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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

#71

Post by alraj »

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?

From the add-ons I use in my desktop which I cannot install in android firefox from addons.mozilla.org are:

1. OneTab 2. Unhook 3. Unclutter 4. Violentmonkey

Tampermonkey shows in Add-on manager list in android, but not in addons.mozilla.org!

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

#72

Post by doctor_radium »

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.

Sorry then. Just working off context clues.

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

#73

Post by friend_and_foe »

specproc wrote: post #70
friend_and_foe wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

How was it a pain? Ffupdater has had it available for a very long time, and there's Unobtainium that lets you update from git repo releases among other things.

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

#74

Post by nabakin »

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

Yeah, well, if iOS didn't force everyone to use the Safari engine, maybe the situation would be better

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

#75

Post by orra »

friend_and_foe wrote: post #61
lopis wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> Why not just put up a warning for extensions that dont work well and let the user decide?

Because the typical user will ignore the warning and install the extension. Then down the line Firefox will be slow and they forget why. Then they uninstall Firefox.

Sure, you can avoid this trap personally. But the statistical behaviour is harmful to a healthy Firefox userbase.

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

#76

Post by orra »

Zuiii wrote: post #16
gary_0 wrote: post #3

Better late than never!

While true, Mozilla unfortunately had already forfeited the Android browser market to other competitors by not enabling this day one (contrary to their claims, most extensions worked fine). I would be really interested in reading the rationale behind their decision. The real one.

> Mozilla unfortunately had already forfeited the Android browser market to other competitors by not enabling this day one

Er, Mozilla marketshare on Android is low because of Google anti competitively bundling Chrome with the Play Store.

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

#77

Post by lemper »

alraj wrote: post #71
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?

From the add-ons I use in my desktop which I cannot install in android firefox from addons.mozilla.org are: 1. OneTab 2. Unhook 3. Unclutter 4. Violentmonkey Tampermonkey shows in Add-on manager list in android, but not in addons.mozilla.org!

that OneTab looks nice. will definitely help with my current usage pattern. thanks.

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

#78

Post by orra »

friend_and_foe wrote: post #55
danShumway wrote: post #14

This is a big surprise and a welcome one. I honestly had given up hope of this happening. It's disappointing that it took this long, but it is a big deal to have full extension support on Android again. I'm very happy to see this news.

Curious, why didn't you try Iceraven this whole time?

Here's a good reason not to install Iceraven:

> No warranties or guarantees of security or updates

In general it's fine for users to fork software to scratch their own itches. But browsers are super security sensitive.

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

#80

Post by cubefox »

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…

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