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Wait what? Extensions are the biggest reason I'm using Firefox on my mobile and the only way I got people to switch to it. How can they just be removing them fo

Wait what? Extensions are the biggest reason I'm using Firefox on my mobile and the only way I got people to switch to it. How can they just be removing them for any period of time?

melinoe 7y ago
Yeah, no kidding. Seems pretty significant, like pretty much a non-negotiable reason to switch to another browser if there is one with extension support.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
kevin_b_er 7y ago
We will find out the hard way when the 69 release comes up.
swinglock 7y ago
Extensions is the ONLY reason to use Firefox on Android. It's not good browser compared to Chrome on slower Android phones, apart from being customizable. To me it's even the single biggest reason to use Android over iOS as there's no full featured browser on iOS.
- ProAm 7y ago
  Give Kiwi Browser a shot on Android. It's a fork of Chrome with all the google tracking removed and fully supports Chrome Add-ons. I love it and it's fast (I was a long time Firefox on Android user but it just got to slow to use).
  - gruez 7y ago
    Chromium fork with closed source patches? No thanks.
    - ProAm 7y ago
      You do you [1] [1] https://github.com/kiwibrowser https://github.com/kiwibrowser
      - iokanuon 7y ago
        This is just for show. [1] >No. The browser is not fully open source like open in open source. It is a common myth and misconception about Kiwi Browser. >Damn, 1 commit and nothing else but keeps updating and releasing apks? Looked into the issues and scarcely seen replies. >I think this repo is just to show that "hey, I provided the so-called source code (even though not fully open-source as said above) so trust me and install me" thing. [1]: https://github.com/kiwibrowser/android/issues/30 https://github.com/kiwibrowser/android/issues/30
        rvnx 7y ago
        The way you share quotes sounds like you personally have a problem with the browser :D Kiwi was started as a fun+independent project, then more and more people asked access to some source to be able to develop their own hacks (new tab page, extensions, bottom toolbar, import/export bookmarks, AMP, etc) and they are shared when the devs ask politely. At the end of the day, if you use Samsung, Kiwi, Fennec or Yandex, what matters is to understand why the developers are doing their project, what do they get from it (not necessarily money), and what are the influences around. The source-code is one indicator, and, unless you actually have reproducible builds (and only Fennec has them from all the mentioned browsers) you have to use your intuition.
        iokanuon 7y ago
        Sorry, I've just copied the first two replies.
        gruez 7y ago
        >unless you actually have reproducible builds (and only Fennec has them from all the mentioned browsers) you have to use your intuition. F-droid does independent builds. Even if it's not reproducible, I trust them more than over some random developer.
- coldpie 7y ago
  > Extensions is the ONLY reason to use Firefox on Android. Well, no. I don't want to use a browser that is developed by an advertising company, and I want to encourage the development of more than one web rendering engine. But yes, killing extensions would be a major regression in Firefox's usability.
  - swinglock 7y ago
    True, me neither. But politics aside, it's the only technical reason, for me. I'd rather switch to iOS and Safari than Android and Chrome, which I will consider.
  - skrause 7y ago
    > Well, no. I don't want to use a browser that is developed by an advertising company ... on an operating system developed by the exact same advertising company?
    - coldpie 7y ago
      If there was a viable competitor, I would consider using it. There isn't.
      - ulfw 7y ago
        There is. You just don't want to spend the money or use the phones/tablets from said competitor.
        coldpie 7y ago
        iOS is not a competitor for my needs.
        Forbo 7y ago
        iOS doesn't allow you to use other browser engines.
        jsgo 7y ago
        I'm personally a big fan of iOS, but coldpie's (and others in this thread) needs seem to be in third party browser capability that doesn't exist in iOS so with that, I wouldn't recommend it to them. I don't think it is a matter of spending money on competitor's devices so much as competitor's devices don't meet their needs.
- nicoburns 7y ago
  To be fair, the new Firefox Preview (aka fenix) seems to go a long way towards changing that. I agree that they damn well better release with extension support (and I think they will), but it's pretty reasonable to get the core browser stable first.
iamnotacrook 7y ago
Hopefully the ESR version of Firefox will support add-ons on Linux/Android and will be supported (security fixes, I don't care about other changes) until any replacement browser supports add-ons on Linux/Android.
- bzbarsky 7y ago
  That is the idea, yes.
CWuestefeld 7y ago
I've honestly looked, and while there are several versions of Firefox in the play store. None of those I've tried seem to support extensions. Can you tell me where to find one that does?
- icebraining 7y ago
  The "Mozilla Firefox" app does: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.mozilla.firefox https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.mozilla.fi... (they call them "add-ons" in the description) It's the new "Firefox Preview" that doesn't (yet).

Wait what? Extensions are the biggest reason I'm using Firefox on my mobile and the only way I got people to switch to it. How can they just be removing them for any period of time?

melinoe 7y ago

Yeah, no kidding. Seems pretty significant, like pretty much a non-negotiable reason to switch to another browser if there is one with extension support.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

kevin_b_er 7y ago

We will find out the hard way when the 69 release comes up.

swinglock 7y ago

Extensions is the ONLY reason to use Firefox on Android. It's not good browser compared to Chrome on slower Android phones, apart from being customizable. To me it's even the single biggest reason to use Android over iOS as there's no full featured browser on iOS.

ProAm 7y ago
Give Kiwi Browser a shot on Android. It's a fork of Chrome with all the google tracking removed and fully supports Chrome Add-ons. I love it and it's fast (I was a long time Firefox on Android user but it just got to slow to use).
- gruez 7y ago
  Chromium fork with closed source patches? No thanks.
  - ProAm 7y ago
    You do you [1] [1] https://github.com/kiwibrowser https://github.com/kiwibrowser
    - iokanuon 7y ago
      This is just for show. [1] >No. The browser is not fully open source like open in open source. It is a common myth and misconception about Kiwi Browser. >Damn, 1 commit and nothing else but keeps updating and releasing apks? Looked into the issues and scarcely seen replies. >I think this repo is just to show that "hey, I provided the so-called source code (even though not fully open-source as said above) so trust me and install me" thing. [1]: https://github.com/kiwibrowser/android/issues/30 https://github.com/kiwibrowser/android/issues/30
      - rvnx 7y ago
        The way you share quotes sounds like you personally have a problem with the browser :D Kiwi was started as a fun+independent project, then more and more people asked access to some source to be able to develop their own hacks (new tab page, extensions, bottom toolbar, import/export bookmarks, AMP, etc) and they are shared when the devs ask politely. At the end of the day, if you use Samsung, Kiwi, Fennec or Yandex, what matters is to understand why the developers are doing their project, what do they get from it (not necessarily money), and what are the influences around. The source-code is one indicator, and, unless you actually have reproducible builds (and only Fennec has them from all the mentioned browsers) you have to use your intuition.
        iokanuon 7y ago
        Sorry, I've just copied the first two replies.
        gruez 7y ago
        >unless you actually have reproducible builds (and only Fennec has them from all the mentioned browsers) you have to use your intuition. F-droid does independent builds. Even if it's not reproducible, I trust them more than over some random developer.
coldpie 7y ago
> Extensions is the ONLY reason to use Firefox on Android. Well, no. I don't want to use a browser that is developed by an advertising company, and I want to encourage the development of more than one web rendering engine. But yes, killing extensions would be a major regression in Firefox's usability.
- swinglock 7y ago
  True, me neither. But politics aside, it's the only technical reason, for me. I'd rather switch to iOS and Safari than Android and Chrome, which I will consider.
- skrause 7y ago
  > Well, no. I don't want to use a browser that is developed by an advertising company ... on an operating system developed by the exact same advertising company?
  - coldpie 7y ago
    If there was a viable competitor, I would consider using it. There isn't.
    - ulfw 7y ago
      There is. You just don't want to spend the money or use the phones/tablets from said competitor.
      - coldpie 7y ago
        iOS is not a competitor for my needs.
      - Forbo 7y ago
        iOS doesn't allow you to use other browser engines.
      - jsgo 7y ago
        I'm personally a big fan of iOS, but coldpie's (and others in this thread) needs seem to be in third party browser capability that doesn't exist in iOS so with that, I wouldn't recommend it to them. I don't think it is a matter of spending money on competitor's devices so much as competitor's devices don't meet their needs.
nicoburns 7y ago
To be fair, the new Firefox Preview (aka fenix) seems to go a long way towards changing that. I agree that they damn well better release with extension support (and I think they will), but it's pretty reasonable to get the core browser stable first.

iamnotacrook 7y ago

Hopefully the ESR version of Firefox will support add-ons on Linux/Android and will be supported (security fixes, I don't care about other changes) until any replacement browser supports add-ons on Linux/Android.

bzbarsky 7y ago
That is the idea, yes.

CWuestefeld 7y ago

I've honestly looked, and while there are several versions of Firefox in the play store. None of those I've tried seem to support extensions. Can you tell me where to find one that does?

icebraining 7y ago
The "Mozilla Firefox" app does: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.mozilla.firefox https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.mozilla.fi... (they call them "add-ons" in the description) It's the new "Firefox Preview" that doesn't (yet).