Today, the Firefox 157 update will roll out a redesign across desktop and mobile. Mozilla’s head of Firefox, Ajit Varma, hopes it will help expand the browser’s audience beyond privacy-conscious techies to a broader audience who might simply prefer its user experience over competitors like Chrome, Edge, and Safari.

When asked about Firefox’s main barrier to adoption, Paddy Harrington, a senior analyst at Forrester, was frank: “The biggest is they’re not Chrome.” Google-led Chromium dominates the web, powering Chrome and most other browsers. Firefox, built on the open source Gecko, serves as a Chromium-free alternative. But to expand beyond its small market share, Firefox must inspire users to actively select it.

Varma expressed hope that modernizations will help. “We are trying to do all of the above and work faster,” he said, noting that AI tools have enabled more velocity. The redesign brings compact mode, customization options, and a modern look that matches operating system design languages.