As someone who has been a die-hard adherent of Firefox for going on 20 years. I was shocked to discover that less than 3% of Internet users surf the web using Mozilla's open-source web-browser. Sure, Firefox can feel like it's held together with masking tape at times. But it's still superior to Edge while also being generally less cursed than Chrome, especially when it comes to things like privacy and not installing stealth AI models on your PC.
Since learning that statistic, I've been concerned that there may come a point when Firefox fades away completely. But it seems that the opposite is happening. Thanks to the EU's Digital Markets Act, Firefox has gained six million users since 2024.
As a quick reminder, the Digital Markets Act mandates that Internet "gatekeepers" (like Apple and Google) must allow third-parties to interoperate with said gatekeepers' own services. As part of this, Apple and Google are required to offer alternative Internet browsers on new phones alongside their own via dedicated browser selection screens.
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As reported by The Register, this has given Firefox a substantial boost in users. Interestingly, most of Firefox's new users have appeared within Apple's ecosystem, with a 113% increase across iPhone, Apple Watch etc.
By comparison, the increase among Android users is only 12%. This is apparently down to how each OS presents the browser options, with iPhone and iPad users seeing them when they first open Safari, while Android shows them on initial boot or after a factory reset.
It isn't just Mozilla that has benefited from these selection screens. DuckDuckGo revealed it has received a 40% boost in its browser usage on Android, while the likes of Opera, Vivaldi and Aloha have all reported increases. While these selection screens are currently limited to the EU, both Mozilla and DuckDuckGo are pushing to have them introduced to the UK.
All of this may be happening in the mobile sphere, but given mobile devices account for more than half of Internet traffic, higher adoption of these browsers on phones and tablets has a knock-on effect for their continued viability on desktop.
This isn't the first time Mozilla has hit the headlines this year. In February the company ended Firefox support for Windows 7, 8, and 8.1, while urging users to switch to Linux if their PCs can't handle Windows 11. Earlier this month, meanwhile, the company came together with Stop Killing Games and other organisations to tell the UK to stop making the Internet worse.
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