When you open a New Tab in Mozilla Firefox, you are greeted by the Firefox Home page. By default, this page features a search bar, shortcuts to your most visited sites, and a section titled “Recommended by Pocket.” Pocket (which is owned by Mozilla) curates a daily selection of popular web articles and news stories designed to catch your attention. If you use your browser primarily for focused work or study, this scrolling list of clickbait headlines can be a massive distraction and visual clutter. Fortunately, Firefox allows you to completely remove Pocket from your New Tab page.
How to Hide Pocket Recommendations
You can customise the layout of the Firefox Home page directly from the New Tab window itself.
- Open the Mozilla Firefox browser.
- Click the + button at the top of the window to open a New Tab.
- Look at the top-right corner of the New Tab page (just below the main browser toolbar) and click the small gear icon (Personalise New Tab).
- A settings panel will slide out from the right side of the screen.
- Look for the section labelled Recommended by Pocket.
- Click the toggle switch next to it to turn it Off.
The Pocket article grid will instantly vanish from your screen. If you also want an ultra-minimalist experience, you can use the same menu to turn off “Shortcuts” and “Recent activity,” leaving you with nothing but a clean background and a search bar every time you open a tab.