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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.
You can do that now with a custom extension list
You do need firefox beta rn.
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
It also works on the Fennec branch
Is that still supported in some shape or form?
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/
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.
In 2023, everyone I know refers to the version I linked as the Fennec branch. I guess I assumed you were too.
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.
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.
That and Kiwi is the only Android browser with proper developer tools.
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.
Same here.
Hell yeah! I’ve been using desktop extensions in Mull for the last year, but this will mean more extensions are actively developed for Android !!
Firefox is so slick on Android.
You can use desktop extensions in mull?
Those that work, yeah ;)
Just add a custom addon collection. The most useful one for me so far has been Mozilla’s translation extension, which they’ve adapted to mobile very well. Oh and libredirect, works perfectly even tho it has the desktop UI
So you can! That’s awesome, thanks. For anyone who wants to know:
You can create a custom addon collection on addons.mozilla.org
Then to add your custom collection in mull (or ff nightly, I guess) enable debug mode by going to settings > about mull and tapping the logo 5 times. Then go back and under the advanced section you can find “custom add-on collection”
You can also do the same with a custom collection on Firefox Nightly: https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2020/09/29/expanded-extension-support-in-firefox-for-android-nightly/
Yep, after I found this out I ditched Chrome immediately once they started rolling out Google Search ads that couldn’t be blocked via DNS. Firefox mobile feels a little less smooth than Chrome admittedly, but the ability to add extensions like ublock/darkreader/consent-o-matic make is a no contest in terms of overall user experience.
The one knock is that they took bypass paywalls out of their extension store and the workaround to install it is somewhat cumbersome, so now I’m annoyingly using Kiwi browser for paywalled content and Firefox for everything else. Hopefully this update will make it so I only need one browser again.
Yes, but no-one should do that if they value stability and security. Nightly is for development, after all!
That took way too long, but better late than never.
It used to be a thing, didn’t it? I remember using any PC browser extension I wanted on my phone at some point and I think it was in Firefox.
Yeah it was removed when they rebuilt Firefox Android on a new engine and they deemed the extension system too unreliable at the time.
It was until FF68, when Mozilla decided that it would improve their market share if they rewrote the whole browser and kicked all their advantages down the drain.
Not really. They announced how to add any extension ages ago, but I’m glad they’ve taken time to get things working properly so it doesn’t feel like a beta anymore.
Yes, if you run beta/nightly, create an account on their system, and add the extension to a collection there. That’s a lot of hoops to jump through, and it reduces the possible audience for an extension developer to a tiny fraction, so nobody has put any effort into building extensions for Firefox on Android.
The last point is the biggest one. What’s the point in unlocking additional extensions if about all of them don’t work?
They had issues with battery optimization and parity for a while now, but with both those issues being fixed (see: latest nightly) they can finally begin the preparations to rolling out support for ALL extensions :D
Apple needs to allow other browser engines at this point
They don’t??
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
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
My
bodyphone is ready.Super excited! Firefox is already great and this will just make it more great!
About damn time, they should never have disabled it in the first place.
They didn’t disable it, they rebuilt the entire browser from scratch to re-base on their current desktop-grade rendering engine, and as a result had to port a lot of things and optimize in regards to android’s battery optimization.
They’ve finally finished doing that and can now begin the preperation for releasing this to the public.
Is there any hope for third party themes as well?
I’m just hoping for theming to come back to Firefox on Android. Really not into the new UI design either. (T_T)
That’s cool
Such a cool news! Mozilla, go on!
Heck yeah, have about 5 or 6 extensions I use on the desktop version I wanna use on the mobile version!
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)
The key takeaway from this is that they’re finally rolling out their Web Manifest v3. I’m super excited
