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Waterfox Portable Changelog

What's new in Waterfox Portable 2021.04.2

Apr 26, 2021
  • Fixed issue that caused various ports to be blocked by Waterfox.

New in Waterfox Portable 2021.04.1 (Apr 22, 2021)

  • Rolled back scrollbar fix due to crashing on certain pages.

New in Waterfox Portable 2021.04 (Apr 22, 2021)

  • Fixed:
  • Fixed cosmetic scrollbar issues on Linux and Windows.
  • Changed:
  • Security patches from latest ESR.

New in Waterfox Portable 2021.03 (Apr 7, 2021)

  • NEW:
  • Support for detecting dark mode on operating systems such as Windows 10 and Linux.
  • Implementation and activation of PerformanceObserver. Helps load websites such as GitHub.
  • Experimental support for CSS Grid layout.
  • Fixed:
  • Fixed an issue causing YouTube 360 videos to crash.
  • Fixes for the Fetch API.
  • Changed:
  • Uplift to newer ANGLE (Gecko 87). This improves WebGL performance.
  • Security patches from latest ESR.
  • Removal of Polly, due to confusion on how to use.
  • Improved media codecs for better performance and security.
  • Unresolved:
  • macOS dark mode detection does not work.

New in Waterfox Portable 2021.01.1 (Jan 28, 2021)

  • Fixed crashes on macOS Big Sur @dbsoft
  • Latest security patches, backported from Firefox ESR 78.7†

New in Waterfox Portable 2020.10 (Oct 22, 2020)

  • Latest security advisories patched

New in Waterfox Portable 2020.09 (Sep 22, 2020)

  • Latest security advisories patched

New in Waterfox Portable 2020.08 (Aug 25, 2020)

  • Current:
  • Security updates
  • Added support for ResizeObserver
  • Minimum requirements for macOS are now 10.10
  • Classic:
  • Updated Network Security Services
  • Set maximum supported TLS version to 1.3 and minimum to 1.2
  • Updated SQLite library
  • Improved <table> support
  • Latest security advisories patched (best effort)

New in Waterfox Portable 2020.06 (Jun 3, 2020)

  • Latest security advisories from Mozilla for both channels.
  • Current:
  • Latest security advisories patched
  • Fixed problems with overlay extensions
  • Ability to import profile data from Classic (File > Import from another Browser)
  • Classic:
  • Latest security advisories patched (best effort)*
  • Various website compatibilty changes (Thanks to hawkeye116477)
  • JavaScript globalThis implemented
  • Fix for WebAudio
  • Partial Shadow DOM v1 support (experimental)
  • Fix for some crashes
  • Note: Aware of issues with some websites such as Netflix! It is being investigated.

New in Waterfox Portable 2020.05 (May 7, 2020)

  • Latest security advisories from Mozilla for both channels.
  • Fixed version display on Windows installers for both channels.

New in Waterfox Portable 2020.04 (Apr 8, 2020)

  • Latest security advisories from Mozilla for both channels.
  • Current:
  • Fixed various security issues
  • NPAPI support is almost fixed (support for Java and Silverlight)
  • Classic:
  • Fixed various security issues
  • Improved gtk support (thanks to hawkeye116477)
  • Changes you might have missed
  • Waterfox Classic:
  • Fixed library requirements on Linux
  • Various media library updates
  • Added DNS resolution to webextensions api
  • Updated timezone data for internationalization functions
  • Enabled unprefixed Fullscreen API
  • Various website rending issues fixed (Kinguin, Intel, Epic Games and others)
  • Fixed problems related with uBO html filters
  • Updated en-US dictionary
  • Waterfox Current:
  • Fixed ability to add add-ons via AMO
  • Fixed graphical issues on macOS
  • Added StartPage as an option
  • Enabled containers
  • Enabled playback of encrypted VP9 video in fMP4 container
  • Disabled establishing connection to links the mouse hovers over
  • Enabled user profile customizations and SVG properties
  • New features:
  • Restart button in PanelUI and Menu
  • Copy current tab URL
  • Copy all tab URLs
  • Added settings for disabling loading images automatically and exceptions
  • Added settings for disabling JavaScript with exceptions and advanced settings
  • Added new privacy settings
  • Added possibility to hide and show Status Bar or Status Info Overlay
  • Added possibility to change Tab Bar, Bookmarks Toolbar and Window Controls position
  • Added optional to enable an all-new settings layout
  • Added support for new emoji in Unicode/Emoji 12
  • Added possibility to set browser’s logo as menu icon

New in Waterfox Portable 2020.03 (Mar 13, 2020)

  • What’s new:
  • Latest security advisories from Mozilla for both channels.
  • Current:
  • Fixed various bugs
  • Updated ANGLE library for better GPU performance
  • Now using the standard Waterfox logo
  • Classic:
  • Fixed various websites not loading properly (Thanks to hawkeye116477 for the gargantuan effort)
  • Logo now has Classic tag to differentiate from Current
  • Improved gtk3 support
  • Fixed DRM issues (Netflix, Prime Video etc)
  • Various privacy settings update
  • Changes you might have missed:
  • Waterfox Classic:
  • Fixed library requirements on Linux
  • Various media library updates
  • Added DNS resolution to webextensions api
  • Updated timezone data for internationalization functions
  • Enabled unprefixed Fullscreen API
  • Various website rending issues fixed (Kinguin, Intel, Epic Games and others)
  • Fixed problems related with uBO html filters
  • Updated en-US dictionary
  • Waterfox Current:
  • Fixed ability to add add-ons via AMO
  • Fixed graphical issues on macOS
  • Added StartPage as an option
  • Enabled containers
  • Enabled playback of encrypted VP9 video in fMP4 container
  • Disabled establishing connection to links the mouse hovers over
  • Enabled user profile customizations and SVG properties
  • Added settings for disabling loading images automatically and exceptions
  • Added settings for disabling JavaScript with exceptions and advanced settings
  • Added new privacy settings
  • Added possibility to hide and show Status Bar or Status Info Overlay
  • Added possibility to change Tab Bar, Bookmarks Toolbar and Window Controls position
  • Added optional to enable an all-new settings layout
  • Added support for new emoji in Unicode/Emoji 12
  • Added possibility to set browser’s logo as menu icon
  • New features
  • Restart button in PanelUI and Menu
  • Copy current tab URL
  • Copy all tab URLs

New in Waterfox Portable 2020.02 (Feb 13, 2020)

  • Waterfox 2020.02 is now available with security fixes and a bunch of features you may have missed.

New in Waterfox Portable 2020.01.1 (Feb 7, 2020)

  • Classic:
  • Various media library updates
  • Added DNS resolution to webextensions api
  • Current:
  • Fixed ability to add add-ons via AMO
  • Fixed graphical issues on macOS
  • Added StartPage as an option

New in Waterfox Portable 2019.12 Classic (Dec 9, 2019)

  • User agent overrides restored for Linux.
  • New features:
  • Restart button in PanelUI and Menu
  • Copy current tab URL
  • Copy all tab URLs
  • New advanced preferences in “Features” tab
  • Add settings for blocking notifications and exceptions
  • Containers support enabled
  • Emoji updated
  • Storage API enabled
  • Security patches

New in Waterfox Portable 56.2.14 (Sep 4, 2019)

  • Waterfox for macOS is now built with OS X 10.11 SDK once again, which should alleviate crashes.

New in Waterfox Portable 56.2.12 (Jul 15, 2019)

  • New Waterfox Logo:
  • Unfortunately Waterfox has been required to change its logo. The new logo harks back to previous Waterfox designs and encompasses everything that Waterfox is. Feedback from previous logos has also been taken into consideration and should be much more appealing to everyone. Enjoy!
  • What’s new:
  • Patches for mfsa2019-22.

New in Waterfox Portable 56.2.11 (Jun 20, 2019)

  • Security fix for CVE-2019-11707.
  • Fixed issues that prevented themes from AMO installing.
  • Added some more overrides for popular websites.
  • Fixed issues where the Gecko Media Plugins were not downloading, preventing websites that required DRM such as Netflix from working.
  • Enabled support for JavaScript modules.

New in Waterfox Portable 56.2.10 (May 18, 2019)

  • Latest security fixes up to Firefox ESR 60.7
  • Added new Mozilla certificates to be able to install add-ons from AMO again
  • Waterfox now identifies as Waterfox once again!
  • This fixes issues with repeat CAPTCHAs, hooray!
  • Websites that require a vanilla Firefox user agent will get one, so far: web.whatsapp.com, amazon.*, netflix.com, chase.com. Please request if a website you visit doesn’t recognise the Waterfox user agent.
  • This should stop YouTube from doing A/B tests that break on Waterfox.

New in Waterfox Portable 56.2.9 (Apr 22, 2019)

  • Various security fixes.
  • Switched to twemoji for platforms that do not natively support emoji.
  • Fixed bug causing issues with add-ons such as Tab Mix Plus.
  • Fixed issue with Instagram

New in Waterfox Portable 56.2.8 (Mar 14, 2019)

  • A brand new logo to start things off!

New in Waterfox Portable 56.2.7 (Jan 30, 2019)

  • Waterfox 56.2.7 is all patched up with security and DRM fixes.

New in Waterfox Portable 56.2.6 (Dec 19, 2018)

  • More security fixes.

New in Waterfox Portable 56.2.5 (Nov 12, 2018)

  • More security fixes and a new user agent.

New in Waterfox Portable 56.2.3 (Sep 14, 2018)

  • Mozilla Foundation Security Advisories patched:
  • 2018-21
  • Waterfox now has a unique identifier in its user agent, but in a way that shouldn't confuse sniffers:
  • Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT x.y; Win64; x64; rv:56.0; Waterfox) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/56.2.3
  • Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X x.y; rv:56.0; Waterfox) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/56.2.3
  • Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:56.0; Waterfox) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/56.2.3
  • There is now a complete backup of all classic add-ons from the Mozilla Add-On Store, mirrored on the Waterfox CDN. You can use the Classic add-on Archive add-on to view the catalogue. This will be integrated into the next Waterfox version.

New in Waterfox Portable 56.2.2 (Sep 14, 2018)

  • Large amounts of security fixes and bug fixes are in this release and should solve two main issues:
  • Certain add-ons not showing their own options page (such as uBlock Origin dashboard).
  • Corrupted Content issue on website that use service workers.
  • Mozilla Foundation Security Advisories patched:
  • 2018-15/14

New in Waterfox Portable 56.2.1 (Jun 15, 2018)

  • Small security fix

New in Waterfox Portable 56.2.0 (May 16, 2018)

  • View changes:
  • Mozilla Foundation Security Advisories patched:
  • 2018-11
  • 2018-10
  • General Desktop:
  • Remove Google Play Services from Android (will now be able to add to F-Droid!)
  • Stylo is now built, but disabled by default.
  • Rust components are now built with optimisations.
  • Updated various media codecs.
  • Back ported performance improvements for JavaScript (should now stop the high CPU usage!)
  • Tested a new way to keep Waterfox components up to date with the release branch of Firefox (includes security and performance upgrades for the components):
  • Freetype2
  • Skia
  • svg.context-properties.content.enabled is now true by default.
  • Fingerprint option now disguises Waterfox as Firefox 60.
  • Website Updates:
  • Downloads now take you to a proper downloads page, with Portable download link fixed!
  • Downloads archive will also be on this page (just re-uploading it all)

New in Waterfox Portable 56.1.0 (May 16, 2018)

  • Mozilla Foundation Security Advisory Patches:
  • 2018-08
  • 2018-06
  • General Desktop:
  • Stylo is now enabled and built for Waterfox on all Desktop platforms.
  • Cookie prompt has been removed until it is fixed properly
  • The new about:preferences interfact has been fixed, can be enabled via browser.preferences.useOldOrganization
  • Profile import has been re-architected.
  • You can now Refresh your profile at about:support!
  • Update various media codecs.
  • Disable the add-ons discovery pane
  • Disable attempted telemetry ping to nowhere.
  • Enable support for input type=date and type=time.
  • Show punycode by default to prevent phishing.
  • macOS:
  • OS X 10.7 support is now properly back.
  • Windows:
  • Fixed playback issues on Windows that utilise the WMF decoder.
  • If you have issues with setting the default browser, re-download and use the Installer
  • What's coming up:
  • Integration of a classic add-on catalogue within about:addons.
  • Re-implement Cookie Prompt.
  • Include libc++-static to support Mac OS X 10.6.
  • Remove Google Play Services from Android to add it to the F-Droid store.
  • Port over various 57 WebExtension APIs that didn't make it into 56.

New in Waterfox Portable 56.1.0 (Mar 27, 2018)

  • Mozilla Foundation Security Advisory Patches:
  • 2018-08
  • 2018-06
  • General Desktop:
  • Stylo is now enabled and built for Waterfox on all Desktop platforms.
  • Cookie prompt has been removed until it is fixed properly
  • The new about:preferences interfact has been fixed, can be enabled via browser.preferences.useOldOrganization
  • Profile import has been re-architected.
  • You can now Refresh your profile at about:support!
  • Update various media codecs.
  • Disable the add-ons discovery pane
  • Disable attempted telemetry ping to nowhere.
  • Enable support for input type=date and type=time.
  • Show punycode by default to prevent phishing.
  • macOS:
  • OS X 10.7 support is now properly back.
  • Windows:
  • Fixed playback issues on Windows that utilise the WMF decoder.
  • If you have issues with setting the default browser, re-download and use the Installer
  • What's coming up:
  • Integration of a classic add-on catalogue within about:addons.
  • Re-implement Cookie Prompt.
  • Include libc++-static to support Mac OS X 10.6.
  • Remove Google Play Services from Android to add it to the F-Droid store.
  • Port over various 57 WebExtension APIs that didn't make it into 56.

New in Waterfox Portable 56.0.4.1 (Feb 3, 2018)

  • Mozilla Foundation Security Advisory Patches:
  • 2018-02
  • 2018-05
  • Update default search for some platforms. Feel free to use it or Ecosia, whichever you prefer to support Waterfox!

New in Waterfox Portable 56.0.3 (Jan 13, 2018)

  • Fixed incorrect update file being delivered to < Waterfox 56 users.
  • Fixes for default browser detection.
  • Enable e10s, disable e10s-multi for add-ons marked as incompatible. If you have issues with any add-ons, disable e10s completely.
  • Removed “e10s - (PID)” label from tabs.

New in Waterfox Portable 56.0.2 (Jan 8, 2018)

  • e10s will now be disabled when using add-ons that aren’t marked explicitly as compatible with e10s.
  • If you’d like to force enable e10s, you can by setting browser.tabs.remote.force-enable to true in about:config. Warning: This may cause the add-on or the browser to behave unexpectedly.
  • Updated libcubeb library to prevent audio issues on new Windows 10 builds, Bug 1426719
  • Mozilla Foundation Security Advisory Patches:
  • 2018-01
  • 2017-29
  • Fix default browser check (Thanks to jdunn0).
  • Fix plugin issues due to checking .mozilla instead of .waterfox (Thanks to PhantomX).
  • Fix of various white space issues thanks to jbeich.

New in Waterfox Portable 56.0.1 (Dec 14, 2017)

  • Updated Windows installer to show the MPL 2.0 and fixed executable description and icon.
  • Added back <applet> support for Java plugin users.
  • Added Privacy Policy and Legal to website to be more professional
  • Security patches from newer 57 releases:
  • Bug 1402372
  • Bug 1410106

New in Waterfox Portable 56.0 (Dec 1, 2017)

  • IMPORTANT! Waterfox now uses its own profile location:
  • Waterfox now uses its own profile directory. If you have updated from an automatic update, you will get a prompt to import your data to this new location after restarting the browser post update. If you use a different than default location for Firefox, you should be able to just update the profile.ini in the new Waterfox profile location to carry on using that location.
  • What’s new in Waterfox 56.0:
  • Waterfox will now remain at 56 for the time being, following the security releases of 59 ESR until it becomes End of Line (Q1 2019). In the meanwhile, a “new” browser will be developed to follow the ethos of Waterfox of customisation and choice, while staying up to do date with the rapidly evolving browser landscape.
  • Based on Firefox 56.0.2 release
  • Security patches from 57 release:
  • Bug 1261175
  • Bug 1325923
  • Bug 1339259
  • Bug 1365894
  • Bug 1366420
  • Bug 1369561
  • Bug 1370497
  • Bug 1375146
  • Bug 1383019
  • Bug 1384121
  • Bug 1387799
  • Bug 1387845
  • Bug 1394031
  • Bug 1394265
  • Bug 1394530
  • Bug 1395138
  • Bug 1397811
  • Bug 1399540
  • Bug 1399922
  • Bug 1400003
  • Bug 1400554
  • Bug 1401339
  • Bug 1401804
  • Bug 1402363
  • Bug 1402876
  • Bug 1402896
  • Bug 1403646
  • Bug 1404636
  • Bug 1406154
  • Bug 1406398
  • Bug 1406750
  • Bug 1407032
  • Bug 1407375
  • Bug 1407740
  • Bug 1407751
  • Bug 1408005
  • Bug 1408412
  • Bug 1408782
  • Bug 1408990
  • Bug 1411458
  • Bug 1412252
  • Fixed search suggestions not appearing
  • Enabled e10s by default, some add-ons that aren’t marked as compatible may cause unexpected behaviour.
  • Cookie Prompt has been re-implemented
  • Fix *BSD compilation; white space issues (Pull request #284 and #289

New in Waterfox Portable 55.2.2 (Oct 11, 2017)

  • Stop Mozilla from installing add-ons without user permission.
  • If these add-ons are already installed, they will be removed within a day of using the updated version.

New in Waterfox Portable 55.2.1 (Oct 9, 2017)

  • Patched crash on Windows 7 systems, from 56.0.1 release. Bug 1403353.
  • Don’t build AUS Helper extension.
  • Disable Battery Status API for privacy reasons.
  • Update bundled search plugins to their OpenSearch equivalents where available.
  • Revert to Ecosia as default, while issues are resolved with Yahoo.
  • Update blocklist (extension, plugin and certificate).

New in Waterfox Portable 55.2.0 (Oct 4, 2017)

  • What’s new in Waterfox 55.2.0?
  • Patched security issues from 52.4 ESR/56 Release. (Mozilla Security Advisories)
  • Linux: Switched to an older build environment for better compatibility of libraries.
  • Linux: No longer statically link libgcc.
  • Linux: Backported patches for issues with FreeType.
  • macOS: 10.13 has graphical issues with the GUI. Will wait for all patches to release before fixing in 56.
  • Android: Download APK or from Google Play Store (slight delay).
  • Yahoo is now the default search partner, but you may still use Ecosia to support Waterfox 🙂

New in Waterfox Portable 55.1.0 (Sep 27, 2017)

  • What’s after this release:
  • After 56 lands, I’ll release a roadmap of plans of how Waterfox is going to progress, to keep everyone in the loop.
  • What’s new in Waterfox 55.1.0:
  • Updated to Firefox 55.0.3 (Release Notes)
  • Statically linked libstdc++ on Linux.
  • Added option to toggle Electrolysis in about:preferences > General
  • Android release is ready! Just passing through the Google Play store and will submit request to go onto the F-Droid store.
  • Improved migration of profile to not copy over old profile.
  • Toggle some privacy options by removing Microsoft Family ’MITM’ and disable add-on metadata updates (add-ons will still update when there is one available).
  • Added FINDX and updated Yahoo! URL.

New in Waterfox Portable 55.0.2 (Aug 22, 2017)

  • Fixed an issue with missing label in about:dialog for language packs.
  • Reverted Yahoo partner URL until better solution found.
  • Note: If you are using Linux, you will need version 3.4.22 of libstdc++.
  • Windows builds are now available!
  • Updated to Firefox 55.0.2

New in Waterfox Portable 54.0.1 (Jul 16, 2017)

  • Updated to Firefox 54.0.1
  • Implemented Bug 1294490 to enable support of WebP images
  • Block data being sent to Google Analytics on the internal about:addons page

New in Waterfox Portable 54.0.0.1 (Jun 22, 2017)

  • Disable building of pingsender executable
  • Give users choice to use Google’s Widevine CDM for HTML5 EME/DRM. Note: No proprietary binaries are included by default, they are optionally downloaded in Preferences > Content

New in Waterfox Portable 54.0 (Jun 17, 2017)

  • Updated to Firefox 54.0 (Release Notes)
  • Windows installer now lists Waterfox as publisher instead of Mozilla
  • Language request now also change when a different locale is selected

New in Waterfox Portable 53.0.3 (May 29, 2017)

  • Fixed:
  • Fix hangs when using a proxy with NTLM authentication (bug 1360574)
  • Fix excessive resource usage from the captive portal detection service (bug 1359697)
  • Changed:
  • Bump preloaded security information expiration times (bug 1364240)

New in Waterfox Portable 53.0.1 (May 10, 2017)

  • Remove limitations for Windows XP/Vista users. Built targetting SUBSYSTEM:5.02 (Windows XP quits immediately on start, probably due to unsupported features on XP. Vista runs fine with various features disabled)
  • Use built in OS location services. This will require permissions from your OS, which should ask when Waterfox tries to utilise the API (tested on Windows 7+ and macOS, will get MLS API key as well for unsupported systems)
  • Fixed add-on corruption issue on add-ons with no manifest ID
  • macOS builds are now available

New in Waterfox Portable 53.0 (May 10, 2017)

  • The Git repo now includes the mozilla-release commit history to allow easier merging
  • Delay in macOS release as I’ve lost all of my private keys for my previous Apple Developer ID certs and am awaiting the 5 cert limit to be lifted. I’ve heard this can take a while so will try to push as I can’t make any new Mac releases without one
  • NPAPI Plugins and unsigned extensions should still run
  • Disabled PulseAudio and enabled ALSA for Linux builds
  • Attempt to fix future issues with search engine getting replaced upon update. Unfortunately, your search preference will be edited with this update, but hopefully should stop getting overwritten with future updates
  • Fully gutted and removed slowStartup, BrowserUITelemetry & UITour, BrowserUsageTelemetry

New in Waterfox Portable 53.0 (Apr 25, 2017)

  • NEW:
  • Updated to Firefox 53.0
  • The Git repo now includes the mozilla-release commit history to allow easier merging
  • Delay in macOS release as I’ve lost all of my private keys for my previous Apple Developer ID certs and am awaiting the 5 cert limit to be lifted. I’ve heard this can take a while so will try to push as I can’t make any new Mac 💻 releases without one.
  • NPAPI Plugins and unsigned extensions should still run
  • Future Developments:
  • Trials are being dont with ffmpeg. I’m planning to add support for every audio/video format that isn’t supported natively on the platform Waterfox is run on and allowing support for more codecs such as HEVC etc on top. The UK doesn’t suffer the same patent issues as the US in releasing software that uses H.26X
  • I’m going through all the 3rd party libraries used by the Mozilla platform to make sure they are updated often instead of waiting for them to eventually get merged into mozilla-release
  • What features does Waterfox currently have:
  • Compiled with Clang-cl on Windows, Clang+LLVM on Linux
  • Disabled Encrypted Media Extensions (EME)
  • Disabled Web Runtime (deprecated as of 2015)
  • Removed Pocket
  • Removed Telemetry
  • Removed data collection
  • Removed startup profiling
  • Allow running of all 64-Bit NPAPI plugins
  • Allow running of unsigned extensions
  • Removal of Sponsored Tiles on New Tab Page
  • Addition of Duplicate Tab option (toggle with browser.tabs.duplicateTab, thanks to PandaCodex)
  • Locale selector in about:preferences > General (further improved by PandaCodex)
  • N.B.:
  • When using a profile shared by Firefox, sponsored tile and snippet URLs may overwrite default Waterfox settings, enabling them again
  • Automatic updates will be delayed by 24 hours to make sure there aren’t any pressing issues before seeding to everyone.

New in Waterfox Portable 52.0.2 (Apr 13, 2017)

  • Attempt to fix future issues with search engine getting replaced upon update. Unfortunately, your search preference will be edited with this update, but hopefully should stop getting overwritten with future updates.
  • Fully gutted and removed slowStartup, BrowserUITelemetry & UITour, BrowserUsageTelemetry
  • Update Git repository to include Mozilla commit history, old repo moved to Waterfox-old
  • Updated to Firefox 52.0.2
  • Disabled PulseAudio and enabled ALSA for Linux builds

New in Waterfox Portable 52.0.1 (Mar 19, 2017)

  • Updated to Firefox 52.0.1
  • Fixed about:home CSS
  • Fixed Netflix/Amazon Prime Video/Chase website issues by spoofing Firefox 38 user agent for those sites
  • Enabled various HTML5 features

New in Waterfox Portable 52.0 (Mar 15, 2017)

  • Temporarily reverted to MSVC on Windows
  • Updated to Firefox 52.0
  • Removed 64-Bit NPAPI Flash only limiation
  • Pulled changes that fixed various issues with telemetry, startup performance and more. Big thanks to PandaCodex for their contributions!
  • There is a small bug on about:home with the logo being misplaced which I’ll make sure is resolved in a small bug fix update.

New in Waterfox Portable 51.0.1 (Jan 31, 2017)

  • Fixed painting issues on Windows
  • Updated to Firefox 51.0.1

New in Waterfox Portable 51.0 (Jan 27, 2017)

  • Updated to Firefox 51 codebase
  • Quality of Life feature: Select your language from Options (Preferences) > General > Locale! Language are now automatically bundled with Waterfox
  • Quality of Life feature: Duplicate Tabs! Right Click and Select Duplicate Tab to access this feature
  • Switched to O3 flag when compiling on macOS

New in Waterfox Portable 50.1.0 (Dec 21, 2016)

  • Security updates
  • Utilised Windows 10 SDK when building instead of 8.1 SDK for Windows builds
  • Issues with Windows NT 5.2 (XP era) systems are being looked into

New in Waterfox Portable 50.0.2 (Dec 1, 2016)

  • Critical security updates, immediate update recommended

New in Waterfox Portable 50.0 (Nov 21, 2016)

  • Waterfox is now built with Clang-cl thanks to the great progress made in the winclang bug

New in Waterfox Portable 49.0.3 (Nov 10, 2016)

  • Updated codebase to Firefox 49.0.2

New in Waterfox Portable 49.0.2 (Oct 6, 2016)

  • Removed remaining Mozilla pingback URLs
  • Fixed ICU reverting back to 56.1, now at 57.1 again
  • Removed graphics from empty snippet box on home page.

New in Waterfox Portable 49.0.1 (Oct 6, 2016)

  • Tor browser anonymity features were meant to be in this release but will be pushed back to the next release
  • Windows XP 64-Bit may have issues running the latest version, this is being looked into
  • Updated codebase to Firefox 49.0.1

New in Waterfox Portable 48.0.2 (Sep 7, 2016)

  • Update codebase to Firefox 48.0.2
  • Adobe Flash 23 Beta should resolve “Context3D Not Available!” issue

New in Waterfox Portable 48.0.1 (Aug 15, 2016)

  • Temporarily reverted to Visual Studio 2015 due to some graphical issues with Clang.
  • Implemented patch for Bug 1283274 - Avoid the wmode windowed -> opaque Flash workaround when we detect Flash async drawing support

New in Waterfox Portable 48.0 (Aug 11, 2016)

  • NEW:
  • Switched to Clang for Windows compilation. Things look much more promising than previous reports and stability seems good. Please report any issues and I’ll file bugzilla reports as this will help out Mozilla as well 🙂 This is a promising step to using a completely free/open-source build environment!
  • Reverted Registry Entries to be the same location as Mozilla’s so 3rd party programs like Roboform can work again (might need to re-install Roboform or Waterfox again for example)
  • Another attempt to fix unsigned extensions from not running. So hopefully they will now!
  • NEW FEATURES:
  • Disabled EME (doesn’t work on 3rd party builds anyway)
  • Disabled Web Runtime (deprecated as of 2015)
  • Removed Pocket completely
  • Removed all telemetry/data collection being sent back to Mozilla
  • Disabled the 64-Bit NPAPI white-list so that the user can decide what plugins they can run (doesn’t make sense for Mozilla to do this as most of their user base probably aren’t technically proficient), but it’s something Waterfox users are capable of handling.
  • I’ve also allowed unsigned extensions to run as well as there are still some old extensions people like to use (it’s disabled by Mozilla for the same reason as above)
  • Windows XP 64-Bit support
  • Updated ICU to 57.1 (current Mozilla base is on 56.1)
  • Removal of Sponsored Tiles on New Tab Page
  • Compiled with Clang
  • N.B.:
  • When using a profile shared by Firefox, sponsored tile and snippet URLs may overwrite default Waterfox settings, enabling them again
  • Automatic updates will be delayed by 24 hours to make sure there aren’t any pressing issues before seeding to everyone.

New in Waterfox Portable 47.0 (Jun 16, 2016)

  • Fixed Netflix playing issues once more. It appears that Netflix compares user agent strings against the ability of that browser version to play EME. I’ve now set the user agent to pretend that Waterfox is Firefox 38, which seems to have fixed the issue once more.

New in Waterfox Portable 46.0.1 (Apr 28, 2016)

  • Fixed Netflix playing issues

New in Waterfox Portable 46.0 (Apr 27, 2016)

  • Changes:
  • Temporarily switched to Visual C++ compiler while Intel fix compiler bugs. Clang test have happened and will try out GCC as well.
  • Re-enabled jemalloc

New in Waterfox Portable 44.0.3 (Feb 18, 2016)

  • Important stability fixes.
  • Updates:
  • Disabled Tracking Protection for non-private browsing instances as it was breaking various pages relying on tracking cookies
  • Disabled 64-Bit Plugin whitelist to allow all 64-Bit plugins to run

New in Waterfox Portable 44.0.2 (Feb 15, 2016)

  • Important stability fixes
  • Updates:
  • Buttery smoothness has returned
  • Fixed frozen loading icon
  • Replaced snprintf definition causing Intel’s C++ compiler to generate bad output (and therefore the cause of almost all crashes)

New in Waterfox Portable 43.0.4 (Jan 15, 2016)

  • Fixed crashing that occured when a user didn’t have an exisiting Waterfox or Firefox profile
  • Update base code for Windows & Mac releases to Firefox 43.0.4
  • Language packs are now available for download

New in Waterfox Portable 43.0.1 (Jan 15, 2016)

  • Fixed various crashes with less aggressive optimisation flags (Removal of -Qprec-div- -Qip -Qopt-prefetch)

New in Waterfox Portable 43.0 (Jan 7, 2016)

  • Updates:
  • Based on 43.0.3
  • Fixed UI malformation caused by Bug 1157984
  • Enabled aggressive optimisation flags (-O3 -Qprec-div- -Qip -Qopt-prefetch -Qparallel -QaxCORE-AVX2,CORE-AVX-I,AVX,SSE4.2,SSE4.1,SSSE3 -arch:SSE3), which should bring performance back up to par!
  • Updated enabled HTML5 features
  • Added Disconnect.me and Ecosia search engines to the search engine list
  • Full support for Windows XP (including WebGL, may have to disable Hardware Acceleration)
  • Changed:
  • Removal of 64-Bit NPAPI whitelist
  • Removal of signed extension requirement
  • Removal of Encrypted Media Extensions (DRM)
  • Removal of all Mozilla Data Reporting services (properly)
  • Fixed:
  • Fixed low resolution icons
  • Waterfox registry entries to not use the same as Firefox (Windows Only)

New in Waterfox Portable 40.1.0 (Nov 12, 2015)

  • Security Patches. Any security vulnerabilities that were fixed that were fixed in v41/v42 and related to v40:
  • MFSA 2015-96 Miscellaneous memory safety hazards
  • MFSA 2015-97 Memory leak in mozTCPSocket to servers
  • MFSA 2015-98 Out of bounds read in QCMS library with ICC V4 profile attributes
  • MFSA 2015-101 Buffer overflow in libvpx while parsing vp9 format video
  • MFSA 2015-102 Crash when using debugger with SavedStacks in JavaScript
  • MFSA 2015-103 URL spoofing in reader mode
  • MFSA 2015-104 Use-after-free with shared workers and IndexedDB
  • MFSA 2015-105 Buffer overflow while decoding WebM video
  • MFSA 2015-108 Scripted proxies can access inner window
  • MFSA 2015-109 JavaScript immutable property enforcement can be bypassed
  • MFSA 2015-110 Dragging and dropping images exposes final URL after redirects
  • MFSA 2015-111 Errors in the handling of CORS preflight request headers
  • MFSA 2015-112 Vulnerabilities found through code inspection
  • MFSA 2015-113 Memory safety errors in libGLES in the ANGLE graphics library
  • MFSA 2015-114 Information disclosure via the High Resolution Time API
  • MFSA 2015-116 Miscellaneous memory safety hazards (rv:42.0 / rv:38.4)
  • MFSA 2015-117 Information disclosure through NTLM authentication
  • MFSA 2015-118 CSP bypass due to permissive Reader mode whitelist
  • MFSA 2015-121 Disabling scripts in Add-on SDK panels has no effect
  • MFSA 2015-123 Buffer overflow during image interactions in canvas
  • MFSA 2015-126 Crash when accessing HTML tables with accessibility tools on OS X
  • MFSA 2015-127 CORS preflight is bypassed when non-standard Content-Type headers are received
  • MFSA 2015-128 Memory corruption in libjar through zip files
  • MFSA 2015-129 Certain escaped characters in host of Location-header are being treated as non-escaped
  • MFSA 2015-130 JavaScript garbage collection crash with Java applet
  • MFSA 2015-131 Vulnerabilities found through code inspection
  • MFSA 2015-132 Mixed content WebSocket policy bypass through workers
  • MFSA 2015-133 NSS and NSPR memory corruption issues
  • Updates:
  • libjpeg-turbo to 1.4.2 from 1.4.0
  • libpng to 1.6.18 from 1.6.16
  • NSPR to 4.10.10 and NSS to 3.19.2.1
  • Support for WebP (library version 0.4.4) images thanks to this patch. (Animated WebP not supported). Test WebP images out here.
  • Changed:
  • Encrypted Media Extensions have been removed until properly supported on x64
  • general.useragent.override. has been brought back!
  • Fixed:
  • Netflix should now work properly

New in Waterfox Portable 40.0.2 (Aug 25, 2015)

  • Features:
  • Support for Windows 10
  • Enabled API allowing Windows 10 users to open settings dialog
  • Added protection against unwanted software downloads
  • User can receive suggested tiles in the new tab page based on categories Firefox matches to browsing history (en-US only).
  • Hello allows adding a link to conversations to provide context on what the conversation will be about
  • New style for add-on manager based on the in-content preferences style
  • Improved scrolling, graphics, and video playback performance with off main thread compositing (GNU/Linux only)
  • Graphic blocklist mechanism improved: Firefox version ranges can be specified, limiting the number of devices blocked
  • Changes:
  • Add-on extensions that are not signed by Mozilla will display a warning
  • NPAPI Plug-in performance improved via asynchronous initialization
  • Smoother animation and scrolling with hardware vsync (Windows only)
  • JPEG images use less memory when scaled and can be painted faster
  • Sub-resources can no longer request HTTP authentication, thus protecting users from inadvertently disclosing login data
  • HTML5:
  • IndexedDB transactions are now non-durable by default
  • Implemented AudioBufferSourceNode.detune to modulate playback rate in cents, a logarithmic unit of measure used for musical intervals
  • Developer:
  • Improved Performance tools in the developer tools: Waterfall view, Call Tree view and a Flame Chart view
  • New rules view tooltip in the Inspector to tweak CSS Filter values
  • Console API messages from SharedWorker and ServiceWorker are now displayed in web console
  • New page ruler highlighting tool that displays lightweight horizontal and vertical rules on a page
  • Inspector now searches across all content frames in a page
  • Fixed:
  • Kannada text does not display properly in built-in pdf viewer
  • mozalloc.lib was missing from the xulrunner package
  • Fix a startup crash with some combination of hardware and drivers
  • Various security fixes

New in Waterfox Portable 38.0 (May 14, 2015)

  • No changes users will notice. Back-end system has been updated. Code changes don't require any build hacks to get Waterfox to compile. Everything is handled automatically. Just set ICL as your compiler and build away!

New in Waterfox Portable 37.0.1 (Apr 10, 2015)

  • Build system updated to Visual C++ 2013 Update 4 and Intel C++ 14 Update 5
  • Updated International Components for Unicode from 55 Milestone 1 to 55 Release
  • Fixed broken vectorized code

New in Waterfox Portable 36.0.4 (Mar 30, 2015)

  • Fixed installer issues that didn’t let Vista users install Waterfox

New in Waterfox Portable 36.0.1 (Mar 12, 2015)

  • Added experimental support for Vista 64-Bit
  • Added support for Geolocation API
  • Fixed a crash in the Mozilla code base that would cause TheGuardian.com to crash

New in Waterfox Portable 36.0 (Mar 2, 2015)

  • Support for HTML5 Gamepad standard
  • Much improved memory allocation and leak plugs
  • Now using Windows 8.1 SDK, added support for DirectX11 rendering if supporting hardware is present
  • Updated International Components for Unicode from 54.1 to 55 Milestone 1

New in Waterfox Portable 35.0 (Feb 10, 2015)

  • Fixed Mega.co.nz crashes and any other services that use similar JavaScript function
  • Fixed corrupt previews when using the upload dialogue box
  • Switched to Intel Threaded Building Blocks memory allocator due to issues with tcmalloc not registered its DLL correctly.

New in Waterfox Portable 32.0.3 (Oct 15, 2014)

  • Fixed issue where Firefox logo would overwrite Waterfox logo (old profiles may still have this issue)
  • Fixed Waterfox Portable issue where automatic update would break the portable version. This is fixed by removing automatic update.

New in Waterfox Portable 32.0.1 (Oct 15, 2014)

  • Stability issues for computers with multiple graphics cards
  • Mixed content icon may be incorrectly displayed instead of lock icon for SSL sites
  • WebRTC: setRemoteDescription() silently fails if no success callback is specified

New in Waterfox Portable 32.0 (Sep 11, 2014)

  • New features :
  • Fixed performance issue in Waterfox 31 - Waterfox should now be top of the game again smiley
  • Compiled with AVX2, AVX, SSE4.2, SSE4.1, SSSE3, SSE3 for processors that support these instruction sets and when it is advantageous.
  • Compiled with Profile-Guided Optimization
  • New:
  • New HTTP cache provides improved performance including crash recovery
  • Integration of generational garbage collection
  • Public key pinning support enabled
  • Display the number of found items in the find toolbar
  • Easier back, forward, reload, and bookmarking through the context menu
  • View historical use information for logins stored in password manager
  • Changed:
  • Removed and turned off trust bit for some 1024-bit root certificates
  • Performance improvements to Password Manager and Add-on Manager
  • HTML5:
  • drawFocusIfNeeded enabled by default
  • CSS position: sticky enabled by default
  • mix-blend-mode enabled by default
  • Vibration API updated to latest W3C spec
  • box-decoration-break enabled by default
  • ECMAScript 6 built-in method Array#copyWithin implemented
  • New Array built-in: Array.from()
  • navigator.languages property and languagechange event implemented
  • CSS box-decoration-break replaces -moz-background-inline-policy
  • Developer:
  • HiDPI support in Developer Tools UI
  • Inspector button moved to the top left
  • Hidden nodes displayed differently in the markup-view
  • New Web Audio Editor
  • Code completion and inline documentation added to Scratchpad

New in Waterfox Portable 31.0 (Jul 29, 2014)

  • New features:
  • Added support for Unicode 7.0
  • Experimental support for WebCL
  • Add the search field to the new tab page
  • Support of Prefer:Safe http header for parental control
  • mozilla::pkix as default certificate verifier
  • Block malware from downloaded files
  • Block malware from downloaded files
  • audio/video .ogg and .pdf files handled by Firefox if no application specified
  • Changed:
  • Removal of the CAPS infrastructure for specifying site-specific permissions (via capability.policy.* preferences). Most notably, attempts to use this functionality to grant access to the clipboard will no longer work. The sole exception is the checkloaduri permission, which may still be used as before to allow sites to load file:// URIs.
  • HTML5:
  • WebVTT implemented and enabled
  • CSS3 variables implemented
  • Devloper:
  • Developer Tools: Add-on Debugger
  • Developer Tools: Canvas Debugger
  • New Array built-in: Array.prototype.fill()
  • New Object built-in: Object.setPrototypeOf()
  • CSP 1.1 nonce-source and hash-source enabled by default
  • Developer Tools: Eyedropper tool added to the color picker
  • Developer Tools: Editable Box Model
  • Developer Tools: Code Editor improvements
  • Developer Tools: Console stack traces
  • Developer Tools: Copy as cURL
  • Developer Tools: Styled console logs
  • navigator.sendBeacon enabled by default
  • Dialogs spawned from the onbeforeunload event no longer block access to the rest of the browser
  • Fixed:
  • Search for partially selected link text from context menu
  • Various security fixes
  • Known Issues:
  • Slow shut downs lead to 'Firefox is already running' warning
  • PDF.js: With some fonts, some characters might not be displayed. Affects a very small number of PDFs

New in Waterfox Portable 30.0 (Jul 29, 2014)

  • New:
  • Sidebars button in browser chrome enables faster access to social, bookmark, & history sidebars
  • Changed:
  • Disallow calling WebIDL constructors as functions on the web
  • With the exception of those bundled inside an extension or ones that are whitelisted, plugins will no longer be activated by default (see blog post)
  • Developer:
  • Fixes to box-shadow and other visual overflow
  • Mute and volume available per window when using WebAudio background-blend-mode enabled by default
  • Use of line-height allowed for
  • ES6 array and generator comprehensions implemented (read docs for more details)
  • Error stack now contains column number
  • Support for alpha option in canvas context options (feature description)
  • Fixed:
  • Insecure NTLM (pre-NTLMv2) authentication disabled (see 828183)
  • Ignore autocomplete="off" when offering to save passwords via the password manager (see 956906)
  • TypedArrays don't support new named properties (see 695438)
  • Various security fixes

New in Waterfox Portable 28.0 (Jun 14, 2014)

  • A complete, 100% ICC build! Yay! (As opposed to various VC and ICC build).
  • Profile-Guided optimisation is back, which brings nice performance improvements.
  • If you're running an Intel CPU, support for AVX2, SSE4.2, SSE4.1 and SSSE3 if your processor supports these instruction sets. AMD users, at the moment you only get up to SSE3 support
  • Using Mozilla's built in memory allocator as opposed to jemalloc, otherwise crashes occur.
  • Finally change the About dialogue to talk about Waterfox and to link to the Waterfox website (links not active yet)

New in Waterfox Portable 27.0.2 (Apr 5, 2014)

  • Fixes the unrecognised browser given by certain websites.

New in Waterfox Portable 27.0.1 (Apr 5, 2014)

  • Fixed the user agent string. It should now show the correct information. Has the following layout: Mozilla/5.0 (platform; rv:geckoversion) Gecko/geckotrail Waterfox/waterforversion Firefox/firefoxversion
  • Size of the program has been reduced by 14%, while retaining the same JavaScript and WebGL performance

New in Waterfox Portable 18.0.1 (Jan 20, 2013)

  • JumpLists have now been fixed!

New in Waterfox Portable 16.0.1 (Jan 20, 2013)

  • Initial web app support
  • Improvements around JavaScript responsiveness through incremental garbage collection
  • New Developer Toolbar with buttons for quick access to tools, error count for the Web Console, and a new command line for quick keyboard access
  • CSS3 Animations, Transitions, Transforms and Gradients unprefixed in Firefox 16
  • Recently opened files list in Scratchpad implemented
  • Debugger breakpoints do not catch on page reload
  • No longer supporting MD5 as a hash algorithm in digital signatures
  • Opus support by default
  • Reverse animation direction has been implemented
  • Per tab reporting in about:memory
  • User Agent strings for pre-release Firefox versions now show only major version

New in Waterfox Portable 15.0 (Aug 31, 2012)

  • Support for SPDY networking protocol v3
  • WebGL enhancements, including compressed textures for better performance
  • Optimized memory usage for add-ons
  • JavaScript debugger integrated into developer tools
  • New layout view added to Inspector
  • High precision event timer implemented
  • The CSS word-break property has been implemented.
  • New responsive design tool allows web developers to switch between desktop and mobile views of sites
  • Native support for the Opus audio codec added
  • The and elements now support the played attribute
  • The element now supports the media attribute
  • Focus rings keep growing when repeatedly tabbing through elements (720987)
  • Fixed any remaining installer issues
  • Added optional portable version (useful for users without administrator permissions)
  • Optional AVG Security Search