Firefox continues to impress reviewers and experts, who point out the browsers' efficiency, attention to detail, and impressive privacy options. That said, Firefox, just like every other browser, can experience a range of issues, from slow browsing all the way to regular crashes and everything in between.

The fact that it’s pre-installed as the default browser for Apple product users definitely gives it an early advantage, but Firefox has its own set of useful features that make it an attractive alternative and can now be set as your default browser on your Mac and iPhone. Dec 19, 2020 Download the latest version of Firefox for Mac; Install Firefox; This will repair Firefox will keeping your profile including bookmarks and settings. An easier and safer option is to use CleanMyMac’s Uninstaller to repair Firefox with a reset: Launch CleanMyMac and click on Uninstaller; Click on Mozilla Firefox; Click on a small arrow next to. If you're currently wondering how to install firefox on your Mac device, wonder no more! This guide goes over how to install firefox!Mozilla Firefox Download. Jan 10, 2020 Here’s how to update Firefox on MacOS: From the opened Firefox browser, pull down the ‘Firefox’ menu and choose “About Firefox” Click the “Update Now” button if it’s available, if you see “Firefox is up to date” then you’re already on the latest version.

Today we want to highlight the most common Firefox problems and provide you with simple fixes that anyone can use to get Firefox back to its best.

Firefox Slow & Freezes

A fox should not be slow, and fire should not freeze. So when Firefox is lagging and hanging, frustration sets in pretty quickly. Force quit is the go-to move, but that is a temporary relief that won’t solve an underlying Firefox issue.

Before we get to some specific solutions, make sure you’ve followed these basic principles:

Close unnecessary tabs and windows – Because each one, even if not being used, will take up system resources and slow your Mac down. Bookmark what you don’t need to come back to later.

Update Firefox – Updates contain bug fixes and performance improvements.

Recognize your Mac is getting old – Have you had your Mac for several years? Is everything slow, not just Firefox? Sometimes you have to acknowledge when age has caught up with it.

Now it’s time to go over some specific solutions to help Firefox problems on Mac. These will help even if your Mac is an old-timer.

Clean up Firefox (and your macOS)

If Firefox keeps freezing or is just generally sluggish, it could be the result of a browser that has too much history, cache, and other “temporary” files clinging to the ankles of your once mighty Fox. Luckily, getting rid of this extra burden is simple. Even if it doesn’t completely fix your browser speed, it will still be great for your system.

To manually clear your search history, Firefox caches and other unneeded browser files:

1. Navigate to History > Clear Recent History
2. Click on Details to reveal the full list
3. Check what you want to remove
4. Make sure “Time range” is set to Everything
5. Click Clear Now

Another way to speed up Firefox along and your macOS, in general, is to use CleanMyMac X. In a couple of quick clicks the app will find and, with your approval, remove unneeded system files from all over your macOS - including your Firefox cache and browser history.

To clean up Firefox caches, and other browser junk the easy way:

Download Firefox On Imac

1. Download CleanMyMac X for free and run it
2. Select System Junk tab
3. Click Scan
4. Click Clean

Firefox Crashing

Foxes are elegant and agile creatures, which is to say that when there is an obstacle, they should evade it smoothly, not crash into the thing.

When Firefox doesn’t load or crashes, this makes us incredibly sad. Thankfully, we have some solutions to get Firefox back on its feet.

Identify problematic Firefox add-ons

In a terrible murder mystery, the cliché is that “the butler did it.” Well, when Firefox is crashing regularly, it’s tempting to say “the add-on did it.”

Plugins and extensions add so much to our browser experience, but they are also a common cause of problems. To start with, make sure each extension and plugin is up-to-date. Firefox even has an official plugin checker.

If everything checks out but Firefox keeps crashing, we recommend running it in Safe Mode. This will load Firefox without any add-ons.

To start Firefox in Safe Mode:

1. Click the Firefox menu button
2. Click Help
3. Select Restart with Add-ons Disabled

You can also launch Firefox while holding the Shift key to start in Safe Mode.

If the crashes go away in Firefox Safe Mode, then you know the butler add-on did it.

So we know that an add-on is causing the crashes, now what?

You should disable all your ad-ons and turn them back on one at a time. This way you can methodically find the guilty add-on.

To manage your Firefox add-ons follow these steps:

1. Click the Firefox menu button
2. Select Add-ons > Extensions or Appearance
3. Disable or enable as you like
4. Restart Firefox

Firefox crashes on startup

Uh-oh. Firefox won’t even start?

Don’t worry; it may seem like “the worst thing that could have ever happened to anyone” but the solution is often easier than you’d expect. Begin by holding the Shift key when launching Firefox to start in Safe Mode.

If this works then chances are you have a dodgy extension. Follow the steps from Identify problematic Firefox add-ons.

Firefox On Mac

However, if Safe Mode isn’t working either, you’re going to have to uninstall and reinstall Firefox.

To manually reinstall Firefox:

1. Make sure the application is closed
2. Drag the application to your Trash
3. Empty your Trash
4. Download the latest version of Firefox for Mac
5. Install Firefox

Firefox On Macos Big Sur

This will repair Firefox will keeping your profile including bookmarks and settings.

An easier and safer option is to use CleanMyMac’s Uninstaller to repair Firefox with a reset:

1. Launch CleanMyMac and click on Uninstaller
2. Click on Mozilla Firefox
3. Click on a small arrow next to Firefox icon
4. Click Application Reset

Firefox not loading pages

You had one job, Firefox!

When web pages don’t open, it’s more than a little annoying, considering that’s the main task of a browser. But let’s not jump to conclusions, maybe Firefox isn’t to blame.

The first step is to open a new tab and try other sites. If they aren’t loading either, the second step would be to try another browser like Safari and see if the web pages load there.

If they do then the problem is with Firefox.

Let’s Firefix it!

Proxy problems

Firefox On Mac Clear Cache

If you’re using a proxy server to browse the web, it could be the problem that’s stopping Firefox from loading pages. It’s easy to check, simply follow these steps:

1. Click on the Firefox menu
2. Navigate to Options > Advanced > Network
3. Click on Settings under Connection
4. Select No Proxy
5. Close options and reload web pages

Clear cookies and cache

How To Uninstall Firefox On Imac

In Clean up Firefox (and your MacOS) we covered how to clear your cache and once again it could be the solution to your Firefox problem. Also, this time we suggest also cleaning Cookies, whether using the manual methods or the easier CleanMyMac methods.

Firefox setup tips

We wanted to share a few tips to help you get even more out of your Firefox experience.

Keep your privacy intact

If you go to Preferences > Privacy > History you can use “Custom settings for history” from the dropdown. Now you can personally decide exactly what Firefox remembers.

Ask for permission

We’ve talked a lot about the problems with add-ons. A great tip is to navigate to Tools > Add-ons and from the dropdown next to each add-on, select “ask to activate”. Some people won’t like the extra step; others will love knowing exactly what their add-ons are up to.

Monitor Mozilla

If your Firefox performance is important, you could try turning on Enable Firefox Health Report by going to Option > Advanced > Data Choices. Now when you click Learn More you will see an overview of your browser’s stability and performance.

Find Text

All browsers have an option to find text on a web page but Firefox has a setting (Options > Advanced> Search for text when I start typing) that allows you to immediately type and find matching text.

Firefox Firefixed!

There you have it. Your Firefox should now be jumping, skipping, spinning…okay, I honestly have no idea what foxes do. But I do know that by using the manual solutions and quick fixes from CleanMyMac X, your Firefox browser should be stable and performing better than ever.

To keep it that way, bookmark this page for reference and be sure to follow best practices like clearing cache, closing unneeded tabs, and checking for updates.

Do all this, and your fox will remain on fire for a long time to come.

If there was only one app we could use on our Macs, without a doubt, it would be the browser. In the last few years, with the rise of web apps, browsers became so powerful that nearly everything we want to do, from checking emails to listening to music to composing documents, can be comfortably done within their environments.

While lots of people still remember the time when Microsoft’s Internet Explorer dominated the browser market (capturing over 90% of it), today we have Google’s Chrome (around 60%), Apple’s Safari (about 20%), Mozilla’s Firefox (nearly 5%), and a few other small players like Opera, Brave, Tor, Microsoft Edge, etc.

It’s likely that if you value independence, design, privacy, and up-to-date features, you’d choose to go with Mozilla Firefox for Mac as your primary browser. Good choice! But you shouldn’t just set it and forget it — making sure you get timely Mozilla Firefox updates is crucial.

Why Update Firefox Browser For Mac?

Like any popular app or browser, Firefox gets regular updates from its development team at Mozilla. While lots of those updates are small cosmetic improvements or bug fixes, some introduce completely new features, such as Firefox Lockwise to save your password in a secure vault or Firefox Monitor to screen your information for being part of a known data breach.

Yet the most important reason to upgrade Firefox regularly has to do with security. Since browsers store nearly everything we do on Macs today, they have become highly desired targets for hackers, who constantly look for vulnerabilities to exploit — and sometimes succeed!

For example, in January 2020, Mozilla announced a critical Firefox vulnerability and targeted attacks against it. Subsequently, the company also released a patch in the Firefox update 72.0.1. The problem was so substantial that even the US Department of Homeland Security issued an advisory for all users to update Firefox for Mac as soon as possible. More importantly, if you don’t know how to update Firefox and are still using the pre-72.0.1 version, you’re in danger of being hacked. So here’s how to get the latest Firefox download for Mac.

How to download Firefox for Mac

If you don’t currently have the Firefox browser for Mac installed, you can always download the latest version, with all the security updates, from the official Mozilla website:

1. Visit mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new

2. Click Download Now

3. Find the Firefox .dmg file in your Downloads folder and double-click on it to start the installation process

If you just want to update Firefox browser for Mac, you can do so in a few ways. Most times, simply quitting the app and launching it again will automatically download the latest update — so it’s good to not keep Firefox open all the time (e.g. close it at the end of the day). Alternatively:

1. With Firefox open, click Firefox ➙ About Firefox in the menu bar

2. If a Firefox update is available, you’ll see the link to Update Now. Otherwise, it’ll say “Firefox is up to date.”

One more way to detect new Firefox versions:

1. Click Firefox ➙ Preferences (⌘ + ,) in the menu bar

2. In the General tab, scroll down to Firefox Updates

3. Hit “Check for updates”

In the same menu, you can see all the previous updates installed by clicking on Show Update History and then Details next to the version that interests you.

Now that all your Mozilla Firefox updates are complete, you can think of how to make your browsing experience even more productive — for example, by adding a few apps that can help you download any media file and convert it to any format as well as organize your inspiration.

How to download any video from the web

Quite often we don’t have the time to watch interesting videos online, whether it’s a long interview or a live concert. Instead, we’d like to save it for later to watch during commute or on a plane. What we quickly find out, though, is that most videos hosted online today aren’t inherently downloadable because of various coding restrictions. You can’t simply right-click and choose Save As — only a specialized app can make it happen.

Downie is a nifty and blazing-fast video downloader for Mac. Whether it’s YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, or Instagram (overall, more than 1,200 websites are supported), you can just drag-and-drop the link onto Downie’s window and it will swiftly download it in up to 4K quality with no fuss. You can even search for online videos right inside the app. Want audio tracks only? Just set Downie to extract the sound. And with the Firefox extension handy at all times, Downie makes the whole process much much easier.

How to convert files into other formats

When we have to deal with media files, be it images, video, or audio, we frequently get stuck because the file at hand is not in the right format to be accepted by some other app or website. How annoying is this! To add to the problem, a trusted conversion software is very hard to come by.

Permute is the only universal media converter you’ll ever need to have on your Mac. This app quickly converts any image, video, or audio into any format you need, extracts audio tracks, adds subtitles to videos, merges two video files into one, and much more. Even if you still find yourself burning DVDs, you can use Permute to convert your video into the ISO format. In other words, this is your way to forget about file formats and conversions forever.

How to organize your visual inspiration

In the age of Instagram, you stumble upon visual inspiration on a daily basis, whether it’s travel ideas, fashion, beautiful photography, home renovation, etc. All these files tend to accumulate in your Downloads folder so quickly that soon enough it’s impossible to find anything. The bottom line is, if you’re a visual thinker, you need a proper way to organize all your images.

Emulsion is the perfect photo management tool on your Mac. It allows you to tag and organize everything neatly into collections.

All in all, keeping your Firefox updated is immensely important — that’s the only way to ensure your data will always be safe. Whether you get Firefox updates through the Preferences menu or by re-downloading the app matters much less. And, of course, don’t forget to supercharge your Firefox experience with an ultimate downloader Downie, a one-for-all converter Permute, and the most beautiful photo organizer Emulsion.

Best of all, Downie, Permute, and Emulsion are all available to you absolutely free for seven days via Setapp, a platform with more than 200 apps that will redefine the way you work on your Mac. Try them all today at no cost and see where you’re missing out in becoming much more productive in your day-to-day life.

Meantime, prepare for all the awesome things you can do with Setapp.

Sign Up