Firefox introduces semantic history search
10 months ago
- #Privacy
- #Search
- #Firefox
- Firefox is introducing Semantic History Search to improve history recall based on contextual meaning.
- The feature uses a client-side language model (Xenova/all-MiniLM) to create a vector database from existing history.
- All processing is done on-device, ensuring no new data collection or history leaves the device.
- Example: Searching 'basketball' can now match 'NBA.com' due to semantic relation, not just exact keywords.
- Users need Firefox Nightly 141.0a1 or newer, with history suggestions enabled in settings.
- The vector database takes ~10 minutes to build in the background after enabling the feature.
- Feedback is encouraged to assess the feature's effectiveness across diverse browsing histories.