As a long-time Firefox user, I've appreciated its speed and privacy features since the Quantum update. However, the large thumbnails in Top Sites and Highlights on the New Tab page can feel overwhelming. Here's how to customize your experience by removing individual items or disabling them entirely across desktop, Android, and iOS.
Over time, these sections fill with frequently visited sites, recent visits, and bookmarks, dominating the screen even without Pocket enabled.
Top Sites displays your most frequently visited websites as thumbnails for quick access. Highlights shows a combination of recent visits and bookmarked pages. While intended for convenience, their size can clutter the interface.
Both can be customized on desktop easily and on mobile with a few extra steps.
Before full disablement, consider removing specific items manually—no need to lose all shortcuts over one unwanted thumbnail.
Also read: How to import your data from Chrome to Firefox QuantumFirefox on desktop and mobile lets you quickly dismiss unwanted thumbnails from Top Sites and Highlights.
Hover over any item on the New Tab page, click the ellipsis (three dots) icon, and select Ignore to hide it temporarily or Delete from History for permanent removal.
Long-press an item and choose Delete (temporary) or Delete from History (permanent).
Note: Clearing browsing data removes recent sites from these sections, but bookmarked Highlights persist.Desktop offers straightforward toggles; mobile requires navigating settings.
Step 1: Open a new tab and click the gear icon on the top right.
Step 2: Uncheck Top Sites and Highlights, then click Done.
Pro tip: Uncheck Snippets for an even cleaner page by removing promotional content.Step 1: Tap the menu, then Settings > General.
Step 2: Tap Home > Top Sites.
Step 3: Tap Hide for Top Sites. Toggle off Recent Bookmarks and Visited for Highlights.
Step 1: Tap the menu, then Settings.
Step 2: Tap New tab.
Step 3: Disable Recent and Visited bookmarks for Highlights. Tap Show your top sites.
Step 4: Select Show blank page.
Note: These changes don't affect bookmarking functionality.Also read: Here's how to disable web notifications in Mozilla Firefox
