Mozilla Firefox 97 is now available to download.
There aren’t many “big” changes in this release (well, unless you count support for Windows 11 scrollbars) but there is, as always, a healthy chunk of under-the-hood enhancements aimed at improving the performance, security, and privacy.
Those loving Firefox’s ongoing obsession with “colour ways” will be delighted to hear six new colour way themes are present in this update, once again for a limited time only.
Firefox will likely tell you about the new schemes after you install the update, but you can access them at any time from the “Manage Themes” section.
Similarly, the 18 colour ways introduced in Firefox 94 expire and, unless saved, will no longer be available in Firefox 97 and above.
Erm, other than that? Not much. The browser does improve the precision of CPU data in the about:processes manager on Linux platforms, and applies CSD radius to ‘backdrops’ (thereby fixing sharp window corners on some desktops, including Linux Mint’s Cinnamon).
The browser’s built-in screenshot UI has a ‘retry’ button; benefits from some refinement to the PIP handling; and contains a glut of new security fixes and web development related changes.
Mozilla Firefox 97 is free, open source software for Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android. Users on Windows and macOS can upgrade to Firefox 97 directly “in-app” or via the Microsoft Store (depending on install method).
Linux users can download the latest release from the Firefox website, or wait for an official package to land via their usual software update mechanism, be it via a traditional repository, Snap, or Flatpak.