Firefox Beta with IonMonkey available for desktop, Android

Mozilla, in an official blog post, confirmed yesterday that the  new Firefox Beta for Windows, Mac, and Linux is now available for download and testing. The new beta features JavaScript improvements to make web apps and games perform better, while also adding support for W3C Touch Events. One of its headlining features is the Retina Display support that the beta brings to Mac users. 

Elaborating further, the blog post shares that the beta version comes with IonMonkey, which is a new JavaScript JIT compiler offering a more efficient way for Firefox to process JavaScript. Mozilla claims that with IonMonkey, web apps, games, and other JavaScript-heavy pages will perform faster on Firefox. Retina Display support for Mac users in the newest beta will make Firefox even sharper when watching movies, playing games, and browsing the Internet.

Update for desktop, Android users

Importantly, the newest beta update means that users can now disable insecure content. Elaborating upon this, the post adds those using the Firefox Beta can disable insecure content on the secure websites (HTTPS ) to maintain the privacy of their communication with the website. To go ahead and enable the feature, users can go to about:config. In addition, Firefox Beta is giving support for standard W3C Touch Events in addition to MozTouch events.

More from News & Analysis

What is the US HIRE Bill and why is India’s $250-billion IT sector worried? Is the internet dead? What's this theory that OpenAI's Sam Altman says might be true?

Also available for download and testing is a new Firefox for Android Beta. Among other things, the Beta update allows users to make browsing on their mobile faster and quicker. In its yesterday’s post, Mozilla shares that the update provides users with search suggestions to allow users to get what they’re looking for while browsing the web on their mobile. Importantly, the update offers improved protection against phishing and malware.

Elaborating further on this, the post adds that the search suggestions on the updated Android Beta offers suggestions for search terms as a user types - this way accessing content is quicker and easier, Mozilla suggests. It explains that when users open Firefox, they will spot a box that will ask them to opt-in for search suggestions when they type into the AwesomeBar. If users wish to be offered search suggestions, they should click on ‘Yes’. “For your protection, search suggestions are conducted over a secure HTTPS connection,” adds Mozilla in the post. 

As mentioned earlier, the newest update offers improved protection against phishing and malware. Explaining this better, Mozilla adds that to protect users from malicious websites, Firefox for Android Beta will warn users when they come across websites that may be claimed for malware or phishing. Essentially, Firefox for Android Beta will show users a warning page and allow you to quit the operation before opening a potentially malicious page. 

In July this year, i.e. barely a month after the release of Firefox 14, Mozilla announced the release of a new version of beta for Firefox 15. One of the main purposes of the new version of the popular web browser is fixing memory leaks, both for the browser and its add-ons.

Firefox has received criticism from the time its first versions were introduced over its hoggish memory requirements. But in recent times, Mozilla has made great improvements to the browser’s memory management.

In a post on a Mozilla blog, Nicholas Nethercote, a developer with the Mozilla Foundation, writes, “Firefox 15 prevents most memory leaks caused by add-ons, including Firebug.” Firebug is an add-on for the browser that helps developers debug websites.