Mozilla Firefox is seeing its user base grow thanks to the Digital Markets Act.
Mozilla Firefox is clearly benefiting from the European Digital Markets Act (DMA). According to Mozilla, approximately six million European users have now consciously chosen Firefox via the mandatory browser choice screens on smartphones and tablets. The DMA requires major platform players like Apple and Google to give users more freedom of choice regarding default apps and browsers.
Particularly strong growth on iPhone
Mozilla is seeing a particularly sharp increase on iPhones and iPads, where the number of Firefox users has grown by 113 percent since the introduction of the DMA. On Android, the increase remained more limited at around 12 percent.
This difference seems primarily related to how Apple and Google implement the browser choice screens. Android users mostly see the screen during the initial setup or after a device reset. On Apple devices, the browser choice appears as soon as users open Safari for the first time. As a result, many more existing iPhone users encountered the screen.
Users are actually sticking with Firefox
For Mozilla, it’s not just growth that matters, but also retention. According to the company, users are much more likely to continue using Firefox actively after consciously choosing the browser. Mozilla states that retention is five times higher than before the introduction of the DMA. This suggests that many users are not just experimenting, but are effectively switching from Safari or Chrome to alternatives.
Firefox is not the only browser benefiting from the European rules. Brave, Opera, Vivaldi, and DuckDuckGo also previously reported strong growth figures since the arrival of the browser choice screens. DuckDuckGo even claims that approximately 40 percent more Android users are consciously choosing its browser thanks to the DMA measures.
Mozilla calls for stricter rules
At the same time, Mozilla believes the DMA does not yet go far enough. The company is advocating for browser choice screens to be made mandatory on desktop systems as well. In doing so, Mozilla is particularly targeting Microsoft, which the company claims uses misleading design choices to push users toward Edge.
Mozilla also wants default search engines to be configurable via similar choice windows, and for such measures to remain legally enforceable rather than being voluntary commitments from tech companies.