How to Install Firefox on Ubuntu 26.04 – Complete Guide

Configure the Firefox browser on Ubuntu Desktop. Learn to set up official Snaps, Flathub Flatpaks, configure native deb packages via the official Mozilla repository or PPA, or run direct tarballs in one guide.

Firefox Installation Methods Compared

Use the matrix below to weigh performance, update patterns, and sandbox styles for each deployment type.

Use the snapd daemon to pull and configure the official stable Firefox snap:

sudo snap install firefox

First, stop any running Firefox instances, purge the Snap container, and remove the transitional package to avoid conflicts during native deb configurations:

sudo snap remove firefox
sudo apt purge -y firefox*

Create a directory to safely house third-party APT signing keys and download Mozilla’s verification keyring:

sudo install -d -m 0755 /etc/apt/keyrings
wget -q https://packages.mozilla.org/apt/repo-signing-key.gpg -O- | sudo tee /etc/apt/keyrings/packages.mozilla.org.gpg > /dev/null

Write the repository connection file, specifying that the keys downloaded in Step 2 must be used to authenticate the package builds:

echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/packages.mozilla.org.gpg] https://packages.mozilla.org/apt mozilla main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mozilla.list > /dev/null

By default, Ubuntu’s default repository index will try to install the Snap redirect package. Force APT to prioritize Mozilla’s repository for all package queries:

echo -e "Package: *\nPin: origin packages.mozilla.org\nPin-Priority: 1000" | sudo tee /etc/apt/preferences.d/mozilla

Update your APT database to scan the newly registered repository index and install the official native package:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y firefox

Purge the Snap package and transitional packages, then add the community PPA repository:

sudo snap remove firefox
sudo apt purge -y firefox*
sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:mozillateam/ppa

Create an APT configuration file to instruct the package manager to prioritize the community PPA over the default Ubuntu repositories:

echo -e "Package: firefox*\nPin: release o=LP-PPA-mozillateam\nPin-Priority: 1001" | sudo tee /etc/apt/preferences.d/mozillateamppa

Update your APT system package indices and run the installation command:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y firefox

Note: To ensure native Firefox packages from the PPA are updated automatically by Ubuntu’s unattended-upgrades background routine, execute this command:

echo 'Unattended-Upgrade::Allowed-Origins:: "LP-PPA-mozillateam:${distro_codename}";' | sudo tee /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/51unattended-upgrades-firefox

Navigate to your temporary directory, fetch the latest stable Firefox tarball from Mozilla’s CDN, and extract it to the system-wide application folder `/opt`:

cd /tmp
wget -O firefox.tar.bz2 "https://download.mozilla.org/?product=firefox-latest-ssl&os=linux64&lang=en-US"
sudo tar xjf firefox.tar.bz2 -C /opt/

By default, the extracted files are owned by the root account, which blocks Firefox from performing updates under a normal user session. Correct ownership to your user account and create a global system symbolic link:

sudo chown -R $USER:$USER /opt/firefox
sudo ln -sf /opt/firefox/firefox /usr/local/bin/firefox

Write a custom `.desktop` entry to register the manually installed Firefox with your system’s application launcher menus:

cat << 'EOF' | sudo tee /usr/share/applications/firefox-tar.desktop
[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Name=Firefox (Tarball)
Comment=Web Browser
GenericName=Web Browser
Exec=/opt/firefox/firefox %u
Icon=/opt/firefox/browser/chrome/icons/default/default128.png
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Categories=Network;WebBrowser;
MimeType=text/html;text/xml;application/xhtml+xml;application/vnd.mozilla.xul+xml;text/mml;x-scheme-handler/http;x-scheme-handler/https;
EOF

Install the Flatpak helper system daemon and add the Flathub package source to your system registries:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y flatpak
sudo flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://dl.flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

Pull the official sandboxed package from Flathub:

flatpak install flathub org.mozilla.firefox

Switch Snap Channels:

You can shift your existing Snap version of Firefox between channels without losing your local bookmarks or settings. Refresh the browser to Beta, Developer Edition (Candidate), or Nightly (Edge):

# Switch to Beta:
sudo snap refresh firefox --channel=beta

# Switch to Developer Edition:
sudo snap refresh firefox --channel=candidate

# Switch to Nightly (Edge):
sudo snap refresh firefox --channel=edge

To revert your Snap installation back to the stable channel, run:

sudo snap refresh firefox --channel=stable

Official Repository Testing Packages:

If you have set up the official Mozilla APT repository (Method 2), you do not need PPAs to access beta or nightly packages. Simply install the alternative package builds directly via APT:

# Install Firefox Beta:
sudo apt install -y firefox-beta

# Install Firefox Nightly:
sudo apt install -y firefox-nightly

Configure Testing PPAs:

To run native deb packages from community PPAs for testing builds, add the corresponding PPA repository to your system. Keep the APT pinning preferences file configured (see Method 3) so your system reads the PPA packages correctly:

# Add the Beta/Next PPA:
sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:mozillateam/firefox-next
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y firefox

# Add the Nightly/Daily PPA:
sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:ubuntu-mozilla-daily/ppa
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y firefox-trunk

Note: Running beta or nightly packages alongside a stable native build can cause configuration conflicts in your main profile folder. It is recommended to use the profile launcher to isolate them: firefox -P.

1. For the Snap Package (Method 1):

Remove the snap application container and purge all corresponding user cache directories:

sudo snap remove --purge firefox

2. For the Official APT Repository deb (Method 2):

Uninstall the native packages, remove the pinned APT preference, delete the source configurations and imported keyring keys, then refresh your indices:

# Purge the packages
sudo apt purge -y firefox firefox-beta firefox-nightly

# Delete the mozilla repository and pinning files
sudo rm -f /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mozilla.list
sudo rm -f /etc/apt/preferences.d/mozilla
sudo rm -f /etc/apt/keyrings/packages.mozilla.org.gpg

# Refresh index
sudo apt update

3. For the Native PPA deb Package (Method 3):

Uninstall the native packages, remove the pinned APT preferences, delete the Mozilla PPA sources, and refresh your package lists:

# Purge the packages
sudo apt purge -y firefox*

# Remove the PPA and testing repositories
sudo add-apt-repository --remove -y ppa:mozillateam/ppa
sudo add-apt-repository --remove -y ppa:mozillateam/firefox-next
sudo add-apt-repository --remove -y ppa:ubuntu-mozilla-daily/ppa

# Delete the pinning file and configuration files
sudo rm -f /etc/apt/preferences.d/mozillateamppa
sudo rm -f /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/51unattended-upgrades-firefox

# Synchronize package database
sudo apt update

4. For the Manual Tarball Installation (Method 4):

Delete the extracted folder, remove the symlink, and purge the desktop launcher menu shortcut:

# Remove binaries and link
sudo rm -rf /opt/firefox
sudo rm -f /usr/local/bin/firefox

# Remove the desktop entry
sudo rm -f /usr/share/applications/firefox-tar.desktop

5. For the Flatpak Build (Method 5):

Delete the Flatpak runtime instance and execute runtime garbage collection cleanups to reclaim storage space:

flatpak uninstall org.mozilla.firefox
flatpak uninstall --unused