Over the past week alone, Firefox has been at the center of several noteworthy announcements. We recently covered how Mozilla has confirmed plans to bring built-in ad blocking to Firefox, how Firefox 153 is set to gain Vulkan Video support, and how the browser is getting a host of quality-of-life additions including World Cup widgets and wallpapers.
Just when it seemed like Mozilla had packed enough news into a single week, the company has delivered yet another round of Firefox updates, ranging from a significantly upgraded built-in VPN experience to a new bug-fixing release and even a small visual surprise for Nightly users.
Firefox’s built-in VPN gets a major temporary upgrade
Perhaps the biggest announcement is Mozilla’s decision to temporarily remove bandwidth restrictions from Firefox’s free built-in VPN.
In a blog post, Mozilla revealed that eligible Firefox users can now enjoy unlimited VPN bandwidth through August 31, 2026. Under normal circumstances, the built-in VPN includes a 50GB monthly data allowance, but that limit has now been lifted for the summer period. Mozilla is also expanding access to VPN locations. Instead of the usual limited selection, users can choose from 28 countries across North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Oceania.
The available locations include Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, Norway, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States, among others.
According to Mozilla, the promotion is aimed at people traveling during the summer months, particularly those connecting through public Wi-Fi networks at airports, hotels, train stations, and other shared environments.
People frequently hopping between coffee shops, airports, and public hotspots will appreciate the convenience of having VPN functionality built directly into the browser. There is no separate client to install, no additional setup process, and no need to remember yet another password. It is simply there when needed. Mozilla also notes that users can disable VPN protection for specific websites directly from the browser if a site refuses to cooperate. Anyone who regularly uses VPNs knows that some websites still behave like it is 2008 whenever they detect privacy tools.
The unlimited VPN offer will remain available until August 31, after which Firefox will revert to the standard 50GB monthly limit and regular location availability.
Firefox 151.0.4 arrives with important fixes
Alongside the VPN announcement, Mozilla has also released Firefox 151.0.4. This is not a feature-packed update, but it addresses several bugs that could affect day-to-day browsing.
According to the official release notes, Mozilla fixed an issue on Windows that could cause Firefox to become unresponsive when users navigated using the back and forward buttons. Another fix resolves a problem where Firefox could unexpectedly fall back to software rendering on certain older GPUs, resulting in reduced graphics performance.
The update also patches a Windows crash linked to accessibility services and fixes a UI bug that caused some text input fields to incorrectly display a resize handle.
These may sound like relatively minor changes on paper, but stability updates are often the ones users appreciate most. Fancy new features are great until your browser freezes while simply trying to go back to the previous page. Mozilla says Firefox 152 is currently planned for June 16, suggesting that more changes are already around the corner.
Meanwhile, Firefox Nightly users have discovered a small but charming visual tweak. The new Firefox Nightly logo now animates when clicked. I grabbed a screen recording of the new animation. Check it out below:
It is a subtle addition that many people could easily miss, but it reflects the extra attention Mozilla appears to be paying to the browser experience lately.
Hillary Keverenge
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Tech has been my playground for over a decade. While the Android journey began early, it truly took flight with the revolutionary Lollipop update. Since then, it's been a parade of Android devices (with a sprinkle of iOS), culminating in a mostly happy marriage with Google's smart home ecosystem. Expect insightful articles and explorations of the ever-evolving world of Android and Google products coupled with occasional rants on the Nest smart home ecosystem.
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