Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Firefox Focus – A new private browser for iOS and Android

blog.mozilla.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

161–170 of 352 posts

Re: Firefox Focus – A new private browser for iOS and Android

#161

Post by EpicEng »

nod wrote: post #57
EpicEng wrote: post #54

After nearly a decade of using Chrome I decided to give FF another shot, having initially switched over due to slowness, an insatiable thirst for memory, and the single process model. I installed on both Windows (10 Pro) and Mac OS. Initial impressions were good; it seemed snappy, I liked the UI, and it was using less memory than Chrome with the same number of tabs open. A couple of days in things went downhill. On M…

This is not relevant to the subject of the article.

Yeah you're right, I suppose I saw an opportunity to rant on a recent experience

Re: Firefox Focus – A new private browser for iOS and Android

#162

Post by veeti »

EpicEng wrote: post #54

After nearly a decade of using Chrome I decided to give FF another shot, having initially switched over due to slowness, an insatiable thirst for memory, and the single process model. I installed on both Windows (10 Pro) and Mac OS. Initial impressions were good; it seemed snappy, I liked the UI, and it was using less memory than Chrome with the same number of tabs open. A couple of days in things went downhill. On M…

> Since FF is still a single process

Multiprocess has been gradually rolled out since last year. Check about:support, you might have some ancient addon installed that isn't compatible.

Re: Firefox Focus – A new private browser for iOS and Android

#163

Post by nindalf »

EpicEng wrote: post #54

After nearly a decade of using Chrome I decided to give FF another shot, having initially switched over due to slowness, an insatiable thirst for memory, and the single process model. I installed on both Windows (10 Pro) and Mac OS. Initial impressions were good; it seemed snappy, I liked the UI, and it was using less memory than Chrome with the same number of tabs open. A couple of days in things went downhill. On M…

I'd encourage you to give Firefox another shot. They've improved a lot in the last couple of versions. More pertinent, in my opinion, is that they're on a promising trajectory and I'd expect it to be incredible in the medium term.

Re: Firefox Focus – A new private browser for iOS and Android

#164

Post by x775 »

I have been using this for a while on one of my phones (OnePlus 5, newest version of OxygenOS) and am fairly satisfied with its overall performance. It works seamlessly for casual browsing - i.e. opening pages from Reddit or similar. I however cannot help but feel as if the standard version with appropriate extensions (i.e. Disconnect, uBlock Origin and thus forth) remains a better alternative than Focus in solving the very issues Focus seeks to accommodate. I do very much love how closing the browser erases everything though. It is worth mentioning that the ability to install extensions is exclusive to Android for now, so Firefox Focus has become my go-to-browser for my iOS devices. If you have Android the above is worth considering though!

Re: Firefox Focus – A new private browser for iOS and Android

#165

Post by pls2halp »

computator wrote: post #158

This would have been perfect for iPad 2's and 3's on which Safari and the normal Firefox keep crashing under the weight of the current bloated web. But alas, the "simple and lightweight" Firefox Focus actually requires a heavyweight 64-bit processor: > Why aren't older Apple products supported? Safari Content Blockers (which include Firefox Focus) are only available on devices with an A7 processor (64-bit) or later.…

In terms of lightweight iOS browsers, I like iCab Mobile[1]. It's compatible with iOS 7 and up, which should include an updated iPad 2/3. It also natively supports Adblock lists(including EasyList by default).

[1]https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/icab-mobile-web-browser/id30...

Re: Firefox Focus – A new private browser for iOS and Android

#166

Post by PeanutCurry »

quazeekotl wrote: post #136
soapdog wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is not surveillance or spying ffs!!!! It is telemetry, which is anonymized data for the purpose of statistics and crash analysis. remember, you can check the source code. You can build your own version. Telemetry helps people. Telemetry helps Mozilla deliver better firefox. STOP SPREADING FUD.

Im sure ad companies claim much the same thing, tracking is just telemetry for statistical anonymized bulk purposes, that is really just benefiting the user! The point is you cant have it both ways, both decrying tracking of users and then actively enaging in it, and agressively defending it when it comes to light.

Except for the part where you completely ignored their point that you and anyone else with security concerns can conduct their own audit of the code and verify whether or not the telemetry functionality is performing in the manner described.

Re: Firefox Focus – A new private browser for iOS and Android

#167

Post by hammock »

zaphirplane wrote: post #147
hammock wrote: post #142

The headline in this submission fails to deliver the primary message of the actual op, which is that Firefox focus is a lightweight mobile browser. That it blocks third-party tracking by default is secondary

Just an FYI, by default it phones home to Mozilla.

Yeah that was kind of my point, this isn't intended to be a "private browser" and the headline misleads

Re: Firefox Focus – A new private browser for iOS and Android

#169

Post by eridius »

nkkollaw wrote: post #53
aembleton wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your assumptions are correct.

Mh. It's amazing how far apart I got from every single one of Mozilla's visions, from using Firefox as my main browser 8 years ago. I love the fact that—as an example—as I travel Google shows me tools that I'll be interested in, like a currency converter, translate + word of the day in the local language, etc. etc. I would absolutely hate having my main browser constantly forget who I am. I feel almost blessed every…

Every single thing you describe can be done without giving Google all your personal data. Log in with one click, autofill, etc is all browser-local. And currency converter, translations, word of the day, etc can all be done as browser extensions.

Re: Firefox Focus – A new private browser for iOS and Android

#170

Post by andrepd »

lucideer wrote: post #146
kuschku wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a developer, and I've worked with this before, but the library included here has only the purpose of analytics, and is not required for anything else.

Google has recently been moving GCM over to FCM, since the Firebase acquisition, and FCM has a hard dependency on the analytics library for some reason (even if you're not availing of the service - perhaps as a veiled upsell attempt). It seems very likely that Firefox would be making use of GCM/FCM - I think most major apps do - so this could be it. Incidentally, this same topics is one of the main controversies arou…

IIRC, Signal now falls back to not using GCM if it isn't available on the phone, so users concerned with that which don't have Google Play Services on their phone can still use Signal. Of course of it is available Signal will use GCM, for the battery savings.
Post reply on HN