--- a/mobile/android/base/java/org/mozilla/gecko/Tab.java
+++ b/mobile/android/base/java/org/mozilla/gecko/Tab.java
@@ -765,16 +765,26 @@ public class Tab {
 
     public boolean isPrivate() {
         return false;
     }
 
     public TabType getType() {
         return mType;
     }
+    public void setType(TabType type) {
+        if (mType != type) {
+            mType = type;
+            final GeckoBundle data = new GeckoBundle(1);
+            data.putInt("id", mId);
+            // TODO: 3/31/17 Not sure what to send here. If it's Tab:Load then we should make the data
+            // more complete
+            EventDispatcher.getInstance().dispatch("Tab:Load", data);
+        }
+    }
 
     public enum TabType {
         BROWSING,
         CUSTOMTAB,
         WEBAPP
     }
 
     /**

--- a/mobile/android/base/java/org/mozilla/gecko/Tabs.java
+++ b/mobile/android/base/java/org/mozilla/gecko/Tabs.java
@@ -134,16 +134,17 @@ public class Tabs implements BundleEvent
             "Link:Touchicon",
             "Tab:Added",
             "Tab:AudioPlayingChange",
             "Tab:Close",
             "Tab:MediaPlaybackChange",
             "Tab:RecordingChange",
             "Tab:Select",
             "Tab:SetParentId",
+            "Tab:TypeChanged",
             null);
 
         EventDispatcher.getInstance().registerBackgroundThreadListener(this,
             // BrowserApp already wants this on the background thread.
             "Sanitize:ClearHistory",
             null);
 
         mPrivateClearColor = Color.RED;
@@ -671,17 +672,25 @@ public class Tabs implements BundleEvent
                 notifyListeners(tab, TabEvents.MEDIA_PLAYING_RESUME);
             } else {
                 tab.setIsMediaPlaying(status.equals("start"));
                 notifyListeners(tab, TabEvents.MEDIA_PLAYING_CHANGE);
             }
 
         } else if ("Tab:SetParentId".equals(event)) {
             tab.setParentId(message.getInt("parentID", -1));
+        } else if ("Tab:TypeChanged".equals(event)) {
+            final String tabType = message.getString("tabType");
+            try {
+                tab.setType(TabType.valueOf(tabType));
+            } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
+                tab.setType(TabType.BROWSING);
+            }
         }
+
     }
 
     public void refreshThumbnails() {
         final BrowserDB db = BrowserDB.from(mAppContext);
         ThreadUtils.postToBackgroundThread(new Runnable() {
             @Override
             public void run() {
                 for (final Tab tab : mOrder) {

--- a/mobile/android/chrome/content/browser.js
+++ b/mobile/android/chrome/content/browser.js
@@ -3451,16 +3451,17 @@ nsBrowserAccess.prototype = {
 };
 
 
 function Tab(aURL, aParams) {
   this.filter = null;
   this.browser = null;
   this.id = 0;
   this._parentId = -1;
+  this._type = null;
   this.lastTouchedAt = Date.now();
   this.contentDocumentIsDisplayed = true;
   this.pluginDoorhangerTimeout = null;
   this.shouldShowPluginDoorhanger = true;
   this.clickToPlayPluginsActivated = false;
   this.desktopMode = false;
   this.originalURI = null;
   this.hasTouchListener = false;
@@ -3559,17 +3560,17 @@ Tab.prototype = {
     // When the tab is stubbed from Java, there's a window between the stub
     // creation and the tab creation in Gecko where the stub could be removed
     // or the selected tab can change (which is easiest to hit during startup).
     // To prevent these races, we need to differentiate between tab stubs from
     // Java and new tabs from Gecko.
     let stub = false;
 
     // The authoritative list of possible tab types is the TabType enum in Tab.java.
-    this.type = "tabType" in aParams ? aParams.tabType : "BROWSING";
+    this._type = "tabType" in aParams ? aParams.tabType : "BROWSING";
 
     if (!aParams.zombifying) {
       if ("tabID" in aParams) {
         this.id = aParams.tabID;
         stub = true;
       } else {
         let jenv = JNI.GetForThread();
         let jTabs = JNI.LoadClass(jenv, "org.mozilla.gecko.Tabs", {
@@ -3996,16 +3997,30 @@ Tab.prototype = {
     this._parentId = newParentId;
     GlobalEventDispatcher.sendRequest({
       type: "Tab:SetParentId",
       tabID: this.id,
       parentID: newParentId
     });
   },
 
+  get type() {
+    return this._type;
+  },
+
+  set type(aType) {
+    // The tab type setter doesn't update the internal tab type property in Gecko,
+    // but only sends a message with the new tab type to Java
+    GlobalEventDispatcher.sendRequest({
+      type: "Tab:TypeChanged",
+      tabID: this.id,
+      tabType: aType
+    });
+  },
+
   get currentURI() {
     if (!this.browser.__SS_restore) {
       return this.browser.currentURI;
     } else {
       // For zombie tabs we need to fall back to the session store data.
       let data = this.browser.__SS_data;
       let url = data.entries[data.index - 1].url;
       return Services.io.newURI(url);