Mozilla Firefox makes Time's Best Innovations list despite falling market share

[Alfonso Maruccia]

A Sad, Cheerful Ending: Firefox is now a shadow of its former self, disappearing from users' computers at an accelerating pace. Despite its declining relevance, the open-source browser was highlighted for one of its recently introduced features available to iPhone users.

Mozilla introduced the Shake to Summarize feature in September, offering iOS users an innovative way to leverage Apple's AI models while browsing the web with Firefox. The feature recently received a special mention from Time magazine as part of its 2025 list of "best inventions."

Shake to Summarize uses AI technology to provide a quick recap of a web page. Users can access the feature by simply "shaking" their iPhone after visiting the page they want summarized. For those who prefer a more conventional interface, the same results can be achieved by tapping the "thunderbolt" icon in the browser's address bar or selecting "Summarize Page" from the three-dot menu.

The feature only works on pages containing fewer than 5,000 words, Mozilla warns, and uses different AI methods depending on the device's iOS version. On iPhone 15 Pro or later running iOS 26, Shake to Summarize can summon Apple's native AI technology directly. On older devices, Mozilla sends the page content to its cloud-based AI, which generates the summary and returns it to the user's device.

According to Firefox General Manager Anthony Enzor-DeMeo, Time's special mention for Shake to Summarize is a well-earned recognition of the design and engineering work his team is doing on the browser. We are "reimagining" Firefox, Enzor-DeMeo said, so the browser can better integrate with modern life.

Shake to Summarize is also part of Mozilla's effort to create a cleaner, smarter UI for mobile users. The feature is currently available to English-language Firefox users on iOS, but Mozilla plans to expand it beyond Apple devices. The company is working to bring the feature to more users, including those on Android.

While Shake to Summarize is a welcome addition for iPhone owners, Mozilla's attempt at celebration feels like an orchestra playing while the Titanic sinks.

As a Firefox user since the early 2000s, I have watched the project steadily lose market share to Chrome and other Chromium-based browsers. According to the latest data from StatCounter, Firefox now holds just 4.45 percent of the desktop browser market, trailing Chrome (73.81 percent), Edge (10.37 percent), and even Safari (5.69 percent).

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Mozilla Firefox makes Time's Best Innovations list despite falling market share

 

[Anton Longshot]

Oh great so now FF has AI.
It was nice knowing you, Mozilla.

Let me iterate once more: I do not want AI **** (or assistants for that matter) on my devices. (Had to resist all-caps here haha)
I insist on thinking and deciding for myself. <<<

I disable, remove or kill any sign of AI whenever it pops up - in a perfect world companies wouldn't make me pay for AI as I don't use it...
Should avoiding it become impossible I'll revert to older versions of my hard- and software or if necessary stop using the "AInfected" devices.
[/daily rant over]

 

[Tyler Dur Den]

I don't want AI in my web browser. However the other concerning issue is that people may be too lazy to read something and will rely on someone else's prorgram to summarize it. Use your brain, people. Browsing the web on a phone is not a great experience anyhow.

 

[bviktor]

Oh great so now FF has AI.
It was nice knowing you, Mozilla.

Let me iterate once more: I do not want AI **** (or assistants for that matter) on my devices. (Had to resist all-caps here haha)
I insist on thinking and deciding for myself. <<<

I disable, remove or kill any sign of AI whenever it pops up - in a perfect world companies wouldn't make me pay for AI as I don't use it...
Should avoiding it become impossible I'll revert to older versions of my hard- and software or if necessary stop using the "AInfected" devices.
[/daily rant over]

So... disable it? Unlike most other browsers, here you can actually customize almost anything, and disable stuff you don't want.

That's precisely why I've been a user since version 0.7, I think.

 

[SRB]

So... disable it? Unlike most other browsers, here you can actually customize almost anything, and disable stuff you don't want.

That's precisely why I've been a user since version 0.7, I think.

I've used Firefox almost from the time of Netscape. While I have had the occasional site that we written for II or later, Chrome. I haven't found near enough problems with it to make me want to give it up. I've tried Chrome her and there, and it's not worth the privacy loss and openness of it. As for AI, it must be how I browse, since I've never even noticed it in any way. For all I know, I turned it off already, lol

 

[Liranan]

I am not pleased that Mozilla have adopted AAAAAAIIIIIIIIIII but FF is still far better than Chrome. I use Opera as well and it's just not as good as FF as it lacks a lot of extensions.

 

[MonicaPython2]

I'm not sure if AI models are really needed for browsing the web.