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Firefox desktop extensions coming soon for the upcoming Android release

blog.mozilla.org

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

#91

Post by Nextgrid »

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…

The other browsers you mention though don’t pretend to be on your side and don’t use every possible opportunity to tell you about it.

Firefox on the other hand, despite having a lot of user-hostile functionality and design decisions, will constantly nag you pretending to be on your side, misleading you into a false sense of security.

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

#92

Post by speedgoose »

shmde wrote: post #40
speedgoose wrote: post #38

I remember using extensions on Firefox android years ago. Is my memory failing in this or did they remove them before putting them back?

Your memory is failing you. Been using firefox android ( stable and beta) with the addons (ublock etc) since a few years now.

Another comment mentions the quantum Firefox update from 2017. I think I was using Firefox on Android from around 2014. But I probably also used it after the update. I guess all my extensions were quickly whitelisted by Mozilla.

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

#93

Post by Jailbird »

c0nducktr wrote: post #82
doctor_radium wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry then. Just working off context clues.

No worries. Are you able to set Firefox as the default browser for Android for the whole phone? For instance, if I clicked on a link in an app, would uBlock Origin filter everything loaded? i.e, the app loaded the page in the same app, can I have that rendering engine set to Firefox with Ublock? Edit: Sorry for anyone reading this, I know I'm using the wrong terms, hopefully you know what I mean.

Chiming in: on my Android, I do have FF Nightly as my default browser for the whole phone. Recently some Google apps have begun to use Chrome, ignoring the system setting, but mostly, the setting is honored. There might be a few other exceptions but again... mostly honored. (Phone is a Samsung Galaxy S23)

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

#94

Post by kikokikokiko »

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?

Behindtheoverlay is a little extension that should not be as usefull as it is. I ude it daily, both on mobile and desktop, and I do not use Firefox mobile for this exact same reason.

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

#95

Post by Sabinus »

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 ?

Because this is just for devs to install and test their extension code before the feature is turned on officially.

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

#96

Post by Nextgrid »

itvision wrote: post #79

What next? Allowing access to about:config? Nah, I'm dreaming. Will continue to use Nightly.

Does Nightly have a different user-agent or browser fingerprint?

If so, that’s very generous of Mozilla to force users to segment themselves into an (even smaller) bucket so they can be easily tracked by fingerprint alone.

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

#97

Post by drozycki »

the_gipsy wrote: post #88
drozycki wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Declarative blocking is the weakest, it barely removes the simplest ads. uBlock doesn't exist for iOS because it is made impossible by apple, their extension API is not a "full" API.

I haven’t seen ads on mobile Safari for as long as I can remember. Whether you choose to believe that is up to you. Can you point to an example where an extension like AdGuard would let an ad slip through?

Precompiled declarative blocking is more performant and power efficient than running a content script in a JS VM at page load, which matters on a CPU and battery constrained device.

I was responding to a comment claiming that mobile Safari doesn’t support add-ons. Which is simply not true!

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

#98

Post by drozycki »

cubefox wrote: post #81
drozycki wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Doesn't count.

Does too.

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

#99

Post by Sabinus »

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?

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/nitter-redire...

So I can read Twitter links without dealing with the login modals.

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

#100

Post by input_sh »

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 ?

Because extension support wasn't considered ready for normal (non-developer) usage up until now, and this announcement you're commenting on literally starts with saying it's gonna be ready by the end of the year.
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