Disable Stories on Firefox home & new tab page (Android + Windows)

Firefox’s homepage now shows “Stories” or “Thought-provoking stories” by default. They are displayed as “Stories” on the browser’s homescreen and tab pages on Android devices. Whereas the heading changes to “Thought-provoking stories” on the new tab and homepage (depending on configuration) in the Windows versions of Firefox.

The stories are localized to ensure suitability with the readers. Firefox calls it “Exceptional content curated by the Firefox family”. Apart from that, Firefox has also included the potential of including sponsored shortcuts and stories. And it is fine for Mozilla to be looking for various ways to monetize the browser to keep it up and running.

However, the fundamental problem with stories, news, and articles appearing on the home/new-tab pages is distraction. You open a new tab page to go ahead with your research or work tasks, but there’s an article with an exciting heading ready to grab your attention. It not only eats up your time, but also affects the workflow and productivity.

So, depending on where and how you use Firefox, you might want to turn off the stories that appear on your homescreen and new tab pages. Here’s how to do it on Windows and Android.

Turn off ‘Thought-provoking stories’ on Firefox for Windows & Linux

One thing that Mozilla does right is to keep the settings very easy to find. They aren’t trying to hide the settings beneath multiple layers to make them difficult to discover. Here’s how you’d turn off stories on new tab pages on the desktop versions of Firefox.

Tap on the Menu button (☰) and choose Settings.
Click on Home (⌂) in the left navigation bar.
Look for Recommended stories under Firefox Home Content.
Uncheck the box to disable stories.

That’s it. Your Firefox homepage and new tab pages are now free of stories, news, and articles. Follow the next part if you want to disable stories on Firefox for Android as well.