Reynard: A real Firefox web browser for iOS 13 or later • Hacker News Board

Re: Reynard: A real Firefox web browser for iOS 13 or later

#51

Post by jeroenhd » Fri, Jul 17, 2026, 7:13 AM UTC

wolvoleo wrote: post #50

jeroenhd wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You tell someone who's dying for a non-webkit browser on iOS Firefox has struggled to get the sliver of market share they have today. I highly doubt that there are that many people like you and me who crave a real Firefox engine on iOS. > which is what they should be testing anyway Having a large part of your team be unable to reproduce bugs is a significant development issue. Some of these operating system feature…

> I highly doubt that there are that many people like you and me who crave a real Firefox engine on iOS. Let's put this another way, would many people be interested in a full blown adblocker like ublock origin? Because that's what I have on Firefox on Android.

With how few iOS users I see the existing content blockers already, shockingly few people as far as I can tell.

I want to see Brave and Firefox fight it off in an ad-blocking-mobile-browser competition to get some more market share, but it seems like iOS users are content with just Safari and ads.

Let me put it another way: why has no other browser company released a browser yet? Mozilla is only a small player, after all.

Re: Reynard: A real Firefox web browser for iOS 13 or later

#52

Post by jeroenhd » Fri, Jul 17, 2026, 7:14 AM UTC

RunSet wrote: post #29

jeroenhd wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You tell someone who's dying for a non-webkit browser on iOS Firefox has struggled to get the sliver of market share they have today. I highly doubt that there are that many people like you and me who crave a real Firefox engine on iOS. > which is what they should be testing anyway Having a large part of your team be unable to reproduce bugs is a significant development issue. Some of these operating system feature…

> Firefox has struggled to get the sliver of market share they have today. I highly doubt that there are that many people like you and me who crave a real Firefox engine on iOS. Egg on Apple's face for expending so much effort to deny so few people something they don't actually want.

So far market demand hasn't pushed Brave, Opera, Vivaldi, or anyone else in this direction. It's not just Mozilla, who is often late to these kinds of developments.

Re: Reynard: A real Firefox web browser for iOS 13 or later

#53

Post by wolvoleo » Fri, Jul 17, 2026, 8:21 AM UTC

jeroenhd wrote: post #51

wolvoleo wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I highly doubt that there are that many people like you and me who crave a real Firefox engine on iOS. Let's put this another way, would many people be interested in a full blown adblocker like ublock origin? Because that's what I have on Firefox on Android.

With how few iOS users I see the existing content blockers already, shockingly few people as far as I can tell. I want to see Brave and Firefox fight it off in an ad-blocking-mobile-browser competition to get some more market share, but it seems like iOS users are content with just Safari and ads. Let me put it another way: why has no other browser company released a browser yet? Mozilla is only a small player, after…

Yes but current content blockers aren't very effective on iOS.

I think the things mentioned in that open source report, basically Apple making it as hard as possible, plays a big role there.

Re: Reynard: A real Firefox web browser for iOS 13 or later

#54

Post by fsuts » Fri, Jul 17, 2026, 11:29 AM UTC

jeroenhd wrote: post #9

wolvoleo wrote: post #2

The biggest question imo is why does Mozilla not do this

One reason is that Apple does not permit regional binaries, so you cannot use the same listing in the EU/Japan/Brazil/whatever other place may force Apple to act sociable and the rest of the world. Creating a separate app would work, but all existing Firefox users would have to download a second Firefox browser app, probably sync their accounts if they want to keep their data, and then remove the old one manually. Yo…

On android Mozilla already have Firefox and Firefox focus and Firefox nightly

So having two versions on iOS would be fine, and as apps can be limited to only show up in some regions wouldn’t be confusing as many would just see one

Re: Reynard: A real Firefox web browser for iOS 13 or later

#55

Post by hexagonwin » Fri, Jul 17, 2026, 5:48 PM UTC

ComputerGuru wrote: post #35

rubnogueira wrote: post #11

This is great and long overdue for outdated devices! Those devices are forced to use an ancient Safari version of WebKit which includes tons of vulnerabilities that are not patched anymore, and same time doesn't support modern ECMAScript functionalities. With a modern browser engine, those old devices can be used for valid browser usage.

> This is great Absolutely spectacular, indeed… > and long overdue for outdated devices! I would pause here and reflect. There is zero chance this performs better (speed, latency, memory, battery life, etc) than Safari on iPhones since the latter has been heavily optimized over the decades for this exact use case. Older devices not even getting iOS updates are likely the devices that will work worst with this softwar…

it's already working really well on my iOS 13 iPhone SE. the safari on this version struggles to render any 'modern' website these days, this browser works perfectly and I can even use uBlock Origin with it.

Re: Reynard: A real Firefox web browser for iOS 13 or later

#56

Post by wolvoleo » Sat, Jul 18, 2026, 2:27 PM UTC

hagbard_c wrote: post #48

wolvoleo wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm on Android for this reason but it's not ideal either, Google is clamping down a lot. But yeah an Apple phone just won't work for me, there are wayyy too many things I need daily that won't work on Apple.

Yes, it seems Google has been oogling that juicy fruity profit margin thinking mine! . I recently got a new phone and given that I tend to use the things for about 8-10 years it might well be my last Android device if they make it (close to) impossible to avoid them. The new phone - a Motorola G75 - is de-Googled just like all my other devices, I did not allow it any internet access before taking off (as in 'disablin…

It's similar to what I do yes. I buy normal Android devices but I use ADB to get rid of most of the google stuff. In Google Play Services I just don't sign in and I disable all the data collection. It's not ideal but the problem is I really need the push service for work. And my devices are not supported by AOSP distros.

I install my apps using Aurora and F-Droid.

Re: Reynard: A real Firefox web browser for iOS 13 or later

#57

Post by ghusto » Sat, Jul 18, 2026, 3:27 PM UTC

jeroenhd wrote: post #18

ghusto wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, but I don't buy any of that. I've been defending Mozilla for years, but enough's enough. > but all existing Firefox users would have to download a second Firefox browser app, probably sync their accounts if they want to keep their data, and then remove the old one manually. You'd end with a Google Meet/Microsoft Teams situation (where one app is labeled "new" and it confuses the hell out of everyone) You're ma…

> You tell someone who's dying for a non-webkit browser on iOS Firefox has struggled to get the sliver of market share they have today. I highly doubt that there are that many people like you and me who crave a real Firefox engine on iOS. > which is what they should be testing anyway Having a large part of your team be unable to reproduce bugs is a significant development issue. Some of these operating system feature…

> Having a large part of your team be unable to reproduce bugs is a significant development issue

But I just said, they are free and able to use development builds, regardless of geographical location. As far as I know, the OS is exactly the same, just has certain things disabled depending on region (for example you can breifly see the iPhone mirroring in the EU the first time, before it disapears).

> Firefox has struggled to get the sliver of market share they have today. I highly doubt that there are that many people like you and me who crave a real Firefox engine on iOS.

Why bother with any of it then? If it's hopeless and not enough people want it, why even bother?