Firefox (as of iPadOS version 142.1) appear to have disabled an important accessibility feature in preference of AI.
I am a regular user of Firefox’s ‘reader mode’. It helps me read articles online when my visual impairment is impacting me most. Reader mode removes the distractions from the page, leaving me with just the article content that I can scale to a size that is comfortable for me to read. I have spoken about this feature in my ‘Magnifying the Web’ talk. It has been a game changer for me.
Frustratingly, the latest version of Firefox on iPadOS has replaced this feature with a new AI summary mode. This is not an equivalent feature. Reader mode allows people to read the whole article content, distraction free and with control over the visuals. The AI page summary reduces the content down to what it thinks are the key points, and annoyingly disables page zoom.
Restoring Reader Mode
The good news, for now at least, is that you can turn off AI summaries and reader mode is restored.
Go to Firefox's Settings, then under 'Page Summaries' disable 'Summarize Pages'. This removes the AI summary feature that appears in the address bar and the reader mode button should start appearing again.
I hope this is not a sign of Firefox removing reader mode. This is a really helpful accessibility feature, and one of the main reasons I choose Firefox as my default browser.