Mozilla’s commitment to supporting Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) in Firefox has begun to evolve, with the latest Firefox 142 release enabling users to test web app features, initially available only on Windows.
This experimental feature, known as Taskbar Tabs, allows users to open frequently visited sites as web apps directly from the taskbar. To enable this feature, users can navigate to Settings > Labs, or for manual activation, they can adjust the browser.taskbarTabs.enabled setting in the about:config page.
Once enabled, an icon appears in the address bar when visiting a website, allowing users to add the site to their taskbar. This feature is tailored for use with actual web apps like Spotify, Discord, and Telegram, with the goal of keeping these apps integrated within the Firefox experience.
It’s important to note that Mozilla has chosen not to support the complete PWA specification, which includes additional features such as background notifications and file handlers. Instead, Firefox aims to maintain web apps as part of the browser functionality rather than operating separately.
With web apps receiving their own taskbar icons, they will remain open until manually closed. While initial impressions are promising, users shouldn’t expect the same level of integration found in Chromium-based browsers just yet. There is currently no information on when or if this testing will extend to Linux users, but those interested can explore Firefox Nightly Builds for potential updates.