1969252 - Private Browsing toggle button opens a new homepage tab when Homepage as a New Tab is enabled

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Firefox for Android :: Homepage, defect)

Description

[klint]

STR:

1. Enable "Homepage as a new tab" secret setting in latest Nightly 141.0a1.
2. Open a new private window by long pressing on the Firefox icon in the phone launcher and by selecting the right option there .
3. Search from the address bar.

Expected:
Search performed in a private tab.

Actual:
Switches to non-private homepage and the search is performed in a non-private tab in the background.
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Comment 1

[klint]

Follow up of bug https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1914852

Comment 2

[BugBot [:suhaib / :marco]]

The severity field is not set for this bug.
:Gela, could you have a look please?

For more information, please visit BugBot documentation.

Comment 3

[:Gela]

Moving this to Homepage and notifying squad 5 to determine priority

Comment 4

[Mira Lobontiu (Android QA)]

I was not able to reproduce this issue on the latest Firefox for Android Nightly 141.0a1 from 6/19 with a Samsung Galaxy S24 (Android 15).
Could you please retry on the latest Nightly build?
Thank you!

Comment 5

[Kestrel]

The browser needs to be started in private mode for it to occur, not necessarily from a shortcut.

STR:

1. Enable "Homepage as a new tab" secret setting in latest Nightly.
2. Switch to private mode.
3. Close the browser (swipe away from recents).
4. Start the browser (should start in private mode).
5. Search from the address bar.

Expected:
Search performed in a private tab.

Actual:
Search performed in a normal tab and switches to homepage.

Comment 6

[Gabriel Luong [:gl] (ΦωΦ)]

Attachment: Bug 1969252 - Private Browsing toggle button opens a new homepage tab when Homepage as a New Tab is enabled

• When Homepage as a New Tab is enabled, clicking on the Private Browsing Mode toggle button on the homepage will always create a new homepage tab in the new browsing mode.

Comment 7

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://github.com/mozilla-firefox/firefox/commit/d1e463570ffa
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/3192711610d2
Private Browsing toggle button opens a new homepage tab when Homepage as a New Tab is enabled r=android-reviewers,devota

Comment 8

[amarc]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/3192711610d2

Comment 9

[Rolland Eduard Rus]

Attachment: az_recorder_20250827_175148_edited.mp4

I just verified the bug on a Google Pixel 9 Pro XL running Android 15 with the latest Nightly build from 2025-08-27, and the issue is still reproducible for me. I will also attach a screen recording.

Comment 13

[Gabriel Luong [:gl] (ΦωΦ)]

Since we have previous landed something in Fx144 that was only partially related about ensuring that a private tab is available when toggling between normal and private browsing mode. We are gonna move to using Bug 1991243 to resolve the remaining issue around the first search in private browsing mode when the app is opened in cold start in private mode.