diff --git a/mobile/chrome/content/Util.js b/mobile/chrome/content/Util.js
index 79403253e02d..dc04ce116b6e 100644
--- a/mobile/chrome/content/Util.js
+++ b/mobile/chrome/content/Util.js
@@ -182,7 +182,7 @@ let Util = {
 
   /** Don't display anything in the urlbar for these special URIs. */
   isURLEmpty: function isURLEmpty(aURL) {
-    return (!aURL || aURL == "about:blank" || aURL == "about:home");
+    return (!aURL || aURL == "about:blank" || aURL == "about:empty" || aURL == "about:home");
   },
 
   /** Recursively find all documents, including root document. */
diff --git a/mobile/chrome/content/preferences.js b/mobile/chrome/content/preferences.js
index 519b46d148f7..e2ab713b33df 100644
--- a/mobile/chrome/content/preferences.js
+++ b/mobile/chrome/content/preferences.js
@@ -206,7 +206,7 @@ var PreferencesView = {
     } catch (e) { }
 
     switch (url) {
-      case "about:blank":
+      case "about:empty":
         value = "none";
         display = null;
         break;
@@ -242,7 +242,7 @@ var PreferencesView = {
 
     switch (value) {
       case "none":
-        url = "about:blank";
+        url = "about:empty";
         break;
       case "default":
         url = "about:home";
diff --git a/mobile/components/AboutRedirector.js b/mobile/components/AboutRedirector.js
index dcf6ec1cfc2e..e717be966113 100644
--- a/mobile/components/AboutRedirector.js
+++ b/mobile/components/AboutRedirector.js
@@ -41,6 +41,11 @@ const Ci = Components.interfaces;
 Components.utils.import("resource://gre/modules/XPCOMUtils.jsm");
 
 let modules = {
+  // about:blank has some bad loading behavior we can avoid, if we use an alias
+  empty: {
+    uri: "about:blank",
+    privileged: false
+  },
   fennec: {
     uri: "chrome://browser/content/about.xhtml",
     privileged: true
@@ -105,6 +110,12 @@ AboutGeneric.prototype = {
   }
 };
 
+function AboutEmpty() {}
+AboutEmpty.prototype = {
+  __proto__: AboutGeneric.prototype,
+  classID: Components.ID("{433d2d75-5923-49b0-854d-f37267b03dc7}")
+}
+
 function AboutFirstrun() {}
 AboutFirstrun.prototype = {
   __proto__: AboutGeneric.prototype,
@@ -141,6 +152,6 @@ AboutHome.prototype = {
   classID: Components.ID("{b071364f-ab68-4669-a9db-33fca168271a}")
 }
 
-const components = [AboutFirstrun, AboutFennec, AboutRights,
+const components = [AboutEmpty, AboutFirstrun, AboutFennec, AboutRights,
                     AboutCertError, AboutFirefox, AboutHome];
 const NSGetFactory = XPCOMUtils.generateNSGetFactory(components);
diff --git a/mobile/components/MobileComponents.manifest b/mobile/components/MobileComponents.manifest
index 7956593e6f0f..11f6a1723578 100644
--- a/mobile/components/MobileComponents.manifest
+++ b/mobile/components/MobileComponents.manifest
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
 # AboutRedirector.js
+component {433d2d75-5923-49b0-854d-f37267b03dc7} AboutRedirector.js
+contract @mozilla.org/network/protocol/about;1?what=empty {433d2d75-5923-49b0-854d-f37267b03dc7}
 component {077ea23e-0f22-4168-a744-8e444b560197} AboutRedirector.js
 contract @mozilla.org/network/protocol/about;1?what=firstrun {077ea23e-0f22-4168-a744-8e444b560197}
 component {842a6d11-b369-4610-ba66-c3b5217e82be} AboutRedirector.js
@@ -11,8 +13,6 @@ component {972efe64-8ac0-4e91-bdb0-22835d987815} AboutRedirector.js
 contract @mozilla.org/network/protocol/about;1?what=certerror {972efe64-8ac0-4e91-bdb0-22835d987815}
 component {b071364f-ab68-4669-a9db-33fca168271a} AboutRedirector.js
 contract @mozilla.org/network/protocol/about;1?what=home {b071364f-ab68-4669-a9db-33fca168271a}
-component {d503134a-f6f3-4824-bc3c-09c123177944} AboutRedirector.js
-contract @mozilla.org/network/protocol/about;1?what=sync-tabs {d503134a-f6f3-4824-bc3c-09c123177944}
 
 # DirectoryProvider.js
 component {ef0f7a87-c1ee-45a8-8d67-26f586e46a4b} DirectoryProvider.js