Mozilla is recruiting beta testers for a free, baked-in Firefox VPN
- Reference: 1760448486
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/10/14/mozilla_firefox_vpn_beta/
- Source link:
According to a staff post on Mozilla Connect, the company's idea-sharing platform, Firefox VPN is still an experimental feature in the early stages of development, but users will be selected at random to test it "over the next few months."
Moz describes the feature as one that will sit beside the search bar on Firefox, routing web traffic through a Mozilla-managed VPN server, concealing the user's real IP address while adding a layer of encryption to their communications.
[1]
Firefox VPN is a different project entirely from Mozilla VPN, a separate, paid-for product. The Firefox version will be free to use and confined to the browser itself, while Mozilla VPN can be used by up to five devices at a time.
[2]
[3]
The Moz staffer on the product team who announced the feature said of the upcoming beta test: "We'll start simple, then gradually add new capabilities while learning how it impacts browsing, usage, and overall satisfaction.
"Our long-term vision is ambitious: to build the best VPN-integrated browser on the market."
[4]
In response to feedback, the staffer noted that while it will be a desktop browser feature first, "mobile is definitely a natural next step."
The small cohort of Firefox users selected to try the feature will need to register for a Mozilla account, and the VPN location will default to the one that offers the best performance.
That means US users will default to US servers, so no foreign Netflix sessions for now. Mozilla did not say whether it plans to allow users to change the location of the VPN server later in the beta, or when it is rolled out formally.
[5]
Alternatively, users can simply opt out of the test by clicking "no thanks" on the popup that appears in their browser. They can also right-click the icon and select "Remove from Toolbar" after the fact, and re-enable it via the Add-ons and Themes menu if they change their mind.
Mozilla will only store users' logs for three months before they are deleted, and only collect "the technical data needed to keep Firefox VPN reliable and secure."
"For example, we may log whether a connection succeeded or failed, or record that your account used 2 GB of data on a certain day," it said in a [6]knowledgebase article .
"This helps us improve performance, prevent abuse, and plan for growth. Logs linked to your account are automatically deleted after three months. Importantly, Firefox VPN never logs the websites you visit or the content of your communications."
[7]Firefox ESR 115 won't quit Windows 7 – at least not until March 2026
[8]Saved you a click: Firefox 142 offers AI summaries of links
[9]Some users report their Firefox browser is scoffing CPU power
[10]Mozilla flags phishing wave aimed at hijacking trusted Firefox add-ons
Mozilla will keep hold of the overall bandwidth stats gathered during the course of the beta, but said these are aggregated across users and thus can't be traced back to any given tester.
Talk of infosec town
VPNs have been a hot topic lately, especially in the UK, as their use [11]surged within hours of the Online Safety Act's mandatory age assurance checks coming into force.
The UK government has insisted that it has [12]no intention of banning VPNs for adults, which have been used pervasively to bypass age checks.
The same can't be said for kids, however, as England's children's commissioner, Rachel de Souza, [13]suggested last month that a ban for under-18s could be beneficial to ensure the Online Safety Act performs as intended.
VPNs are also used routinely to evade geo-blocks from certain websites, limiting access to content such as movies and TV shows, and live sporting events.
Ofcom, which regulates the Online Safety Act, demands in-scope platforms demonstrate they are taking action against common methods of bypassing the legislation's intended restrictions.
Some platforms, such as Reddit and YouTube, actively work to block VPN traffic already, while others [14]remain under investigation for various failings in this respect, it said this week. ®
Get our [15]Tech Resources
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[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aO5zk6RtkfzOahuML6vOsgAAAAc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aO5zk6RtkfzOahuML6vOsgAAAAc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
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[6] https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/use-ip-concealment-in-firefox?_gl=1*ht6o6c*_ga*MTUyOTc2ODI3Ny4xNzU4NjMyNjU1*_ga_R3H4BDP5J2*czE3NjA0MzY0NzMkbzIkZzEkdDE3NjA0Mzc3MzkkajMwJGwwJGgw
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/05/firefox_esr_115/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/22/firefox_142/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/13/firefox_ai_scoffing_power/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/04/mozilla_add_on_phishing/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/08/proxy_usage_jumps_in_uk/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/31/banning_vpns_to_protect_kids/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/19/uk_commissioner_suggests_govt_stop/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/13/4chan_ofcom_fine/
[15] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Plethora
In today's broken British internet you need multiple VPNs.
Some websites you have to access with VPS when they geo blocked UK.
Some website you have to access with specific VPN, because they banned your other VPN.
Then you have various mobile networks having their own block lists.
Some also block VPN traffic as well now.
Re: Plethora
"Waa, it's nor fair. In Broken Britain they keep closing my loop holes!"
You may think the rules are wrong. (And they may well be.) But they are the rules, and you can't complain about people preventing you evading them. It's like saying, "In today's Broken Britain, I can't travel 40mph on my road home because they put up speed cameras to enforce the 20mph speed limit."
(You also reveal why the government may not have to block VPNs directly, if they can lean on sites to block VPNs.)
Re: Plethora
"But they are the rules, and you can't complain about people preventing you evading them. "
So you can't complain about the SS arresting people who were helping Jews escape Germany?
Re: Plethora
You may think the rules are wrong. (And they may well be.) But they are the rules, and you can't complain about people preventing you evading them.
You would fit nicely in the SS.
"Who are you hiding in the basement?"
Re: Plethora
You may think the rules are wrong. (And they may well be.) But they are the rules, and you can't complain about people preventing you evading them
why not?
is it a criminal offence to complain now?
is someone doing something wrong by complaining about something that hinders their ability to do what they did without issue a few months back?
not sure I like where things are heading, the current lot are a disaster & the next lot people are looking to to stop the madness have their own different concerns that people may be desperate enough to over look.
the worse thing is that its not just in the UK but seemingly across all western nations
Re: Plethora
western politicians> This pesky democracy. People don't like what we do and they will vote us out before we finish!
adviser> Maybe because you are the baddies?
western politicians> No, people just don't understand the vision. With the absolute power we can create perfect society! No more suffering, everyone happy.
adviser> Didn't Nazis and Soviets try that?
western politicians> No no, we are better. We won't exterminate people who disagree. We will drive them to depression and they'll do it themselves!
adviser> and that is what makes you feel you are better than the previous lot?
western politicians> Join us or perish!
adviser> Ok, so when do we implement those Chat Controls, UK is ahead of us with OSA.
western politicians> Now you are talking, comrade!
Why?
> Our long-term vision is ambitious: to build the best VPN-integrated browser on the market.
Nobody asked for this.
Furthermore
> The Firefox version will be free to use
Why spend money on building a service and supporting its infra that nobody asked for?
Keep on improving the browser itself, don't add useless features that cost money to support.
Re: Why?
As others have stated above, it is not a bad thing.
The UK OSA was mooted to be banning wikimedia (i don't use) or possibly wikipedia which i do use.
This feature if it allows us to bypass the UK OSA for non-illegal purposes, is a good thing.
If Mozilla can allow you to add a list of websites that automatically use the VPN for a different country egress, then great, just point and click and the OSA is circumvented. It will be a good feature.
Re: Why?
But then Mozilla is going to be a target for the UK authorities (and probably other countries)
So they'll have to spend money on lawyers or on moving their infra...
Meanwhile, if they focus on making a browser and let other companies deal with circumventing the law through VPN, the users of the browser won't be impacted
I don't see how this feature can end well for Firefox and its users
Re: Why?
Wankers are
Architecture? That's houses, isn't it?
Great. A VPN in the browser. And a mail client. And a Bitcoin wallet. And a Calendar. And an e-book reader. And a pop-up toaster. And a rechargeable vacuum cleaner. We won't rest until we've ticked off the entire list of things that users haven't asked for.
Re: Architecture? That's houses, isn't it?
Old enough to remember when my browser had an email client, calendar, IRC, and HTML page composer.
Tor
Why haven't they still built-in Tor into Privacy / Incognito Mode? I've been clamoring for that for ages.
For some fishy reason someone is persuading them not to.
If people start doing bad things using this VPN (and they will) it's only a matter of time before the cops stand on their doorstep with the demand to siphon off all IP's in realtime.