Latest Firefox iOS Update Brings New Dark Mode and Tab Features

[MacRumors]

Firefox received an update on iOS today that brings a new dark theme and a handful of new tab functions to the popular web browser.

For some time now, Mozilla's mobile browser has had a "Night Mode" option, which inverts the colors of web pages except for images and certain other elements, similar to the way Apple's Smart Invert works for the iOS interface.

From left to right: Standard view, Night Mode, and Night Mode plus Dark theme.​

Version 13 of the app, released today, adds a new Dark display theme that essentially augments the Night Mode by darkening the interface. Used in tandem, Firefox offers users probably the best night-time browsing experience currently available on iOS.

To activate the night-time options, tap the Menu button (the three-line icon at the lower right of the interface) and enable the Night Mode using the toggle button. Then select Settings -> Display, and choose the Dark theme.

In addition to the above, version 13 of Firefox adds a couple of useful functions for users who tend to have a lot of tabs open at the same time. There's now a search bar in the open tabs screen to help you find tabs containing specific content, and individual tabs can now be dragged to rearrange them.

Firefox web browser is a free download for iPhone and iPad available on the App Store. [Direct Link]

Article Link: Latest Firefox iOS Update Brings New Dark Mode and Tab Features

 

[NIKKG]

What is the big infatuation with dark mode all of a sudden? Is it like a hipster trend to try to seem cool? I tried MS Office on dark mode for a minute and switched right back, it was so ugly looking.

I don't get what the big deal is all about, maybe people are just bored or alot of people are having bad eyes that are light sensitive all of a sudden?

 

[Aston441]

What is the big infatuation with dark mode all of a sudden? Is it like a hipster trend to try to seem cool? I tried MS Office on dark mode for a minute and switched right back, it was so ugly looking.

I don't get what the big deal is all about, maybe people are just bored or alot of people are having bad eyes that are light sensitive all of a sudden?

Some people, especially those with light colored eyes, have very good night vision, while on the other hand find brighter light uncomfortable and very bright light painful.

 

[bstpierre]

What is the big infatuation with dark mode all of a sudden? Is it like a hipster trend to try to seem cool? I tried MS Office on dark mode for a minute and switched right back, it was so ugly looking.

I don't get what the big deal is all about, maybe people are just bored or alot of people are having bad eyes that are light sensitive all of a sudden?

The OLED screen uses less power if there are a lot of blacks being displayed.

 

[drinkingtea]

What is the big infatuation with dark mode all of a sudden? Is it like a hipster trend to try to seem cool? I tried MS Office on dark mode for a minute and switched right back, it was so ugly looking.

I don't get what the big deal is all about, maybe people are just bored or alot of people are having bad eyes that are light sensitive all of a sudden?

I think you’re being purposely obtuse here/trying to bait people.

Dark mode is easier on the eyes. Plain and simple. Some people like the aesthetics of dark mode and/or want to save battery life if the have an OLED screen, but most people prefer it because it’s more comforting for their/our eyes. Staring at a white screen constantly is unhealthy for your eyes.

 

[NIKKG]

I think you’re being purposely obtuse here/trying to bait people.

Dark mode is easier on the eyes. Plain and simple. Some people like the aesthetics of dark mode and/or want to save battery life if the have an OLED screen, but most people prefer it because it’s more comforting for their/our eyes. Staring at a white screen constantly is unhealthy for your eyes.

That's fine, but I've been into computers for over 20 years and nobody made it into a big deal, so why is it only the past year or two that it suddenly became such a hot topic?

 

[plucky duck]

This is exactly what I need. Does safari have this feature in iOS?

 

[drinkingtea]

That's fine, but I've been into computers for over 20 years and nobody made it into a big deal, so why is it only the past year or two that it suddenly became such a hot topic?

I just told you why. And it hasn’t been a “hot topic” for only a year or two; many people have been begging for this feature for years.

 

[Perene]

What is the big infatuation with dark mode all of a sudden? Is it like a hipster trend to try to seem cool? I tried MS Office on dark mode for a minute and switched right back, it was so ugly looking.

I don't get what the big deal is all about, maybe people are just bored or alot of people are having bad eyes that are light sensitive all of a sudden?

How about the fact that most websites, including this one (and software) impose a white background that is detrimental to everyone's eyes?

If you are reading on a screen that has a white background, which gives off the maximum amount of display light, then consider switching from Black text on a White background to White text on a Black background. That will reduce the amount of light from the display considerably, by a factor of 10 to 1 or more. This is by far the single most important recommendation for reading on a display at night.

(Tip: for PDFs (ebooks) try this app):
https://itunes.apple.com/br/app/adobe-acrobat-reader/id469337564?mt=8

It's free and is the only one known that can impose a dark mode in ALL books.

By keeping the Brightness of the text nice and low it should actually be easier on the eyes. That is breaking with the traditional reading on paper analogy, but since displays produce their own light it’s time to consider using them in this way with a black background at night.

All manufacturers should make it easy to switch in and out of these two background modes, which should be implemented as an OS service for all applications that want to display text. This is something that is almost never provided and should be a standard option for all display products. And as an added plus, using a Black background also improves screen readability in high ambient light (and significantly reduces power consumption for OLED displays).

Taking this step you'll reduce the amount of light (including Blue light) produced by the display by a factor of 40 to 1 or more.

Apple and Android devices have a built-in way for switching from Black text on a White background to White text on a Black background is by using a menu option called Invert Colors or Negative Colors (under Accessibility in Settings). However, that makes the screen look scary with picture content. In other words, it sucks and no one uses it.

That's why we need more apps with TRUE dark mode.

 

[Northgrove]

What is the big infatuation with dark mode all of a sudden? Is it like a hipster trend to try to seem cool? I tried MS Office on dark mode for a minute and switched right back, it was so ugly looking.

I don't get what the big deal is all about, maybe people are just bored or alot of people are having bad eyes that are light sensitive all of a sudden?

In some cases like Office, I don't think dark mode makes much sense.

But a web browser applying it to the entire Internet makes much more sense to me, to avoid getting blinded when it's dark. For example, if you want to go read some news at night. Obviously you can just dial down the brightness but that also reduces contrast so that's sort of a bad trade off. I think there are good use cases for dark modes. I especially like to use them in conjunction with reader modes/views. Reader Mode is old news and with that, one might ask "why this too then?" But truth is that some sites don't play nice with reader modes at all.

Why only in the past few years? Beats me. Maybe new usage patterns emerging from being easily able to bring your "computer" (that is -- smartphone) to bed?

 

[DaveTheRave]

A long time ago I read that Safari on iOS had access to some technology that other browsers couldn’t use. Which made Safari faster. Is that still the case?

If so, what’s the main selling point for iOS users of Firefox and Chrome? Syncing bookmarks with the Window desktop versions of these apps?

 

[xero9]

A long time ago I read that Safari on iOS had access to some technology that other browsers couldn’t use. Which made Safari faster. Is that still the case?

If so, what’s the main selling point for iOS users of Firefox and Chrome? Syncing bookmarks with the Window desktop versions of these apps?

AFAIK, the browsing engine is the same regardless of which browser you use (they can’t use their own), but yeah, synced browser history and little features like dark mode.

 

[jongriff]

Berry Browser already does this and looks better to my eyes.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

A long time ago I read that Safari on iOS had access to some technology that other browsers couldn’t use. Which made Safari faster. Is that still the case?

If so, what’s the main selling point for iOS users of Firefox and Chrome? Syncing bookmarks with the Window desktop versions of these apps?

At one point, only Safari had access to the Nitro JavaScript engine. It’s open to all browsers now.

 

[CarlJ]

I think you’re being purposely obtuse here/trying to bait people.

Dark mode is easier on the eyes. Plain and simple. Some people like the aesthetics of dark mode and/or want to save battery life if the have an OLED screen, but most people prefer it because it’s more comforting for their/our eyes. Staring at a white screen constantly is unhealthy for your eyes.

You're claiming someone else is being obtuse, and then insisting your position is right by fiat, without offering any evidence. No, it's not "Plain and simple." That's not evidence, it's just an assertion. Dark mode can be easier on the eyes in a dark room, sure. It helps to have a background that roughly matches the prevailing brightness in the room. In brighter environments, often a lighter background is easier on the eyes. There were some problems with white backgrounds and flicker on screens with low refresh rates, but that hasn't really been a problem in a long time, unless you're still using an old CRT monitor.

If you're in a darkened room, a dark background can be easier on the eyes. It can also be pretty, and it can help OLED screens. But if you're in a well-lit room, lighter backgrounds can be easier on the eyes. Primarily, you don't want the screen to be a high-contrast break from everything else in the room. And you'd probably find lighter backgrounds easier on the eyes if you adjust the White Point (System Preferences > Displays > Color > Calibrate) from D65 to D50, so the screen is less blue.
[doublepost=1534199290][/doublepost]

Some people, especially those with light colored eyes, have very good night vision, while on the other hand find brighter light uncomfortable and very bright light painful.

If you have your screen set to a light background, and you have the brightness cranked up, you're probably doing it wrong. Staring into flashlights beams, headlight beams, and at the sun, are also a bad idea. Adjust the screen brightness and contrast to match the lighting conditions in the room.

 

[Perene]

There's a good reason to want dark mode: reducing brightness can also reduce blue light.

https://sleepbetter.org/does-apples-night-shift-really-work/

To improve existing displays for watching at night so that they don’t adversely affect sleep requires not only significantly reducing the display Brightness, which is easy, but then making sure that the least possible amount of Blue light in the 460-490nm spectral range is being emitted by the display or is blocked in some other way (I also mean using Night Shift).

White backgrounds give off the maximum amount of display light. So turn down the display Brightness considerably. Most displays now come set for 400 nits or more. For watching displays at night 100 nits or even less is all that we need at night. That will lower the amount of light (including Blue light) by a factor of 4 or more. We don’t need an instrument to measure it, so just lower the brightness as much as is comfortable.

Less than 50% is what I use here, perhaps as low as 25-30.

 

[OlliFlamme]

Dark mode is a matter of taste. Dark mode can alter the common way of UI experience, so it can give a new feeling, a new standard. Adding dark mode gives choice.
People like being given choices.
People like being able to change a standard into another
People like their own taste, and for some finally the dark mode appeals to their taste.
And as always: people like to pretend to have taste in the monkey see monkey do way of living that is so common right now.
Also, people like controversy, like the discussion above, which leads to more hype, which leads to more controversy and discussions.

Controversy and discussions lead to hype, lead to a fashion.

People following fashions don’t bother about arguments for their behaviour.

Be you for or against dark mode, why on earth be so judgemental about it?

If you are against, and have to talk as irritated as you do:
Human beings are predictable and always will be. If they don’t act the eay you want them to do (not like the dark mode) - learn to live in peace with their simple happinesses, and try to be alittle happier yourself. ‘Cause, why on earth bash on others? Probably to not have to bash on your own quirks...

And let’s whistle on and walk our walk... what a funny cirkus this can be here at times.

 

[Gravydog316]

What is the big infatuation with dark mode all of a sudden? Is it like a hipster trend to try to seem cool? I tried MS Office on dark mode for a minute and switched right back, it was so ugly looking.

I don't get what the big deal is all about, maybe people are just bored or alot of people are having bad eyes that are light sensitive all of a sudden?

Seriously?!
was using Dark Modes before they were cool!

butt seriously, does anyone use FF iOS?
whats its like?

 

[Perene]

It might have dark mode, but there's no way to save all bookmarks created in it. And we can't use Adblock. I did an iCloud backup and a clean install for iOS 12:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/ios-12-is-eating-my-battery.2139309/page-2#post-26512768

Lost all my data from Firefox... Safari, on the other hand, did save my bookmarks.

That was really unfortunate, since I stopped using Safari precisely because there's no dark mode in it.

Too bad there's no dark mode in iOS 12, and that Smart Invert option is s.hit. Wake up, Apple!