Mozilla has released version 156 of its Firefox browser. The update accelerates the built-in PDF viewer, among other things, but also begins showing sponsored suggestions in the address bar for users in Germany.
Firefox Suggest Brings Sponsored Links to Germany
With this new release, Mozilla is expanding its “Firefox Suggest” feature to Germany, France, and Italy. As users type terms into the address bar, the browser displays matching completions. In addition to localized Wikipedia entries, these now occasionally include sponsored hits from advertising partners.
Users who prefer not to see these paid search suggestions are not forced to accept them. Mozilla allows users to specifically disable sponsored entries in the browser settings under the Firefox Suggest section without losing regular search suggestions or chronological autocomplete.
Better Performance for PDFs, Graphics, and Video Conferences
Aside from the changes to the address bar, the update focuses on everyday performance:
- Faster PDF viewer: According to the developer, the built-in PDF viewer launches up to 45 percent faster than in earlier versions.
- Reduced resource consumption for images: When websites display downscaled high-resolution JPEG files, the downscaling process requires noticeably less memory and CPU time.
- Hardware decoding for Windows on ARM: On ARM64 devices running Windows, Firefox can now decode H.264 video streams directly via hardware during WebRTC video conferences. Relieving the main processor saves energy and conserves battery life.
For macOS users, Firefox also introduces a new option in the “Startup” settings, allowing the browser to launch automatically when the operating system boots.
Numerous Bug Fixes and Security Updates
In addition to optimizations, Firefox 156 resolves several issues encountered during daily use. Among other things, subtitles in Picture-in-Picture mode did not display reliably if enabled only after popping out the video window. Another bug in rich-text editors, where dragging an image file inadvertently created an extra line of text, has also been fixed.
The update also corrects a bookmark issue in the sidebar, search bar failures in split tabs, and rendering glitches with auto-hiding Windows taskbars. With “DNS over HTTPS” (DoH) enabled, websites that do not support HTTPS were previously sometimes blocked; network disconnects involving the built-in Mozilla VPN have also been fixed. As is customary with version bumps, the update also patches several security vulnerabilities. Just how critical code errors in browsers can be was highlighted previously by a typo that led to an RCE vulnerability in Firefox.
Firefox 156 is available immediately for Windows, macOS, and Linux, and is typically installed automatically through the built-in update mechanism. Users should apply the update promptly and adjust their address bar settings if desired.
Sources: Heise – News
