Facts about Firefox
- 10
Approximately 10,000 volunteers contribute code to Firefox's open-source project, making it one of the most collaboratively developed software applications in existence.
- 09
Extensions downloaded from Firefox's add-on store have exceeded 3 billion installations since the platform launched in 2004, enabling users to customize their browser with thousands of third-party tools.
- 08
Around 200 million lines of code comprise Firefox's codebase, making it one of the largest open-source projects in the world.
- 07
Mozilla removed support for Adobe Flash from Firefox in December 2020, completing the browser industry's transition away from the plugin that had dominated web multimedia for two decades.
- 06
The Firefox logo's mascot, a red panda named Firefix, was created by designer Jon Hicks in 2004 but was later replaced by a stylized fox design starting in Firefox 4.
- 05
Firefox's private browsing mode, launched in 2008, prevents the browser from storing browsing history, cookies, and temporary files, leaving no local trace of user activity.
- 04
In 2019, Firefox introduced Enhanced Tracking Protection, blocking over 2,000 known trackers by default to prevent advertisers and data brokers from following users across websites.
- 03
Over 600 million people worldwide use Firefox as of 2024, making it the third most popular browser behind Chrome and Safari.
- 02
Mozilla's Quantum engine, introduced in Firefox 57 in November 2017, rewrote the browser's core in Rust to achieve twice the speed of Firefox 52.
- 01
Released in November 2004, Firefox 1.0 was Mozilla's response to Internet Explorer's dominance, eventually capturing 32 percent browser market share by 2009.