Mozilla will release new Firefox version every four weeks from next year jaar

Mozilla is going to release new versions of its Firefox browser more often, to give users faster access to new functionalities. Stable versions have been released every six to eight weeks so far; that will be shortened to four weeks.

The four-weekly release schedule should be introduced for the desktop version and the Android app at the beginning of next year. From now on, Mozilla will gradually shorten the time between new versions. The company has published a list of the upcoming Firefox versions and the expected release date.

Because the time between Firefox releases is getting shorter, there is also less time for beta testing. Mozilla will therefore also release beta versions more frequently; that’s now two a week, but should increase in the future, comparable to the number of updates now coming through the Nightly builds.

Mozilla says it has received many requests to bring new functionalities to the browser faster. That is the reason to release new versions more frequently. Mozilla is releasing new versions in phases and will continue to do so. This allows unexpected problems with end users to be noticed before a large group is affected.

If a new version contains a feature that is estimated to have a high risk of problems, Mozilla chooses a slower rollout. Such a function can also be disabled in case of problems, so that the rollout of the relevant version can continue.