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For anyone who wants to try this, just open Firefox on your Android device, go to https://marketplace.firefox.com https://marketplace.firefox.com, and click on

For anyone who wants to try this, just open Firefox on your Android device, go to https://marketplace.firefox.com https://marketplace.firefox.com, and click on the install button for an app. It will download an APK and prompt you to install the application, and that app will then act just like any other app. It's pretty neat.

veeti 12y ago
It's hard to say this without being so negative, but I really have to wonder if any of these apps have even been tested on an Android device. Because to be quite frank, they are absolutely terrible. Here's what I tested: - Calculator. Whenever I press a number, it takes a second to be actually reflected in the user interface. If I try to press anything in rapid succession, the entire view zooms in. After this the entire size and scale of the user interface keeps shifting randomly. Completely broken. - Wikihow. This is just a wrapper on their mobile site with an ugly search bar on top. Long pressing a link shows a context menu that lets me "open in a new tab" but there's no tab switcher to be found. I can select text by tapping and holding but can't figure out how to copy. - Wikipedia. Pretty much the same. Scrolling performance is strangely atrocious considering that it works fine in Firefox for Android. Pressing the back button on the device boots me out of the app instantly instead of, you know, going back. And all in all, they are all just slow and clunky. It feels like browsing a web page or using a web app in a mobile browser that just isn't up to the task. In between this aim on building a more open platform for apps, there doesn't seem to be any focus in building apps or user interfaces that people would actually want to use.
- wfwalker 12y ago
  No, we haven't done a lot of testing of these apps on Android, we've been really focussed on testing them on Firefox OS up to now. BTW, which version of Firefox are you using? Bug fixes are coming in pretty fast lately, I'd recommend using Firefox Aurora for Android.
  - voltagex_ 12y ago
    Where and how do I log bugs for Firefox Apps on Android? I'm on 4.4.3 with Firefox Aurora and I installed WikiHow and the Gaia Team Calculator - open WikiHow, hit back and open Calculator and I still get WikiHow. I have to "swipe away" the Firefox app in the task manager to get it to work.
  - stuaxo 12y ago
    I switched from the orange zte phone. Most of the apps I tried had similar issues.
  - veeti 12y ago
    Is Aurora the same thing as the Firefox Beta in the Play Store?
- rcthompson 12y ago
  Is there any reason this was posted as a reply to my comment?
  - logn 12y ago
    I think because you wrote: ...that app will then act just like any other app. It's pretty neat
    - rcthompson 12y ago
      I guess I can see that. What I meant was that it gets put into your app list and can be launched, be put on your homescreen, appear in the recently-used app list, etc., like any other app. I wasn't making a statement about the performance or "nativeness" of any particular app.
      - konspence 12y ago
        You can also add any Chrome bookmark to your home screen, just like any other app.
        kumar303 12y ago
        It won't be integrated into Android very well though; you can't kill the process, you can't check its resources, it's not in the task switcher, etc, etc
- frandroid 12y ago
  Yeah, that calculator was awful. I tried a solitaire game that was pretty decent though.
- zobzu 12y ago
  Some apps are bad but some apps are pretty much on par with native apps. I guess its just young.
- voltagex_ 12y ago
  It's definitely better if you are using Firefox Beta but I've replied below with an odd bug.
mhurron 12y ago
Doesn't this require the 'Allow Installs from Unknown Sources', which is generally a bad idea to allow?
- ozten 12y ago
  Yes. wfwalker said it best here: https://hacks.mozilla.org/2014/06/testing-your-native-android-app/comment-page-1/#comment-2162370 https://hacks.mozilla.org/2014/06/testing-your-native-androi... "We share your frustration with the tradeoffs we have to make on Android regarding security versus openness, as I’m sure Amazon does as well. For example, it would be cool if we could ask people to trust apps they install from marketplace.firefox.com rather than from all sources. Unfortunately, I don’t think we have that option. We, along with third-party native android app stores like Amazon, chosen to ask users to enable the third-party application setting because we think the benefits to users of our ecosystem outweigh the risks of doing so. We believe our security model and strict control over permissions for web apps means that the Firefox Marketplace apps that users install on their Android devices will be safe."
  - Pxtl 12y ago
    I've been wondering - is there any app that makes this process more elegant, like controlling which users can install 3rd-party APKs or something?
  - mhurron 12y ago
    I will start with I see this weren't your words. "it would be cool if we could ask people to trust apps they install from marketplace.firefox.com rather than from all sources." This would be so handy for me, but it probably doesn't matter as my next phone is probably going to be an iPhone. However, "We believe our security model and strict control over permissions for web apps means that the Firefox Marketplace apps that users install on their Android devices will be safe" basically misses the problem. The problem is not that the Mozilla or Amazon marketplaces are unsafe, I would rate them at the same as Google Play itself, but that the phone now allows APK's from everywhere. While it would turn more users away from using them, it would almost be better to actually tell people to re-enable the restrictions, or have an install app that will turn it on, install from their marketplace and then turn it off again.

veeti 12y ago

It's hard to say this without being so negative, but I really have to wonder if any of these apps have even been tested on an Android device. Because to be quite frank, they are absolutely terrible. Here's what I tested: - Calculator. Whenever I press a number, it takes a second to be actually reflected in the user interface. If I try to press anything in rapid succession, the entire view zooms in. After this the entire size and scale of the user interface keeps shifting randomly. Completely broken. - Wikihow. This is just a wrapper on their mobile site with an ugly search bar on top. Long pressing a link shows a context menu that lets me "open in a new tab" but there's no tab switcher to be found. I can select text by tapping and holding but can't figure out how to copy. - Wikipedia. Pretty much the same. Scrolling performance is strangely atrocious considering that it works fine in Firefox for Android. Pressing the back button on the device boots me out of the app instantly instead of, you know, going back. And all in all, they are all just slow and clunky. It feels like browsing a web page or using a web app in a mobile browser that just isn't up to the task. In between this aim on building a more open platform for apps, there doesn't seem to be any focus in building apps or user interfaces that people would actually want to use.

wfwalker 12y ago
No, we haven't done a lot of testing of these apps on Android, we've been really focussed on testing them on Firefox OS up to now. BTW, which version of Firefox are you using? Bug fixes are coming in pretty fast lately, I'd recommend using Firefox Aurora for Android.
- voltagex_ 12y ago
  Where and how do I log bugs for Firefox Apps on Android? I'm on 4.4.3 with Firefox Aurora and I installed WikiHow and the Gaia Team Calculator - open WikiHow, hit back and open Calculator and I still get WikiHow. I have to "swipe away" the Firefox app in the task manager to get it to work.
- stuaxo 12y ago
  I switched from the orange zte phone. Most of the apps I tried had similar issues.
- veeti 12y ago
  Is Aurora the same thing as the Firefox Beta in the Play Store?
rcthompson 12y ago
Is there any reason this was posted as a reply to my comment?
- logn 12y ago
  I think because you wrote: ...that app will then act just like any other app. It's pretty neat
  - rcthompson 12y ago
    I guess I can see that. What I meant was that it gets put into your app list and can be launched, be put on your homescreen, appear in the recently-used app list, etc., like any other app. I wasn't making a statement about the performance or "nativeness" of any particular app.
    - konspence 12y ago
      You can also add any Chrome bookmark to your home screen, just like any other app.
      - kumar303 12y ago
        It won't be integrated into Android very well though; you can't kill the process, you can't check its resources, it's not in the task switcher, etc, etc
frandroid 12y ago
Yeah, that calculator was awful. I tried a solitaire game that was pretty decent though.
zobzu 12y ago
Some apps are bad but some apps are pretty much on par with native apps. I guess its just young.
voltagex_ 12y ago
It's definitely better if you are using Firefox Beta but I've replied below with an odd bug.

mhurron 12y ago

Doesn't this require the 'Allow Installs from Unknown Sources', which is generally a bad idea to allow?

ozten 12y ago
Yes. wfwalker said it best here: https://hacks.mozilla.org/2014/06/testing-your-native-android-app/comment-page-1/#comment-2162370 https://hacks.mozilla.org/2014/06/testing-your-native-androi... "We share your frustration with the tradeoffs we have to make on Android regarding security versus openness, as I’m sure Amazon does as well. For example, it would be cool if we could ask people to trust apps they install from marketplace.firefox.com rather than from all sources. Unfortunately, I don’t think we have that option. We, along with third-party native android app stores like Amazon, chosen to ask users to enable the third-party application setting because we think the benefits to users of our ecosystem outweigh the risks of doing so. We believe our security model and strict control over permissions for web apps means that the Firefox Marketplace apps that users install on their Android devices will be safe."
- Pxtl 12y ago
  I've been wondering - is there any app that makes this process more elegant, like controlling which users can install 3rd-party APKs or something?
- mhurron 12y ago
  I will start with I see this weren't your words. "it would be cool if we could ask people to trust apps they install from marketplace.firefox.com rather than from all sources." This would be so handy for me, but it probably doesn't matter as my next phone is probably going to be an iPhone. However, "We believe our security model and strict control over permissions for web apps means that the Firefox Marketplace apps that users install on their Android devices will be safe" basically misses the problem. The problem is not that the Mozilla or Amazon marketplaces are unsafe, I would rate them at the same as Google Play itself, but that the phone now allows APK's from everywhere. While it would turn more users away from using them, it would almost be better to actually tell people to re-enable the restrictions, or have an install app that will turn it on, install from their marketplace and then turn it off again.