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

Firefox desktop extensions coming soon for the upcoming Android release

blog.mozilla.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 482 posts

Re: Firefox desktop extensions coming soon for the upcoming Android release

#61

Post by friend_and_foe »

lopis wrote: post #46
wvenable wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. Firefox on Android used to be basically identical to Firefox on the desktop and it was great. It supported all extensions that the desktop version did. But then they decided they needed a mobile-specific experience and created the current dumbed down version with limited add-on support.

The old Firefox was a terrible App, performance wise. The new one tried to create a better experience so they restricted addons until they knew it wasn't a problem...

Why not just put up a warning for extensions that dont work well and let the user decide? I've used several unsupported extensions in iceraven for years and had no problems, which leaves me feeling suspicious about their stated motivation.

Re: Firefox desktop extensions coming soon for the upcoming Android release

#62

Post by mrd3v0 »

lemper wrote: post #48

even though i am an exclusively firefox user both on desktop and mobile, i don't even know what kind of desktop version's extension that i would use on mobile. currently, i only use adblock and so far my experience is quite stellar. though it should be noted that i use browser on phone just to consume text. no video, no audio, and even picture is rarely the focus. so, what do i miss?

Dark Reader, LocalCDN, Firefox Relay, Firefox Translations, LanguageTool among others I have installed on Iceraven, a Firefox for Android fork.

Re: Firefox desktop extensions coming soon for the upcoming Android release

#63

Post by newscracker »

HexDecOctBin wrote: post #51

Meanwhile, on the iOS version, they can't even support the OS-provided content blocker API, meaning Safari has better support for privacy-related add-ons than Firefox. https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/firefox-ios/issues/7374

If you’re fine with a single tab browser, Firefox Focus [1] comes with a built-in content blocker.

Re: Firefox desktop extensions coming soon for the upcoming Android release

#65

Post by c0nducktr »

doctor_radium wrote: post #36
c0nducktr wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What does iceraven get you compared to firefox?

Iceraven's reason for existence has been about allowing (pretty much?) all Firefox addons since day one. And about:config. Wish you hadn't downvoted him.

> Wish you hadn't downvoted him.

If this directed at me, well, I didn't downvote anybody. I saw the parent post being downvoted a bunch, and wanted to know what they were talking about.

I don't currently have an Android phone. Having a better browser is one of the few things which would want me to move from iOS.

It was an honest question.

Re: Firefox desktop extensions coming soon for the upcoming Android release

#66

Post by drozycki »

godelski wrote: post #58

There's a lot of hate any Firefox and the "blessed apps." But come on, chrome and Safari don't sorry add-ons at all! I know there are other apps that support add-ons but the fact is that Firefox is __the only__ "mainstream" browser that does this (quotes because it's 0.25% in the US, as the 4th most popular, behind Samsung fucking Internet). It's popular to hate on Firefox, but this is the nerdiest of nerd issues and…

iOS Safari has supported declarative content blocking extensions since iOS 9 in 2015 and a full extension API since iOS 15 released about two years ago.

Re: Firefox desktop extensions coming soon for the upcoming Android release

#67

Post by Knee_Pain »

newscracker wrote: post #63
HexDecOctBin wrote: post #51

Meanwhile, on the iOS version, they can't even support the OS-provided content blocker API, meaning Safari has better support for privacy-related add-ons than Firefox. https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/firefox-ios/issues/7374

If you’re fine with a single tab browser, Firefox Focus [1] comes with a built-in content blocker.

Firefox Focus is so poorly thought out.

How can you have a content-blocking browser that only allows one single tab at a time?

It happens so many times that while browsing an ad-heavy page an ad gets opened in a new tab (since Firefox fails to block it), but since it's a mono-tab browser it simply replaces the one I was browsing.

Re: Firefox desktop extensions coming soon for the upcoming Android release

#68

Post by hexo »

yukIttEft wrote: post #60
1vuio0pswjnm7 wrote: post #22

Out of curiosity I recently did an experiment to investigate Add-Ons in Firefox for Android. Some facts: One does not need Firefox Nightly to run more extensions than the "supported" ones. Creating a "custom" collection of Add-Ons on addons.mozilla.org can be done using a disposable email address. There is no visible Settings option to add a custom collection in Fennec from F-Droid. To make it visible, one has to go…

> Creating a "custom" collection of Add-Ons on addons.mozilla.org can be done using a disposable email address. I seriously don't get it. Why do I have to create a "custom collection" with an email address to install an extension. Why can't it work like it does on PC ?

[flagged]

Re: Firefox desktop extensions coming soon for the upcoming Android release

#69

Post by c0nducktr »

c0nducktr wrote: post #65
doctor_radium wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Iceraven's reason for existence has been about allowing (pretty much?) all Firefox addons since day one. And about:config. Wish you hadn't downvoted him.

> Wish you hadn't downvoted him. If this directed at me, well, I didn't downvote anybody. I saw the parent post being downvoted a bunch, and wanted to know what they were talking about. I don't currently have an Android phone. Having a better browser is one of the few things which would want me to move from iOS. It was an honest question.

Edit: btw, I had originally upvoted them, even though their original statement was a little rude, and now flagged off the page (I think).

Re: Firefox desktop extensions coming soon for the upcoming Android release

#70

Post by specproc »

friend_and_foe wrote: post #54
specproc wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did not like the look of Kiwi Browser one bit, lots of weird permissions and dodgy ad-tech smells. Plus it's not Firefox, I'd rather use the same browser on both desktop and Android. This is great news. Can't wait to have a no-fuss paywall bypass on mobile again.

Iceraven has been allowing a ton more extensions than Firefox all this time, no need to go chromium.

Yeah, I was doing Iceraven for a bit, but it was a pain to keep updated.

Super stoked with this news this morning.

Post reply on HN