this post was submitted on 11 Aug 2023
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Android

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[–] addison@lemmy.world 78 points 1 year ago (2 children)

This sounds like great news!

Firefox is already at the top of my list of preferred browsers on Android, but more extension support has always been on my feature wishlist.

[–] MaggiWuerze@feddit.de 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You can do that now with a custom extension list

[–] RobotDaniel@lemm.ee 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You do need firefox beta rn.

[–] LinkOpensChest_wav@lemmy.one 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It also works on the Fennec branch for people who want a fully stable build that has full addon support, but yeah this is going to open it up to a lot more people, so hopefully more people will use Firefox

[–] woelkchen@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It also works on the Fennec branch

Is that still supported in some shape or form?

[–] LinkOpensChest_wav@lemmy.one 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] woelkchen@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

That's just regular Firefox with the addon restrictions and trademarks removed,. That doesn't just magically spawn API support. I thought you meant the 68.x branch which actually had broad extension support and received one additional update over Firefox 68 because the ESR branch was further updated for a bit: https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/mozilla/fennec-f-droid/fennec-f-droid-68-12-0-release/

[–] squaresinger@feddit.de 2 points 1 year ago

I so miss FF 68. It was so much better than the current version.

At least some of the missing features from 68 have been restored by now.

[–] LinkOpensChest_wav@lemmy.one 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

In 2023, everyone I know refers to the version I linked as the Fennec branch. I guess I assumed you were too.

[–] woelkchen@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I was a bit hung up on the term 'branch' because in my understanding Fennec F-Droid falls more under patch set. Mozilla used Fennec as code name for Firefox Mobile before the GeckoView migration and I had hoped the old Fennec branch would live on in some shape or form.

Yeah I'm aware of that name's origins. People use "branch" to describe Waterfox and Mull as well. If you ask about "Fennec branch" in current year, it's what I've linked. Nearly anyone who talks about it is referring to that. Just a heads up.

[–] Zak@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Its current poor extension support is the reason I've been using Kiwi Browser, which is a basic Chromium build with full extension support, including loading from local storage.

[–] ijeff@lemdro.id 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Same here. I use custom collections on Fennec F-Droid but the inability to properly sideload keeps me on the auto rebased builds of Kiwi Browser. That and support for the black OLED theme and night mode website retheming built in.

Very glad to see this come to Firefox though! Hopefully they can also get those other bits added in.

[–] jayandp@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That and Kiwi is the only Android browser with proper developer tools.

[–] woelkchen@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

At least when using Kiwi in desktop mode (via Samsung DeX), Kiwi doesn't fill out passwords for me. There also is no interest in supporting Firefox Sync.

[–] Ultra980@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago
[–] Zak@lemmy.world 22 points 1 year ago (2 children)

That took way too long, but better late than never.

[–] millionsofplayers@lemmy.one 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Apple needs to allow other browser engines at this point

[–] Mousepad@burggit.moe 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] EddieTee77@lemdro.id 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Nope. Every browser is basically Safari with a different coat of paint on it. It's very anti competitive and monopolistic if you ask me

[–] Matt@lemdro.id 2 points 1 year ago

It’s very anti competitive and monopolistic if you ask me

I don't disagree, but while I would love having full Firefox on iOS, the one positive of the current situation is that it is the only thing keeping Google from a complete browser monopoly. Firefox marketshare is insignificant, and without WebKit on iOS devices, Chromium browsers would make up 95% of the browser market. I think that would be worse overall in the long-term than iPhone users being stuck with Safari skins.

I hope they would include addon sideloading as well

[–] TheGiantKorean@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago

My ~~body~~ phone is ready.

[–] RobotToaster@infosec.pub 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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

Super excited! Firefox is already great and this will just make it more great!

[–] b1tstremist0@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I'm just hoping for theming to come back to Firefox on Android. Really not into the new UI design either. (T_T)

[–] AlmostDachshund@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 year ago

Is there any hope for third party themes as well?

[–] kungfuratte@feddit.de 4 points 1 year ago

That's cool

[–] FarLine99@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago

Such a cool news! Mozilla, go on!

[–] miniu@beehaw.org 3 points 1 year ago

Cool! I've been using Firefox Nightly to workaround extension limitations. I'll be able to switch back to having nicer icon colors xD

I hope that with this being official support some extensions regain full features on mobile. For example, vimperator cannot open tabs on mobile currently(using it with samsung dex)

[–] mawp@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Heck yeah, have about 5 or 6 extensions I use on the desktop version I wanna use on the mobile version!

[–] jacktherippah@lemdro.id 1 points 1 year ago

I'd use Firefox for Android if it had working per - site process isolation.

[–] mrvictory1@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

cries in Firefox on iPad

At least my phone will make use of this.

[–] woelkchen@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Don't buy Apple products if you don't agree with their policies.

[–] anon6789@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago

Good to hear! I've been using using Kiwi, but it would be great if I can use Firefox. I would think security updates would come out quicker.

[–] sabreW4K3@lemmy.tf 1 points 1 year ago

The key takeaway from this is that they're finally rolling out their Web Manifest v3. I'm super excited

[–] Zerfallen@lemmy.world -1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Is there an extension to bring the tab bar back for Android tablets? Otherwise nothing interesting for me.

[–] woelkchen@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

No idea how good or bad this is but I saw a link to https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tablet-ui-for-firefox/ posted somewhere a few days ago and still had a tab open.

[–] CatTrickery@lemmy.world -3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'd be happy with Firefox for Android if it didn't hang on loading 3/4 of pages. Its been an ongoing bug for years that my partner has also mentioned to be an issue.

[–] WidowsFavoriteSon@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Wierd.you must have an edge case because thats very uncommon.

[–] CatTrickery@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

We both have a very different setup that are used pretty normally so I doubt it is.