Firefox Updated With Native Support for M1 Macs, Mozilla Touts 'Dramatic Performance Improvements'

Mozilla today released Firefox version 84 with native support for Apple Silicon Macs with the M1 chip, touting "dramatic performance improvements" over the previous, unoptimized version of the web browser.

mozilla firefox banner
Specifically, Firefox now launches over 2.5 times faster and web apps are now twice as responsive, according to Mozilla.

If you are using a Mac with the M1 chip, Mozilla says you will need to fully exit and restart Firefox after upgrading to version 84 in order for the browser to run natively on Apple Silicon. Mozilla promises not only faster performance, but also better battery life.

Firefox 84 is also the final version to support Adobe Flash.

Apple recently shared a list of popular apps optimized for M1 Macs that are available in the Mac App Store, such as Pixelmator Pro, Adobe Lightroom, Affinity Designer, Darkroom, Fantastical, OmniFocus, BBEdit, Instapaper, and Twitter. Apple boasted that apps optimized for the M1 chip deliver "game-changing speed and capabilities."

Last month, Apple released its first Macs with the M1 chip, including a new 13-inch MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and Mac mini.

Popular Stories

Aston Martin CarPlay Ultra Screen

Apple's CarPlay Ultra to Expand to These Vehicle Brands Later This Year

Sunday February 1, 2026 10:08 am PST by
Last year, Apple launched CarPlay Ultra, the long-awaited next-generation version of its CarPlay software system for vehicles. Nearly nine months later, CarPlay Ultra is still limited to Aston Martin's latest luxury vehicles, but that should change fairly soon. In May 2025, Apple said many other vehicle brands planned to offer CarPlay Ultra, including Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis. In his Powe...
Apple Logo Black

Apple's Next Launch is 'Imminent'

Sunday February 1, 2026 12:31 pm PST by
The calendar has turned to February, and a new report indicates that Apple's next product launch is "imminent," in the form of new MacBook Pro models. "All signs point to an imminent launch of next-generation MacBook Pros that retain the current form factor but deliver faster chips," Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said on Sunday. "I'm told the new models — code-named J714 and J716 — are slated...
Apple MacBook Pro M4 hero

New MacBook Pros Reportedly Launching Alongside macOS 26.3

Sunday February 1, 2026 5:42 am PST by
Apple is planning to launch new MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips alongside macOS 26.3, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. "Apple's faster MacBook Pros are planned for the macOS 26.3 release cycle," wrote Gurman, in his Power On newsletter today. "I'm told the new models — code-named J714 and J716 — are slated for the macOS 26.3 software cycle, which runs from...
iOS 26

iOS 26.3 and iOS 26.4 Will Add These New Features to Your iPhone

Tuesday February 3, 2026 7:47 am PST by
We are still waiting for the iOS 26.3 Release Candidate to come out, so the first iOS 26.4 beta is likely still at least a week or two away. Following beta testing, iOS 26.4 will likely be released to the general public in March or April. Below, we have recapped known or rumored iOS 26.3 and iOS 26.4 features so far. iOS 26.3 iPhone to Android Transfer Tool iOS 26.3 makes it easier...
14 inch MacBook Pro Keyboard

Apple Changes How You Order a Mac

Saturday January 31, 2026 10:51 am PST by
Apple recently updated its online store with a new ordering process for Macs, including the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac mini, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro. There used to be a handful of standard configurations available for each Mac, but now you must configure a Mac entirely from scratch on a feature-by-feature basis. In other words, ordering a new Mac now works much like ordering an...

Top Rated Comments

parth Avatar
67 months ago
uninstalling google chrome, installing Firefox. :)
Score: 30 Votes (Like | Disagree)
macsplusmacs Avatar
67 months ago
Quite the jump.

Congrats team firefox.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ikir Avatar
67 months ago
My main browser is Safari but I’m also using Firefox for few problematic website. I trust Mozilla, instead Google is evil we know: https://chromeisbad.com/

Thanks for M1 build!!
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Konigi Avatar
67 months ago
We haven't discussed the most important thing yet: Firefox still hasn't updated its icon for Big Sur. Very disappointing.
(Apart from that it's extremely fast, reliable, doesn't use a lot of memory, but that's all second to the icon.)
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MRrainer Avatar
67 months ago
I really wonder what kind of rabbits Intel will be able to pull out of their fab-hats.
If in two years Apple has a system to replace the MacPro, that would mean there are server-class chips in the horizon.
If Microsoft ported over stuff like SQL Server to that, it could mean tremendous cost savings for power and cooling.

That in turn could be the end of Intel as we know it.

But even the hardware available now is just too good for devs to ignore, so I expect full support from most Open Source software within a year.
And I expect most Microsoft employees regardless of which division they work for have now taken a look at it and asked themselves, once again, „Why can’t we do this?“.

This might be a „MacOS X Tiger“ moment again, where Apple has delivered on all the promises that Microsoft made.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Apple_Robert Avatar
67 months ago
Good work, Mozilla. When I get my M1, I will definitely give the app a test.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)