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I thought firefox on ios was just safari with a reskin because apple doesn't allow other browser engines on their phone? Firefox on android is amazing with its

I thought firefox on ios was just safari with a reskin because apple doesn't allow other browser engines on their phone? Firefox on android is amazing with its plugin support, though I still prefer their pre-2021 UI

smolder 2y ago
Firefox on Android is NOT amazing. For MANY YEARS the user agent included the exact model of your phone. They seem to be incompetent. (Edit: this is a bit harsh, and to clarify, directed at the company and not any specific people in their employ.) Exactly what Google wants -- plausible deniability when it comes to monopoly, but an awful alternative.
- phartenfeller 2y ago
  Nope, for me it includes the Android version but no device model information.
  - smolder 2y ago
    They fixed it after the issue was present for MANY YEARS, exactly as stated.
    - Aachen 2y ago
      The other day I found out my mobile user agent string also included the kernel build version. Way to see which, if any, exploit would be effective for the device's patch level. Thankfully it has a spoof option so I now use that to send a correct, but slightly stripped, UA string I keep thinking I should switch to Firefox but the current ux is just so comfortable
    - cuu508 2y ago
      OK, so it was NOT amazing for MANY YEARS, but now it is ;-)
- bu7jjuj 2y ago
  Firefox on android can run ublock origin. The internet is unusable on mobile otherwise. But go on and let google continue to 'wow'you with their amazing ad tech. Firefox on android IS AMAZING.
  - sunaookami 2y ago
    No it's not. It's slow and buggy. You can also use an adblocking DNS like AdGuard and have adblocking system-wide. Yes I know uBlock blocks a bit better but DNS-blocking suffices. Also, there are other browsers with integrated adblockers based on Chromium.
    - erinaceousjones 2y ago
      Not ever had Firefox for android be slow and buggy for myself! I've been using it in place of chrome on my phone for a good year. Honestly everyone keeps talking about how FF is "slow and buggy" and it has NEVER given me issue :/ why is my subjective experience so different to your subjective experience? Meanwhile chrome/chromium is the one which is most likely to cause me GPU driver crashes, but that's because I use it for fun VR and "let's see how big I can make textures" experiments. Generally it manages a higher frame rate than FF in that context with stability as tradeoff.
      - pohuing 2y ago
        There could just be a difference in hardware. I'm a Firefox user but there is a noticeable difference, just not one that matters much on a top tier soc
        jakub_g 2y ago
        Loading JS heavy pages like Twitter on Firefox Android is way slower than Chromium based. Very noticeable on 2019 hardware, less so but still on 2022 hardware.
        erinaceousjones 2y ago
- vorticalbox 2y ago
  There is also this issue To address this, we will measure Telemetry Coverage, which is the percentage of all Firefox users who report telemetry. The Telemetry Coverage measurement will sample a portion of all Firefox clients and report whether telemetry is enabled. This measurement will not include a client identifier and will not be associated with our standard telemetry. Even if you turn telemetry off it will still call home https://blog.mozilla.org/data/2018/08/20/effectively-measuring-search-in-firefox/ https://blog.mozilla.org/data/2018/08/20/effectively-measuri...
- Ylpertnodi 2y ago
  >...directed at the company and not any specific people in their employ. They are the same thing, until you get to the upper levels, that own the place ie 'take full responsibility'. We are fa-mily. Until the shit hits the fan.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
tgv 2y ago
> I thought firefox on ios was just safari with a reskin It is. It does avoid some of the tracking/ad content, so I guess it does do some things somewhat differently. But if it's such a scourge, add a favicon. BTW, I've never seen this, and I regularly use Firefox on iOS to test.
chithanh 2y ago
Firefox on Android is not amazing, it is on the contrary quite annoying and has gotten more so over the years * Tabs get stuck frequently, and can only be revived by closing, then undoing close. * Can no longer access about:config in release builds * Bookmarks got demoted in favor of Pocket, can no longer set bookmarks as default home page * URL autocompletion got dumbed down, first on mobile and then also on desktop * etc.
- erinaceousjones 2y ago
  My experience with Firefox Nightly for ~1 year below. Ironically, the nightly sounds more consistently stable than the current release build then!: * Never had this tabs problem * I can see about:config * Bookmarks are fine and there's no mention of Pocket. Bookmarks show up ON the homepage, but yeah not being able to set a bookmark / any URL AS a homepage is a bit of an annoying feature lack * URL completion works as I expect it to, although it does bug me how it strips the protocol from the URL so I have to manually type in `http:// http://` for plaintext sites even when I've visited them before; depending on who you ask that is considered a "security feature" but kinda annoying. Other than that, I start typing in a URL and it shows me suggestions from my history followed by option to use my preferred search engine to search it. All in all, I've not really felt FF (even nightly) be particularly different or unstable to using chrome. Second comment I've made in this thread where I'm replying (ever so helpfully) "Huh, but it works for me" so I'll stop now :-). I promise the Mozilla Foundation aren't bribing nor blackmailing me.
  - oldmariner 2y ago
    I don't remember seeing Pocket, so I went back to the settings to look. There's an option to have "Thought-provoking stories" which in smaller text says "Powered by Pocket". Considering I didn't even realize it said Pocket the first time around, I think bookmarks are more prominent over Pocket, so I don't see bookmarks being demoted in favor of Pocket.
    - csande17 2y ago
      For a while, bookmarks were demoted in favor of Collections, a jankier version of bookmarks that didn't sync properly to desktop and included a button to open all of them at once in multiple tabs. Collections are still there, but they've made it easier to use regular bookmarks too, so now Firefox for Android just has two versions of bookmarks in it for some reason. Entirely unrelated to Pocket, as far as I know, except in the general sense of Mozilla having bad ideas related to bookmarks.
loufe 2y ago
Given the seriously negative sibling comments, I thought I'd weigh in with my own experience. I'm unaware of anything behind the scenes, but I've always enjoyed the user experience in Firefox on Android, at least for the last couple years before the rewrite. I don't like browsing the web on my phone, but it's made it bearable. I can't speak to the problems behind the scenes though, and they certainly merit attention.
butterNaN 2y ago
Firefox on Android is a godsend to me, and the secret is that I can install uBlock origin and noscript on my mobile. I get a whiplash when I see someone else browsing the web without these, it is absurd how much attention people will allow to be just stolen away.
Twirrim 2y ago
I'm another who loves firefox on android. It annoys me that to some degree Android forces chrome on you, even if firefox is set as your default. The full plugin support that got added in the last year really took it up a notch too.
sirn 2y ago
iOS requires a browser to use the OS-provided WebKit, but you can still use your own networking layer, and doing your own scripts injection (e.g. for extensions, like what Orion is doing). Firefox for iOS used to use Alamofire as its networking engine, but switched over to NSURLSession/URLSession at some point. Chrome for iOS uses Cronet which was extracted from Chromium's networking stack (or maybe used, I have not followed the development recently).
- nanidin 2y ago
  iOS allows third party browser engines since iOS 17.4 in the EU.
  - Two4 2y ago
    No one is splitting their codebase for a single market if it doesn't make business sense. For a nonprofit with limited resources, I don't think it would make sense.
    - nanidin 2y ago
      That is Firefox's decision then, not a restriction by Apple as indicated by GP.
      - HeatrayEnjoyer 2y ago
        Apple doesn't restrict it at all outside the EU too?

smolder 2y ago

Firefox on Android is NOT amazing. For MANY YEARS the user agent included the exact model of your phone. They seem to be incompetent. (Edit: this is a bit harsh, and to clarify, directed at the company and not any specific people in their employ.) Exactly what Google wants -- plausible deniability when it comes to monopoly, but an awful alternative.

phartenfeller 2y ago
Nope, for me it includes the Android version but no device model information.
- smolder 2y ago
  They fixed it after the issue was present for MANY YEARS, exactly as stated.
  - Aachen 2y ago
    The other day I found out my mobile user agent string also included the kernel build version. Way to see which, if any, exploit would be effective for the device's patch level. Thankfully it has a spoof option so I now use that to send a correct, but slightly stripped, UA string I keep thinking I should switch to Firefox but the current ux is just so comfortable
  - cuu508 2y ago
    OK, so it was NOT amazing for MANY YEARS, but now it is ;-)
bu7jjuj 2y ago
Firefox on android can run ublock origin. The internet is unusable on mobile otherwise. But go on and let google continue to 'wow'you with their amazing ad tech. Firefox on android IS AMAZING.
- sunaookami 2y ago
  No it's not. It's slow and buggy. You can also use an adblocking DNS like AdGuard and have adblocking system-wide. Yes I know uBlock blocks a bit better but DNS-blocking suffices. Also, there are other browsers with integrated adblockers based on Chromium.
  - erinaceousjones 2y ago
    Not ever had Firefox for android be slow and buggy for myself! I've been using it in place of chrome on my phone for a good year. Honestly everyone keeps talking about how FF is "slow and buggy" and it has NEVER given me issue :/ why is my subjective experience so different to your subjective experience? Meanwhile chrome/chromium is the one which is most likely to cause me GPU driver crashes, but that's because I use it for fun VR and "let's see how big I can make textures" experiments. Generally it manages a higher frame rate than FF in that context with stability as tradeoff.
    - pohuing 2y ago
      There could just be a difference in hardware. I'm a Firefox user but there is a noticeable difference, just not one that matters much on a top tier soc
      - jakub_g 2y ago
        Loading JS heavy pages like Twitter on Firefox Android is way slower than Chromium based. Very noticeable on 2019 hardware, less so but still on 2022 hardware.
        erinaceousjones 2y ago
vorticalbox 2y ago
There is also this issue To address this, we will measure Telemetry Coverage, which is the percentage of all Firefox users who report telemetry. The Telemetry Coverage measurement will sample a portion of all Firefox clients and report whether telemetry is enabled. This measurement will not include a client identifier and will not be associated with our standard telemetry. Even if you turn telemetry off it will still call home https://blog.mozilla.org/data/2018/08/20/effectively-measuring-search-in-firefox/ https://blog.mozilla.org/data/2018/08/20/effectively-measuri...
Ylpertnodi 2y ago
>...directed at the company and not any specific people in their employ. They are the same thing, until you get to the upper levels, that own the place ie 'take full responsibility'. We are fa-mily. Until the shit hits the fan.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

tgv 2y ago

> I thought firefox on ios was just safari with a reskin It is. It does avoid some of the tracking/ad content, so I guess it does do some things somewhat differently. But if it's such a scourge, add a favicon. BTW, I've never seen this, and I regularly use Firefox on iOS to test.

chithanh 2y ago

Firefox on Android is not amazing, it is on the contrary quite annoying and has gotten more so over the years * Tabs get stuck frequently, and can only be revived by closing, then undoing close. * Can no longer access about:config in release builds * Bookmarks got demoted in favor of Pocket, can no longer set bookmarks as default home page * URL autocompletion got dumbed down, first on mobile and then also on desktop * etc.

erinaceousjones 2y ago
My experience with Firefox Nightly for ~1 year below. Ironically, the nightly sounds more consistently stable than the current release build then!: * Never had this tabs problem * I can see about:config * Bookmarks are fine and there's no mention of Pocket. Bookmarks show up ON the homepage, but yeah not being able to set a bookmark / any URL AS a homepage is a bit of an annoying feature lack * URL completion works as I expect it to, although it does bug me how it strips the protocol from the URL so I have to manually type in `http:// http://` for plaintext sites even when I've visited them before; depending on who you ask that is considered a "security feature" but kinda annoying. Other than that, I start typing in a URL and it shows me suggestions from my history followed by option to use my preferred search engine to search it. All in all, I've not really felt FF (even nightly) be particularly different or unstable to using chrome. Second comment I've made in this thread where I'm replying (ever so helpfully) "Huh, but it works for me" so I'll stop now :-). I promise the Mozilla Foundation aren't bribing nor blackmailing me.
- oldmariner 2y ago
  I don't remember seeing Pocket, so I went back to the settings to look. There's an option to have "Thought-provoking stories" which in smaller text says "Powered by Pocket". Considering I didn't even realize it said Pocket the first time around, I think bookmarks are more prominent over Pocket, so I don't see bookmarks being demoted in favor of Pocket.
  - csande17 2y ago
    For a while, bookmarks were demoted in favor of Collections, a jankier version of bookmarks that didn't sync properly to desktop and included a button to open all of them at once in multiple tabs. Collections are still there, but they've made it easier to use regular bookmarks too, so now Firefox for Android just has two versions of bookmarks in it for some reason. Entirely unrelated to Pocket, as far as I know, except in the general sense of Mozilla having bad ideas related to bookmarks.

loufe 2y ago

Given the seriously negative sibling comments, I thought I'd weigh in with my own experience. I'm unaware of anything behind the scenes, but I've always enjoyed the user experience in Firefox on Android, at least for the last couple years before the rewrite. I don't like browsing the web on my phone, but it's made it bearable. I can't speak to the problems behind the scenes though, and they certainly merit attention.

butterNaN 2y ago

Firefox on Android is a godsend to me, and the secret is that I can install uBlock origin and noscript on my mobile. I get a whiplash when I see someone else browsing the web without these, it is absurd how much attention people will allow to be just stolen away.

Twirrim 2y ago

I'm another who loves firefox on android. It annoys me that to some degree Android forces chrome on you, even if firefox is set as your default. The full plugin support that got added in the last year really took it up a notch too.

sirn 2y ago

iOS requires a browser to use the OS-provided WebKit, but you can still use your own networking layer, and doing your own scripts injection (e.g. for extensions, like what Orion is doing). Firefox for iOS used to use Alamofire as its networking engine, but switched over to NSURLSession/URLSession at some point. Chrome for iOS uses Cronet which was extracted from Chromium's networking stack (or maybe used, I have not followed the development recently).

nanidin 2y ago
iOS allows third party browser engines since iOS 17.4 in the EU.
- Two4 2y ago
  No one is splitting their codebase for a single market if it doesn't make business sense. For a nonprofit with limited resources, I don't think it would make sense.
  - nanidin 2y ago
    That is Firefox's decision then, not a restriction by Apple as indicated by GP.
    - HeatrayEnjoyer 2y ago
      Apple doesn't restrict it at all outside the EU too?