Private browsing shortcut no longer opens the browser in private mode on Android
I launched Firefox the usual way with a private browsing shortcut today and it opened a regular, non-private window. I checked the settings to select again "Add private browsing shortcut" and went in the app drawer to make sure I was tapping the right one. Still, a regular, non-private window. Rebooting the phone did nothing. App is in the latest release version.
Opening a private window is still possible by tapping the mask icon in the initial non-private window or by long pressing the shortcut and choosing New private tab, but that in no way replaces actually launching the browser in private mode as default like the app itself promises and used to do. According to Reddit, I'm not the only one experiencing this.
How software gets updates with such a glaring flaw is beyond me and I can't decide whether it is worse if this is an accident or intentional.
All Replies (3)
Hi Flavio
I just tried usk g the shortcut here, and it opened a private browsing session in Firefox for Android.
What is the make and model of your Android device?
Hi Flavio,
I just updated my Firefox for Android to 141 but I wasn't able to replicate the issue. But I found this bug report (which I believe you've been aware of already). I'll try to escalate this internally since this question got many votes after the 141 update.
I didn't have this shortcut before but I created one as a test. My results in Firefox 141 were:
(1) Firefox already running in the background: new private tab
(2) Firefox was swiped off screen: new private tab
(3) Firefox was closed using Quit (enabled by setting Firefox to clear cache when it closes): new private tab
So it seems to be working as designed in these scenarios. I don't know what factors might cause a different result.
In case it matters, Firefox 141 isn't my default, my default browser is Nightly.
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