Firefox 83 for Mac brings HTTPS-only mode, pinch-to-zoom and performance improvements

Mozilla has released Firefox 83 on Mac, with new features and improvements, including a new HTTPS-only mode, pinch-to-zoom, and more.

HTTPS-only mode is Mozilla’s latest security feature that ensures that users make fully secure connections to all the websites they visit. If a website does not support the encrypted HTTPS protocol, Firefox requests the user’s permission before connecting.

Activating HTTPS-only mode is done through the Preferences menu (the three-line icon in the upper right corner of the browser). Select Privacy & Security and scroll down to the HTTPS Only Mode section. Then choose Enable HTTPS only mode on all windows.

A new pinch zoom feature is also coming to Firefox on Mac. Users can now pinch-to-zoom using a trackpad to zoom in and out of web pages.

Elsewhere, Picture-in-Picture now supports keyboard shortcuts to fast-forward and rewind videos. The arrow keys can now be used to go forward and backward 15 seconds, along with the volume controls. For a list of supported commands, see Mozilla Support.

Mozilla has also improved the functionality and layout of various Firefox search features, improving page loading performance by up to 15%, page responsiveness by up to 12%, and reducing the use of memory up to 8%.

Part of the JavaScript engine that helps compile and display websites has also been replaced, improving the security and maintainability of the engine at the same time.

Firefox 83 is available for download from Mozilla’s website and works on Apple Silicon CPUs via emulation in Apple’s Rosetta 2 that ships with macOS Big Sur. Mozilla says that it is working towards having Firefox compiled natively for these CPUs in a future release.