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

Google Play Store: Browsing with Firefox is no longer supported on Android

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 242 posts

Re: Google Play Store: Browsing with Firefox is no longer supported on Android

#41

Post by wlesieutre »

engendered wrote: post #16

Is this a reasonable complaint? Why would you be browsing the play store from Android in a browser? If you try to open it in the Chrome browser, it just forces you to the play store app, which rather makes sense. Every platform and browser requires support and attention, and in this case they chose not to support an edge case that really makes no sense, and simply causes usability issues (so how do you install an app…

> Why would you be browsing the play store from Android in a browser?

Because you're browsing the web in your web browser (that's what I do with mine, anyway), you end up on a webpage with an app review, so you click the link to check out of the official screenshots and reviews, and all of a sudden you're browsing the Play Store in your browser! What a crazy random happenstance!

It's almost like that's how webpages work or something.

Re: Google Play Store: Browsing with Firefox is no longer supported on Android

#42

Post by qntmfred »

zanny wrote: post #36
dannywoodz wrote: post #4

Interestingly, it works if you request the desktop site: they're explicitly blocking Firefox Mobile.

They probably just don't want you accessing the store from a browser on mobile when you can be using their app. I don't think this is some malicious betrayal of trust, even if its a stupid thing to do.

You can access the store from Chrome on mobile

Re: Google Play Store: Browsing with Firefox is no longer supported on Android

#43

Post by zanny »

Touche wrote: post #23
dinesh_babu wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

why in god's name would you browse the play store in Firefox instead of the app?

The great thing about the web is links. Some times you click them and they take you places. If the place it takes you asks you to open an app instead... that's a bad experience.

It only asks you once and you can set play URLs to open in the app. I've never browsed into the store on my phone.

Re: Google Play Store: Browsing with Firefox is no longer supported on Android

#44

Post by ntlve »

Touche wrote: post #23
dinesh_babu wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

why in god's name would you browse the play store in Firefox instead of the app?

The great thing about the web is links. Some times you click them and they take you places. If the place it takes you asks you to open an app instead... that's a bad experience.

I'm curious as to why you think it is a bad experience?

Re: Google Play Store: Browsing with Firefox is no longer supported on Android

#45

Post by falcolas »

Touche wrote: post #23
dinesh_babu wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

why in god's name would you browse the play store in Firefox instead of the app?

The great thing about the web is links. Some times you click them and they take you places. If the place it takes you asks you to open an app instead... that's a bad experience.

This is an issue on the i* - Imgur would frequently run ads which would, on an Apple mobile device, switch out of the browser and open up the App Store.

Bad Experience is an understatement. The app stores were not designed with easy and fast switching, so being shunted to them from your browser is a usability nightmare.

Re: Google Play Store: Browsing with Firefox is no longer supported on Android

#47

Post by vetinari »

engendered wrote: post #27
jessaustin wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...in this case they chose not to support an edge case that really makes no sense. There's a difference between "not supporting" (e.g. not caring that an icon is positioned wrong) and "completely turning it off". All those sites that used to catch hell for switching on user agent string and telling us to "please install IE in order to use this site", justifiably caught that hell. I'm normally as big a G fanboy as any…

Because you're on a device that is guaranteed to have a better mechanism of utilizing the Play Store. You can't install or update from the browser. You can't see that you even have it installed. If the site sees you are in Android in a browser, it uses a URL intent to redirect you to the app, which makes enormous sense but when some people want to cry it out. And for all of the nonsense through this thread (again, th…

You can install from the browser (the play store will push the apk to the selected device). You can see what you have installed on each device, not only on the current one. You can see compatibility for each device, not only the current one. And you can see info for apps, that Google for some reason blocks from you in the app (incompatible device, you happen to be in the wrong country, etc). For example, the only way for me to see Google Play Books description is to put in the link into the browser - the app will not show it.

It can also happen, that you are on device that lacks com.android.vending. With browser, you can at least have a look, what's there.

Re: Google Play Store: Browsing with Firefox is no longer supported on Android

#48

Post by sp332 »

LoneWolf wrote: post #39
sp332 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many phones don't have the play store.

Android ones? Care to name a few?

Nokia X. Every Amazon device. Everyone running a custom ROM who didn't separately flash the "Google Apps" afterward.
Post reply on HN