According to Kuaikeji on August 24， Firefox has announced a new experimental feature for Windows users in version 142: Progressive Web Apps (PWA). This feature has been available on desktop Chrome since Chrome 70 in 2018.
The development of PWAs within Firefox has been a rather challenging journey. As early as Firefox 73 (Nightly)， Mozilla had experimented with a PWA implementation named “Site-Specific Browsers (SSB)”. However， this feature was never fully developed and was ultimately removed by Mozilla in January 2021. At the time， the company cited “multiple known issues” and that maintaining the feature would divert valuable debugging time from the Firefox team.
This year， in March， Mozilla reintroduced this functionality in Firefox Nightly 141， rebranding it as “Taskbar Tabs.” David Rubino， Firefox Product Manager， explained that this new approach offers a different design. Web applications will retain Firefox’s main toolbar， including the address bar， extensions， and bookmarks， to ensure users still feel like they are operating within a browser environment.
The reintroduction of PWA functionality， or “Taskbar Tabs，” by Firefox is a significant move. While Chrome has had this feature for a considerable time， its inclusion in Firefox suggests a renewed effort by Mozilla to enhance the user experience for web applications that mimic native desktop applications. Historically， Firefox’s phased approach to PWA development indicates a cautious yet persistent strategy， likely prioritizing stability and a seamless integration into the existing browser interface. The previous removal of SSB highlighted the complexities involved， and the current “Taskbar Tabs” implementation appears to be a more refined and user-centric solution.
