Firefox Confirms Built-In Ad Blocker, PWA Expansion in Reddit AMA
Mozilla’s Firefox browser confirmed it will add a built-in ad blocker “very soon,” among a series of technical updates disclosed during a public question-and-answer session on Reddit on June 24, 2026.
Firefox engineers and product staff fielded seven community questions during the session, covering graphics rendering, HDR Support, performance issues, and platform-specific features.
Graphics and Rendering
On graphics, the team ruled out any major engine rewrite comparable to past overhauls such as WebRender — a rendering architecture Mozilla previously rebuilt from scratch to shift GPU work off the CPU.
Instead, engineers said they are progressing with a transition to ANGLE, a compatibility layer that translates graphics calls, using Vulkan and Metal backends. Vulkan targets Windows and Linux systems; Metal targets Apple hardware.
The team also confirmed it is moving Away From FreeFont, a free typeface collection the browser has long relied on. That shift, combined with the ANGLE transition, points to improved font rendering and broader graphics performance.
No plans exist to adopt native OpenGL, the team said.
HDR and Performance
On HDR — high dynamic range, a display technology that widens color and brightness range — the team said image support will follow once HDR video improvements ship first.
That said, at least one performance concern surfaced during the session. A user flagged a slowdown in the Pixi.js benchmark, a commonly used JavaScript rendering test.
Engineers traced the regression to a JavaScript-layer problem and filed a ticket on Bugzilla, Mozilla’s public bug-tracking system, to address it.
Android Issues
On Android, the team said it is investigating a bug where links opened from external apps fail to load inside the correct user profile. No timeline for a fix exists yet.
A separate user raised concerns about scrolling smoothness, battery drain, and general performance on Android compared with Chromium-based browsers. The team asked follow-up questions about specific sites and device hardware but did not explicitly acknowledge the issue as a confirmed bug.
PWA Expansion
Firefox recently announced Progressive Web App — PWA, a technology that lets websites run as standalone app-like experiences — Support for Linux. During the AMA, the team confirmed macOS PWA support is also coming soon.
Still, engineers said macOS implementation is significantly more complex than Linux or Windows due to platform-level constraints Apple imposes.
AI Features
One user pushed back on what they described as an accumulation of AI features inside the browser. The team said a single toggle disables all of them.
Firefox’s broader roadmap, announced before the AMA, covers new AI integrations, an improved Power Saving mode, a Smart Window feature, and updates related to a project called Nova.
Ad Blocker
The ad blocker confirmation drew the most attention. Firefox did not give a specific release date, but the team’s use of “very soon” suggests the feature is close to deployment.
Mozilla has positioned Firefox as a privacy-focused alternative to Chrome, which holds roughly 65 percent of the global browser market, according to StatCounter data as of early 2026.
