Mozilla recently announced the end of its Test Pilot program, which it used to test new features for its products before they reached the general public. It seems the company has no plans to end public testing altogether, however, and is now releasing a new mobile app called Reference Browser.
The Reference Browser is a collection of components, such as GeckoView, Glean, and others, that are part of a new browser framework, but it is not intended to be a precursor to a new product. Mozilla does not plan to release the Reference Browser as a product later. Instead, the Reference Browser combines these components so that they can be tested together. Some or all of these components may eventually end up in other Mozilla products, but the Reference Browser itself is simply a test program.
The app is available exclusively for Android, and the focus of the test is on mobile devices. If you want to join the test, you'll need to join this Google group and then head over to the Play Store listing for the Reference Browser to download the first Nightly build. Any issues that arise can be reported on the GitHub page, but you'll also be sending telemetry data to Mozilla by default. You can turn this off in the settings if you want.
The browser may be lacking in features at the moment, but you'll already find many of the basic functions. The address bar is at the bottom of the screen for easier access, private browsing is already available, and you can enable tracking protection for both regular and private browsing tabs. There's also a new Firefox Accounts app that lets you sync your browsing activity across devices. If you're interested in helping Mozilla develop its browser, give it a try.
