This simple tutorial shows how to install the latest Firefox Nightly in all current Ubuntu releases!

Firefox Nightly is the bleeding edge version of the web browser that updates twice a day. It contains features that are still in developments months or even years before they become mainstream.

The Nightly build is more likely to crash than the stable release. For testing purpose or power-user who prefer the very latest features, here you can install Firefox Nightly via 2 ways!

 

Method 1: Install Firefox Nightly via Snap package

The easiest way to get Firefox Nightly is using the Snap package. It receives updates automatically, however, will override the pre-installed Firefox, by updating it to the latest edge channel.

Ubuntu 22.04 and higher users, can simply open Ubuntu Software (or App Center). Search Firefox and switch channel/source to “latest/edge”.

Or, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When terminal opens, run the command below instead to install Firefox Nightly:

snap refresh firefox --channel=latest/edge

NOTE: The Snap package will take use the previous profile. In the case, you can open about:profiles page, then create a new profile and set it as default.

Method 2: Install Firefox Nightly via Ubuntu PPA

For choice, there’ a daily build PPA maintained by Ubuntu members. Which, so far supports Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 23.04, and Ubuntu 23.10.

The PPA is a good choice, since it contains native .deb package. It will NOT override any other Firefox Stable package (neither deb nor snap), and uses its own profile for storing user data.

1. To add the PPA, first press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-mozilla-daily/ppa

Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.

2. Linux Mint user needs to manually update the system package cache after adding PPA, though its done automatically in Ubuntu 20.04 and higher:

sudo apt update

3. Finally, install the Firefox Nightly build by running command:

sudo apt install firefox-trunk

After installing the package, launch it from ‘Activities’ overview screen or app menu depends on your desktop environments. And, you can use “Software Updater” (or Update Manager) every day to keep the package up-to-date.

Uninstall Firefox Nightly

For the Snap package, just open terminal and run command will restore to the pre-installed Firefox package:

snap refresh firefox --channel=latest/stable

However, the restored Firefox Snap will create a new user profile instead of using the original one, though you can manually backup and restore your important data.

For the PPA package, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to remove it:

sudo apt remove --autoremove firefox-trunk

Also remove the Ubuntu PPA by either running command:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:ubuntu-mozilla-daily/ppa

or use “Software & Updates” utility under ‘Other Software’ tab by removing the source line.

For those who are sticking to Firefox ESR, the latest 115 release is now easy to install in all current Ubuntu releases via PPA.

Firefox ESR (Extended Support Release) is a slow moving release series target for organizations, including schools, universities, businesses. It has different release circle compare to the general Firefox series.

Mozilla keeps updating the ESR with stability, security fixes and policy updates every few weeks,  and rolls out major updates on average every 42 weeks. See update differences between  Firefox ESR and Rapid releases.

The latest version now is Firefox ESR 115.x, which was firstly released almost 2 months ago. It includes all the new features since Firefox 102. But of course lacks features in v116, 117, and next releases until  they are included in next major ESR release. See the release note for details.

Like the rapid releases, you can download the latest Firefox ESR as portable tarball from the ftp page. However, PPA is a good choice with better Ubuntu integration and easily to keep it up-to-date. It’s also a good alternative for Ubuntu 22.04+ users who hate Snap packages.

And, the Mozilla Team PPA has built the Firefox ESR 115 packages for all current Ubuntu releases, including Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 23.04, Ubuntu 23.10, and even the old Ubuntu 16.04 and Ubuntu 18.04.

It’s a well-known PPA maintained by Ubuntu members, but un-official, since the official one should be either made into Ubuntu repository or maintained by Mozilla, isn’t it?

Install Firefox ESR 115 in Ubuntu

To install the package, first press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open a terminal window. Then, do the steps below one by one.

1. Add Mozilla Team PPA

Copy and paste the command below into PPA, then hit Enter to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mozillateam/ppa

Type user password (no visual feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.

2. Install / Update Firefox ESR

After adding the PPA repository, just run the single command below to install the latest ESR 115:

sudo apt install firefox-esr

Linux Mint users need to run sudo apt update first to refresh system package cache.

By keeping the PPA repository in your system, you will receive updates and security fixes along with other system updates via “Software Updater” tool (or Update Manager).

And, there’ll be 2 Firefox icons in app launcher. As a workaround, just search and launch ‘ESR’.

Uninstall Firefox ESR

To uninstall the package, simply run the command below in a terminal window:

sudo apt remove --autoremove firefox-esr

And, remove the PPA either by running command:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:mozillateam/ppa

Or by launching “Software & Updates” and removing the source line under ‘Other Software’ tab.

Mozilla today announced the release of Firefox 112.0. See what’s new in this release!

For Ubuntu user using the Chromium browser that was installed as Snap package from system repository, Firefox 112 adds ability to import data from that browser. Though, the feature so far does not work in Firefox itself installed as Snap package.

When working with too many browser tabs, user can now click on the down arrow icon (‘⋁’) to open tab lists, and use middle mouse click on any tab to close it.

Also, the Ctrl+Shift+T re-open closed tab shortcut key, can now restore the previous session if there are no more closed tabs from the same session to re-open.

Other changes in Firefox 112.0 include:

• Right-clicking on password fields now shows an option to reveal the password.
• Update EnableTrackingProtection policy to prevent from more cross-site tracking.
• Enables overlay of software-decoded video on Intel GPUs in Windows
• Disable the deprecated U2F Javascript API by default.
• Various security fixes.

How to Install Firefox 112.0 in Ubuntu

For Ubuntu 22.04 and higher, that using the pre-installed Firefox as Snap package. You should now has updated to the new release. Just open browser, and check its version via the ‘About Firefox’ page.

For Ubuntu 20.04 and Ubuntu 18.04, just wait! The new release page will be made into system repository in next few days. Keep your system up-to-date will automatically update Firefox package to the latest.

For those who do NOT like the pre-installed Snap package, and old Ubuntu users who can’t wait, there’s also an Ubuntu PPA that contains the latest Firefox package, see this step by step guide how to install Firefox from that PPA.

The pre-installed Firefox Snap package in Ubuntu 22.04 & 22.10 now works again for native messaging support. Meaning user can now make it work with GSConnect, KeePassXC, Plasma extension, and/or installing Gnome Shell Extensions,

As you may know, Ubuntu switched to the Snap version of Firefox that runs in sandbox since 21.10. Which, however broke the feature to exchange messages with native applications.

Thanks to Flatpak team for working on a new WebExtensions XDG desktop portal and its integration in Firefox. The new native messaging feature is available for testing for a few months in beta channel. And, it’s made int stable channel just a few days ago.

How to Get it

If you’re now using Firefox as Snap, just wait it will automatically update to the latest version with the new feature. Or, open terminal by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard and run command:

sudo snap refresh firefox --stable

And install the XDG desktop portal package by running command in terminal. Also install chrome-gnome-shell if you want to use Firefox to install Gnome shell extensions.

sudo apt update && sudo apt install xdg-desktop-portal

For switching from Firefox .deb package back to Snap, just remove PPA priority file (if any) under ‘/etc/apt/preferences.d/’ directory, then run the command below in terminal:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install firefox

Finally launch Firefox, install or visit the page that need native message exchange. It will pop-up a dialog asks user to grant the permission.

Mozilla Firefox 101 was released today with minor new features and security fixes.

If you do video conferencing regularly with Firefox web browser, you may now use as many microphones as you want, at the same time. It allows to switch your microphones at any time, if your conferencing service provider enables this flexibility.

For non-configured MIME file types, Firefox 101 allows to assign a custom action upon download completion.

Other changes in Firefox 101 include:

• Allow sites to detect if user has requested web content present with a higher (or lower) contrast.
• New inspector panel option ‘Click and drag to edit size values’.
• WebDriver BiDi protocal.
• Add support for large, small, dynamic viewport units and logical ones (*vi and *vb).
• Various security fixes.

How to Get Firefox 101:

Ubuntu keeps updating the Firefox packages through its security & updates repository. Simply keep your system up-to-date, you’ll get this Firefox release soon in next few days.

For Ubuntu 22.04 user prefer .deb package, as well as the old Ubuntu 16.04, keep an eye on the MozillaTeam PPA.