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

news.ycombinator.com

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

#71

Post by Galanwe »

k-mcgrady wrote: post #66
josteink wrote: post #14

Hi Google. Remember those non-evil days where you said you cared about web-standards and actually acted according to those claims? Those days were great. Feel free to get back to those.

Although I don't support what they're doing I can guess the response here based on past responses: They are using new technology that's currently only available in Chrome but available to other browsers to implement and therefore they are pushing the web forward. I'm not sure if that applies to this specific case but that's usually the excuse.

Yeah, that's also how ActiveX were sold...

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

#72

Post by bibabo »

k-mcgrady wrote: post #66
josteink wrote: post #14

Hi Google. Remember those non-evil days where you said you cared about web-standards and actually acted according to those claims? Those days were great. Feel free to get back to those.

Although I don't support what they're doing I can guess the response here based on past responses: They are using new technology that's currently only available in Chrome but available to other browsers to implement and therefore they are pushing the web forward. I'm not sure if that applies to this specific case but that's usually the excuse.

I'm not sure my comment applies to the parent comment or to the post linked but nevertheless I drop my opinion here. Thanks.

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

#73

Post by untog »

Steuard wrote: post #69
0942v8653 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As one commenter said, you can use it in Chrome on android. And until recently (it's in development now) it was mozzila's decision not to make Firefox for iOS.

What would it mean to make Firefox for iOS? My understanding was that iOS requires all browsers to use the same rendering engine under the hood, so "Firefox" there wouldn't be much more than a different skin for Safari. (Has that changed?)

No. It will be a skin around the Webkit runtime - but with Firefox Sync and similar enabled. Maybe a few extra APIs, too...

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

#75

Post by _ea1k »

On Android, clicking a link in the browser generally takes you to the default application for that type of url. If there is no default set, then it will give you the choice of what to use to go there (possibly including the browser in the case of a link like this).

Firefox doesn't support that, and would instead take you to the play website, that really doesn't perform well on a lot of mobile devices. I'm guessing this factored into their decision to discourage its use.

I don't necessarily agree with this decision, but I think it is an exaggeration to imply that there is some evil intent here. It's not keeping you from doing anything that you could do before, and if you are really eager to get to the site just tap "Request Desktop Site" and it will still load.

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

#76

Post by Pxtl »

wernercd wrote: post #58
ntlve wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Why would you think it's a good experience? I can't count the number of times I'm annoyed when I click on a link to a website - say, clicking a link on news.google.com or a link here - get moved to that website and BAM there is a "you want to use our app. Click here to download it." No. I don't want your F(!&^NG app. I want your website. Don't show me that. The next time I go to the same website? BAM! Go To Our App p…

http://m.xkcd.com/1174/

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

#77

Post by fpgeek »

Goronmon wrote: post #33
engendered wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Chrome on Android simply punts you to the Play Store app This isn't true at all. Edit: It's interesting that you shout about coordinated anti-Google sentiment, then put forth obvious falsehoods in your posts.

There's some irony here. Chrome unpredictably punts you to the app when browsing the Play Store (actually I think it has to do with whether the link to the store involved a redirect, but that looks unpredictable from the outside). This is a mess.

Firefox, OTOH, lets you reliably browse the website and easily switch to the app (via the Android in the URL or via the Open in an app option in a link's long-press menu) whenever you want. This is much cleaner, but...

At least we have Phony.

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

#78

Post by jaredmcateer »

wernercd wrote: post #58
ntlve wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Why would you think it's a good experience? I can't count the number of times I'm annoyed when I click on a link to a website - say, clicking a link on news.google.com or a link here - get moved to that website and BAM there is a "you want to use our app. Click here to download it." No. I don't want your F(!&^NG app. I want your website. Don't show me that. The next time I go to the same website? BAM! Go To Our App p…

That's not the same thing that is being discussed here. What's being discussed is that you click, for example, a youtube link in your web browser and android opens up the youtube app to view the video. Android will give you the choice to open it up in a variety of supported applications, including the browser, you can set your permanent preference if you want to not be asked again.

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

#79

Post by lovelearning »

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…

"So how do you install an app from the Play Store in Firefox?" Same way I install it from my desktop browser. The site displays a list of my android devices and I select a device to install it on. Sometime later, the Playstore app receives a push notification from google, downloads and installs it.

It works in Chrome browser on Android. Works in Chrome and Firefox on a desktop. It even works from Firefox on Android when requesting the desktop site. So why block just the mobile firefox user-agent? I think it's a perfectly reasonable way to install. If it's not, Google should block all browsers, not just mobile firefox.

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

#80

Post by gcp »

_ea1k wrote: post #75

On Android, clicking a link in the browser generally takes you to the default application for that type of url. If there is no default set, then it will give you the choice of what to use to go there (possibly including the browser in the case of a link like this). Firefox doesn't support that, and would instead take you to the play website, that really doesn't perform well on a lot of mobile devices. I'm guessing th…

that really doesn't perform well on a lot of mobile devices

Maybe not on their default browsers, but you're trying to show the site in Firefox, which worked fine, until they intentionally blocked it. In fact, that's one excellent reason to use Firefox for Android in the first place.

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