2031707 - The Weather checkbox in about:preferences#home is not synchronized with the Weather widget toggle in the Customization Panel

Status: VERIFIED FIXED

(Firefox :: New Tab Page, defect)

Description

[Gabi Cheta [:Gabi] Desktop QA]

Attachment: 2026-04-14_17h44_51.gif

Affected versions

• Firefox 151.0a1

Affected platforms

• Win 11 x64
• macOS 14
• Ubuntu 24

Preconditions

• browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.system.showWeather true
• browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.widgets.system.weather.enabled true
• browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.nova.enabled true

Steps to reproduce

1. Open a new tab page to reach the weather widget
2. From the widget menu click the Hide widget option
3. Open Customization Panel and observe Manage Widgets Weather toggle (Toggle is disabled)
4. Reach about:preferences#home and see the Weather checkbox under Firefox Home content

Expected result

• Weather checkbox is disabled when the widgets is toggled off from Customization Panel

Actual result

• The Weather checkbox in about:preferences#home is not synchronized with the Weather widget toggle in the Customization Panel.

Regression range

• New feature

Additional notes

• See the attached screencast

Comment 1

[Maxx Crawford [:maxx]]

Attachment: Bug 2031707 - Sync weather pref between about:preferences#home and Nova widget panel. r?#home-newtab-reviewers

In Nova mode, the Customization Panel weather toggle writes widgets.weather.enabled, but about:preferences#home was bound to the classic showWeather pref, leaving the two out of sync.

Fix both the settings-redesign path (_setupHomeGroup) and the legacy path (PREFS_FOR_SETTINGS) in AboutPreferences to read/write widgets.weather.enabled (with widgets.system.weather.enabled as the system gate) when nova.enabled is true.

Update WeatherFeed.isEnabled() and onPrefChangedAction to react to widgets.weather.enabled in Nova mode, and update Base.jsx and ContentSection.jsx to use the correct pref for weatherEnabled and the fallback weather toggle. Add nova-cleanup comments to all new Nova-conditional branches.

Comment 2

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://github.com/mozilla-firefox/firefox/commit/8ebc67d70db6
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/0f6bc0a5d8a2
Sync weather pref between about:preferences#home and Nova widget panel. r=home-newtab-reviewers,reemhamz

Comment 3

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://github.com/mozilla-firefox/firefox/commit/db60a0c10515
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/04bd4e2de051
Revert "Bug 2031707 - Sync weather pref between about:preferences#home and Nova widget panel. r=home-newtab-reviewers,reemhamz" for causing bc failures @browser_homepage_firefox_home.js.

Comment 4

[agoloman]

Backed out for causing bc failures @browser_homepage_firefox_home.js.

• Backout link
• Push with failures
• Failure Log

Comment 5

[Maxx Crawford [:maxx]]

Updated the patch to fix test errors, and ran a push try:
https://treeherder.mozilla.org/jobs?repo=try&landoInstance=lando-prod-2025&landoCommitID=37664

Comment 6

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://github.com/mozilla-firefox/firefox/commit/6e8f530a0771
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/1ee96c9fe5bf
Sync weather pref between about:preferences#home and Nova widget panel. r=home-newtab-reviewers,reemhamz,hjones

Comment 7

[amarc]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/1ee96c9fe5bf

Comment 8

[BugBot [:suhaib / :marco/ :calixte]]

The patch landed in nightly and beta is affected.
:maxx, is this bug important enough to require an uplift?

• If yes, please nominate the patch for beta approval.
  • See https://wiki.mozilla.org/Release_Management/Requesting_an_Uplift for documentation on how to request an uplift.
• If no, please set status-firefox151 to wontfix.

For more information, please visit BugBot documentation.

Comment 9

[Phabricator Automation]

firefox-beta Uplift Approval Request

• User impact if declined/Reason for urgency: This patch resolves pref-mismatch issues where a user turns off/on the Weather widget in about:preferences#home and that decision is not respected.

Weather is by default turned on for a majority of Firefox users, so this fix is helpful in making sure their decision is respected.

• Code covered by automated testing?: yes
• Fix verified in Nightly?: yes
• Needs manual QE testing?: yes
• Steps to reproduce for manual QE testing: See testing steps in patch:
  https://phabricator.services.mozilla.com/D295118
• Risk associated with taking this patch: low
• Explanation of risk level: Applies to Nova specific weather widget, so it's somewhat conditionally gated (however Beta has Nova enabled for HNT)

Includes test coverage

• String changes made/needed?: No
• Is Android affected?: no

Comment 10

[Maxx Crawford [:maxx]]

Attachment: Bug 2031707 - Sync weather pref between about:preferences#home and Nova widget panel.

In Nova mode, the Customization Panel weather toggle writes widgets.weather.enabled, but about:preferences#home was bound to the classic showWeather pref, leaving the two out of sync.

Fix both the settings-redesign path (_setupHomeGroup) and the legacy path (PREFS_FOR_SETTINGS) in AboutPreferences to read/write widgets.weather.enabled (with widgets.system.weather.enabled as the system gate) when nova.enabled is true.

Update WeatherFeed.isEnabled() and onPrefChangedAction to react to widgets.weather.enabled in Nova mode, and update Base.jsx and ContentSection.jsx to use the correct pref for weatherEnabled and the fallback weather toggle. Add nova-cleanup comments to all new Nova-conditional branches.

Original Revision: https://phabricator.services.mozilla.com/D295118

Comment 11

[Phabricator Automation]

firefox-beta Uplift Approval Request

• User impact if declined/Reason for urgency: This patch resolves pref-mismatch issues where a user turns off/on the Weather widget in about:preferences#home and that decision is not respected.

Weather is by default turned on for a majority of Firefox users, so this fix is helpful in making sure their decision is respected.

• Code covered by automated testing?: yes
• Fix verified in Nightly?: yes
• Needs manual QE testing?: yes
• Steps to reproduce for manual QE testing: See testing steps in patch:
  https://phabricator.services.mozilla.com/D295118
• Risk associated with taking this patch: low
• Explanation of risk level: Applies to Nova specific weather widget, so it's somewhat conditionally gated (however Beta has Nova enabled for HNT)

Includes test coverage

• String changes made/needed?: No
• Is Android affected?: no

Comment 12

[Maxx Crawford [:maxx]]

Attachment: Bug 2031707 - Sync weather pref between about:preferences#home and Nova widget panel.

In Nova mode, the Customization Panel weather toggle writes widgets.weather.enabled, but about:preferences#home was bound to the classic showWeather pref, leaving the two out of sync.

Fix both the settings-redesign path (_setupHomeGroup) and the legacy path (PREFS_FOR_SETTINGS) in AboutPreferences to read/write widgets.weather.enabled (with widgets.system.weather.enabled as the system gate) when nova.enabled is true.

Update WeatherFeed.isEnabled() and onPrefChangedAction to react to widgets.weather.enabled in Nova mode, and update Base.jsx and ContentSection.jsx to use the correct pref for weatherEnabled and the fallback weather toggle. Add nova-cleanup comments to all new Nova-conditional branches.

Original Revision: https://phabricator.services.mozilla.com/D295118

Comment 13

[Pulsebot]

https://github.com/mozilla-firefox/firefox/commit/73d03246ff5e
https://hg.mozilla.org/releases/mozilla-beta/rev/0613cb2cd766

Comment 14

[Gabi Cheta [:Gabi] Desktop QA]

Verified as fixed in Firefox 152.0a1 and Firefox 151.0b3(treeherder build).