New to Firefox for mobile? Well you’ve come to the right place. This article covers all the basics and will get you up and running in just a few minutes. It also has links to other great articles that you might want to explore later.

New to Firefox for mobile? Well you’ve come to the right place. Here we show you how to start using Firefox for Android on your smartphone or 7" tablet to safely and easily browse your favorite web sites, access Firefox bookmarks and history, and manage your Firefox settings.

Where are all of the controls?

To save space on your device's display, Firefox's browser controls are stowed away on the sides of the screen. You can access them by swiping your finger left or right.

• Swipe right to show your tabs and the New Tab button.
• Swipe left to reveal the bookmark Star button, the Back and Forward buttons and the Gear button which lets you access the Preference, Downloads and Add-ons screens.
• In addition, swiping either left, right or down will bring up the location bar which contains:
  • The site icon: Tap to see the site menu with page-specific options.
  • The location bar: Tap to open the Awesome Screen
  • The combination reload and stop button: Tap to stop loading or to reload a page.

How do I open a new tab?

1. Swipe to the right to select the New Tab button located on the bottom, left side of the screen.
2. You'll be taken to the Awesome Screen and a list of your most visited sites. You can type the name or address of the website you're looking for or just choose it from a list of your bookmarks, history and tabs.

How do I quickly find the site I want?

1. Open the Awesome Screen by tapping in the location bar at the top of any page or by creating a new tab.
2. Then simply select a site from the list of your most visited sites.
   • You can also search through your bookmarks, history, and desktop tabs. Just tap on one of the results to go to that page.
     

How do I bookmark a site?

1. Just go to the site you want to bookmark, swipe to the left and tap the Star button. The star will turn yellow to let you know the bookmark has been saved.
   
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How do I zoom into a website?

To make Firefox zoom into a section of website, just double-tap the area you'd like to see. Double-tap again to zoom out.

How do I manage downloads?

1. Swipe to the left and tap the Gear button located on the bottom, right side of the screen.
2. Select the downloads (downward arrow) tab to manage your downloads.

How do I sync Firefox between my desktop and mobile?

You can use Firefox Sync to share your bookmarks, passwords, settings, history, and tabs between your desktop and mobile. First just set up Firefox Sync on your desktop and then add your mobile device with the easy setup code.

How do I find and install add-ons?

You can browse through and search for add-ons right inside of Firefox.

1. To start, swipe to the left and tap the Gear button located on the bottom, right side of the screen.
2. Select the add-ons (puzzle piece) tab and scroll down to see an add-ons search bar and a list of popular add-ons .
3. To install an add-on, tap to select it and then tap Add to Firefox.
   
   

Firefox for Android start page

At the top of the Firefox app are the Title bar and the Tab. Tap the Title bar to open your Bookmarks, history, and top sites lists.

Firefox Sync - share your bookmarks, history, passwords and open tabs between your desktop and mobile. First just set up a Firefox Sync account on your desktop and then add your mobile device with the easy setup code.

Main menu - Accessed from the hardware menu button at the bottom (or in the upper-right on Android 4). Use the main menu to access popular features like reload, forward, bookmark, share, and save as PDF. To install Firefox add-on features and configure Firefox privacy, security and content settings, go to More in the main menu.

Browsing basics

Firefox for Android is designed to help you search for information quickly and easily on-the-go.

Searching

1. Open the Awesome search Screen by tapping in the Title bar at the top of any page or by creating a new tab.
2. Type your search and tap Enter or select from the list of your most visited sites. The sites that match any search terms come to the top of the list automatically!

   
   
   

Zooming

To make Firefox zoom into a section of website, just double-tap the area you'd like to see. Double-tap again to zoom out. To increase the default font size, adjust your Firefox Settings in the main menu.

Opening and Switching Tabs

1. Select items from your top sites, bookmarks and history to open multiple tabs.
2. Tap the grey tab at the top of the screen to switch tabs.
   
   

Bookmarking favorites

1. Just go to the site you want to bookmark, tap the hardware Menu button.
2. Tap the Bookmark star. The star will turn yellow to let you know the bookmark has been saved.
   
   

   

Controls

The browser controls are all located under the main menu for a consistent experience.

Navigation, Sharing, Save as PDF and More Settings

Tap Settings to modify your settings for Sync, Plugins, text size and Privacy and Security features like clearing history and clearing private data.

How do I use privacy and security settings to stay safe online?

Firefox for Android provides tools and features to help you stay safe online.

• Keep your browser up-to-date. You can enable automatic updates when you install Firefox for Android to make this part easy, see Install Firefox on an Android device using Google Play.

• Look for the padlock icon in Firefox for Android before entering any personal information (passwords, credit cards, addresses, etc.) into a web site, see How does Firefox Mobile for Android provide secure mobile browsing.

• Use a Master Password to secure Firefox for mobile in the event that you lose your device or if you share your device. Using a Master Password let's you have the convenience of a browser that remembers your passwords, but the safety of a master password to lock your username and passwords for all of your favorite sites, see Using Master Password on Firefox for Android.

• Clear your private data (cookies and passwords), history, and site settings easily with Firefox settings, see Clearing cookies, private data, history and settings in Firefox for Android. For the most private and secure browsing, you can also choose to disable cookies and JavaScript.

• Tell sites not to track you for advertising purposes by using Do Not Track, see How do I use Do-not-track on Firefox for Android?.

• Keep ads blocked by preserving Firefox's default 'Click to Play' plugin setting, see Firefox Mobile for Android support for Flash.

• Set up syncing to your desktop so you don't need to type your password when on the go and you can still use a strong password, see Use Sync to share your Firefox bookmarks, passwords and more with Firefox for mobile.

How do I customize Firefox for Mobile features?

You can customize Firefox with Android Mobile add-ons. If there is a feature of Firefox for mobile that you want to add to the browser, there are many add-ons you can install that enable additional mobile browsing features. Here are some examples:

• Install the Phony add-on to spoof your user agent if you want to change from the mobile view of web sites to the desktop view.
• Install the Full Screen add-on if you want to use the entire mobile screen to view web sites

1. To start, tap the hardware Menu button and select Add-ons.
2. The Add-ons Manager screen appears with an orange icon in the upper right.

   

3. Tap the orange icon to view the Android Mobile Add-ons.
4. Tap an add-on to select it and then tap Add to Firefox.