Firefox-ios: FXIOS-455 ⁃ URL bar should be moveable to bottom on Firefox for iOS

[SimonBasca]

Steps to reproduce:

Launch Firefox for iOS
Try to reach the URL Bar with one hand
Try to find a setting to move the URL bar to the bottom

Actual results:

I could not reach the URL bar comfortably
There was no setting to move it to the bottom

Expected results:

Considering how tall iPhones have gotten, there should be a setting to move the URL bar to the bottom, just like on Firefox for Android.

Feature request from : https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1638543

┆Issue is synchronized with this Jira Task

[athomasmoz]

@brampitoyo see bugzilla link for input from user (related to #5912)

[GeckoEidechse]

With Fenix (which has the URL bar at the bottom by default) now having rolled out fully on Android I think it's time to consider this issue again. The search button added with the 28.0 release was a nice addition but I'd say it would make sense to add the option of moving the URL bar to ensure a consistent UI between the iOS and Android version of Firefox.

[drearyworlds]

I would very much like this. Especially with the newest iPhones screen sizes being enormous, one handed use is almost impossible.

[athomasmoz]

Thank you for the feedback. Leaving this ticket open as the bottom nav bar feature is still under consideration. In the meantime, I want to share a few changes coming out to avoid reaching across the screen with your thumb:

• #6918 will focus the URL bar and popup the keyboard any time a new tab is opened, removing the step of clicking on the URL bar
• #6846 adds a button on the bottom nav that will focus the URL bar and pop up the keyboard on a new tab page

[Duckbilled]

@athomasmoz those additions you mentioned are not very useful, I think. I find myself more often needing the urlbar when I am actually in an existing webpage and want to change to another webpage (without having a new tab or deleting the current one). Even if there was a search icon in the bottom in existing pages, my I is drawn to the urlbar and probably will be trying to reach it there anyway, instead of the icon in the bottom.

[AkashKrDutta]

Would very much appreciate this feature. That is a game changer for me at least.

[brampitoyo]

Posting a very early, alpha exploration of bottom-oriented address bar on two scenarios:

• While viewing websites
• While searching or entering address

Keep in mind that everything might – and will probably – change. But these explorations give a rough an idea of how a bottom-oriented address bar might coexist alongside a navigation bar (which is also bottom-oriented).

While viewing websites

| Light theme | Dark theme |
| --- | --- |
| | |

While searching or entering address

| Light theme | Dark theme |
| --- | --- |
| | |

[Duckbilled]

@brampitoyo this looks already amazing and would work great. On android on the other hand it is kind of baked together. The arrow keys in my opinion are not very necessary as one can swipe back and forth (this might be important for those who don’t know about swiping, on the other hand android doesn’t have them either) and I like how on android it is taking up less space.

None the less, happy to see you are working on this!