1984858 - New Tab Shortcuts should open new tabs When Homepage As New Tab Is Enabled

Status: NEW

(Firefox for Android :: Homepage, defect)

Description

[Paul [pwd]]

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Android 16; Mobile; rv:144.0) Gecko/144.0 Firefox/144.0

Steps to reproduce:

STR:

1. Open Fenix
2. Open Settings
3. Open Private Browsing Section
4. Enable Open Links In Private Browsing
5. Open Secret Settings
6. Enable Homepage As New Tab
7. Open Some Tabs
8. Go to device Homescreen
9. Find Fenix launcher icon
10. Long press
11. Tap New Private Tab

Actual results:

Tab overwrites the last opened tab.

Expected results:

It opens a new private tab.

Comment 1

[Titouan Thibaud [:titouan]]

I can reproduce the bug when Homepage as New Tab.

I'm moving it to the Homepage component, as it seems to be related to the new developments of this feature.

Comment 2

[Titouan Thibaud [:titouan]]

:gl, let me know if you think it should be moved back to Tabs

Comment 3

[Paul [pwd]]

This seems a pretty significant bug. It's not even just the new tab shortcut. Literally…

1. Open PBM
2. Press new tab
3. Enter URL

Expected Result:
New Tab opens in PBM

Actual Result:
New tab overwrites non private last opened tab.

This is essentially a data loss bug and the New Tab As Homepage is riding the trains.

I will state that this bug has ALWAYS existed, so it's not a regression it's a problem with the implementation.

Comment 4

[BugBot [:suhaib / :marco]]

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

For more information, please visit BugBot documentation.

Comment 5

[Paul [pwd]]

I re-enabled Homepage As A New Tab and it's still an issue that it's overwriting "random" tabs.

Comment 6

[Gabriel Luong [:gl] (ΦωΦ)]

Under Homepage as New Tab, the "New tab" and "New private tab" shortcuts on the Android Homescreen should always open a new homepage tab (either normal or private depending on the shortcut). This should launch the application showing the Homepage with the address bar unfocused and keyboard down (not in the zero search state).

These shortcuts can be added under the "+" button when you longpress on the Fenix launcher or by tapping on the context menu items.

Slack Thread: https://mozilla.slack.com/archives/C0748C4AJ48/p1786122643753069

Comment 7

[Gabriel Luong [:gl] (ΦωΦ)]

Attachment: Screenshot 2026-08-07 at 1.03.14 PM.png

Comment 8

[Gabriel Luong [:gl] (ΦωΦ)]

Attachment: Screenshot 2026-08-07 at 1.03.46 PM.png