8 ms·

Mozilla expands extension support for Firefox for Android

551 points by rebelwebmaster 3y ago

neilv 3y ago
This is great news. On GrapheneOS, every time I use the stock browser without the benefit of my uBlock Origin setup, I feel a bit creeped-out and violated.
- yjftsjthsd-h 3y ago
  In fairness, uBo has been supported even when most extensions were being artificially left out.
briffle 3y ago
I wish they would push hard for proper support in IOS for running extensions (or their own engine, etc)
- ivanjermakov 3y ago
  I think it's still against Apple's TOS, stating that every web browser must be based on WebKit.
  - capitainenemo 3y ago
    Indeed. Mozilla can complain about it (and they have) but blaming them for the situation serves little purpose. It's entirely in Apple's court.
    - bluGill 3y ago
      There are probably laws in some country they can use to fight this, but that is a hard legal battle.
      - fngjdflmdflg 3y ago
        The US may be one of those countries depending on the result of the current Epic vs. Apple & Google cases.[0][1] [0] https://www.theverge.com/23994174/epic-google-trial-jury-verdict-monopoly-google-play https://www.theverge.com/23994174/epic-google-trial-jury-ver... [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38607424 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38607424
  - temp0826 3y ago
    Why can Kagi's Orion browser support extensions on iOS? I recently switched from Firefox because lack of uBO caused huge beef for me and have zero regrets. I'm not paying for Kagi's search service (happy enough with DDG for the majority of my searches), but I can really appreciate their business model and mission (they seem genuine afaict).
    - mod50ack 3y ago
      Orion is built on webkit, both on desktop and mobile. It's possible to build WebExt support into a WebKit browser, as they've done. While I definitely prefer FF and Android, I can support the notion of Mozilla integrating extension support into WebKit on their iOS version of FF. But it would take a lot of effort to do that, and Firefox for iOS is ultimately just totally separate from any other Firefox (whereas Android and Desktop Firefox share the same innards).
      - tiltowait 3y ago
        Orion on desktop supports Firefox extensions, so is integration possible? (Not all are compatible.)
        lxgr 3y ago
        Browsers on macOS can use custom rendering engines. On iOS, they have to all use Apple's provided version of it (which does not support WebExtensions by itself), so the two are not comparable at all.
        SushiHippie 3y ago
        Orion supports some extensions on IOS too https://blog.kagi.com/orion-features https://blog.kagi.com/orion-features
      - temp0826 3y ago
        Interesting, I always thought the holdup was that third party things used in-app were expressly forbidden because they're not vetted by the app store onboarding process (in addition to the requirement of using webkit). Didn't occur to me that webkit could be extended to support webext either.
  - thomastjeffery 3y ago
    That's incredible. Just write anti-competitive behavior directly into the contract. No one will care.
    - nikeee 3y ago
      Actually, it has been mandated by the EU (and other regulators) that they have to allow other browser engines and AFAIK there are already teams at Mozilla/Google that are porting their respective engine to iOS. https://9to5mac.com/2023/02/07/new-iphone-browsers/ https://9to5mac.com/2023/02/07/new-iphone-browsers/
- gloryjulio 3y ago
  They can't push for that. Even chrome didn't get the engine deal. But EU is pushing for sideloading
- worik 3y ago
  I advise stopping the use of iOS
  - sexy_seedbox 3y ago
    Throw that iPhone into the river!
  - coldpie 3y ago
    Find me a decent Android phone with a screen around 5" and I will!
    - capitainenemo 3y ago
      Decent means a lot of things to different people. For me, the phone that checked all my personal boxes was the samsung xcover6 pro with a swappable battery but still waterproofed, multiple bindable physical buttons, and a ruggedised case. I'm guessing we'd have to know what you're looking for personally to find it :)
      - coldpie 3y ago
        6.6" screen. Too big! >I'm guessing we'd have to know what you're looking for personally to find it :) Like I said in the post, a screen about 5" big. iPhone Mini is the only phone on the market that even gets close (and it's still a little too big IMO), so I'm stuck here on iOS with no access to (real) Firefox :(
        capitainenemo 3y ago
        Huh. Didn't realise it was so large. Well, it is ruggedised so it still fits well in my pocket without a case. Ok. I didn't realise that was your only requirement. There are a ton of phones out there. https://www.gsmarena.com/results.php3?nYearMin=2021&fDisplayInchesMax=5.1&sFormFactors=1,2,3,4,6,10,11&sOSes=2 https://www.gsmarena.com/results.php3?nYearMin=2021&fDisplay... here's everything with a screen of 5.1" or smaller. 30 android phones produced in last couple of years with that size. Feel free to adjust the phone finder search to your preferences. For example, here's the 14 phones with a screen size of 4.7" or smaller since you said your iphone was too big. https://www.gsmarena.com/results.php3?nYearMin=2021&fDisplayInchesMax=4.7&sFormFactors=1,2,3,4,6,10,11&sOSes=2 https://www.gsmarena.com/results.php3?nYearMin=2021&fDisplay...
firebot 3y ago
> where we’re the only major Android browser to support an open extension ecosystem Uhm, Kiwi browser is Chrome-based and supports Chrome-extensions on Android and has for years. It's pretty great.
- mod50ack 3y ago
  While I respect Kiwi for implementing extension support, they've often fell far behind the upstream Chromium codebase and they're significantly smaller than even Firefox for Android. So I don't think they'd really be a "major" Android browser. Then again, Firefox could easily be said to not be a major Android browser either!
  - xnx 3y ago
    > they've often fell far behind the upstream Chromium codebase I don't pay consistent attention, but these are the version numbers I currently see: Kiwi: 120.0.6099.26 Chrome: 120.0.6099.110
    - ajayyy 3y ago
      Kiwi has historically faked the version number to prevent websites from telling you to update your browser. I would assume that number is not legitimate.
      - mardifoufs 3y ago
        You're wrong. You can check the latest builds on the GitHub, it's not a secret.
  - firebot 3y ago
    I wouldn't say that far, maybe a month. It gets regular updates.
    - mod50ack 3y ago
      Historically, it's gotten much further behind, but they've gotten better recently.
ChrisArchitect 3y ago
We've had lots of news about this coming for months, but with Mozilla's quite low market share, and the share of those users that use extensions - who's really caring about this other than some power users?
- squidbeak 3y ago
  Those who care about competition among browser engines. Share is more likely to stay low if potential new users can't find the extensions they need.
- capitainenemo 3y ago
  Well, you might be right that it is power users, but I know that extensions and greater extension freedom are one of the things that is the draw that keeps the remaining Mozilla Firefox users (like me) loyal. Basically I'm arguing power users are a disproportionate percentage of the remaining Mozilla Firefox user base, which is why things like supporting tracking protection and privacy measures also makes sense for them to focus on, even if the majority of people online might not care about this. So, I'm glad they are expanding the extensions available. I just hope that this isn't tied to creating an account still. [EDIT] I was overjoyed to see that I was able to add an extension without creating an account. Yay!
- emestifs 3y ago
  The Firefox paradox: People b***h about Firefox's (lack of) market share, Mozilla doing stupid things (fair criticism), Firefox not having X (extension support on Mobile, moving from legacy extensions to standard manifest format) Then people will still bring up this baggage even when something good happens, will refuse to move away from the browser monoculture/monopoly, s**t on Firefox devs FFS, something good happened. No other browser has this. Yet people will find a way to lessen it. For what? What benefit?
  - dmix 3y ago
    "Why even try"
  - dblohm7 3y ago
mod50ack 3y ago
This is good. Now, all extensions marked by the developer as being compatible with Android are shown on AMO. (If you toggle to Desktop mode, you can actually install any other extension on AMO, too.) The baffling thing is why this took so damn long. FF for Android supported add-ons from the beginning. That's the best thing about Firefox for Android! They decided to rewrite the UI in 2020, and there were fair reasons to do that. Obviously this required some reimplementation time for extension support. But they then launched the rewrite of FF for Android with extension support... but hidden. Only a small set of recommended extensions were enabled, and a few were drip-fed over time (that is, added to the list). Thankfully, this included the single most important extension, uBlock Origin, from the very beginning. (The lack of uBO why Chrome for Android is borderline unusable for me!) But from almost the very beginning, we've also had the ability to activate custom extension collections in Nightly (and in Fennec F-Droid, which is a rebuild of stable Firefox). The vast majority of extensions worked fine for... well, years now. So why in the world was this delayed the whole time?
- gruez 3y ago
  AFAIK it was because firefox for android was on a slightly different codebase than desktop firefox, and thus had supported a different set of webextension apis. The user contexts api (container tabs) was missing entirely, for instance.
  - dblohm7 3y ago
    (I used to work on this stuff) It was more complicated than that. Yes, GeckoView needed a separate WebExtension implementation, but that work was pretty much at parity with Fennec (the previous Firefox for Android that supported more extensions) when I left in 2021. It was a product management decision that held off on more complete WebExtension parity with desktop, as well as any artificial limits as to which extensions were supported in release.
    - Zak 3y ago
      Can you elaborate on the product management motivations? It seems to me projects like Iceraven demonstrated years ago that a great many extensions were usable without any changes. Why not just slap a "here there be dragons" warning on untested extensions and let users have at it? To be clear, I'm not asking you to justify decisions you didn't make, just to provide some visibility into the process if you can. Mozilla was pretty opaque about it.
bad_user 3y ago
You could get extensions working on FF for Android, for some time now, by setting a custom collection ID, allowed in the Beta version. The problem is that many extensions have been incompatible with Android. And of those compatible, many have poor UX. For example, LeechBlock has been compatible and listed as available for some time, but its settings page isn't mobile-friendly. And LeechBlock can't restore settings from “sync storage”, you have to load them from a local file (on mobile, having local files is a challenge in itself). Many people may have a bad experience. On the other hand, extensions are the primary reason to use Firefox on Android. Therefore, I'm glad about this news.
Night_Thastus 3y ago
I'm so grateful that FF for Android exists with addon support. Using it with uBlock is the only way to make mobile not an awful experience for me.
- mike31fr 3y ago
  Have you never heard of NextDNS?
  - WirelessGigabit 3y ago
    Unfortunately with websites hosting their ads on their own pages (like for example IMDB) DNS filtering is becoming less effective.
  - Night_Thastus 3y ago
    I use PiHole, but DNS options don't catch everything. uBlock catches a LOT that it doesn't, and allows for lots of custom stuff I can't do otherwise.
  - Groxx 3y ago
    DNS blocking has some nice qualities (simple! efficient! app agnostic!) but it is absolutely not a replacement for something that can inspect and modify the page itself. That has TONS of additional usecases beyond "replace ad image with blank space".
- dredmorbius 3y ago
  There are other mobile browsers which incorporate adblocking directly (though not extensions generally). The Einkbro browser, optimised for e-ink devices (as the name suggests) is one. I believe Brave does as well. As much as I'm a fan of Firefox (using it now on desktop), on my mobile e-ink device, Einkbro's optimisations make for a vastly superior browsing experience.
  - esperent 3y ago
    There's also Kiwi browser which directly supports most Chrome addons and has for many years. I can never understand why it doesn't get more attention.
commoner 3y ago
This is progress, but Mozilla needs to do more. Firefox for Android still lacks the ability to sideload add-ons, a feature that works on the desktop version of Firefox. This means Android users aren't able to install extensions outside addons.mozilla.org (AMO) unless they switch to a Firefox alternative that supports it, such as Iceraven[1] or SmartCookieWeb-Preview.[2] For me, the most important add-on that has been removed from AMO is Bypass Paywalls Clean, which is the easiest way to bypass paywalls on popular news sites. In April of this year, a French website filed a DMCA copyright takedown notice, causing Mozilla to remove the extension from AMO.[3] The add-on developer (magnolia1234) did not want to challenge the DMCA notice, probably because it would require them to break anonymity and be subject to legal liability.[4] Fortunately, in September, another developer (dbmiller) was willing to reupload the add-on to AMO as "Bypass Paywalls Clean (D)" with no changes.[5] The hope is that dbmiller will keep this add-on up to date with the source and challenge any DMCA notices filed against this new upload. However, the fact remains that Bypass Paywalls Clean was unavailable on Firefox for Android for 5 months because the browser did not allow sideloading. In the announcement, Mozilla says their mission is to maintain "an open and accessible internet for all" and that extensions are meant to help users obtain "more personal agency out of their online experience". To achieve this mission and better distinguish Firefox from browsers that gate add-ons through app stores (Safari on iOS), Mozilla should allow users to enable sideloading on Firefox for Android as an option. [1] Iceraven: https://github.com/fork-maintainers/iceraven-browser https://github.com/fork-maintainers/iceraven-browser [2] SmartCookieWeb-Preview: https://github.com/CookieJarApps/SmartCookieWeb-preview https://github.com/CookieJarApps/SmartCookieWeb-preview [3] https://www.ghacks.net/2023/04/20/mozilla-removes-bypass-paywalls-clean-extension-from-its-add-repository/ https://www.ghacks.net/2023/04/20/mozilla-removes-bypass-pay... [4] https://gitlab.com/magnolia1234/bypass-paywalls-firefox-clean/-/issues/905 https://gitlab.com/magnolia1234/bypass-paywalls-firefox-clea... [5] Bypass Paywalls Clean (D): https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/bypass-paywalls-clean-d/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/bypass-paywal...
- DistractionRect 3y ago
  AFAIK, it was available in nightly. You could curate your own add on list which you could then install on Firefox for Android Nightly, and I'm fairly certain you can still do that if you want something that isn't in this new, expanded list.
Ikatza 3y ago
Extensions are nice to have, but pointless as long as FF for Android doesn't render most pages correctly (HN, for example).
- Aardwolf 3y ago
  I've never seen HN rendered incorrectly in any desktop or android FF version, what do you mean?
- novemp 3y ago
  I'm using HN on Firefox for Android right now and it looks totally normal. What are you talking about?
- scottbez1 3y ago
  Care to expand a bit? I've been daily driving FF Android for a few years now and I've had the opposite experience: the vast majority of pages work and render fine (including HN) and it's an extremely rare occasion that I switch to Chrome to use a website. Even then, I often find that Chrome isn't any better and the underlying issue was the website's mobile handling in general (e.g. touch events working differently than mouse events, or just a completely broken mobile-only component swaps)
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- emestifs 3y ago
  Firefox paradox strikes again. User brings up an unrelated thing, even if valid, to lessen something positive. You seen this pattern again and again in Firefox news threads.
  - account42 3y ago
    > something positive You mean "we reluctantly unbroke what we previously deliberatly broke".
- berkes 3y ago
  Ironically, the few times that I see Firefox (for Android) render something wrong, it's because of an addon that is messing with the wrong stuff.
leaf-node 3y ago
Iceraven, a fork of Firefox, already has these features.
autoexec 3y ago
Nice! Now add about:config to stable releases
- Ridj48dhsnsh 3y ago
  As an alternative, you can get a stable release with about:config by installing Firefox (or Mull) from F-Droid.
- yoavm 3y ago
  curious, what do you want to do with about:config on FF for Android?
  - autoexec 3y ago
    Mostly, basic security things like disabling prefetch, disabling WebRTC, disabling redirects, preventing sites from reading my battery level, preventing firefox from changing what I type in the address bar (fixup), etc
    - mccr8 3y ago
      Battery status was disabled in Firefox in 2016. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/01/firefox-disable-battery-status-api-tracking https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/01/firefox-d...
  - account42 3y ago
    Disabling telemetry for one. Not that this should be enabled in the first place.
    - yoavm 3y ago
      You don't need about:config to disable that, you can do it from the regular settings screen.
      - account42 3y ago
kungfufrog 3y ago
This was a clincher for me that made me switch from Chrome/Chromium on my Pixel. Previously, I was using Kiwi Browser because it supported Chrome extensions however while it works it has a lot of annoying quirks. I just couldn't stomach the experience of browsing the web without an ad blocker though. Now Firefox and UBlock work on Android, Firefox has quickly become my preferred browser. Still using Chrome on desktop though for now.. maybe that'll change too!
- Vinnl 3y ago
  Give it a shot! It can import your bookmarks, passwords, etc. from Chrome, and it's great to be able to quickly send a tab from desktop to mobile, or vice versa.
cubefox 3y ago
Thanks to Firefox extensions I get an automatic dark mode on HN, and almost any other website, as soon as my device is switched to dark mode. Normally this would have to be supported explicitly in the website CSS.
pentagrama 3y ago
Great! Now I can finally install an extension to autodelete cookies for certain domains. This feature is available on stock Firefox Desktop but not Mobile.
- ixmerof 3y ago
  Can you please link the extension you use for that purpose?
  - pentagrama 3y ago
    I was testing some, and this one works like a charm! https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/forget_me_not/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/forget_me_not...
    - rcMgD2BwE72F 3y ago
      How is it better than Cookie Auto-Delete? https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/android/addon/cookie-autodelete/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/android/addon/cookie-autode...
      - pentagrama 3y ago
        I'm seeing that this one doesn't have the "Available on Firefox for Android™" tag on the top like Forget Me Not https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/forget_me_not/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/forget_me_not... Maybe Cookie Auto-Delete is coming soon for Firefox Android. Here is the repository of Add-ons for Firefox Android https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/android/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/android/
inquirerGeneral 3y ago
[dead]
summm 3y ago
The 2nd most important addon after unlock origin is Multi-Account-Containers: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/multi-account-containers/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/multi-account... This would enable proper isolation between browsing contexts, and therefore make progressive web apps truly usable and a good alternative to native apps. Currently PWAs leak cookies to the browser, therefore you cannot login on the PWA while browsing "anonymously" in the browser.
peoplefromibiza 3y ago
Best news in the mobile browsers' space since Firefox supported extensions! If Firefox goes back to being THE browser of choice for tech savvy people, I'll stop thinking I made a bad choice supporting it everyday since it came out. Sometimes a joy.
replete 3y ago
Excellent, finally in stable. Have been using Nightly and more recently Mull specifically for extensions like 'I still don't care about cookies', 'ublock origin' and 'dark reader' which make the web on mobile at all practical. Firefox browser share is like 2-3%. Please consider using it, the internet will be a lot shittier without Firefox as an option, and it is the best option for privacy and ad-blocking.
- aqfamnzc 3y ago
  Heads up re: IDCAC: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36233068 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36233068
  - SushiHippie 3y ago
    That's why GP is using "I *still* don't care about cookies" ;) https://github.com/OhMyGuus/I-Still-Dont-Care-About-Cookies https://github.com/OhMyGuus/I-Still-Dont-Care-About-Cookies
    - aqfamnzc 3y ago
      Ah good catch! Thanks, I didn't know there was a fork.
Zuiii 3y ago
Good. Now allow self-signed extensions like literally every other browser that supports extensions.
- stavros 3y ago
  They do? Or do you mean on mobile, where AFAIK almost no browser supports extensions?
  - Zuiii 3y ago
    Yep they do.
codethief 3y ago
Can anyone recommend an extension that can be used to limit the total number of tabs in Firefox for Android? "Limit Tabs"[0] works great on the desktop and I was hoping it would become available on mobile now, but sadly it didn't. [0]: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/rudolf-fernandes/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/rudolf-fernan...
insin 3y ago
One of the newly-available extensions is mine for Hacker News [0] - it highlights new comments when you revisit an item and somewhat improves some of the UX on mobile: [0] https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/hn-comments-owl/ https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/hn-comments-owl/
- eco 3y ago
  Amusingly I returned to this comments section and was scrolling down looking at the time stamps for new comments and this was the first new comment I hit. Thanks. It's clearly going to come in handy.
pdn1 3y ago
If it wasn't for extensions collections that allowed all extensions alll along, I would have quit Firefox a long time ago.... About time they get their head out of their asses
kilolima 3y ago
Is there a bookmark export extension? Strangely this basic browser functionality is missing from Firefox on Android.
Helmut10001 3y ago
This was possible for years with Fennec already, with a custom plugin repository.
jerrygoyal 3y ago
is tempermonkey supported?
- mortos 3y ago
  Tampermonkey has been supported even before they opened it up today
pshirshov 3y ago
And still, no extension sync and extension data sync on mobiles.
chupapimunyenyo 3y ago
Old versions of FF on android supported EVERY extension from their store imagineable
vietvu 3y ago
Last time I check Firefox on Mobile still break sites' layout and not render video player properly (cannot touch seek and play/pause button, it's under view window) on my Samsung Note 10. I love Firefox but it needs to be at least usable.

This is great news. On GrapheneOS, every time I use the stock browser without the benefit of my uBlock Origin setup, I feel a bit creeped-out and violated.

yjftsjthsd-h 3y ago
In fairness, uBo has been supported even when most extensions were being artificially left out.

briffle 3y ago

I wish they would push hard for proper support in IOS for running extensions (or their own engine, etc)

ivanjermakov 3y ago
I think it's still against Apple's TOS, stating that every web browser must be based on WebKit.
- capitainenemo 3y ago
  Indeed. Mozilla can complain about it (and they have) but blaming them for the situation serves little purpose. It's entirely in Apple's court.
  - bluGill 3y ago
    There are probably laws in some country they can use to fight this, but that is a hard legal battle.
    - fngjdflmdflg 3y ago
      The US may be one of those countries depending on the result of the current Epic vs. Apple & Google cases.[0][1] [0] https://www.theverge.com/23994174/epic-google-trial-jury-verdict-monopoly-google-play https://www.theverge.com/23994174/epic-google-trial-jury-ver... [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38607424 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38607424
- temp0826 3y ago
  Why can Kagi's Orion browser support extensions on iOS? I recently switched from Firefox because lack of uBO caused huge beef for me and have zero regrets. I'm not paying for Kagi's search service (happy enough with DDG for the majority of my searches), but I can really appreciate their business model and mission (they seem genuine afaict).
  - mod50ack 3y ago
    Orion is built on webkit, both on desktop and mobile. It's possible to build WebExt support into a WebKit browser, as they've done. While I definitely prefer FF and Android, I can support the notion of Mozilla integrating extension support into WebKit on their iOS version of FF. But it would take a lot of effort to do that, and Firefox for iOS is ultimately just totally separate from any other Firefox (whereas Android and Desktop Firefox share the same innards).
    - tiltowait 3y ago
      Orion on desktop supports Firefox extensions, so is integration possible? (Not all are compatible.)
      - lxgr 3y ago
        Browsers on macOS can use custom rendering engines. On iOS, they have to all use Apple's provided version of it (which does not support WebExtensions by itself), so the two are not comparable at all.
        SushiHippie 3y ago
        Orion supports some extensions on IOS too https://blog.kagi.com/orion-features https://blog.kagi.com/orion-features
    - temp0826 3y ago
      Interesting, I always thought the holdup was that third party things used in-app were expressly forbidden because they're not vetted by the app store onboarding process (in addition to the requirement of using webkit). Didn't occur to me that webkit could be extended to support webext either.
- thomastjeffery 3y ago
  That's incredible. Just write anti-competitive behavior directly into the contract. No one will care.
  - nikeee 3y ago
    Actually, it has been mandated by the EU (and other regulators) that they have to allow other browser engines and AFAIK there are already teams at Mozilla/Google that are porting their respective engine to iOS. https://9to5mac.com/2023/02/07/new-iphone-browsers/ https://9to5mac.com/2023/02/07/new-iphone-browsers/
gloryjulio 3y ago
They can't push for that. Even chrome didn't get the engine deal. But EU is pushing for sideloading
worik 3y ago
I advise stopping the use of iOS
- sexy_seedbox 3y ago
  Throw that iPhone into the river!
- coldpie 3y ago
  Find me a decent Android phone with a screen around 5" and I will!
  - capitainenemo 3y ago
    Decent means a lot of things to different people. For me, the phone that checked all my personal boxes was the samsung xcover6 pro with a swappable battery but still waterproofed, multiple bindable physical buttons, and a ruggedised case. I'm guessing we'd have to know what you're looking for personally to find it :)
    - coldpie 3y ago
      6.6" screen. Too big! >I'm guessing we'd have to know what you're looking for personally to find it :) Like I said in the post, a screen about 5" big. iPhone Mini is the only phone on the market that even gets close (and it's still a little too big IMO), so I'm stuck here on iOS with no access to (real) Firefox :(
      - capitainenemo 3y ago
        Huh. Didn't realise it was so large. Well, it is ruggedised so it still fits well in my pocket without a case. Ok. I didn't realise that was your only requirement. There are a ton of phones out there. https://www.gsmarena.com/results.php3?nYearMin=2021&fDisplayInchesMax=5.1&sFormFactors=1,2,3,4,6,10,11&sOSes=2 https://www.gsmarena.com/results.php3?nYearMin=2021&fDisplay... here's everything with a screen of 5.1" or smaller. 30 android phones produced in last couple of years with that size. Feel free to adjust the phone finder search to your preferences. For example, here's the 14 phones with a screen size of 4.7" or smaller since you said your iphone was too big. https://www.gsmarena.com/results.php3?nYearMin=2021&fDisplayInchesMax=4.7&sFormFactors=1,2,3,4,6,10,11&sOSes=2 https://www.gsmarena.com/results.php3?nYearMin=2021&fDisplay...

firebot 3y ago

> where we’re the only major Android browser to support an open extension ecosystem Uhm, Kiwi browser is Chrome-based and supports Chrome-extensions on Android and has for years. It's pretty great.

mod50ack 3y ago
While I respect Kiwi for implementing extension support, they've often fell far behind the upstream Chromium codebase and they're significantly smaller than even Firefox for Android. So I don't think they'd really be a "major" Android browser. Then again, Firefox could easily be said to not be a major Android browser either!
- xnx 3y ago
  > they've often fell far behind the upstream Chromium codebase I don't pay consistent attention, but these are the version numbers I currently see: Kiwi: 120.0.6099.26 Chrome: 120.0.6099.110
  - ajayyy 3y ago
    Kiwi has historically faked the version number to prevent websites from telling you to update your browser. I would assume that number is not legitimate.
    - mardifoufs 3y ago
      You're wrong. You can check the latest builds on the GitHub, it's not a secret.
- firebot 3y ago
  I wouldn't say that far, maybe a month. It gets regular updates.
  - mod50ack 3y ago
    Historically, it's gotten much further behind, but they've gotten better recently.

ChrisArchitect 3y ago

We've had lots of news about this coming for months, but with Mozilla's quite low market share, and the share of those users that use extensions - who's really caring about this other than some power users?

squidbeak 3y ago
Those who care about competition among browser engines. Share is more likely to stay low if potential new users can't find the extensions they need.
capitainenemo 3y ago
Well, you might be right that it is power users, but I know that extensions and greater extension freedom are one of the things that is the draw that keeps the remaining Mozilla Firefox users (like me) loyal. Basically I'm arguing power users are a disproportionate percentage of the remaining Mozilla Firefox user base, which is why things like supporting tracking protection and privacy measures also makes sense for them to focus on, even if the majority of people online might not care about this. So, I'm glad they are expanding the extensions available. I just hope that this isn't tied to creating an account still. [EDIT] I was overjoyed to see that I was able to add an extension without creating an account. Yay!
emestifs 3y ago
The Firefox paradox: People b***h about Firefox's (lack of) market share, Mozilla doing stupid things (fair criticism), Firefox not having X (extension support on Mobile, moving from legacy extensions to standard manifest format) Then people will still bring up this baggage even when something good happens, will refuse to move away from the browser monoculture/monopoly, s**t on Firefox devs FFS, something good happened. No other browser has this. Yet people will find a way to lessen it. For what? What benefit?
- dmix 3y ago
  "Why even try"
- dblohm7 3y ago

mod50ack 3y ago

This is good. Now, all extensions marked by the developer as being compatible with Android are shown on AMO. (If you toggle to Desktop mode, you can actually install any other extension on AMO, too.) The baffling thing is why this took so damn long. FF for Android supported add-ons from the beginning. That's the best thing about Firefox for Android! They decided to rewrite the UI in 2020, and there were fair reasons to do that. Obviously this required some reimplementation time for extension support. But they then launched the rewrite of FF for Android with extension support... but hidden. Only a small set of recommended extensions were enabled, and a few were drip-fed over time (that is, added to the list). Thankfully, this included the single most important extension, uBlock Origin, from the very beginning. (The lack of uBO why Chrome for Android is borderline unusable for me!) But from almost the very beginning, we've also had the ability to activate custom extension collections in Nightly (and in Fennec F-Droid, which is a rebuild of stable Firefox). The vast majority of extensions worked fine for... well, years now. So why in the world was this delayed the whole time?

gruez 3y ago
AFAIK it was because firefox for android was on a slightly different codebase than desktop firefox, and thus had supported a different set of webextension apis. The user contexts api (container tabs) was missing entirely, for instance.
- dblohm7 3y ago
  (I used to work on this stuff) It was more complicated than that. Yes, GeckoView needed a separate WebExtension implementation, but that work was pretty much at parity with Fennec (the previous Firefox for Android that supported more extensions) when I left in 2021. It was a product management decision that held off on more complete WebExtension parity with desktop, as well as any artificial limits as to which extensions were supported in release.
  - Zak 3y ago
    Can you elaborate on the product management motivations? It seems to me projects like Iceraven demonstrated years ago that a great many extensions were usable without any changes. Why not just slap a "here there be dragons" warning on untested extensions and let users have at it? To be clear, I'm not asking you to justify decisions you didn't make, just to provide some visibility into the process if you can. Mozilla was pretty opaque about it.

bad_user 3y ago

You could get extensions working on FF for Android, for some time now, by setting a custom collection ID, allowed in the Beta version. The problem is that many extensions have been incompatible with Android. And of those compatible, many have poor UX. For example, LeechBlock has been compatible and listed as available for some time, but its settings page isn't mobile-friendly. And LeechBlock can't restore settings from “sync storage”, you have to load them from a local file (on mobile, having local files is a challenge in itself). Many people may have a bad experience. On the other hand, extensions are the primary reason to use Firefox on Android. Therefore, I'm glad about this news.

Night_Thastus 3y ago

I'm so grateful that FF for Android exists with addon support. Using it with uBlock is the only way to make mobile not an awful experience for me.

mike31fr 3y ago
Have you never heard of NextDNS?
- WirelessGigabit 3y ago
  Unfortunately with websites hosting their ads on their own pages (like for example IMDB) DNS filtering is becoming less effective.
- Night_Thastus 3y ago
  I use PiHole, but DNS options don't catch everything. uBlock catches a LOT that it doesn't, and allows for lots of custom stuff I can't do otherwise.
- Groxx 3y ago
  DNS blocking has some nice qualities (simple! efficient! app agnostic!) but it is absolutely not a replacement for something that can inspect and modify the page itself. That has TONS of additional usecases beyond "replace ad image with blank space".
dredmorbius 3y ago
There are other mobile browsers which incorporate adblocking directly (though not extensions generally). The Einkbro browser, optimised for e-ink devices (as the name suggests) is one. I believe Brave does as well. As much as I'm a fan of Firefox (using it now on desktop), on my mobile e-ink device, Einkbro's optimisations make for a vastly superior browsing experience.
- esperent 3y ago
  There's also Kiwi browser which directly supports most Chrome addons and has for many years. I can never understand why it doesn't get more attention.

commoner 3y ago

This is progress, but Mozilla needs to do more. Firefox for Android still lacks the ability to sideload add-ons, a feature that works on the desktop version of Firefox. This means Android users aren't able to install extensions outside addons.mozilla.org (AMO) unless they switch to a Firefox alternative that supports it, such as Iceraven[1] or SmartCookieWeb-Preview.[2] For me, the most important add-on that has been removed from AMO is Bypass Paywalls Clean, which is the easiest way to bypass paywalls on popular news sites. In April of this year, a French website filed a DMCA copyright takedown notice, causing Mozilla to remove the extension from AMO.[3] The add-on developer (magnolia1234) did not want to challenge the DMCA notice, probably because it would require them to break anonymity and be subject to legal liability.[4] Fortunately, in September, another developer (dbmiller) was willing to reupload the add-on to AMO as "Bypass Paywalls Clean (D)" with no changes.[5] The hope is that dbmiller will keep this add-on up to date with the source and challenge any DMCA notices filed against this new upload. However, the fact remains that Bypass Paywalls Clean was unavailable on Firefox for Android for 5 months because the browser did not allow sideloading. In the announcement, Mozilla says their mission is to maintain "an open and accessible internet for all" and that extensions are meant to help users obtain "more personal agency out of their online experience". To achieve this mission and better distinguish Firefox from browsers that gate add-ons through app stores (Safari on iOS), Mozilla should allow users to enable sideloading on Firefox for Android as an option. [1] Iceraven: https://github.com/fork-maintainers/iceraven-browser https://github.com/fork-maintainers/iceraven-browser [2] SmartCookieWeb-Preview: https://github.com/CookieJarApps/SmartCookieWeb-preview https://github.com/CookieJarApps/SmartCookieWeb-preview [3] https://www.ghacks.net/2023/04/20/mozilla-removes-bypass-paywalls-clean-extension-from-its-add-repository/ https://www.ghacks.net/2023/04/20/mozilla-removes-bypass-pay... [4] https://gitlab.com/magnolia1234/bypass-paywalls-firefox-clean/-/issues/905 https://gitlab.com/magnolia1234/bypass-paywalls-firefox-clea... [5] Bypass Paywalls Clean (D): https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/bypass-paywalls-clean-d/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/bypass-paywal...

DistractionRect 3y ago
AFAIK, it was available in nightly. You could curate your own add on list which you could then install on Firefox for Android Nightly, and I'm fairly certain you can still do that if you want something that isn't in this new, expanded list.

Ikatza 3y ago

Extensions are nice to have, but pointless as long as FF for Android doesn't render most pages correctly (HN, for example).

Aardwolf 3y ago
I've never seen HN rendered incorrectly in any desktop or android FF version, what do you mean?
novemp 3y ago
I'm using HN on Firefox for Android right now and it looks totally normal. What are you talking about?
scottbez1 3y ago
Care to expand a bit? I've been daily driving FF Android for a few years now and I've had the opposite experience: the vast majority of pages work and render fine (including HN) and it's an extremely rare occasion that I switch to Chrome to use a website. Even then, I often find that Chrome isn't any better and the underlying issue was the website's mobile handling in general (e.g. touch events working differently than mouse events, or just a completely broken mobile-only component swaps)
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
emestifs 3y ago
Firefox paradox strikes again. User brings up an unrelated thing, even if valid, to lessen something positive. You seen this pattern again and again in Firefox news threads.
- account42 3y ago
  > something positive You mean "we reluctantly unbroke what we previously deliberatly broke".
berkes 3y ago
Ironically, the few times that I see Firefox (for Android) render something wrong, it's because of an addon that is messing with the wrong stuff.

leaf-node 3y ago

Iceraven, a fork of Firefox, already has these features.

autoexec 3y ago

Nice! Now add about:config to stable releases

Ridj48dhsnsh 3y ago
As an alternative, you can get a stable release with about:config by installing Firefox (or Mull) from F-Droid.
yoavm 3y ago
curious, what do you want to do with about:config on FF for Android?
- autoexec 3y ago
  Mostly, basic security things like disabling prefetch, disabling WebRTC, disabling redirects, preventing sites from reading my battery level, preventing firefox from changing what I type in the address bar (fixup), etc
  - mccr8 3y ago
    Battery status was disabled in Firefox in 2016. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/01/firefox-disable-battery-status-api-tracking https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/01/firefox-d...
- account42 3y ago
  Disabling telemetry for one. Not that this should be enabled in the first place.
  - yoavm 3y ago
    You don't need about:config to disable that, you can do it from the regular settings screen.
    - account42 3y ago

kungfufrog 3y ago

This was a clincher for me that made me switch from Chrome/Chromium on my Pixel. Previously, I was using Kiwi Browser because it supported Chrome extensions however while it works it has a lot of annoying quirks. I just couldn't stomach the experience of browsing the web without an ad blocker though. Now Firefox and UBlock work on Android, Firefox has quickly become my preferred browser. Still using Chrome on desktop though for now.. maybe that'll change too!

Vinnl 3y ago
Give it a shot! It can import your bookmarks, passwords, etc. from Chrome, and it's great to be able to quickly send a tab from desktop to mobile, or vice versa.

cubefox 3y ago

Thanks to Firefox extensions I get an automatic dark mode on HN, and almost any other website, as soon as my device is switched to dark mode. Normally this would have to be supported explicitly in the website CSS.

pentagrama 3y ago

Great! Now I can finally install an extension to autodelete cookies for certain domains. This feature is available on stock Firefox Desktop but not Mobile.

ixmerof 3y ago
Can you please link the extension you use for that purpose?
- pentagrama 3y ago
  I was testing some, and this one works like a charm! https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/forget_me_not/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/forget_me_not...
  - rcMgD2BwE72F 3y ago
    How is it better than Cookie Auto-Delete? https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/android/addon/cookie-autodelete/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/android/addon/cookie-autode...
    - pentagrama 3y ago
      I'm seeing that this one doesn't have the "Available on Firefox for Android™" tag on the top like Forget Me Not https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/forget_me_not/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/forget_me_not... Maybe Cookie Auto-Delete is coming soon for Firefox Android. Here is the repository of Add-ons for Firefox Android https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/android/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/android/

inquirerGeneral 3y ago

[dead]

summm 3y ago

The 2nd most important addon after unlock origin is Multi-Account-Containers: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/multi-account-containers/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/multi-account... This would enable proper isolation between browsing contexts, and therefore make progressive web apps truly usable and a good alternative to native apps. Currently PWAs leak cookies to the browser, therefore you cannot login on the PWA while browsing "anonymously" in the browser.

peoplefromibiza 3y ago

Best news in the mobile browsers' space since Firefox supported extensions! If Firefox goes back to being THE browser of choice for tech savvy people, I'll stop thinking I made a bad choice supporting it everyday since it came out. Sometimes a joy.

replete 3y ago

Excellent, finally in stable. Have been using Nightly and more recently Mull specifically for extensions like 'I still don't care about cookies', 'ublock origin' and 'dark reader' which make the web on mobile at all practical. Firefox browser share is like 2-3%. Please consider using it, the internet will be a lot shittier without Firefox as an option, and it is the best option for privacy and ad-blocking.

aqfamnzc 3y ago
Heads up re: IDCAC: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36233068 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36233068
- SushiHippie 3y ago
  That's why GP is using "I *still* don't care about cookies" ;) https://github.com/OhMyGuus/I-Still-Dont-Care-About-Cookies https://github.com/OhMyGuus/I-Still-Dont-Care-About-Cookies
  - aqfamnzc 3y ago
    Ah good catch! Thanks, I didn't know there was a fork.

Zuiii 3y ago

Good. Now allow self-signed extensions like literally every other browser that supports extensions.

stavros 3y ago
They do? Or do you mean on mobile, where AFAIK almost no browser supports extensions?
- Zuiii 3y ago
  Yep they do.

codethief 3y ago

Can anyone recommend an extension that can be used to limit the total number of tabs in Firefox for Android? "Limit Tabs"[0] works great on the desktop and I was hoping it would become available on mobile now, but sadly it didn't. [0]: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/rudolf-fernandes/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/rudolf-fernan...

insin 3y ago

One of the newly-available extensions is mine for Hacker News [0] - it highlights new comments when you revisit an item and somewhat improves some of the UX on mobile: [0] https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/hn-comments-owl/ https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/hn-comments-owl/

eco 3y ago
Amusingly I returned to this comments section and was scrolling down looking at the time stamps for new comments and this was the first new comment I hit. Thanks. It's clearly going to come in handy.

pdn1 3y ago

If it wasn't for extensions collections that allowed all extensions alll along, I would have quit Firefox a long time ago.... About time they get their head out of their asses

kilolima 3y ago

Is there a bookmark export extension? Strangely this basic browser functionality is missing from Firefox on Android.

Helmut10001 3y ago

This was possible for years with Fennec already, with a custom plugin repository.

jerrygoyal 3y ago

is tempermonkey supported?

mortos 3y ago
Tampermonkey has been supported even before they opened it up today

pshirshov 3y ago

And still, no extension sync and extension data sync on mobiles.

chupapimunyenyo 3y ago

Old versions of FF on android supported EVERY extension from their store imagineable

vietvu 3y ago

Last time I check Firefox on Mobile still break sites' layout and not render video player properly (cannot touch seek and play/pause button, it's under view window) on my Samsung Note 10. I love Firefox but it needs to be at least usable.