Use the Awesome Screen to search the web, bookmarks and more

Firefox for Android Firefox for Android Last updated:

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The Awesome Screen gives you your Top Sites, history and bookmarks, along with the ability to search the web – all in one convenient place. Learn more about the Awesome Screen's features and how to customize it the way you like it.

How the Awesome Screen works

The Awesome Screen has panels for your Top Sites (most frequently visited sites), Bookmarks and History (sites you've visited in the past).

Access your Top Sites

Just open Firefox to have the sites you visit the most frequently right at your fingertips. This list of sites will change as your habits change.

Top Sites 26

If you'd like to make sure something always shows up here, you can pin it.

  • Tap and hold on a site and then choose Pin Site. You'll see a small push-pin next to the name of the site.
    Pinned site 26
Don't want to see your Top Sites? You can display your bookmarks, Reading List or history instead. See Rearrange, hide or set a default panel for more information.

Search the web, your bookmarks and browsing history in one place

The Awesome Screen gets its name from the fact that you can search everything from one place.

  • Tap the address bar or open a new tab and start typing. You will see sites you've bookmarked or visited before along with possible web searches. Just tap the thing you want and you're set.
    Awesome search 26

Of course, if you'd rather scroll through your bookmarks or history, you can do that too.

  • Just select History or Bookmarks from the Top Sites screen or a new tab.
    Awesome browse 26

The Awesome Screen lets you search everything (bookmarks, history, open tabs and search engines) from one place.

Tap the address bar or open a new tab and start typing. Firefox will display a list with:

  • Search suggestions from your default search engine.
    search suggestions 41
  • Bookmarks that match your search (these will appear with a star next to it).
    bookmark search android
  • Pages from your history that match your search.
    history results android 41
  • Open tabs that match your search (look for the switch to tab label)
    Android switch to tab jelly bean 480 wide
  • Search engines you can choose from at the bottom of the screen.
    quick search android

Just tap the option you want and you're ready to go!

  • Now you can jump directly to your Search settings from the address bar. Just tap the address bar, followed by the magnifying glass from the quick search bar.
    quick search settings
Tip: You can access your desktop bookmarks, history and more from your Android device by setting up Firefox Sync.

Customize the way the Awesome Screen works

Set a home page in Firefox for Android

Available in newer versions of Firefox for Android

To set a home page in Firefox, see Change the Homepage to a specific page

Rearrange, hide or set a default panel

Now you can choose which panel to see first when you start Firefox. You can also rearrange panels and hide the ones you don't use.

  1. Tap the Menu button (either below the screen on some devices or at the top-right corner of the browser), then Settings (you may need to tap More first).
    android setting
  2. Tap Customize, and then Home.
  3. On the Home menu, tap on a panel: History, Top Sites, Bookmarks, or Reading List to see these options:
    • Set as default: Choose Set as default if you want that panel to be the first thing you see when you launch Firefox for Android.
    • Hide or Show: Tap Hide if you don't want to see a panel at all. If a panel is already hidden, you can choose Show to unhide it.
    • Change order: Tap Change Order, then either Move Up or Move Down to rearrange your panels on the home screen. The panels would appear on the home screen in the same order that they appear in this menu.

Turn on search suggestions

Turn on search suggestions to show related Google suggestions alongside your search words.

  1. Tap the Menu button (either below the screen on some devices or at the top-right corner of the browser).
  2. Tap Settings (you may need to tap More first).
  3. Tap Customize, followed by Search.
  4. Finally, check the Show search suggestions option.

Turn on search history

Turn on search history to show suggestions from your history:

  1. Tap the Menu button (either below the screen on some devices or at the top-right corner of the browser).
  2. Then tap Settings (you may need to tap More first).
  3. Tap Customize and Search.
  4. Finally, check the Show search history option.

Add search engines and choose the default one

Want to add YouTube results to your searches or use DuckDuckGo? No problem.

  1. Go to the site of the search engine you want to use (for example youtube.com).
  2. Tap and hold inside the search box and choose Add a Search Engine.
Search within a specific website: Some websites offer their own search engines. Use the same steps as above to add them to Firefox, and you'll be able to search a specific site directly from your search bar.

Change your default search engine

  1. Tap the Menu button (either below the screen on some devices or at the top-right corner of the browser), then tap Settings (you may need to tap More first), followed by Customize and Search.
  2. Tap the search engine that you would like to set as default and choose Set as default.

Show the URL in the address bar instead of the website name

  • Tap the Menu button (either below the screen on some devices or at the top-right corner of the browser), then tap Settings (you may need to tap More first), followed by Display. Then tap the Title bar setting and choose Show page address.

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