduces the ability to search for text in a web page by highlighting a text item and clicking the “Find in Page” option, as well as managing synced logins and passwords via the settings menu and searching the web with Firefox directly from Spotlight.
Firefox for iOS was first released in November 2015, and entered a crowded third-party mobile web browser App Store category that highly reviewed alternatives such as Dolphin, Chrome and Opera.
