New Working Method to Remove “What’s New” Gift Icon from Firefox Toolbar

- Last updated on January 11, 2020 by VG

In newer versions of Mozilla Firefox web browser, a new Gift icon (What's New) has been introduced. This icon automatically appears on the main toolbar near the main hamburger menu. If you click on the icon, it shows a small review of new features and changes present in recently upgraded Firefox version.

The "What's New" option has also been added to the main Firefox menu just above the Help menu as shown in following screenshot:

A few months back, we posted a tutorial to help users in removing the "What's New" gift icon from Firefox toolbar and main menu. You can find the tutorial at following link:

[Firefox Tip] Remove "What's New" Gift Icon from Toolbar and Main Menu

Recently a few readers reported that the method is no longer working in latest version of Firefox browser. For some readers, the icon disappeared but reappeared after some time.

Thanks to our reader "APM" for sharing a new working method to get rid of this "What's New" gift icon from Firefox toolbar and main menu. This new method works perfectly to delete the gift icon from Firefox.

If you also want to remove "What's New" gift icon from Firefox toolbar and main menu, following new working method will help you:

UPDATE: Check out following article containing new method to disable or remove "What's New" gift icon and feature from Firefox: [Tip] Get Rid of "What's New" Gift Icon from Mozilla Firefox Toolbar

1. Open Mozilla Firefox and type about:config in the addressbar and press Enter. It'll show you a warning message, click on "Accept the Risk and Continue" button. It'll open Firefox's hidden secret advanced configuration page i.e. about:config page.

2. Now type whats-new in Search filter box and look for following preference in the window:

browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.asrouter.providers.whats-new-panel

3. To remove the "Gift" icon and "What's New" menu, double-click on browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.asrouter.providers.whats-new-panel preference and it'll enter into Edit mode where you can change its value. Alternatively, you can click on the Edit icon given next to the preference value to edit it.

The default value of the preference is set to as following:

{"id":"whats-new-panel","enabled":true,"type":"remote-settings","bucket":"whats-new-panel","updateCycleInMs":3600000}

Notice the bold part mentioned above. The "enabled" is set to true which means "What's New" gift icon is shown in Firefox toolbar.

Change "enabled":true to "enabled":false in the value field which will make the value string as following:

{"id":"whats-new-panel","enabled":false,"type":"remote-settings","bucket":"whats-new-panel","updateCycleInMs":3600000}

You'll need to restart Firefox to apply changes. If you have opened multiple tabs and you don't want to lose them, you can restart Firefox without losing tabs using methods given in following tutorial:

[Tip] How to Restart Mozilla Firefox Without Losing Tabs

That's it. Restart Firefox browser and now both "Gift" icon and "What's New" menu will disappear from Firefox toolbar and main menu.

PS: If you decide to restore the "Gift" icon in future, reset the value of above mentioned preference.

Also Check:

[Firefox Tip] Restore Green Padlock Icon for Secure HTTPS Websites in Address bar

[Tip] Disable Recommended Features Suggestions in Mozilla Firefox

[Tip] Disable Recommended Extensions Suggestions in Mozilla Firefox

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Published in: Mozilla Firefox

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About the author: Vishal Gupta (also known as VG) has been awarded with Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) award. He holds Masters degree in Computer Applications (MCA). He has written several tech articles for popular newspapers and magazines and has also appeared in tech shows on TV channels. (Connect with Us)