Mozilla will open Firefox for Android for more extensions

RobotToaster , 10 months ago

About damn time, they should never have disabled it in the first place.

happyhippo , 10 months ago

Let’s just appreciate the fact that basically no other browser has this.

With chrome/ium you can’t even block ads.

Breakpr0d , 10 months ago

I use kiwi browser for the extension support.

9up999 , 10 months ago

That’s a lie sir. Brave blocks ads out of the box. Vivaldi also has ad block filters. You can add custom filters to both browsers. Also edge has shitty ad blocker. Kiwi browser supports almost all chrome extensions. Basically almost all except chrome and still you can block most of the ads using correct dns server.

pedro , 10 months ago

Sorry but even with all that said, you’ll never lure me to the evil side. I’m sticking with Firefox until it dies an atrocious death

sarsaparilyptus , 10 months ago

We’re talking about actual web browsers here, not spyware that uses your device to run a botnet

9up999 , 10 months ago

Firefox is as much botnet as others. Full of telemetry, diagnostics, pocket and other shit. That’s why there are secure forks. Firefox in stock form is as much botnet as others. Also firefox is selling out to the same google so don’t pretent it’s better because it’s not.

https://lemmy.ml/pictrs/image/8d45ed5a-b69b-4264-99f5-44dab039d549.jpeg

sarsaparilyptus , 10 months ago

Take your meds

can , 10 months ago

Accepting a ton of money from Google to make it the default search engine isn’t selling out to them. Any concerned user will know how to change the default.

Forkk , 10 months ago

Firefox already supported ublock origin on mobile and a handful of other extensions. This is just them opening it up to more extensions.

SkepticElliptic , 10 months ago

It’s enabled in the beta version, although limited to a small number of extensions.

sunflower_scribe , 10 months ago

Now, if only iOS would allow true Safari alternatives. 🥲

PonyOfWar , 10 months ago

They’ll soon be forced to allow sideloading, in the EU at least. Should open the doors for proper alternative browsers.

Blizzard , 10 months ago

I wonder what the alternatives to App Store will be called. F-Store? iDroid?

cupcakezealot , 10 months ago

They’d still be restricted to the Webkit rendering engine though, right?

Aasikki , 10 months ago

If you can sideload anything you want, why would that be the case? I don’t think there’s a technical limitation, they just don’t allow it on the app store if it doesn’t use safari.

cupcakezealot , 10 months ago

Oh that’s true, I always thought iOS just didn’t have that capability at all but that makes sense that it would just be blocked at the App Store level.

jmcs , 10 months ago

If you can sideload an app there’s nothing Apple can do to stop you from shipping a new rendering engine.

realharo , 10 months ago

They can still prevent the JIT from working because the resulting native code would not be signed. That would result in worse JavaScript performance in such browsers, but considering today’s hardware and software optimizations, it may not matter that much in practice.

maynarkh , 10 months ago

Yes, but the point of the law is that apps that you install that are not from the official store actually have to work. It even has clauses so that installing stuff from different sources than Apple can’t intentionally be a worse experience than the official app IIRC. That might be just for messaging though.

realharo , 10 months ago

I don’t think they allow JIT in their App Store apps either.

TheEntity , 10 months ago

I loathe the very fact they made people call it "sideloading". It's just installing on your own terms, like it used to be the norm.

pjhenry1216 , 10 months ago

Well, it's a carry over from its early days in how it used to work. You needed to install things via USB debugger. Generally that's all sideloading ever meant, transferring information from one device to another using a generally "local" method (SD card, USB, etc). Now sideloading, on Android at least (as it retains its original meaning elsewhere), just means not from the official repository.

LinkOpensChest_wav , 10 months ago

I just activated Windows 10 on a laptop I bought from ebay, and I was reminded that Microsoft too wants people to view its official store as the default way to obtain software.

One of my goals for this weekend is to set up a dual boot for Linux Mint, which I’ve never done before. I’m fully aware of its limitations, but I’m getting so tired of all this crap.

pjhenry1216 , 10 months ago

Yeah, I'm not sure what Microsoft is attempting with S mode. Its just such a half baked concept to me. I'd rather a simplified group policy interface or something if they wanted simplified restrictions.

But yeah, dual booting is a great way to transition. You can also do Windows in a VM, but not sure how licensing works or if you can use an OEM license in there.

LinkOpensChest_wav , 10 months ago

It just seems much better for me to set up a dual boot. I know it’s more work, but it’s not like it’s irreversible, and I think it would give me a better experience overall.

LucidNightmare , 10 months ago

There are a few Linux distros I can recommend as someone who started doing this as a little tinker project when I was younger.

Pop_OS! Is a really great basic setup to help usher you into Linux. I installed the KDE desktop environment onto my install because I really like and enjoy the KDE experience. You have plenty of other Ubuntu “flavors” to choose from. I’d recommend giving them all a whirl or look and decide which one you think is the best fit for you.

ElementaryOS is great if you want a semi-MacOS experience but I feel it is perfect for someone who doesn’t want to tinker around too much or for family members to use on their 10 year old laptops/desktops.

I also recommend not fully setting your Linux side up (email, saving documents, etc.) until you get done with your testing different distros out. You’ll be thankful you didn’t go through the full setup process if you decide to try a new distro out. Have fun, and remember it’s all a learning experience. Don’t be afraid to ask for question or look anything up. If you finally find a distro you want to make permanent and remember me, I’d love to hear what you settled on. Have a wonderful rest of your day. And enjoy your newfound freedom! 😌

LinkOpensChest_wav , 10 months ago

Thanks, I’ll bookmark your comment so I can come back to it

LinkOpensChest_wav , 10 months ago

Does this comment seem fresher from Linux :P

I finally got Linux Mint set up and joined the forums. First I tried it as a dual boot, but my old laptop never played well with Windows anyway, so I went ahead and did a full install. It’s got a HDD so I don’t feel to concerned about using this as a test machine and overwriting multiple times.

After I use this for a while, I want to try some of your recommendations. Then once I find exactly what I want, I’ll consider what I want to do with my main rig. Some people have warned against dual booting, but it worked just fine for the short time I had it set up like that.

Anyway, I still have your comment saved for reference, so thanks!

LucidNightmare , 10 months ago

I’d go as far as to say it’s… MINTy fresh!

I dual boot Pop with KDE and Windows 11 on my laptop while trying to use the Pop side more. I need the Windows side for playing games when traveling so I can’t fully integrate into Linux just yet. No problem at all, and I hope you’ll be able to sudo apt yourself into the perfect distro just for you!

LinkOpensChest_wav , 10 months ago

I actually think I’m going to enjoy trying out different versions. The official Linux Mint forums pretty much say no dual boot, go all in, but shhhhh don’t tell them that dual booting actually works just fine lol

LucidNightmare , 10 months ago

I have had some problem with some Distros not appreciating Windows being installed first, and some distros require more hoops to be jumped through to get it working than others, but dual booting is worth it in my use case and therefore is a requirement to even have Linux on the laptop to begin with. I love it to bits, but I bought the laptop to game!

LinkOpensChest_wav , 10 months ago

I’ve had people try talking me into using my main rig as a full Linux system, but I think I’d never do anything except dual boot because I appreciate the performance I get for games that don’t support native Linux way too much for that.

If it weren’t for gaming, I’d gladly take the plunge.

Camilo , 10 months ago

I hope you have fun! You can ask anytime for help, it’s a great learning opportunity

LinkOpensChest_wav , 10 months ago

I have an old laptop that I’m planning to use to test different versions of Linux so I can get a feel for it. I will let you know if I have questions. I appreciate the kind offer!

jvrava9 , 10 months ago

Very sad that Firefox does not provide an .ipa file of firefox without webkit. Jailbroken, trollstore and altstore users could benefit of extensions before apple allows sideloading.

GenEcon , 10 months ago

I use FF on android for a couple months now. Solid browser and sync to desktol and add blocker are nice.

BUT: their page reloading is far too aggressive. You can’t buy anything online, since once 2FA is required and you need to open your bank app, confirm, and switch back, the page reloads and the 2FA didn’t get through. Tickets and such are the only reason I have still chrome installed.

towerful , 10 months ago

Huh, good to know.
I’ve found edge to be quite aggressive on the reloads as well (at least, on desktop).
Makes it difficult for developing anything that has to deal with tabs going to “sleep” (like websocket reconnects, rehydrations, reauths).

I’m a hair away from ditching chrome

dsmk , 10 months ago (edited 10 months ago)

Hmm, I’m not experiencing that. Could Android (well, the flavour used by your phone) be killing background apps too aggressively or something like that?

Edit: could also be a RAM thing. I have 12GB.

middlemuddle , 10 months ago

I’m not experiencing that issue either and I have half the amount of RAM that you do. I’ve noticed an unnecessary autorefresh only after closing out of the browser for a long time, never in the middle of switching between apps. But, that does sound like annoying behavior.

ArcticCircleSystem , 10 months ago

Wow, I’m pretty sure my laptop has less RAM than that. ~Cherri

sarsaparilyptus , 10 months ago

You can get 32GB of laptop RAM for like $60 to $80 if you find sales, and even one 16GB stick would be an upgrade for you. Modern bloat is so bad that having 8 gigs of RAM is the equivalent of having 4 a few years ago.

ArcticCircleSystem , 10 months ago

My laptop only supports expanding the RAM up to 12 GB IIRC. ~Red

TheQuickHedgehog , 10 months ago

had that issue since updating my phone to android 13, mozilla really needs to fix it

kratoz29 , 10 months ago

I also feel RAM too aggressive since A13, but it could be my custom ROM as well.

radix , 10 months ago

This annoyed me too. I use Firefox Nightly with accessibility.blockautorefresh set in about:config, and it helps.

support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1204335

Scary_le_Poo , 10 months ago

This is Android aggressively killing apps, not Firefox.

GreatAlbatross , 10 months ago

Possibly, but previously I’ve been able to load a site, open a media-rich page in a new tab, then close that tab to go back to the original page.

On a newer build of FF for Android, that first page is re-loaded from the internet.

1ird , 10 months ago

I feel this pain. But you try to stop a video that started playing in Firefox. I dare you.

mexicancartel , 10 months ago

Its in notification with background play lol

1ird , 10 months ago

Yes but a video should stop if you swipe away the apps card from multitasking view. This action is tantamount to closing the app.

mexicancartel , 10 months ago

Mine stop maybe because i have background battery restriction/autostart prevention. Not sure tho

1ird , 10 months ago

Strange. I’ll look into those settings. Thanks

mexicancartel , 10 months ago

I checked this with youtube now and it pauses the video as soon as its in the background and I can play from notifications. Try updating too btw

covert_czar , 10 months ago

The video pauses atm of swiping away from the recent deck something magical is happening with your phone i use lineageos btw

lostmypasswordanew , 10 months ago

Yeah, I open my 2FA app in split screen when I do this

skillissuer , 10 months ago

why it was restricted in the first place?

ItsTom87 , 10 months ago

Maybe they couldn't guarantee that the mobile version could run well with all of them? That's what I've always assumed.

GunnarRunnar , 10 months ago

Which I think is kinda weird decision since they could've just hidden a setting that unlocks all addons in the options. But maybe they were so incompatible at the time that it wasn't worth the headache.

TheLeechiestLeech , 10 months ago

There is a hidden way to activate more extensions and most - if not the vast majority - extensions work fine.

frogfruit , 10 months ago

If you use Beta or Nightly, you can turn on dev tools and use a custom addon list from a collection in your user account. blog.mozilla.org/…/expanded-extension-support-in-…

Perfide , 10 months ago

There is a hidden setting for essentially that. It might be exclusive to Nightly though, idk since all I need is UBO

sabreW4K3 , 10 months ago

Because there were enough incompatibilities to make it a hassle. But when they were sorting out the Web Manifest v3, they designed it with desktop and mobile in mind, so new extensions won’t have problems.

bankimu , 10 months ago (edited 10 months ago)

It makes less sense since extensions actually ran on Android, e.g. via Nightly and creating your own list of exceptions. Also if you downgrade and install in an old Fennec version, extension will continue to function if you then update to the latest.

I think the move was an attempt to create a walled garden. But for whatever reason, they have now decided against it. Thank goodness.

sabreW4K3 , 10 months ago

It would be nice to have stuff here to break this down

comradegreetingcard , 10 months ago

Can we have tabs when using a tablet please?

jana , 10 months ago

Let’s tab tablets

SexyPolariton , 10 months ago

You don’t have tabs using a tablet?

raptir , 10 months ago

I think he means tabs along the top like on a PC browser.

comradegreetingcard , 10 months ago

Correct.

donio , 10 months ago

And why not phones too if the user prefers it that way. Can we have our user preferences back please?

judas , 10 months ago

No no, that would make way too much sense.

Written on a Fold 4 that’s currently not using Firefox ლ(ಠ益ಠლ)

twistedtxb , 10 months ago (edited 10 months ago)

For those who don’t know yet: Firefox Nightly for Android let you install any extension you desire.

You just need to create a custom collection on the web site and link your ID in nightly.

GunnarRunnar , 10 months ago

Same for Firefox forks, Mull and Fennec.

LinkOpensChest_wav , 10 months ago

Yep. I always mention Fennec who may hesitate to use Beta since it’s a stable release with full add-on support.

I’ve never tried Mull.

GunnarRunnar , 10 months ago

Not an expert but as I've understood it it's pretty similar to Fennec, less tracking and more private than your regular Firefox. I don't know anything about either ones development team size or activity either so I can't recommend one over the other. Hopefully someone with more knowledge can chime in.

Zenaida_macroura , 10 months ago

Mull’s made by the people at DivestOS

They have a browser comparison of some popular android browsers including Fennec and Mull divestos.org/pages/browsers

MaggiWuerze , 10 months ago

You can also just use the collections of other users

cupcakezealot , 10 months ago

Like mine, for those who don’t want to curate: addons.mozilla.org/en-US/…/p1xiekat-Android/

MaggiWuerze , 10 months ago

Maybe add PrivacyBadger, Consent-O-Matic, and DarkReader

cupcakezealot , 10 months ago

Noted and added!

MaggiWuerze , 10 months ago

Nice, I also added LocalCDN to my own list.

TheLeechiestLeech , 10 months ago

Firefox Beta as well.

frogfruit , 10 months ago

blog.mozilla.org/…/expanded-extension-support-in-…

bankimu , 10 months ago

My goodness that’s awesome. I never understood why they locked it down in the first place about a year ago. What changed?

lostmypasswordanew , 10 months ago

They wanted to have compatibility with Chrome extensions. But that was all just a n EEE move by Google. More perfidious since they created the open standard in the first place

suny , 10 months ago

great, now waiting for them to finally fix the supremely janky tab behavior.

gabriele97 , 10 months ago

Nice. What I need now is the ability to group tabs together

berg , 10 months ago

Have you tried sidebery? When I found tree layout for tabs to be a thing I haven’t looked back.

gabriele97 , 10 months ago

Thank you! I am going to install it right now on my desktop PC. I was referring to the android version btw 😂

berg , 10 months ago

Ahh, of course, that should’ve been obvious 😅

MoodyRaincloud , 10 months ago

Permission to shout hurrah in an annoyingly loud voice sir!

lemmur , 10 months ago

Permission granted Private

9up999 , 10 months ago

Installed firefox yesterday. Nothing really changed or improved. Uninstalled firefox.

randint , 10 months ago

What is the main reason you (presumably) use Chrome over Firefox? People here might be able to help you solve the problem.

spiderman , 10 months ago

Not a Firefox hater (I use Fennec), but Chrome is faster than Firefox.

ArtificialLink , 10 months ago

The difference is these days are negligible. And Firefox is even beaten Chrome in a few tests

LinkOpensChest_wav , 10 months ago

I switched from Chrome to Firefox in 2019, and I never had a detectable difference in speed

spiderman , 10 months ago

but people don’t care about tests, they care only about what’s fast and comfortable for their device. maybe firefox might be a better option for users in the latter once the browser plug-ins come to play.

SnowdenHeroOfOurTime , 10 months ago

On my 3 year old budget model android phone, things run fast 99% of the time. I have considered myself a power user for years. Having said all of that, I’ve recently switched from chrome to Firefox on android and it definitely feels not noticeably slower. I don’t doubt you, it’s just that phone hardware has gotten so good that decent software rarely (feels like at least) pushes it to the limit for more than fractions of a second at a time.

spiderman , 10 months ago

it’s just that phone hardware has gotten so good that decent software rarely (feels like at least) pushes it to the limit for more than fractions of a second at a time.

I second this, processing time and network speeds have been getting better over the years. The difference in speed in Chrome and Firefox is a “little” noticeable but that’s why I don’t care and use Fennec as my go to browser everyday. I mean, it’s better than the days where it will take more than 20 seconds to load a page.

Technology has gotten better, all kinds of people have access to the internet these days and use it to learn something, or watch something they like. But it’s kinda sad that big tech companies have started to be greedy and try to either milk them for money or become a monopoly themselves.

monotrox , 10 months ago

Yeah website loading difference is negligable but chrome still feels much smoother on android

R00bot , 10 months ago

Feels exactly the same to me (if not slightly faster due to adblocking). You might just be mistaking familiarity with Chrome for it being tangibly better.

monotrox , 10 months ago

Ive been exclusively using firefox mobile for more than a year but just installed bromite because I had some issues with firefox. Its mostly that scrolling feels smoother, which might just be animation trickery

R00bot , 10 months ago

Hm yeah weird. I tried chrome just to test and the scrolling is definitely slightly different but I don’t think it’s smoother. Just kinda tweaked differently I guess. Haven’t tried bromite tho.

9up999 , 10 months ago

In general what chromium browsers have out of the box in firefox you have to install addons to have that functionality and still it’s worse experience. For example pwa support. Worst thing is that websites and now software only supports chromium.

monotrox , 10 months ago

Firefox mobile has pwa support, which works well for me and I never had a website that doesnt work on firefox (except for google earth maybe).

vox , 10 months ago

pwa support is extremely limited on android firefox, but I don’t really care. web apps are slow and I’d much rather use native apps…

z500 , 10 months ago

It works, but for whatever reason it’ll die and go blank on me whenever I switch to another app, then I have to kill it and reopen it.

SnowdenHeroOfOurTime , 10 months ago

Literally was just telling my partner how much better browsing is since switching to Firefox on android. The ability to install extensions period is a huge upgrade, but also there are several available that are fantastic and not features available on chrome. Not sure what you mean about needing extensions to match chrome features. In fact, none of the extensions I’ve installed are features present in chrome. Plus I can block ads and trackers, activate dark mode everywhere, and use YouTube for audio with my screen off. I am kicking myself for being lazy. On top of giving Google personal data for no reason, I’ve had a worse browsing experience for years.

pazzeda , 10 months ago

For YouTube, check out ReVanced on GitHub

jadedctrl , 10 months ago

Better yet, check out NewPipe on F-Droid. :^)

LinkOpensChest_wav , 10 months ago

Hell yeah! It even performs better for me than either ReVanced or the official YouTube app

CrypticFawn , 10 months ago

I prefer LibreTube =)

CrypticFawn , 10 months ago

Or LibreTube!

idle , 10 months ago

I still use it but I have to say the fact that the page auto-refreshes when you leave the app and come back drives me bonkers.

NeonWoofGenesis , 10 months ago

Maybe your phone runs out of ram?

Or is it the 4 hour idle setting?:

https://l.henlo.fi/pictrs/image/36199f9a-da20-4d49-a122-c9e37e083c16.png

EvilColeslaw , 10 months ago

If it’s not that feature, it’s likely either memory tuning or battery optimization stuff. Some phone manufacturers set those values to levels that are more aggressive than they really need to be, leading to processes being terminated in the background when they ideally shouldn’t.

ExLisper , 10 months ago

It’s funny how some people are willing to use weird android mods that can’t run half of the apps to protect their privacy while others can’t even wait 0.01s longer for a page to load.

nave , 10 months ago (edited 10 months ago)

deleted_by_author

LinkOpensChest_wav , 10 months ago

Good point. Privacy usually means sacrificing some level of convenience.

Meanwhile, I find most of these convenience tools such as the “Modes and Routines” app and Google Maps timeline to be creepy and dystopian as fuck.

ExLisper , 10 months ago

Personnaly I do realize that 99.99% of people run stock android/iOS but sometimes forget and am surprised that the same people don’t have any ad blocker.

FaeDrifter , 10 months ago

It’s 3 clicks to install AdBlock on Firefox mobile and that alone instantly makes it superior to Chrome.

1984 , 10 months ago

Ublock origin is better I believe.

FaeDrifter , 10 months ago

Ublock origin is actually #1 on top of the list and the one I have installed, I was using “adblock” as a generic term.

As far as I can tell, chrome mobile does not support ublock origin like firefox mobile does.

nx2 , 10 months ago

Yesssss

LaggyKar , 10 months ago

It’s about damn time

transistor , 10 months ago

This is great.

cupcakezealot , 10 months ago

God I miss the old Firefox for Android :(

pjhenry1216 , 10 months ago

Are you suggesting this is bad? What was better about "old" Firefox for Android?

Vuipes , 10 months ago

It had a tab bar.

MonkderZweite , 10 months ago

It had addons without collections.

cupcakezealot , 10 months ago

No, this is similar to the old Firefox for Android, which is why I like it.

When you could just browse AMO and add an add-on at will. It was also much smoother.

LinkOpensChest_wav , 10 months ago

I agree with you. This is going to be a huge improvement and hopefully get more people to switch from Chrome.

Hopefully it’s a sign of more good things to come.

vox , 10 months ago

just use collections and firefox beta

noodlejetski , 10 months ago

It was also much smoother

now that’s just rose-tinted glasses speaking. I remember how absolutely abysmal old Firefox’ scrolling was, and how they’ve claimed multiple times that they’ve improved it but it was still horribly sluggish compared to Chromium browsers. I’ve been using Firefox Preview (and then Nightly after enough performance improvements have landed on it) for about a year just to have acceptable experience on mobile.

cupcakezealot , 10 months ago

Honestly the one thing I don’t like is how pages constantly refresh when you alt tab (or w/e the equivalent is on Android - swipe tab I guess?). I know it’s a small thing but it just gets at me. I also like the old UI as it was more Firefox-y; the new one is too white and plain.

noodlejetski , 10 months ago

I do miss the tab bar, it would be great to have it on the tablet. I can’t comment on how differently the browser behaves now regarding storing loaded pages in memory though, because most of the time I’d have an underpowered phone that would kick out everything out of memory when switching apps anyway.

Audalin , 10 months ago

Huh, I’m still using it.