7 ms·

Does not support any addons, and is therefore useless until it does. (uBlock Origin is a prerequisite for me.)

by dsr_ 7y ago

jjulius 7y ago
>"The user experience of this early version will differ significantly from the final product, planned for release later this year."
mjw1007 7y ago
Indeed, it's very disappointing to see such a long article without any mention of their plans for addons. It isn't even clear that they're not going to replace Android Firefox with Fenix before getting extensions working. As far I know this issue is the most recent source of information: https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/fenix/issues/574 https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/fenix/issues/574 It says «We are currently finalizing the transition plan».
- addicted 7y ago
  It's not comprehensive, but I prefer the strategy of publicly releasing the information as they have it available, even if it means it often raises more questions. Even if they don't have the entire transition planned out, I think it was important for Mozilla to communicate their Android dev focus was gonna shift to GeckoView, from existing apps, to allow external devs, and customers to have a better plan, even if they don't have the add on strategy and timeline fully fleshed out. The alternative is waiting a few months to know any of this was happening.
  - mjw1007 7y ago
    They said they were "currently" finalising their transition plans in February, so I think it's reasonable to assume that the plans have been finalised by now.
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
  - iggldiggl 7y ago
    > I think it was important for Mozilla to communicate their Android dev focus was gonna shift to GeckoView, from existing apps Focus has already shifted for quite some time, though - the current Firefox for Android ("Fennec") code base has already been in maintenance mode since the end of 2017, i.e. over 1½ years, including a few months at the start of 2018 were almost nobody was regularly working on it at all other than watching Bugzilla for any immediate priority bugs and reacting to those in case any happened.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
orcdork 7y ago
Haven't used android in a couple of years but firefox used to support addons (and it looks like it still does).
- moosingin3space 7y ago
  GeckoView doesn't support addons yet. This is pending discussion, but it looks like the goal is to focus on mobile optimization first. As a tester of Firefox Preview: WebRender has been a godsend for mobile browsing -- I have yet to see it choke!
  - jimmaswell 7y ago
    Firefox was kinda slow sometimes with too much JS on the page on my old phone but still overall usable, and that was a J3 (replaced just last week), so I'd say that's pretty good. Great and lag-free on my s10+ so far. Not convinced optimization should be a priority over features and addons.
  - markdog12 7y ago
    WebRender doesn't work for me, "Unsupported Vendor" :( Moto G4, Qualcomm Adreno 405, OpenGL ES 3.2 about:config doesn't work either
AdmiralAsshat 7y ago
uBO is the main reason I use Firefox on Android, as well. With that said, what sites are you visiting? It could be that I simply don't visit sites with any ads, but I gave a few of my daily sites a spin in Firefox Preview and didn't notice any ads.
gcbw2 7y ago
Same here. I do not know why the heck Mozilla is tiptoeing from just hiring Raymond and making uBlock an integral part of firefox. Note that they already included something similar, which is SafeBrowsing(TM), that is maintained by google. Technically, it is exactly the same concept. But uBlock is actively request by 99% of their users, while safeBrowser(TM) fingerprinting is mostly disabled by half.
- Touche 7y ago
  Pure speculation, I wonder if their contract with Google forbids them from having ad blocking as part of the browser. At least if I was a company paying another company millions of dollars I wouldn't let them block my income stream in their product.
  - ChrisSD 7y ago
    They already have an adblocker built in (well a tracking blocker but that often amounts to the same thing).
  - tssva 7y ago
    Mozilla also didn't have ad blocking when their contract was with Yahoo.
- silon42 7y ago
  plugins are better (I use uMatrix).
  - gcbw2 7y ago
    uBlock origin is turning into uMatrix, even on mobile (fenec) Firefox. Sneakily ;)
- sciurus 7y ago
  I think the better comparison than SafeBrowsing for uBlock would be Firefox's Enhanced Tracking Protection, which is on by default. This uses data maintained by Disconnect. (Disclaimer: I work for Mozilla)
tyingq 7y ago
Oy. Isn't the extension support likely the #1 reason anyone uses it?
superasn 7y ago
Same here. I was so happy to see this and I just went ahead and installed it in a heart-beat. Tried to find the addons page, couldn't find it, found your comment instead and uninstalled it in the next. I hope they add support for addons otherwise there isn't much use for it at least to me.
mncolinlee 7y ago
It's a preview release. Addons are coming as well as ad blocking. It's not the same thing, but the built-in tracking protection incidentally blocks a portion of ads.
- vaer-k 7y ago
  That's good to hear. Can you point to where Mozilla says they will support addons and ad blocking in Fenix?
  - Deimorz 7y ago
    This seems to be the relevant issue on GitHub: https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/fenix/issues/574 https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/fenix/issues/574 There's not much solid or explicit info in it, but it does seem to be planned eventually.
- jnurmine 7y ago
  This is a great thing to hear!
- kevin_b_er 7y ago
  Per Barbara Bermes, senior product manager in firefox mobile, addons are not part of the minimum viable product. They're in the "backlog"
  - dblohm7 7y ago
    Right, but existing Firefox for Android users aren't going to be switched over to Fenix until it does.
  - zrobotics 7y ago
    Not to be mean, but that statement demonstrates a frankly shocking level of cluelessness. Extensions (mainly adblockers) are the critical feature that distinguishes FF mobile, and are the only reason I have ever been able to convince anyone to switch. I would almost consider adblockers functionality more critical than Javascript support, they should certainly be part of a minimum viable product. I know it's a preview version, but why would anyone in their right mind run this?
Roritharr 7y ago
I really don't understand why Mozilla doesn't put ad-blocking & tracking protection front & center the way other orgs do. Winning their userbase back is the only way to win back the leverage they once had...
- sciurus 7y ago
  Out of curiosity, what orgs are you comparing us to? When you install Firefox Preview, tracking protection is enabled by default. This is recently true for Firefox Desktop as well. https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2019/06/04/when-it-comes-to-privacy-default-settings-matter/ https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2019/06/04/when-it-comes-to-pr... This post below by our CEO explains how we're thinking about the issue broadly. Your privacy and agency are definitely front and center. https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2019/06/04/the-web-the-world-needs-can-be-ours-again-if-we-want-it/ https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2019/06/04/the-web-the-world-n... (Disclaimer: I work for Mozilla)
  - Roritharr 7y ago
    Brave for example: https://brave.com/improved-ad-blocker-performance/ https://brave.com/improved-ad-blocker-performance/
- zamalek 7y ago
  Agreed. I hastily installed FF Preview and then immediately uninstalled it when I couldn't find where to install uBlock. They shouldn't have launched, or made an announcement, without some form of adblocking (native or plugin). I understand that it's a testing release, but they stand to lose out on many testers and users. While I am perfectly willing to be a guinea pig and use this as my daily driver, I am passionately unwilling to browse with ads (especially on a mobile device where data is more expensive). I am likely part of the vast majority of potential testers/users. There probably won't be a "hey, we support plugins/blocking now" announcement and, even if there will be, it probably won't be as visible as this announcement.
  - cycomanic 7y ago
SilasX 7y ago
I would also appreciate if they worked on restoring the original addon capability they had up to 2016 (where you add keyboard shortcuts) before they go showboating.
jnurmine 7y ago
Exactly. Anyone remember when Firefox extensions broke recently? I thought it was a rather horrible experience. If the new Firefox Preview can natively block advertisements, whitelist sites, disable third party cookies, prevent and hide social trackers, block anti-ad-blockers, etc. etc. then I agree that extensions are kind of useless, and I understand Mozilla's point. However, I see the lack of extension support detrimental to my freedoms as a user, since it means I no longer can control what the software hides for me, nor what it broadcasts about me to the abyss of waste that is the advertising industry; I will have to trust the browser, and the lack of extension support is a rather untrustworthy property to begin with.
- throwupaway123 7y ago
  This is still a preview, it's nowhere near a finished product. Extensions come after MVP https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/fenix/issues/662#issuecomment-477905130 https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/fenix/issues/662#issuecomm...
  - metalliqaz 7y ago
    (minimum viable product) Isn't it strange that the big flash announcement comes before MVP?
    - trickstra 7y ago
      Yes, that's what "viable" means. Viable for big flashy announcement.
    - yorwba 7y ago
      The big flash announcement is to get early adopters for testing. There's no reason to delay testing until the MVP is ready, as long as testers remain aware that Firefox Preview is a preview that shouldn't be expected to already have all features implemented.
      - dsr_ 7y ago
JeremyNT 7y ago
I really feel like this should be the top comment; losing addon support in FF on Android is about the only change I can envision that would cause me to stop using it. It's great as it is, and there is no amount of tinkering they could do to it that might possibly make up for the loss of addons.

Does not support any addons, and is therefore useless until it does. (uBlock Origin is a prerequisite for me.)

by dsr_ 7y ago

Does not support any addons, and is therefore useless until it does. (uBlock Origin is a prerequisite for me.)

>"The user experience of this early version will differ significantly from the final product, planned for release later this year."

mjw1007 7y ago

Indeed, it's very disappointing to see such a long article without any mention of their plans for addons. It isn't even clear that they're not going to replace Android Firefox with Fenix before getting extensions working. As far I know this issue is the most recent source of information: https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/fenix/issues/574 https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/fenix/issues/574 It says «We are currently finalizing the transition plan».

addicted 7y ago
It's not comprehensive, but I prefer the strategy of publicly releasing the information as they have it available, even if it means it often raises more questions. Even if they don't have the entire transition planned out, I think it was important for Mozilla to communicate their Android dev focus was gonna shift to GeckoView, from existing apps, to allow external devs, and customers to have a better plan, even if they don't have the add on strategy and timeline fully fleshed out. The alternative is waiting a few months to know any of this was happening.
- mjw1007 7y ago
  They said they were "currently" finalising their transition plans in February, so I think it's reasonable to assume that the plans have been finalised by now.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
- iggldiggl 7y ago
  > I think it was important for Mozilla to communicate their Android dev focus was gonna shift to GeckoView, from existing apps Focus has already shifted for quite some time, though - the current Firefox for Android ("Fennec") code base has already been in maintenance mode since the end of 2017, i.e. over 1½ years, including a few months at the start of 2018 were almost nobody was regularly working on it at all other than watching Bugzilla for any immediate priority bugs and reacting to those in case any happened.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

orcdork 7y ago

Haven't used android in a couple of years but firefox used to support addons (and it looks like it still does).

moosingin3space 7y ago
GeckoView doesn't support addons yet. This is pending discussion, but it looks like the goal is to focus on mobile optimization first. As a tester of Firefox Preview: WebRender has been a godsend for mobile browsing -- I have yet to see it choke!
- jimmaswell 7y ago
  Firefox was kinda slow sometimes with too much JS on the page on my old phone but still overall usable, and that was a J3 (replaced just last week), so I'd say that's pretty good. Great and lag-free on my s10+ so far. Not convinced optimization should be a priority over features and addons.
- markdog12 7y ago
  WebRender doesn't work for me, "Unsupported Vendor" :( Moto G4, Qualcomm Adreno 405, OpenGL ES 3.2 about:config doesn't work either

AdmiralAsshat 7y ago

uBO is the main reason I use Firefox on Android, as well. With that said, what sites are you visiting? It could be that I simply don't visit sites with any ads, but I gave a few of my daily sites a spin in Firefox Preview and didn't notice any ads.

gcbw2 7y ago

Same here. I do not know why the heck Mozilla is tiptoeing from just hiring Raymond and making uBlock an integral part of firefox. Note that they already included something similar, which is SafeBrowsing(TM), that is maintained by google. Technically, it is exactly the same concept. But uBlock is actively request by 99% of their users, while safeBrowser(TM) fingerprinting is mostly disabled by half.

Touche 7y ago
Pure speculation, I wonder if their contract with Google forbids them from having ad blocking as part of the browser. At least if I was a company paying another company millions of dollars I wouldn't let them block my income stream in their product.
- ChrisSD 7y ago
  They already have an adblocker built in (well a tracking blocker but that often amounts to the same thing).
- tssva 7y ago
  Mozilla also didn't have ad blocking when their contract was with Yahoo.
silon42 7y ago
plugins are better (I use uMatrix).
- gcbw2 7y ago
  uBlock origin is turning into uMatrix, even on mobile (fenec) Firefox. Sneakily ;)
sciurus 7y ago
I think the better comparison than SafeBrowsing for uBlock would be Firefox's Enhanced Tracking Protection, which is on by default. This uses data maintained by Disconnect. (Disclaimer: I work for Mozilla)

tyingq 7y ago

Oy. Isn't the extension support likely the #1 reason anyone uses it?

superasn 7y ago

Same here. I was so happy to see this and I just went ahead and installed it in a heart-beat. Tried to find the addons page, couldn't find it, found your comment instead and uninstalled it in the next. I hope they add support for addons otherwise there isn't much use for it at least to me.

mncolinlee 7y ago

It's a preview release. Addons are coming as well as ad blocking. It's not the same thing, but the built-in tracking protection incidentally blocks a portion of ads.

vaer-k 7y ago
That's good to hear. Can you point to where Mozilla says they will support addons and ad blocking in Fenix?
- Deimorz 7y ago
  This seems to be the relevant issue on GitHub: https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/fenix/issues/574 https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/fenix/issues/574 There's not much solid or explicit info in it, but it does seem to be planned eventually.
jnurmine 7y ago
This is a great thing to hear!
kevin_b_er 7y ago
Per Barbara Bermes, senior product manager in firefox mobile, addons are not part of the minimum viable product. They're in the "backlog"
- dblohm7 7y ago
  Right, but existing Firefox for Android users aren't going to be switched over to Fenix until it does.
- zrobotics 7y ago
  Not to be mean, but that statement demonstrates a frankly shocking level of cluelessness. Extensions (mainly adblockers) are the critical feature that distinguishes FF mobile, and are the only reason I have ever been able to convince anyone to switch. I would almost consider adblockers functionality more critical than Javascript support, they should certainly be part of a minimum viable product. I know it's a preview version, but why would anyone in their right mind run this?

Roritharr 7y ago

I really don't understand why Mozilla doesn't put ad-blocking & tracking protection front & center the way other orgs do. Winning their userbase back is the only way to win back the leverage they once had...

sciurus 7y ago
Out of curiosity, what orgs are you comparing us to? When you install Firefox Preview, tracking protection is enabled by default. This is recently true for Firefox Desktop as well. https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2019/06/04/when-it-comes-to-privacy-default-settings-matter/ https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2019/06/04/when-it-comes-to-pr... This post below by our CEO explains how we're thinking about the issue broadly. Your privacy and agency are definitely front and center. https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2019/06/04/the-web-the-world-needs-can-be-ours-again-if-we-want-it/ https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2019/06/04/the-web-the-world-n... (Disclaimer: I work for Mozilla)
- Roritharr 7y ago
  Brave for example: https://brave.com/improved-ad-blocker-performance/ https://brave.com/improved-ad-blocker-performance/
zamalek 7y ago
Agreed. I hastily installed FF Preview and then immediately uninstalled it when I couldn't find where to install uBlock. They shouldn't have launched, or made an announcement, without some form of adblocking (native or plugin). I understand that it's a testing release, but they stand to lose out on many testers and users. While I am perfectly willing to be a guinea pig and use this as my daily driver, I am passionately unwilling to browse with ads (especially on a mobile device where data is more expensive). I am likely part of the vast majority of potential testers/users. There probably won't be a "hey, we support plugins/blocking now" announcement and, even if there will be, it probably won't be as visible as this announcement.
- cycomanic 7y ago

SilasX 7y ago

I would also appreciate if they worked on restoring the original addon capability they had up to 2016 (where you add keyboard shortcuts) before they go showboating.

jnurmine 7y ago

Exactly. Anyone remember when Firefox extensions broke recently? I thought it was a rather horrible experience. If the new Firefox Preview can natively block advertisements, whitelist sites, disable third party cookies, prevent and hide social trackers, block anti-ad-blockers, etc. etc. then I agree that extensions are kind of useless, and I understand Mozilla's point. However, I see the lack of extension support detrimental to my freedoms as a user, since it means I no longer can control what the software hides for me, nor what it broadcasts about me to the abyss of waste that is the advertising industry; I will have to trust the browser, and the lack of extension support is a rather untrustworthy property to begin with.

throwupaway123 7y ago
This is still a preview, it's nowhere near a finished product. Extensions come after MVP https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/fenix/issues/662#issuecomment-477905130 https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/fenix/issues/662#issuecomm...
- metalliqaz 7y ago
  (minimum viable product) Isn't it strange that the big flash announcement comes before MVP?
  - trickstra 7y ago
    Yes, that's what "viable" means. Viable for big flashy announcement.
  - yorwba 7y ago
    The big flash announcement is to get early adopters for testing. There's no reason to delay testing until the MVP is ready, as long as testers remain aware that Firefox Preview is a preview that shouldn't be expected to already have all features implemented.
    - dsr_ 7y ago

JeremyNT 7y ago

I really feel like this should be the top comment; losing addon support in FF on Android is about the only change I can envision that would cause me to stop using it. It's great as it is, and there is no amount of tinkering they could do to it that might possibly make up for the loss of addons.