Firefox Focus 4.01 for Android lets you create custom search engines and adds sites to an autocomplete list.

A new version of Firefox Focus for Android is out, bringing some useful features. Before we dive into the changes, I want to point out the fact that Firefox Focus presents itself like no other browser on the market. The mobile browser is developed by Mozilla, which claims that Firefox Focus lets you “browse like no one’s watching. The new Firefox Focus automatically blocks a wide range of online trackers – from the moment you launch it to the second you leave.” In other words, Mozilla takes your privacy very seriously and erases your history after use. If you’re a privacy-minded user, Firefox Focus is the browser you should set as the default on your Android device. It also features a minimalistic design with few configurations options.  So much so that it does not even support tabs. Firefox Focus also supports most of the popular search engine that you can set in the browser’s settings.

Version 4 of the browser improves on the search engine features by letting users add their own search engines or remove the ones they don’t want. Mozilla added a new “Add another search engine” button in settings. To add a search engine of your own, tap Settings – the three-vertical bar at the top right of the app. Under Search, tap Add another search engine. Give your search a name and in the search string to use field, enter the link to your query.

Here are some popular search queries you can use:

• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=%s
• IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/find?q=%s
• Bing: https://www.bing.com/search?q=%s
• Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%s
• Bugzilla: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=%s
• Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/search?q=%s

When done, tap save.

Should you want to remove unwanted search engine, follow the same process and tap remove and put a check mark next to the search engine you want remove and tap the trash icon. Tap the back arrow to save your changes.

Mozilla also added an autocomplete feature to Firefox Focus so users can get to websites with less typing. Autocomplete can be enabled in Settings > URL Autocomplete. Then tap the switch next to the option you want two turn on. These two options are:

Default URL List: Enables autocomplete in the address bar for the most popular websites.

Custom URL: Enables autocomplete for web addresses that you enter yourself.

After you’re done, tap the back arrow to save your changes.

Firefox Focus is a robust browser for Android I strongly recommend you add to your app list. And it is available free for download in Google Play Store.

Mozilla temporarily disables newly added pull-to-refresh feature in Firefox Focus for Android following users complaints.

Exactly a week ago, Mozilla published an update that added swipe/pull-to-refresh feature to Firefox Focus, its privacy focused browser for Android. Today, they released another update to remove the refresh feature after users started reporting issues with it.

“…since it has the pull to refresh tab, I can’t scroll back to old messages for example in LinkedIn because it keeps refreshing the page…”, wrote a user in the reviews on Google Play Store. Most of the reports are along the same line. Another user wrote that ”…the refresh gesture triggers far too easily and I find myself constantly and unintentionally refreshing pages.”

Some users were happy to see the new feature go, while others suggested that Mozilla adds the option to disable it. “Glad to see pull to refresh gone. Now to fix tabs and double scroll because of the toolbar’s movement.” “Please make the swipe to refresh optional.”, wrote another.

The good thing is that Mozilla reacted quickly to disable the swipe/pull-to-refresh feature with today’s update which actually reverts the app to the state it was prior to last week’s update. The company did not say when a real fix will be issued, instead encouraging users to update the app through Google Play Store.

Private browser Firefox Focus updated with swipe-to-refresh and Google as default search engine.

Recently, Firefox introduced a new browser for Android called Firefox Focus which, by default blocks ad trackers and lets you easily erase your history, passwords and cookies. The browser also features a minimalistic design with few configurations options - it does not even support tabs. I use it mostly when doing quick searches or to check some news. Another point that may not make Firefox Focus popular with users is having Yahoo as its default search engine. That is until today.

Version 2.4 of Firefox Focus changes the default search engine for the US, UK and Taiwan to Google. The app still list other engines should you want to change. Currently on the list are: Amazon.com, DuckDuckGo, Twitter and Wikipedia.

In addition to the above, Mozilla also added a swipe-to-refresh feature. Users will be able to refresh a webpage by swiping or pulling down.

If you’re a privacy-minded user, Firefox Focus is definitely the browser you should set as default on your Android device. It will even remind you to erase your history when running in the background by pushing a notification to your device. Simply tap the notification and your history is gone.

Make sure you check out Firefox Focus in Google Play Store. It’s free.