21 ms·

Firefox Android now supports Tampermonkey

714 points by 2Gkashmiri 4y ago

remram 4y ago
Did they change their mind? I can't find it in the addons site (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/android/search/?promoted=recommended&sort=random&type=extension https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/android/search/?promoted=re...), and it is not listed in the linked blog post (https://blog.mozilla.org/en/mozilla/these-3-new-firefox-android-extensions-will-help-simplify-your-life/ https://blog.mozilla.org/en/mozilla/these-3-new-firefox-andr...) The "Add to Firefox" button on this page is disabled for me: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tampermonkey/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tampermonkey/ I am on 110.0.1 from Google Play.
modzu 4y ago
well it already did for those willing to jump through the hoops. thanks for continuing to cripple all the rest of the extensions :)
apatheticonion 4y ago
The internet is covered in poorly made websites, I really wish I could write content_scripts to execute on mobile browsers that not old revamp the web experience but also make them installable. Mobile devices are so limited in their capabilities it sucks
qwertox 4y ago
From https://www.tampermonkey.net/imprint.php https://www.tampermonkey.net/imprint.php : Die Datenschutzrichtlinien finden Sie hier [0]. I would have expected a bit more effort in giving proper access to the privacy policies, after all, it being closed source and having the ability to view/modify any page. [0] https://www.tampermonkey.net/%5B%5Bprivacy_url%5D%5D https://www.tampermonkey.net/%5B%5Bprivacy_url%5D%5D
- derjanb 4y ago
  I fixed it. Thanks. As a side note: all other links (e.g. footer, menu) to the privacy page were working correctly. Sorry for any inconvenience.
yunchly 4y ago
[flagged]
- pprotas 4y ago
  This is a very unique take. Why do you think that this sort of thing is bad for Mozilla’s reputation? This makes me just like them more. Giving the user free reign over their phone is the one thing that Android does right. I can also pirate stuff and do illegal communications on my iPhone by the way.
- quantumsequoia 4y ago
  What do you expect? Firefox is open source. People in the open source community have long been supportive of seedy abusive software. The people developing Firefox today were probably teenagers using Lunix 20 years ago https://gwern.net/doc/cs/2001-12-02-treginaldgibbons-isyoursonacomputerhacker.html https://gwern.net/doc/cs/2001-12-02-treginaldgibbons-isyours...
  - elashri 4y ago
    It was very funny reading the following sentence in the link you provided > Most American families use trusted and responsible Internet Service Providers, such as AOL
  - mat_jack1 4y ago
    Very useful guide for proper parenting. Thank you!
  - notpushkin 4y ago
    Wow, it took me a minute to realise this is satire.
- andybak 4y ago
  How awful. Letting people run any software they choose on their own hardware.
- friend_and_foe 4y ago
  > ...lets... The mindset of my enemy. This device is my property. And in fact, as a result of the licenses of the software AOSP and Firefox, the software is itself my property as well. You don't get to tell me what to do with my property, period. If you want to forbid me from interacting with you in light of that, that is your right. If I commit a crime, charge me with a crime. Software that deliberately disempowers it's users is evil.
spidermonkey23 4y ago
Bromite also supports userscripts and is chromium based
m-p-3 4y ago
ClearURLs is also added, but in case you want to shrink down on the amount of extensions installed, you can use this uBo filter list as a replacement https://raw.githubusercontent.com/DandelionSprout/adfilt/master/ClearURLs%20for%20uBo/clear_urls_uboified.txt
mg 4y ago
Personally, I prefer bookmarklets over extensions and Tampermonkey. They work the same on Desktop, Android and iOS. So I can write my bookmarklet once and use it everywhere. Without installing anything. I also like that bookmarklets only kick in when you click on them. Although some might find that too much work, it feels natural to me. It is already in my muscle memory, to click an "Increase Fontsize" bookmarklet when I start to read through a thread on Hacker News on a mobile device, for example.
- sp332 4y ago
  Wait, how do you use a bookmarklet like that on mobile Firefox? I have two that do this: https://web.archive.org/web/submit?url=%s https://web.archive.org/web/submit?url=%s javascript:void(location.href='http://web.archive.org/save/'+document.location.href) http://web.archive.org/save/'+document.location.href) But neither of them work on mobile because it opens a new tab first before evaluating the bookmarklet.
  - mg 4y ago
    Is that void(...code...) syntax a good way to execute bookmarks? Also, your code is not urlencoded? I use javascript:(function(){...code...})() and urlencode the whole thing. I maintain this bookmarklet editor to easily convert code to bookmarklets: https://www.gibney.org/bookmarklet_editor https://www.gibney.org/bookmarklet_editor
    - sp332 4y ago
      It's been sitting around a long time and I don't remember where I got it from. Thanks for the link though.
      - mg 4y ago
        You're welcome. By the way, in Chrome on Android, you can't execute bookmarklets from the bookmark menu. You need to give the bookmarklet a name. Say "Upsize". Then when you are on the page where you want to increase the font size, type "up" in the url bar and click on "Upsize" in the suggestions. Might be the same in Firefox?
coconut08 4y ago
it would be nice if it could support all extensions like kiwi browser does for chromium on android.
- Springtime 4y ago
  From what I've read Firefox for Android Nightly doesn't restrict which addons are allowed to be installed[1] but does require a really byzantine method to get them installed, by first creating a Mozilla account, creating a collection of addons, then using the collection URL to install them. It's unfortunate that both being able to install any addon and access about:config on mobile isn't just some checkbox away or at least more accessible without having to install Nightly. A few years ago both were available in the regular version. One alternative is the F-Droid Fennec fork, which is said to enable both out of the box[2]. [1] https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2020/09/29/expanded-extension-support-in-firefox-for-android-nightly/ https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2020/09/29/expanded-extensio... [2] https://reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/wu4g0s/mozilla_firefox_uses_google_services_android_it/il7s7sl/ https://reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/wu4g0s/mozilla_firefox...
  - pmontra 4y ago
    It's so byzantine that I was never able to make it work. I attempted twice, probably making the same mistake both times.
    - pieter_mj 4y ago
      I was unable to access my addon collection when using underscores in the collection name, hth.
  - muxator 4y ago
    I am on Fennec f-droid. About:config is there, but the absurd whitelist on extensions is still there. I cannot confirm what the reddit thread says.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
benatkin 4y ago
Greasemonkey was the good one and then something happened with it and it was no longer the best choice. I'm not sure what. The same repeated with Tampermonkey. It now has telemetry built into it, at one time w/ no privacy policy. https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/6hs59w/tampermonkey_has_google_analytics_enabled_by/ https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/6hs59w/tampermonke... The good one now is Violentmonkey. Has been for some time. Does Mozilla have an allowlist for these? If so I don't like it.
- Fnoord 4y ago
  I just checked the addon in its settings. Yes, it has telemetry. No, it isn't enabled by default. Its opt-in. That's how I want such a feature implemented (e.g. Homebrew doesn't, it uses opt-out).
- pwdisswordfishc 4y ago
  > Greasemonkey was the good one and then something happened with it and it was no longer the best choice. I'm not sure what. ?????
  - sp332 4y ago
    Wasn't this a casualty of the XUL addons being removed? The other monkey extensions were ported to the new Web Extension APIs.
    - pabs3 4y ago
      Greasemonkey still works in recent Firefox versions.
      - piyush_soni 4y ago
        It does, now, but its developer took a really long time in porting, in that time TamperMonkey was developed and had really gained popularity.
        4y ago
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
tommica 4y ago
Userscripts are such an amazing thing
- IronWolve 4y ago
  Just make sure you read every script and don't auto update. Back in the day, some changed to take over your facebook.
  - cookie_monsta 4y ago
    I would never use somebody else's userscript - that just seems like asking for trouble
    - medstrom 4y ago
      You're using others' scripts from the firmware up all the way to the lite comment input box on HN, and you have just as much reason to trust any piece of that gigantic stack as you do a *Monkey script.
      - cookie_monsta 4y ago
        You might be right, but I trust random webpages to be sandboxed by the browser and the rest of the stack to be kept in line by reputational concern or peer vetting. Using some dude's userscript that I found online doesn't have any of those guardrails.
  - tommica 4y ago
    That's a good tip - I need to check that it's not auto updating scripts.
  - keithnz 4y ago
    I just use it for my own scripts. It's great for when you don't like something and think it should be done slightly different. I also re-layout news sites as they are mostly just horrendous.
pugworthy 4y ago
I love the entire *Monkey family. I've been able to prototype so many, "And this is what our website could do if we..." things at work using it, plus create custom filters for selected online forums, etc. My favorite at the moment is one that can strip out long signatures from posts on mgexp.com, as well as let me selectively block/hide some threads. Also, not *Monkey script, but still running the custom HN avatar per https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30668137 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30668137
- nfriedly 4y ago
  It's too late to add comments to the original thread, but I put together a variation that incorporates all of the suggestions from the comments, plus a couple of tweaks of my own (run on all HN pages, add an avatar to your username in the top bar) and made it available here: https://github.com/nfriedly/hn-avatars/ https://github.com/nfriedly/hn-avatars/
Epskampie 4y ago
Awesome but i really really want "I don't care about cookies". Please please let us have it (without having to jump through strange hoops)
- DangitBobby 4y ago
  It's not perfect but uBlock Origin has some annoyances lists that help with cookie nags.
- friend_and_foe 4y ago
  Just get iceraven.
  - remram 4y ago
    Who is behind Iceraven? I feel uneasy using such a critical component from unknown Internet randos.
    - friend_and_foe 4y ago
      Do you know the name of the guy that pushes the FF updates? What is is about a corporate structure that makes it more reputable? If I told you that 99% of iceraven code was produced at Mozilla would that make it better? Everyone in the world is an unknown internet rando.
- fisian 4y ago
  You can block many websites cookie banners by using ublock origin and enable some of the Annoyances filter lists in the settings. I use the "AdGuard annoyances" and "easylist cookie" lists and that blocks many cookie banners. Also, "I don't care about cookies" was recently bought by a company, which could mean bad things for the extension in the future.
- SlackingOff123 4y ago
  Do you still want to use it was took over by Avast? https://www.i-dont-care-about-cookies.eu/whats-new/acquisition/ https://www.i-dont-care-about-cookies.eu/whats-new/acquisiti...
2Gkashmiri 4y ago
what makes chrome "better" on android beyond the reason it comes preinstalled?
- Moldoteck 4y ago
  Idk, I use FF daily on P3 and it's slow AF compared to chrome, at least for first launch I need to wait ~5-10 sec for a website to open
- Operative0198 4y ago
  better sandbox, "feels" faster, zero Mozilla telemetry ;)
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - vorticalbox 4y ago
    you're just replacing Mozilla telemetry with Google telemetry.
    - Operative0198 4y ago
      The difference is Chrome atleast gives you the choice (maybe illusion?) to opt-out of *some of the telemetry. Mozilla to-date refuses to build a one button switch to disable all telemetry [0] and there's calls to telemetry domains such as location.services.mozilla.com you cannot stop on some of their products like Firefox Focus (ironic for a privacy product). [0] https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/domains-allow-firefox https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/domains-allow-firefox
      - vorticalbox 4y ago
        honesty not all telemetry is bad. having it track cashes and upload that data is clearly good for usability.
friend_and_foe 4y ago
Iceraven has had this capability forever, no big announcement required. If you want to use Firefox on android and don't want to deal with these artificial restrictions and excuses for bad behavior just get iceraven and call it a day.
- jerrygoyal 4y ago
  I'm using iceraven for months. only issue is i don't get regular version updates
- 18571857 4y ago
  What's the difference between Iceraven and Fennec?
  - nelblu 4y ago
    https://github.com/fork-maintainers/iceraven-browser https://github.com/fork-maintainers/iceraven-browser "Note that Iceraven Browser includes some unstable code written by Mozilla, with our own added modifications on top, all shipped with the stable version of GeckoView engine." I wouldn't use iceraven if security was a priority. Fennec on the other hand is much closer to FF , quoting their page : https://f-droid.org/packages/org.mozilla.fennec_fdroid/ https://f-droid.org/packages/org.mozilla.fennec_fdroid/ "Fennec F-Droid is based on the latest Firefox release (codenamed Fenix). It has proprietary bits and telemetry removed, but still connects to various Mozilla and Google services that can track users."
  - ojosilva 4y ago
    Iceraven is FF for Android, with tracking and telemetry removed, some redesigned features (ie tiles) and about:config, and mostly an attempt at supporting desktop add-ons which were removed when Fenix/GeckoView came to life in 2019. Stability and security is not a priority though. Updates are slow. I use it primarily for compatibility with my favorite add-ons not available on FF Android: I don't care about cookies, Cookie AutoDelete, Translate Web Pages, etc. Mull is another FF Android fork may be worth taking a look at.
- nfriedly 4y ago
Helmut10001 4y ago
I use Fennec, and it allows adding any Desktop extension (idontcareaboutcookies, privacyredirect etc.).
- Groxx 4y ago
  In the same way as Beta and Nightly does, yes. Though I don't know which (or Stable) Fennec tracks.
- 2h 4y ago
  Only if you register with AMO.
  - MaxMatti 4y ago
    What's amo?
    - ptman 4y ago
      addons.mozilla.org
  - Helmut10001 4y ago
    Yes, you are correct (forgot about that!). I had to create my own collection of accepted extensions [1] and reference this in Fennec. [1]: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/collections/16934743/privacyredirect/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/collections/1693474...
  - sundarurfriend 4y ago
    It seems like Iceraven doesn't have this restriction, and works like Firefox on Android originally used to?
    - nfriedly 4y ago
      Iceraven still has a list of allowed extensions, but they added several hundred extensions to the default list rather than Mozilla's dozen or so. (It also supports custom lists like Fennec and FF Nightly.)
Chromer030 4y ago
Great , Best alternative to Chrome Android.
2h 4y ago
If this post title sounds weird to you, it should. Since Android Firefox 68, you cannot install custom extensions, unless you register on AMO. Even if you wrote the extension yourself.
proc_guts_fan 4y ago
If anyone needs a "monkey" not for web pages but for any process on your computer system, may I recommend Frida: https://frida.re https://frida.re https://github.com/frida/frida https://github.com/frida/frida With Frida, you write JavaScript programs and then inject them into arbitrary processes, to hook and modify and call whatever you please. It gets a lot of use in the reverse engineering and vulnerability research communities, but has broader scope too. For instance, I used it recently to automate the UI of a video production program on Windows, by sending window messages to the main message loop from an injected thread, and hooking into various system dialog functions to override them.
- 2Gkashmiri 4y ago
  is this a fancy pants cheat engine?
  - underdeserver 4y ago
    It is, for rather exotic meanings of "cheat".
- alin23 4y ago
  Second that, I love Frida! I recently wrote about how I used it to reverse engineer the MacBook’s clamshell mode, and add it in Lunar (https://lunar.fyi https://lunar.fyi) There’s a few extra steps in allowing Frida to work on macOS so leaving that here in case others might be interested in how to do it: https://alinpanaitiu.com/blog/turn-off-macbook-display-clamshell/ https://alinpanaitiu.com/blog/turn-off-macbook-display-clams...
_odey 4y ago
More importantly for me at least, ClearURLs. Now I can share nice stripped down Amazon links. Never used Tampermonkey before.
- aembleton 4y ago
  Another way to do this is to add https://raw.githubusercontent.com/DandelionSprout/adfilt/master/LegitimateURLShortener.txt https://raw.githubusercontent.com/DandelionSprout/adfilt/mas... to uBlockOrigin as a custom filter list.
  - pmoriarty 4y ago
    "this list can not bypass tracker redirects through third-party domains. This can be done by strict-blocking said domain and using the ability to view parameters on the strict-block page or tools to bypass it" I don't understand. Is there a video showing how to do this?
dkbrk 4y ago
I don't understand why Mozilla artificially limits what addons can be used on android. I've been using Tampermonkey on android for years, and it worked fine, just like other addons that don't happen to have yet been blessed so that users are granted the privilege of being able to choose to install them. For reference, to work around mozilla's artificial restrictions, you have to use nightly. Once you activate the debug menu (about firefox > tap logo 5 times) there's the option to set a "custom add-on collection". You can make a custom collection on addons.mozilla.org using a firefox account. The two fields are the last two parts of the URL on your custom collection. Not only is this very cumbersome (especially if you want to add another addon to your collection and have that propagate to your phone), but it's only available on nightly. And nightly has a nasty habit of breaking. It's not much fun when an update causes it to crash immediately on visiting certain websites; even worse when restarting causes it to try to load the tab that just caused it to crash. So, it ends up in a dilemma: you can either have a browser that doesn't catastrophically break every few updates; or you can have the freedom to install whatever addons you like. But not both. And that dilemma is entirely artificial and unnecessary. Mozilla could have a process of verifying that addons work correctly on android and warn if you try to install one that isn't so verified (like how Valve has "Deck Verified" but doesn't stop you installing anything you like). But that's not what they've done, and they don't show any sign of changing their minds.
- Manfred 4y ago
  It would be good if they explained this in their documentation. But I think you summed it up in your own message: > […] you can either have a browser that doesn't catastrophically break every few updates; or you can have the freedom to install whatever addons you like […] I think they don't want malicious and abandoned extensions to taint the Firefox experience. Users will only see "Firefox is broken" and not realize that it's caused by the extensions they installed.
  - OkayPhysicist 4y ago
    There are only like 15 of us using Firefox mobile. It is safe to say that if you are using Firefox mobile, you are technically savvy enough to go "Ah, I installed some extensions and now Firefox crashes a lot". Let extensions claim whether they work on mobile or not, and open the flood gates.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
BJxdr 4y ago
I wish they rather fixed the more important and basic web browser features like the very frustrating and completely nonsense tab "auto hoarding"..., https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/ideas/on-firefox-mobile-make-home-page-links-open-in-current-tab/idi-p/15672 https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/ideas/on-firefox-mobile-make-...
khimaros 4y ago
why aren't more people just running Fennec? it supports all plugins which are supported by desktop and is available from F-droid.
- jeroenhd 4y ago
  You can install all addons in Fennec, but getting them to work is a whole different challenge. Always worth a shot, but many addons don't work or their UI is unusable.
- genpfault 4y ago
  > it supports all plugins which are supported by desktop Without faffing around with a Mozilla login or "collections" or anything like that? Just browse AMO[1] and hit "Add to Firefox"? [1]: https://addons.mozilla.org https://addons.mozilla.org
- 2h 4y ago
  F-droid Fennec has the same whitelist of available extensions as regular Firefox
philonoist 4y ago
Which Firefox? Oh I remember...the one being puppet of Google's donations.
nfriedly 4y ago
This is a good thing, but it feels like Mozilla is putting a Band-Aid over the huge gaping wound they cut in Firefox for Android when they disabled nearly all the extensions.
- danuker 4y ago
  My guess is they are afraid they might lose Google money if they enable too much freedom. But they have also been losing users, and without users they have no leverage.
  - jeroenhd 4y ago
    I use some addons that weren't whitelisted trough the addon collection trick. Many addons plain don't work. The mobile browser doesn't have the UI these addons rely on and maybe there's some API coverage missing. I considered this a fair reason when the rewrite was released, you could still use the old Firefox for a while. But then time passed and nothing changed. It's clear the Fenix devs don't have the capacity or the interest to maintain addon support. There are many silly things about the browser rewrite. For instance, you can't enter an IPv6 address and navigate to it (i.e. http://[::1]/ http://[::1]/). Firefox will always Google it. You can click a link from another app and the page will load just fine, but the address bar just doesn't understand those addresses. Then there's the fact about:config is disabled in stable versions of Firefox. Or the fact that enabling user-installed certificate authorities requires you to go into debug settings. I don't think Mozilla has a clear idea what it wants with their browser, it feels so unfinished in so many ways.
    - Zak 4y ago
      There's no incentive for addon developers to fix the experience because only a tiny fraction of Firefox users will jump through the hoops to run them. It seems to me like Mozilla is actively trying to prevent there from being an addon ecosystem for the mobile version, and I do not understand their motivation.
      - 4y ago
causi 4y ago
Yet there's still no way on Firefox Mobile to change the UserAgent.
user3939382 4y ago
One of my favorite uses for it so far is adding keyboard shortcuts to SAAS systems I use frequently. It’s easy once you get the first couple working. I guess that doesn’t help on mobile but, I’m happy Firefox is getting the boost.
shultays 4y ago
[flagged]
account-5 4y ago
I love bookmarklets, use them all the time. Could never work out how to get started with userscripts. Any good guides about?
- cookie_monsta 4y ago
  Don't know about good ones - I just kind of jumped in and started figuring it out. This seems to be a fairly complete guide at first glance: https://openuserjs.org/about/Userscript-Beginners-HOWTO https://openuserjs.org/about/Userscript-Beginners-HOWTO

714 points by 2Gkashmiri 4y ago

Did they change their mind? I can't find it in the addons site (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/android/search/?promoted=recommended&sort=random&type=extension https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/android/search/?promoted=re...), and it is not listed in the linked blog post (https://blog.mozilla.org/en/mozilla/these-3-new-firefox-android-extensions-will-help-simplify-your-life/ https://blog.mozilla.org/en/mozilla/these-3-new-firefox-andr...) The "Add to Firefox" button on this page is disabled for me: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tampermonkey/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tampermonkey/ I am on 110.0.1 from Google Play.

modzu 4y ago

well it already did for those willing to jump through the hoops. thanks for continuing to cripple all the rest of the extensions :)

apatheticonion 4y ago

The internet is covered in poorly made websites, I really wish I could write content_scripts to execute on mobile browsers that not old revamp the web experience but also make them installable. Mobile devices are so limited in their capabilities it sucks

qwertox 4y ago

From https://www.tampermonkey.net/imprint.php https://www.tampermonkey.net/imprint.php : Die Datenschutzrichtlinien finden Sie hier [0]. I would have expected a bit more effort in giving proper access to the privacy policies, after all, it being closed source and having the ability to view/modify any page. [0] https://www.tampermonkey.net/%5B%5Bprivacy_url%5D%5D https://www.tampermonkey.net/%5B%5Bprivacy_url%5D%5D

derjanb 4y ago
I fixed it. Thanks. As a side note: all other links (e.g. footer, menu) to the privacy page were working correctly. Sorry for any inconvenience.

yunchly 4y ago

[flagged]

pprotas 4y ago
This is a very unique take. Why do you think that this sort of thing is bad for Mozilla’s reputation? This makes me just like them more. Giving the user free reign over their phone is the one thing that Android does right. I can also pirate stuff and do illegal communications on my iPhone by the way.
quantumsequoia 4y ago
What do you expect? Firefox is open source. People in the open source community have long been supportive of seedy abusive software. The people developing Firefox today were probably teenagers using Lunix 20 years ago https://gwern.net/doc/cs/2001-12-02-treginaldgibbons-isyoursonacomputerhacker.html https://gwern.net/doc/cs/2001-12-02-treginaldgibbons-isyours...
- elashri 4y ago
  It was very funny reading the following sentence in the link you provided > Most American families use trusted and responsible Internet Service Providers, such as AOL
- mat_jack1 4y ago
  Very useful guide for proper parenting. Thank you!
- notpushkin 4y ago
  Wow, it took me a minute to realise this is satire.
andybak 4y ago
How awful. Letting people run any software they choose on their own hardware.
friend_and_foe 4y ago
> ...lets... The mindset of my enemy. This device is my property. And in fact, as a result of the licenses of the software AOSP and Firefox, the software is itself my property as well. You don't get to tell me what to do with my property, period. If you want to forbid me from interacting with you in light of that, that is your right. If I commit a crime, charge me with a crime. Software that deliberately disempowers it's users is evil.

spidermonkey23 4y ago

Bromite also supports userscripts and is chromium based

m-p-3 4y ago

ClearURLs is also added, but in case you want to shrink down on the amount of extensions installed, you can use this uBo filter list as a replacement https://raw.githubusercontent.com/DandelionSprout/adfilt/master/ClearURLs%20for%20uBo/clear_urls_uboified.txt

mg 4y ago

Personally, I prefer bookmarklets over extensions and Tampermonkey. They work the same on Desktop, Android and iOS. So I can write my bookmarklet once and use it everywhere. Without installing anything. I also like that bookmarklets only kick in when you click on them. Although some might find that too much work, it feels natural to me. It is already in my muscle memory, to click an "Increase Fontsize" bookmarklet when I start to read through a thread on Hacker News on a mobile device, for example.

sp332 4y ago
Wait, how do you use a bookmarklet like that on mobile Firefox? I have two that do this: https://web.archive.org/web/submit?url=%s https://web.archive.org/web/submit?url=%s javascript:void(location.href='http://web.archive.org/save/'+document.location.href) http://web.archive.org/save/'+document.location.href) But neither of them work on mobile because it opens a new tab first before evaluating the bookmarklet.
- mg 4y ago
  Is that void(...code...) syntax a good way to execute bookmarks? Also, your code is not urlencoded? I use javascript:(function(){...code...})() and urlencode the whole thing. I maintain this bookmarklet editor to easily convert code to bookmarklets: https://www.gibney.org/bookmarklet_editor https://www.gibney.org/bookmarklet_editor
  - sp332 4y ago
    It's been sitting around a long time and I don't remember where I got it from. Thanks for the link though.
    - mg 4y ago
      You're welcome. By the way, in Chrome on Android, you can't execute bookmarklets from the bookmark menu. You need to give the bookmarklet a name. Say "Upsize". Then when you are on the page where you want to increase the font size, type "up" in the url bar and click on "Upsize" in the suggestions. Might be the same in Firefox?

coconut08 4y ago

it would be nice if it could support all extensions like kiwi browser does for chromium on android.

Springtime 4y ago
From what I've read Firefox for Android Nightly doesn't restrict which addons are allowed to be installed[1] but does require a really byzantine method to get them installed, by first creating a Mozilla account, creating a collection of addons, then using the collection URL to install them. It's unfortunate that both being able to install any addon and access about:config on mobile isn't just some checkbox away or at least more accessible without having to install Nightly. A few years ago both were available in the regular version. One alternative is the F-Droid Fennec fork, which is said to enable both out of the box[2]. [1] https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2020/09/29/expanded-extension-support-in-firefox-for-android-nightly/ https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2020/09/29/expanded-extensio... [2] https://reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/wu4g0s/mozilla_firefox_uses_google_services_android_it/il7s7sl/ https://reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/wu4g0s/mozilla_firefox...
- pmontra 4y ago
  It's so byzantine that I was never able to make it work. I attempted twice, probably making the same mistake both times.
  - pieter_mj 4y ago
    I was unable to access my addon collection when using underscores in the collection name, hth.
- muxator 4y ago
  I am on Fennec f-droid. About:config is there, but the absurd whitelist on extensions is still there. I cannot confirm what the reddit thread says.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

benatkin 4y ago

Greasemonkey was the good one and then something happened with it and it was no longer the best choice. I'm not sure what. The same repeated with Tampermonkey. It now has telemetry built into it, at one time w/ no privacy policy. https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/6hs59w/tampermonkey_has_google_analytics_enabled_by/ https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/6hs59w/tampermonke... The good one now is Violentmonkey. Has been for some time. Does Mozilla have an allowlist for these? If so I don't like it.

Fnoord 4y ago
I just checked the addon in its settings. Yes, it has telemetry. No, it isn't enabled by default. Its opt-in. That's how I want such a feature implemented (e.g. Homebrew doesn't, it uses opt-out).
pwdisswordfishc 4y ago
> Greasemonkey was the good one and then something happened with it and it was no longer the best choice. I'm not sure what. ?????
- sp332 4y ago
  Wasn't this a casualty of the XUL addons being removed? The other monkey extensions were ported to the new Web Extension APIs.
  - pabs3 4y ago
    Greasemonkey still works in recent Firefox versions.
    - piyush_soni 4y ago
      It does, now, but its developer took a really long time in porting, in that time TamperMonkey was developed and had really gained popularity.
      - 4y ago

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

tommica 4y ago

Userscripts are such an amazing thing

IronWolve 4y ago
Just make sure you read every script and don't auto update. Back in the day, some changed to take over your facebook.
- cookie_monsta 4y ago
  I would never use somebody else's userscript - that just seems like asking for trouble
  - medstrom 4y ago
    You're using others' scripts from the firmware up all the way to the lite comment input box on HN, and you have just as much reason to trust any piece of that gigantic stack as you do a *Monkey script.
    - cookie_monsta 4y ago
      You might be right, but I trust random webpages to be sandboxed by the browser and the rest of the stack to be kept in line by reputational concern or peer vetting. Using some dude's userscript that I found online doesn't have any of those guardrails.
- tommica 4y ago
  That's a good tip - I need to check that it's not auto updating scripts.
- keithnz 4y ago
  I just use it for my own scripts. It's great for when you don't like something and think it should be done slightly different. I also re-layout news sites as they are mostly just horrendous.

pugworthy 4y ago

I love the entire *Monkey family. I've been able to prototype so many, "And this is what our website could do if we..." things at work using it, plus create custom filters for selected online forums, etc. My favorite at the moment is one that can strip out long signatures from posts on mgexp.com, as well as let me selectively block/hide some threads. Also, not *Monkey script, but still running the custom HN avatar per https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30668137 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30668137

nfriedly 4y ago
It's too late to add comments to the original thread, but I put together a variation that incorporates all of the suggestions from the comments, plus a couple of tweaks of my own (run on all HN pages, add an avatar to your username in the top bar) and made it available here: https://github.com/nfriedly/hn-avatars/ https://github.com/nfriedly/hn-avatars/

Epskampie 4y ago

Awesome but i really really want "I don't care about cookies". Please please let us have it (without having to jump through strange hoops)

DangitBobby 4y ago
It's not perfect but uBlock Origin has some annoyances lists that help with cookie nags.
friend_and_foe 4y ago
Just get iceraven.
- remram 4y ago
  Who is behind Iceraven? I feel uneasy using such a critical component from unknown Internet randos.
  - friend_and_foe 4y ago
    Do you know the name of the guy that pushes the FF updates? What is is about a corporate structure that makes it more reputable? If I told you that 99% of iceraven code was produced at Mozilla would that make it better? Everyone in the world is an unknown internet rando.
fisian 4y ago
You can block many websites cookie banners by using ublock origin and enable some of the Annoyances filter lists in the settings. I use the "AdGuard annoyances" and "easylist cookie" lists and that blocks many cookie banners. Also, "I don't care about cookies" was recently bought by a company, which could mean bad things for the extension in the future.
SlackingOff123 4y ago
Do you still want to use it was took over by Avast? https://www.i-dont-care-about-cookies.eu/whats-new/acquisition/ https://www.i-dont-care-about-cookies.eu/whats-new/acquisiti...

2Gkashmiri 4y ago

what makes chrome "better" on android beyond the reason it comes preinstalled?

Moldoteck 4y ago
Idk, I use FF daily on P3 and it's slow AF compared to chrome, at least for first launch I need to wait ~5-10 sec for a website to open
Operative0198 4y ago
better sandbox, "feels" faster, zero Mozilla telemetry ;)
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- vorticalbox 4y ago
  you're just replacing Mozilla telemetry with Google telemetry.
  - Operative0198 4y ago
    The difference is Chrome atleast gives you the choice (maybe illusion?) to opt-out of *some of the telemetry. Mozilla to-date refuses to build a one button switch to disable all telemetry [0] and there's calls to telemetry domains such as location.services.mozilla.com you cannot stop on some of their products like Firefox Focus (ironic for a privacy product). [0] https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/domains-allow-firefox https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/domains-allow-firefox
    - vorticalbox 4y ago
      honesty not all telemetry is bad. having it track cashes and upload that data is clearly good for usability.

friend_and_foe 4y ago

Iceraven has had this capability forever, no big announcement required. If you want to use Firefox on android and don't want to deal with these artificial restrictions and excuses for bad behavior just get iceraven and call it a day.

jerrygoyal 4y ago
I'm using iceraven for months. only issue is i don't get regular version updates
18571857 4y ago
What's the difference between Iceraven and Fennec?
- nelblu 4y ago
  https://github.com/fork-maintainers/iceraven-browser https://github.com/fork-maintainers/iceraven-browser "Note that Iceraven Browser includes some unstable code written by Mozilla, with our own added modifications on top, all shipped with the stable version of GeckoView engine." I wouldn't use iceraven if security was a priority. Fennec on the other hand is much closer to FF , quoting their page : https://f-droid.org/packages/org.mozilla.fennec_fdroid/ https://f-droid.org/packages/org.mozilla.fennec_fdroid/ "Fennec F-Droid is based on the latest Firefox release (codenamed Fenix). It has proprietary bits and telemetry removed, but still connects to various Mozilla and Google services that can track users."
- ojosilva 4y ago
  Iceraven is FF for Android, with tracking and telemetry removed, some redesigned features (ie tiles) and about:config, and mostly an attempt at supporting desktop add-ons which were removed when Fenix/GeckoView came to life in 2019. Stability and security is not a priority though. Updates are slow. I use it primarily for compatibility with my favorite add-ons not available on FF Android: I don't care about cookies, Cookie AutoDelete, Translate Web Pages, etc. Mull is another FF Android fork may be worth taking a look at.
nfriedly 4y ago

Helmut10001 4y ago

I use Fennec, and it allows adding any Desktop extension (idontcareaboutcookies, privacyredirect etc.).

Groxx 4y ago
In the same way as Beta and Nightly does, yes. Though I don't know which (or Stable) Fennec tracks.
2h 4y ago
Only if you register with AMO.
- MaxMatti 4y ago
  What's amo?
  - ptman 4y ago
    addons.mozilla.org
- Helmut10001 4y ago
  Yes, you are correct (forgot about that!). I had to create my own collection of accepted extensions [1] and reference this in Fennec. [1]: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/collections/16934743/privacyredirect/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/collections/1693474...
- sundarurfriend 4y ago
  It seems like Iceraven doesn't have this restriction, and works like Firefox on Android originally used to?
  - nfriedly 4y ago
    Iceraven still has a list of allowed extensions, but they added several hundred extensions to the default list rather than Mozilla's dozen or so. (It also supports custom lists like Fennec and FF Nightly.)

Chromer030 4y ago

Great , Best alternative to Chrome Android.

2h 4y ago

If this post title sounds weird to you, it should. Since Android Firefox 68, you cannot install custom extensions, unless you register on AMO. Even if you wrote the extension yourself.

proc_guts_fan 4y ago

If anyone needs a "monkey" not for web pages but for any process on your computer system, may I recommend Frida: https://frida.re https://frida.re https://github.com/frida/frida https://github.com/frida/frida With Frida, you write JavaScript programs and then inject them into arbitrary processes, to hook and modify and call whatever you please. It gets a lot of use in the reverse engineering and vulnerability research communities, but has broader scope too. For instance, I used it recently to automate the UI of a video production program on Windows, by sending window messages to the main message loop from an injected thread, and hooking into various system dialog functions to override them.

2Gkashmiri 4y ago
is this a fancy pants cheat engine?
- underdeserver 4y ago
  It is, for rather exotic meanings of "cheat".
alin23 4y ago
Second that, I love Frida! I recently wrote about how I used it to reverse engineer the MacBook’s clamshell mode, and add it in Lunar (https://lunar.fyi https://lunar.fyi) There’s a few extra steps in allowing Frida to work on macOS so leaving that here in case others might be interested in how to do it: https://alinpanaitiu.com/blog/turn-off-macbook-display-clamshell/ https://alinpanaitiu.com/blog/turn-off-macbook-display-clams...

_odey 4y ago

More importantly for me at least, ClearURLs. Now I can share nice stripped down Amazon links. Never used Tampermonkey before.

aembleton 4y ago
Another way to do this is to add https://raw.githubusercontent.com/DandelionSprout/adfilt/master/LegitimateURLShortener.txt https://raw.githubusercontent.com/DandelionSprout/adfilt/mas... to uBlockOrigin as a custom filter list.
- pmoriarty 4y ago
  "this list can not bypass tracker redirects through third-party domains. This can be done by strict-blocking said domain and using the ability to view parameters on the strict-block page or tools to bypass it" I don't understand. Is there a video showing how to do this?

dkbrk 4y ago

I don't understand why Mozilla artificially limits what addons can be used on android. I've been using Tampermonkey on android for years, and it worked fine, just like other addons that don't happen to have yet been blessed so that users are granted the privilege of being able to choose to install them. For reference, to work around mozilla's artificial restrictions, you have to use nightly. Once you activate the debug menu (about firefox > tap logo 5 times) there's the option to set a "custom add-on collection". You can make a custom collection on addons.mozilla.org using a firefox account. The two fields are the last two parts of the URL on your custom collection. Not only is this very cumbersome (especially if you want to add another addon to your collection and have that propagate to your phone), but it's only available on nightly. And nightly has a nasty habit of breaking. It's not much fun when an update causes it to crash immediately on visiting certain websites; even worse when restarting causes it to try to load the tab that just caused it to crash. So, it ends up in a dilemma: you can either have a browser that doesn't catastrophically break every few updates; or you can have the freedom to install whatever addons you like. But not both. And that dilemma is entirely artificial and unnecessary. Mozilla could have a process of verifying that addons work correctly on android and warn if you try to install one that isn't so verified (like how Valve has "Deck Verified" but doesn't stop you installing anything you like). But that's not what they've done, and they don't show any sign of changing their minds.

Manfred 4y ago
It would be good if they explained this in their documentation. But I think you summed it up in your own message: > […] you can either have a browser that doesn't catastrophically break every few updates; or you can have the freedom to install whatever addons you like […] I think they don't want malicious and abandoned extensions to taint the Firefox experience. Users will only see "Firefox is broken" and not realize that it's caused by the extensions they installed.
- OkayPhysicist 4y ago
  There are only like 15 of us using Firefox mobile. It is safe to say that if you are using Firefox mobile, you are technically savvy enough to go "Ah, I installed some extensions and now Firefox crashes a lot". Let extensions claim whether they work on mobile or not, and open the flood gates.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

BJxdr 4y ago

I wish they rather fixed the more important and basic web browser features like the very frustrating and completely nonsense tab "auto hoarding"..., https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/ideas/on-firefox-mobile-make-home-page-links-open-in-current-tab/idi-p/15672 https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/ideas/on-firefox-mobile-make-...

khimaros 4y ago

why aren't more people just running Fennec? it supports all plugins which are supported by desktop and is available from F-droid.

jeroenhd 4y ago
You can install all addons in Fennec, but getting them to work is a whole different challenge. Always worth a shot, but many addons don't work or their UI is unusable.
genpfault 4y ago
> it supports all plugins which are supported by desktop Without faffing around with a Mozilla login or "collections" or anything like that? Just browse AMO[1] and hit "Add to Firefox"? [1]: https://addons.mozilla.org https://addons.mozilla.org
2h 4y ago
F-droid Fennec has the same whitelist of available extensions as regular Firefox

philonoist 4y ago

Which Firefox? Oh I remember...the one being puppet of Google's donations.

nfriedly 4y ago

This is a good thing, but it feels like Mozilla is putting a Band-Aid over the huge gaping wound they cut in Firefox for Android when they disabled nearly all the extensions.

danuker 4y ago
My guess is they are afraid they might lose Google money if they enable too much freedom. But they have also been losing users, and without users they have no leverage.
- jeroenhd 4y ago
  I use some addons that weren't whitelisted trough the addon collection trick. Many addons plain don't work. The mobile browser doesn't have the UI these addons rely on and maybe there's some API coverage missing. I considered this a fair reason when the rewrite was released, you could still use the old Firefox for a while. But then time passed and nothing changed. It's clear the Fenix devs don't have the capacity or the interest to maintain addon support. There are many silly things about the browser rewrite. For instance, you can't enter an IPv6 address and navigate to it (i.e. http://[::1]/ http://[::1]/). Firefox will always Google it. You can click a link from another app and the page will load just fine, but the address bar just doesn't understand those addresses. Then there's the fact about:config is disabled in stable versions of Firefox. Or the fact that enabling user-installed certificate authorities requires you to go into debug settings. I don't think Mozilla has a clear idea what it wants with their browser, it feels so unfinished in so many ways.
  - Zak 4y ago
    There's no incentive for addon developers to fix the experience because only a tiny fraction of Firefox users will jump through the hoops to run them. It seems to me like Mozilla is actively trying to prevent there from being an addon ecosystem for the mobile version, and I do not understand their motivation.
    - 4y ago

causi 4y ago

Yet there's still no way on Firefox Mobile to change the UserAgent.

user3939382 4y ago

One of my favorite uses for it so far is adding keyboard shortcuts to SAAS systems I use frequently. It’s easy once you get the first couple working. I guess that doesn’t help on mobile but, I’m happy Firefox is getting the boost.

shultays 4y ago

[flagged]

account-5 4y ago

I love bookmarklets, use them all the time. Could never work out how to get started with userscripts. Any good guides about?

cookie_monsta 4y ago
Don't know about good ones - I just kind of jumped in and started figuring it out. This seems to be a fairly complete guide at first glance: https://openuserjs.org/about/Userscript-Beginners-HOWTO https://openuserjs.org/about/Userscript-Beginners-HOWTO