Mozilla is getting closer to finally releasing a version of its browser for iPhones and iPads, the company announced Monday.
While it's unclear when the iOS app will be launching, the company said in a tweet it would be "coming soon."
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The company began testing a beta version of the app in New Zealand earlier this year, and later expanded the preview to Australia, Austria and Canada. We don't know when the app may be more broadly available or if the company has plans to release a beta in the United States ahead of its official launch.
It's true. Firefox for iOS is coming soon! https://t.co/fPCFVasxAt pic.twitter.com/J1kxL6msLv— Firefox (@firefox) November 2, 2015
A Mozilla spokesperson declined to provide further details around the timing of the app's launch.
The early version includes an intelligent search feature, which surfaces recommended search results. (Mozilla ditched Google and made Yahoo its default search engine last year, though users can still opt to use Google, Bing or another search engine.) The broswer also has a "visual tabs" system that displays your open tabs in a grid to make it easier top see what pages you currently have open.
The app lets you sync tabs, search history and passwords between desktop and mobile apps. While that's not a groundbreaking feature by any means -- Chrome and Safari both have similar functionality -- it will likely be welcome news to regular Firefox users who have missed having a mobile component to their browsing. (Firefox has had an Android app for some time.)
Mozilla previously made Firefox Home, a browser syncing iOS app, but yanked the app in 2012. Executives later said they would not bring Firefox to iOS unless Apple eased its restrictions on third-party developers.
iOS 8, which brought new extensibility features to iOS, apparently made the company change its mind.
"Although we can’t bring the full Firefox experience and rendering engine to iOS due to the restrictions, we saw an opportunity with the latest improvements and tools in iOS 8 to begin development of a Firefox experience for iOS," Mozilla wrote in a statement on its website in May.