Firefox for Android will now favor desktop sites on big screens

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• Firefox reverted this change, but it will return in the near future

Key Takeaways

• Firefox has implemented a new default feature to load the desktop site on large-screen Android devices.
• This change benefits tablets and foldable phones with increased screen real estate.
• Users still have the option to revert to the mobile site preference in the settings.

Firefox is one of, if not the closest contenders to Google Chrome's dominance of the web browser space, and it does so with several key differences. For one, Mozilla isn't as large a corporation, and Firefox doesn't even use the Chromium browser engine that Chrome, Edge, and several others share. This gives Firefox developers plenty of independence to implement features differently, and the latest one will certainly benefit large-screen Android devices like tablets and foldable phones.

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Firefox does a lot of things differently compared to Google Chrome, like extensions, which are available on mobile unlike Chrome. However, the devs just pulled the wraps off version 133 of the Firefox browser for Android on November 26, and it has been rolling out since. This version fixes a few security issues and also treats clipboard content as sensitive material if you have Private Browsing mode enabled.

However, the biggest change affecting Android users with large-screen devices like tablets is the switch to loading the desktop site by default. This is a great move because most tablets and foldable phones have the screen real estate to display websites with desktop scaling, and the mobile versions often look weird because they are optimized for tall phones.

An important change to make browsing easy, even on foldables

Not terribly unique, though

While this change in Firefox is certainly welcome, it isn't the first to do so. For instance, Chrome started loading the desktop version by default on a few high-end Android tablets late last year. However, Chrome's change didn't impact foldable phones, but Firefox does. 9to5Google reports Mozilla's new default also applies to book-style foldables like the Pixel 9 Pro Fold.

Importantly, Firefox retains the option to change this new default behavior if you don't like it or prefer the mobile version of sites. The option is located under Settings → Site Settings. It's worth noting this page was previously known as Site Permissions.

UPDATE: 2024/12/03 18:18 EST BY DALLAS THOMAS

Firefox reverted this change, but it will return in the near future

In Mozilla's release notes for Firefox version 133.0.1, the development team explains that "The Desktop browsing mode preference released in 133.0 has been temporarily removed and will be enabled in a later release." They go on to note that this came in response to user reports of bugs with the new experience, so once those are ironed out, expect desktop mode to return to large-screen devices by default.