WaffleLauncher: A Privacy-First App Launcher for Firefox

For years I used the Google App Launcher add-on in Firefox—a simple toolbar button that opened a 3×3 grid of shortcuts to Google services. When the original project stopped receiving updates, I initially forked it to remove retired services and add newer ones like Gemini and NotebookLM. Eventually, rather than continuing to patch an aging codebase that wasn't mine, I decided to start fresh.

WaffleLauncher is a ground-up rewrite that shares none of the original code. It keeps the familiar 3×3 toolbar waffle menu while adding the features, flexibility, and privacy guarantees I wanted.

Features

  • Customizable 3×3 grid: Pick up to nine apps from the settings page (one right-click away on the toolbar button) to populate your launcher.
  • Apps beyond Google: Ships with over 60 built-in apps across Google (50+ everyday, business, and developer tools), Proton (Mail, Calendar, Drive, Pass, Docs, Sheets, Meet, Wallet, Lumo, SimpleLogin, Standard Notes), and other services (ChatGPT, Claude, Apple Maps).
  • Drag-and-drop & keyboard reordering: Drag tiles directly inside the toolbar popup or settings preview to rearrange them, or use arrow keys to navigate and Ctrl + Arrow (Option + Arrow on Mac) to reorder without touching the mouse.
  • Smart tab opening: Choose between always opening apps in a new tab or reusing the current tab when it's a blank or new tab.
  • Background tabs: Middle-click, Ctrl+click (Cmd+click on Mac), or press Ctrl+Enter to open several apps in background tabs while keeping the popup open.
  • Light, Dark, and Automatic themes: Both the toolbar button and popup match your Firefox theme by default, with a manual Light or Dark override in settings.
  • Firefox Sync support: Your chosen apps, grid order, and preferences automatically sync across your devices if you use Firefox Sync.

Privacy First

A toolbar launcher has no business watching what you browse. WaffleLauncher collects zero data:

  • No telemetry or analytics: Declares to Firefox that it collects no data, and opens plain URLs with no tracking or referral parameters.
  • No network requests: Every icon and script is bundled locally inside the add-on under a strict Content Security Policy that blocks external network connections.
  • Minimal permissions: Uses only storage (to save your settings), menus (for the right-click settings shortcut), and activeTab (used solely when Smart opening checks if the current tab is blank). It cannot read or change the content of any page you visit.

Try It Out

WaffleLauncher is open source under the MPL 2.0 license. You can install it from Firefox Browser Add-ons or inspect the code and test suite on GitHub.