Waterfox G3.0.0.1

[harlan4096]

Waterfox 6.5.10​

Fixes​

• Latest security fixes 1.
  
• Startpage is now temporarily the default search 2.
  

---

1. MFSA 2025-55 ↩
   
2. Bing has terminated all of its search syndication and API services, and will likely be removed completely in a future version. As it is a struggle to monetise Waterfox Private Search with an ad-supported free version, it’s unlikely it will ever be default and instead will be a subscription-only based service. ↩
   

6.5.10

[harlan4096]

Waterfox 6.5.11

Latest security fixes MFSA 2025-58

6.5.11

[harlan4096]

Waterfox 6.6.3

This update focuses on polish and fixes, with special attention to a long‑standing theming issue and several quality‑of‑life improvements for tab grouping.

Fixes and improvements​

Theming​

• Resolved a long‑standing issue where Waterfox's styles could “leak” into the web page area. Customisations now apply only to the browser interface, not to website content.
  
• Improved handling of theme colouring to prevent contrast issues.
  
• Active tab context line has been enabled by default, after many requests.
  

 Tab groups​

• Smoother startup: automatic grouping now waits until your previous session has fully restored. It only applies to tabs you open after everything is loaded.
  
• Your existing tab order and groups are preserved at startup; nothing gets rearranged automatically.
  
• If you collapse your only tab group, you’ll still have a single ungrouped tab available. That tab won’t be pulled back into a group unless you choose to do so.
  

 Compatibility​

• Updated emoji support to Emoji 16.0.1 on platforms that don’t provide these characters natively, improving how newer emojis appear.
  

Release 6.6.3 · BrowserWorks/waterfox

[harlan4096]

Waterfox 6.6.4

This update restores correct app identification on Linux, fixes search provider issues, adjusts tab grouping defaults, and makes Ecosia the default search engine again while also including Waterfox Private Search.

6.6.4
 
Release 6.6.4 · BrowserWorks/waterfox  

[harlan4096]

Waterfox 6.6.5

This update adds Ukrainian as a UI language, a new quality-of-life feature and the latest security fixes.

New​

• Added Ukrainian locale
  
• Added the ability to copy current tab url to your clipboard with: Thanks @evilurge
  • macOS: Command + Shift + U
    
  • Windows/Linux: Ctrl + Shift + U
    

Fixed​

• All security advisories part of MFSA2025-89.
  

6.6.5

Release 6.6.5 · BrowserWorks/waterfox

[harlan4096]

Waterfox 6.6.5.1

Change​

• Due to popular demand, Startpage is now the default search again. Sorry for the flip-flopping! You can still use Ecosia and support both Waterfox and tree planting.
  

Fixed​

• Tree Vertical Tabs would continue running in the background even when disabled in Settings. This is now fixed, so turning off Tree Vertical Tabs actually unloads the extension and can reduce memory usage.
  
• Tree Vertical Tabs options were incorrectly shown at the bottom of Preferences/Settings → General on first load. They now only appear under the dedicated “Tree Vertical Tabs” category.
  

6.6.5.1 

Release 6.6.5.1 · BrowserWorks/waterfox

[harlan4096]

Waterfox 6.6.6

Dec 9, 2025

Various fixes​

• Private Tab will now use your default selected private search.
  • The context menu search while in private tab will also open a new private tab instead of normal tab.
    
• Fixed an issue where the Bookmarks widget in the status bar would not open submenus, so now all bookmark folders now work correctly when the button is pinned to the status bar.
  
• Fixed a minor issue where the “Status Bar” entry in the Toolbars menu would output internal errors to the browser console.
  
• Cookie banner handling no longer logs spurious errors when browsing localhost, IP addresses, or other internal hosts; in those cases Waterfox now silently falls back to the global setting.
  
• Security fixes in MFSA-2025-94
  

Region & Geo Detection​What was happening​Firefox’s Region subsystem could still make a one‑time request to Mozilla’s privacy‑preserving geo‑IP service to infer your country on first run. That inferred “home region” is used by multiple subsystems (search, DoH rollout, feature gating, telemetry). The backend is designed to be privacy‑sensitive and only runs once, but it was still an unnecessary external connection we’d rather avoid.

What we’ve changed​

• Disabled network‑based region lookup
  • The URL used for region detection (browser.region.network.url) is now empty and locked.
    
  • Wi‑Fi–based region hints (browser.region.network.scan) was already disabled but is now locked as well.
    
• Fixed, non‑dynamic “home region”
  • browser.search.region is now set to a fixed value (US) and locked.
    
  • This prevents any background attempts to “correct” or update your region based on IP.
    

Why this matters​No calls are made to Mozilla’s region/geo‑IP services for normal browsing and features that still look at region see a stable, non‑changing value instead of one inferred from your network.

AI & Machine Learning​What was happening​None of the Firefox AI features or settings (AI link previews, chat integrations, etc.) were enabled in Waterfox, and no AI processing was happening in the background. However, some of the underlying onboarding and Labs migration code for AI link previews would still run and surface onboarding pop‑ups or UI.

The underlying local ML runtime (used for various experimental features in upstream Firefox) was still present and technically enabled at the pref level, even though nothing was using it. Built‑in chatbot integration points were already off in Waterfox, but we’ve clarified and hardened the settings.

What we’ve changed​

• Core ML engine explicitly disabled
  • The main ML engine toggle browser.ml.enable now defaults to false.
    
  • Any feature that tries to create a local ML engine will now cleanly fail up front instead of starting an inference process.
    
• AI link previews fully shut off
  • browser.ml.linkPreview.enabled is now false by default (and locked).
    
  • Legacy Firefox Labs state for link previews (browser.ml.linkPreview.labs) is forced to “not enrolled” and locked.
    
  • The opt‑in flag for AI key points (browser.ml.linkPreview.optin) is locked to false.
    
  • This prevents:
    • The feature from ever turning itself back on due to leftover Labs state.
      
    • Onboarding cards or AI link preview pop‑ups from appearing unexpectedly.
      
• Chat sidebar integrations remain disabled
  • browser.ml.chat.enabled stays false, keeping built‑in chatbot UI off by default.
    

Why this matters​Local ML/AI code paths are no longer reachable unless you deliberately override multiple locked prefs. Users migrating profiles from Firefox (including Labs experiments) won’t see old experimental AI features unexpectedly re‑appear in Waterfox.

Experiments, Studies & “Labs”​What was happening​Waterfox already disabled Mozilla’s remote experimentation system (Normandy/Nimbus), but some features ran separately from this system (link previews).

What we’ve changed​

• For link previews specifically, we now:
  • Lock Labs and opt‑in prefs as described above.
    

Why this matters​Tours/onboarding for disabled features makes no sense and appears confusing.

6.6.6

https://github.com/BrowserWorks/waterfox.../tag/6.6.6

[harlan4096]

Waterfox 6.6.7

This is a small release with a Windows import fix, a Linux HDR playback fix, and an important Flathub verification milestone for our Flatpak users.

6.6.7 - Import & Linux video fixes - Waterfox Release   

Release 6.6.7 · BrowserWorks/waterfox

[harlan4096]

Waterfox 6.6.8

This release adds manual tab unloading (useful for freeing memory without closing tabs) and improves how unloaded tabs are represented, fixes a few import/UI issues, and includes platform specific improvements for macOS and Windows.

6.6.8 - Tab unloading & passkeys - Waterfox Release  

Release 6.6.8 · BrowserWorks/waterfox