That is normal on Firefox for Android because the system can silently unload the browser so it is very protective of open tabs. However, if you close a tab, Firefox shouldn't re-open it automatically. Are you having a problem with that, or you just prefer Firefox for Android to have a worse memory?

Thanks for your reply.

I have another S7 running Android 7.0 and it does not have that problem at all. On the problem S7 it seems to totally ignore the home page setting. Surely that is never normal behavior. Why would Firefox for Android have a home page setting that is always ignored.

When I shut down Firefox I want it to totally forget open tabs (except in "History").

Firefox menu wordings generally reflect the OS maker's guidelines. Windows uses Options, Mac and Linux use Preferences, etc.

Anyway, I think the "setting" you want is here:

menu icon > Settings > Advanced > Restore tabs

Did that work?

Thanks. That sort of solved the problem. :-) On both my S7's the home page is set to about:home but this gives different results on the two phones.

On one phone the home page brings up a horizontal menu bar with selections of TOP SITES, BOOKMARKS, and HISTORY. TOP SITES is selected. This is exactly what I want.

On the other S7 the horizontal menu bar contains only HISTORY. There is no other choice. I must have done something to cause this while I was trying to solve the other problem. TOP SITES is what I want but is does not show so I can't select it.

Try here:

menu button > Settings > General > Home

Then there's a Panels section where you can re-enable missing panels.

Success?

Thank you so much. The "restore tabs" and then your help re-enabling the panel totally solved the problem.