Mozilla engineers are testing three new features called Containers, SnoozeTabs, and Pulse, which, if users react positively, might find their way inside Firefox, in upcoming versions.

All three are part of Test Pilot, a Mozilla program that allows users to test experimental features by installing a special add-on. The Test Pilot add-on then lets users to select which of seven features to test.

Besides Containers, SnoozeTabs, and Pulse, the program also includes Min Vid, Page Shot, Activity Stream, and Tab Center. Most of these features have been launched during 2016.

Snooze Tabs

The first of the three new features launched in 2017 is called Snooze Tabs and is an add-on that will allow users to send tabs to the future.

By "future" we mean that users will be able to click a button in Firefox and "snooze" a tab for a period of time. Once selected, the tab will disappear and reappear after the snoozing period has expired.

In other words, it's just like the Pocket add-on, allowing users to save links, but tabs jump back in your face after a countdown timer expires.

Mozilla has been working on SnoozeTabs for at least two years, with an early draft of this feature surfacing back in August 2015, and via an add-on that was available for internal testing.

Pulse

The second experimental feature is called Pulse and is a tool that most likely won't be included in Firefox.

We say this because Pulse lets users rate how websites load and behave in Firefox, data which is sent back to Firefox engineers.

Pulse looks like a feature you'd expect to see in Firefox Nightly or Developer editions, rather than the stable Firefox cut, as it helps Firefox engineers understand how Firefox works, rather than bringing anything of value to end users.

Containers

The third and last Firefox feature is named Containers, previously also known as Container Tabs, a feature that is also available with Firefox Nightly since version 50.

Also launched as a Test Pilot experiment, Containers allows users to launch tabs in separate "containers," each with its own database for storing cookies, browsing cache, indexedDB, and localStorage data.

Data shared among the containers includes bookmarks, the browsing history, saved passwords, saved searches, form data, permissions, certificates, HSTS flags, and OCSP responses.

From the get-go, the feature will support four separate containers: Personal, Work, Finance, and Shopping. The names of these containers don't mean anything, as they have the same level of separation and privacy, and are there just to guide users and nothing more.

A hidden feature of Firefox Containers is that you can use them to log into the same websites with four different credentials, a different one for each container.

If you're having a hard time grasping what containers are, imagine them as separate "browsing sessions" that exist in the same browser, or four Private Browsing modes, but without privacy protections.

Don't forget! In order to activate these hidden features, you must first install the Test Pilot Firefox add-on, and then select which features you want to test.