Mozilla has announced that the Firefox browser is now available for download on the Microsoft Store on Windows 11 and Windows 10. This gives Firefox a new way to download the browser, which is potentially easier than opening another browser and finding the right website.

This is big news because Firefox is one of the first browsers to take advantage of Microsoft’s new policies for the Store. For years, Microsoft only allowed developers to publish browsers that used EdgeHTML, the same engine used by the old Edge browser. This made even less sense when Edge itself transitioned to the Chromium engine, but with the new Microsoft Store, any kind of browser and app can be published.

Firefox isn’t the first well-known browser to show up on the Microsoft Store, as Opera is available there right now. However, it is the first one with its proprietary Gecko engine, while most other browsers are using Chromium. That includes Microsoft’s own Edge browser, so Firefox presents itself as a true alternative for users who want things done differently. Not only that, Firefox is actually available and updated through the Microsoft Store itself, not using external servers. Updating from external sources is another new feature in the Microsoft Store, and that’s how Opera is listed on the Microsoft Store, but Firefox is actually going through Microsoft’s approval process for Store apps.

XDA Developers