How to install the latest version of Firefox on your Chromebook (2021)

Consumers like options. It’s just a fact and it makes our buying decisions as unique and diverse as we are. For Chromebook users, the Google ecosystem is probably the first stop when it comes to finding and using applications on Chrome OS. That said, a little variety is nice and there are some who want to use platforms outside of Google’s offerings. One website in which this is very true is web browsers. When signing in to your Chromebook, use the Chrome browser. After all Chrome OX. This does not mean that you should be married to Google’s browser. You have options and we’ve discussed some of them in the past.

You can always install the browser of your choice in the Google Play Store, but the experience is not good. You are stuck with a browser designed for a mobile device on an extensive desktop and it is more frustrating than it is worth. Fortunately, the addition of Linux apps to the Chrome OS landscape has opened the door to options like the Brave Browser, Vivaldi, Tor and others. While the gap is large, Firefox is still one of the most popular browsers in the world, just behind Safari as the third-place reader worldwide. With the help of Linux, you can install the latest version of Mozilla’s browser on your Chromebook if you so wish.

Last year I mapped the Firefox installation process on Chrome OS, but times have changed and the Linux container for Chromebooks has been updated from Debian 9 to Debian 10. With that, the method for installing the latest version of Firefox has changed, albeit slightly. There are a few different ways to accomplish this installation, but today we are going to look at the way I recommend for its simplicity and simple process.

Side note: If you just want to try Firefox on your Chromebook, you can install the ESR version from the Debian repository. Do it with the assignment sudo apt install firefox-esr but know that it is currently on version 78, while the latest version is 84. If you want to be serious about keeping and using Firefox on your Chromebook, I highly recommend getting the latest version for security and stability.

To install the latest version of Firefox on your Chromebook, we need to add the latest version repository. Do not worry. It’s not as intimidating as it may sound. Let’s first make sure your Chromebook is set up and ready to use Linux applications. You can learn here how to install and update the Linux container. Now we need to install a text editor so that we can add the Debian Unstable repository that contains the Firefox package. I use nano, but you can install it or whatever text editor you prefer. Perform the following command in your Linux terminal to install nano.

sudo apt install nano

Now we need to add the source.list file. This file contains repository links that your device can point to when installing Linux packages. To add the Debian unstable repo, we need to open this file with the nano-text editor. Do this with the following command in your Linux terminal.

sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list

If you opened the file correctly, you should see what appears in the image above. Arrow down to the line below the last entry and paste the next string into the terminal. Once in place, press Ctrl + X to exit, press Y and enter to save at the exit. At this point, you can technically install Firefox, but not. You have now added the unstable repository. Executing any update commands will remove it from the unstable repository instead of the main repository, which could lead to broken packages or unstable applications being added to your device.

deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ unstable main contrib non-free

To prioritize the main repository and prevent applications from updating via unstable, we need to create a preferences file to “pin” the repository. For this we go back to nano or your favorite text editor. Paste the following command into your Linux terminal to create the file using nano. As we create a new file, it will be empty.

sudo nano /etc/apt/preferences.d/99pin-unstable

Paste the following lines into the file exactly as it appears. Once you have pasted it, press Ctrl + O and enter the file, then press Ctrl + X to exit nano. This will fix the stable repository and prevent updates from the unstable repo.

Package: *
Pin: release a=stable
Pin-Priority: 900

Package: *
Pin release a=unstable
Pin-Priority: 10

Last but not least, it’s time to install Firefox. To do this, we need to update the packages of the newly added repository. Then we can install the latest version of Firefox. You can perform both of these tasks at once by pasting the following command into your Linux terminal. After completing it, you will have the Firefox icon in your app launcher and you can pin it on your shelf for quick access. To uninstall Firefox, just right-click on the icon and select uninstall.

sudo apt update && sudo apt install -t unstable firefox -y

Hope you found this helpful. I’m sure there are a lot of users who are looking for alternative software to install on their Chromebooks, and I’m happy to help make that happen. Is there any specific non-Google software you want on your Chromebook? Post a comment below and we’ll see if there’s a way to make it work on Chrome OS. See you next time.