Mozilla gives Firefox a rebrand and a new mascot named Kit

[midian182]

What just happened? Mozilla is refreshing its popular Firefox browser brand, and with it comes an all-new mascot called Kit – though it's obviously still a fox. If you're a big fan of the cute omnivorous mammal, Mozilla has also revealed limited-edition merchandise featuring Kit, as well as some new wallpaper.

According to Mozilla, Kit represents "a new companion through an internet that's private, open, and actually yours." The flame-colored fox will start appearing in Firefox's (download here) branding from November 11, beginning with the new tab page and expanding across Mozilla's websites and marketing materials.

Mozilla says Kit embodies the agility and friendliness of the Firefox brand while emphasizing privacy and user control, which have been two of the browser's key selling points in an increasingly data-driven online world.

The new mascot is part of a wider refresh designed to make Firefox more recognizable and engaging. Mozilla says the goal is to create a more cohesive and personable identity around the browser and its ecosystem.

In addition to Kit's introduction, users can grab themed wallpapers and limited-edition merchandise such as t-shirts, stickers, and branded drinkware to mark the launch.

While the mascot is new, Mozilla has stopped short of updating Firefox's familiar circular fox-and-flame logo this time around. That might come as a relief to long-time users who remember the significant rebrand in 2019, when Mozilla introduced a more stylized icon that had been chosen by the public.

The refresh also reinforces Mozilla's ongoing focus on community and creativity – values it's long emphasized through projects like Firefox Add-ons and open-source development.

While popular with enthusiasts and privacy fans, Firefox still holds just under 4% of the global desktop browser share as Google's Chrome approaches 80%. The only big player behind Firefox is Opera with a 2% share.

Courtesy of Statcounter

It remains to be seen how users will respond to Kit, but Mozilla clearly hopes its latest rebrand will remind people that Firefox isn't just a tool for browsing; it's a statement about how the internet should work.

Last month, Mozilla said Firefox would soon show search results directly in the address bar for select queries instead of redirecting users to their default search provider's website.

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Mozilla gives Firefox a rebrand and a new mascot named Kit

 

[CanAqua]

It's a browser

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Browser wars are over Jim.

To the shock and awe of no one the mega corps won, Jim.

Firefox is my daily driver, but at the end of the day none of the major browsers are particularly unique anymore. Whatever people launch first and get used to is what people use.

 

[human7]

Browser wars are over Jim.

I don't entirely disagree, but could someone tell Microsoft that so they can respect people's choices when they don't use Edge?

 

[Liranan]

It's sad that Chrome has such a massive market share, it can't compete with FF when it comes to plugins and extensions.

I shall hug FF on both desktop and mobile devices till its dying breath.

 

[Anton Longshot]

The smell of desperation...

I have FF installed as a backup browser just-in-case...but just-in-case never seems to happen so I don't actually use it.

 

[guillejp]

Ah, Firefox... They're so hopelessly lost and are so weird... A rebrand? A new mascot? With a name? Really? What?

 

[CowsGotMilk]

Firefox is a great browser. I love it, because it's simple, not overloaded with crap. I wish for it to keep it that way. Because if I would need AI features, or other gimnick, I would pick Chrome, Opera or Brave, or any other. You don't have to fix what's not broken.

 

[GeoffreyA]

To be honest, Kit is quite cute, and nice name, perhaps inspired by Knight Rider.

 

[NumberNine]

Less cartoons, more privacy.

 

[geogan]

I still can't believe 80% of people actually use that Google spyware browser. Crazy. People are stupid.

 

[Plutoisaplanet]

Firefox is a great browser. I love it, because it's simple, not overloaded with crap. I wish for it to keep it that way. Because if I would need AI features, or other gimnick, I would pick Chrome, Opera or Brave, or any other. You don't have to fix what's not broken.

Is your comment supposed to be satire? Mozilla loves offering gimmicks in their browser. Here is a list of them from over the years:
- Firefox Send
- Firefox VPN
- Firefox Relay
- Firefox Monitor
- Firefox Hello
- Pocket

I'm sure there are more.

In addition, Firefox has been trying to force AI down your throat. Firefox enabled a sidebar by default, made it hard to remove (now it might be easier), and put an AI chatbot as a prominent button there. When you click it, it listed half a dozen AI providers, and attempting to use one redirected you to their website to register for it. There was no easy way for me to remove it from the browser, and I had to go to about:config to disable sending my data to third-party companies via a number of settings.

They've also added advertisements for AI website building "Solo AI" to Firefox's Settings, added "AI tab groups", and are powering third party extensions with AI to do who knows what.

 

[hahahanoobs]

4%share... globally.

 

[hahahanoobs]

I still can't believe 80% of people actually use that Google spyware browser. Crazy. People are stupid.

Stupid is screaming about privacy when there is nowhere to hide.

 

[Burty117]

I switched back to Firefox when I heard Google is going after Chrome add-ons to stop ad-blocking from working properly.

Personally that was a wake up call that chrome (and all chromium based browsers) can do one.

I’m sure once Google really starts to crack the whip, we’ll see a lot more people move to FF to get away from that.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Firefox has been continuously let down by its own leadership. they have some really deep, longstanding issues. Remember when they fired a CEO because they disagreed with his personal political donations? Or how they spent years updating their CoC and complaining about how there isnt enough censorship of "dangerous" ideas while actual technical achievements like 64 bit support or multithreading languished, only releasing over a decade after Google put them in Chrome?

People forget why Chrome got so popular in the first place.


They also have a long history of ignoring their own user's desires:

https://itsfoss.com/news/firefox-continuous-decline/

A new mascot isnt going to fix that. There is a systemic culture issue at Mozilla that had continued to drive away their most ardent supporters and that will continue until they are below 1% marketshare. Their CoC changes this year make it clear they think as little of your privacy as Google.

 

[ATXFerret]

To be honest, Kit is quite cute, and nice name, perhaps inspired by Knight Rider.

Definitely has nothing to do with K.I.T.T.

A young fox is a kit.

 

[ATXFerret]

Firefox is a great browser. I love it, because it's simple, not overloaded with crap. I wish for it to keep it that way. Because if I would need AI features, or other gimnick, I would pick Chrome, Opera or Brave, or any other. You don't have to fix what's not broken.

They need new users, too. You'll be okay.

 

[ATXFerret]

The reason for the mascot is that Firefox needs to move away from being perceived as "the browser for nerds" and get the masses looking at them again. To stay relevant, they need more users. They have to get the average user to start talking about it, somehow.

The problem is, they still haven't figured out how to give people a "why?" If Chrome constantly forcing users face-first into multiple piles of ads doesn't do it, I wonder what will. Sorry, Mozz. I got no idea, either.

"We're cute" probably isn't going to help much but if that's the only shot you see, I guess you take it and see what happens.

 

[Win7user]

"While popular with enthusiasts and privacy fans, Firefox still holds just under 4% of the global desktop browser share as Google's Chrome approaches 80%. The only big player behind Firefox is Opera with a 2% share." <---------------------Google is NOT your friend, never has been, and never will be! Anyone, purposely using Google anything, has rocks for brains...

 

[smartin62]

Holy sheet ! A firefox is not a fox, it's a red panda !!!!

 

[Plutoisaplanet]

Holy sheet ! A firefox is not a fox, it's a red panda !!!!

Wow you're right haha: https://web.archive.org/web/2012022...la.org/projects/firefox/firefox-name-faq.html

Well I guess the name & logo has transitioned to new species before, so maybe the tran-species tendencies are representative of Mozilla's culture?

 

[p51d007]

To be honest, Kit is quite cute, and nice name, perhaps inspired by Knight Rider.

Since it is for FireFOX, I'd guess it is named for a Kit Fox, which is around the southwestern USA & Mexico areas.

 

[Liranan]

4%share... globally.

That's still tens of millions of users.

 

[Northy]

I'm glad to see persistent competition against Google in any way. Even seeing Comet come out recently was pretty cool, then it became apparent it's just another skinned Chromium browser.

Firefox definitely sat there on my shortcuts for my secure browser, for when it counts I'll keep using it. Sadly devs don't care too much about it and I have to use others for many tasks.