Mozilla never really caught on with the iPhone crowd, but the company isn’t giving up. This time around, Mozilla has created a new mobile browser called Firefox Focus, which is, essentially, a stripped down version of a browser. Here’s what Mozilla has decided to do to capture that fleeting mobile crowd.


Firefox Focus


Focus was meant to be a browser that you can open and use without any annoying ads, cookies, or pop ups. You won’t see any of those things when you use Firefox Focus. The search engine loads quickly and foregoes anything that you might not want with Safari like ads and other additions that slow down a browser fast.


Fast Erase


One of the features that you might find compelling about Firefox Focus is the ‘Erase’ feature. There’s a button at the top of the screen that says ‘Erase,’ and with just one tap you can erase anything you were looking at. With Safari and other mobile browsers, you have to go to your history in order to erase anything. With Firefox Focus you can erase your history in mere seconds.


There are various reasons why users would want to erase history quickly, but the most important thing to consider when looking at Firefox Focus is that Mozilla has treated Focus unlike any other mobile browser. Why create a standard history erase when you can simply add a fast erase button?


Will It Catch?


The real question is whether or not Firefox Focus will catch on. So far, Mozilla hasn’t had any real luck when it comes to capturing the mobile browsing crowd, but that might change. Of course, when it comes to the iPhone crowd, Mozilla has some direct competition already. Safari does allow users to browse in private mode, which means that there is not direct history attached to searches.


But Mozilla wants users to be able to click on a separate mobile app and pull up a private browser. With Safari, you have to open up the private browser from the regular browser. If you’re in a hurry, that second Safari step does take some time. Essentially, Firefox Fox aims to be the fast and private browser you wanted before but never had. Mozilla has looked at mobile browsing differently and is giving it a second try.


Where to Find It


You can download the new Firefox Focus app right now on iOS or Android. At one point in time, Firefox was the most popular browser (and Firefox can trace its routes back to Netscape - remember that?), but the browser dipped in popularity when mobile phones came out (mostly with iOS users).

Focus might just be the thing that Mozilla needed to kickstart its browsing future. Then again, it’s tough to get people to change mobile browsers once they’ve gotten used to the way that one runs. If you do want to try something fast, private, and new, check out Firefox Focus.


You can also just stick with Safari if you have iOS, but you won’t be able to browse privately quite as quickly.