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Mozilla will open Firefox for Android for more extensions (blog.mozilla.org)
submitted 3 years ago by to c/technology@beehaw.org
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[–] 108 points 3 years ago (2 children)

About damn time, they should never have disabled it in the first place.

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    [–] 64 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    Now, if only iOS would allow true Safari alternatives. 🥲

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  • [–] 71 points 3 years ago (9 children)

    They'll soon be forced to allow sideloading, in the EU at least. Should open the doors for proper alternative browsers.

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  • [–] 65 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    I loathe the very fact they made people call it "sideloading". It's just installing on your own terms, like it used to be the norm.

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  • [–] 19 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    Well, it's a carry over from its early days in how it used to work. You needed to install things via USB debugger. Generally that's all sideloading ever meant, transferring information from one device to another using a generally "local" method (SD card, USB, etc). Now sideloading, on Android at least (as it retains its original meaning elsewhere), just means not from the official repository.

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  • [–] 9 points 3 years ago (11 children)

    I just activated Windows 10 on a laptop I bought from ebay, and I was reminded that Microsoft too wants people to view its official store as the default way to obtain software.

    One of my goals for this weekend is to set up a dual boot for Linux Mint, which I've never done before. I'm fully aware of its limitations, but I'm getting so tired of all this crap.

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    [–] 51 points 3 years ago (14 children)

    I use FF on android for a couple months now. Solid browser and sync to desktol and add blocker are nice.

    BUT: their page reloading is far too aggressive. You can't buy anything online, since once 2FA is required and you need to open your bank app, confirm, and switch back, the page reloads and the 2FA didn't get through. Tickets and such are the only reason I have still chrome installed.

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  • [–] 74 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    This is Android aggressively killing apps, not Firefox.

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  • [–] 8 points 3 years ago

    Possibly, but previously I've been able to load a site, open a media-rich page in a new tab, then close that tab to go back to the original page.

    On a newer build of FF for Android, that first page is re-loaded from the internet.

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  • [–] 44 points 3 years ago* (last edited 3 years ago) (4 children)

    Hmm, I'm not experiencing that. Could Android (well, the flavour used by your phone) be killing background apps too aggressively or something like that?

    Edit: could also be a RAM thing. I have 12GB.

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  • [–] 10 points 3 years ago

    I'm not experiencing that issue either and I have half the amount of RAM that you do. I've noticed an unnecessary autorefresh only after closing out of the browser for a long time, never in the middle of switching between apps. But, that does sound like annoying behavior.

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    [–] 40 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    why it was restricted in the first place?

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  • [–] 41 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    Because there were enough incompatibilities to make it a hassle. But when they were sorting out the Web Manifest v3, they designed it with desktop and mobile in mind, so new extensions won't have problems.

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  • [–] 14 points 3 years ago* (last edited 3 years ago) (1 child)

    It makes less sense since extensions actually ran on Android, e.g. via Nightly and creating your own list of exceptions. Also if you downgrade and install in an old Fennec version, extension will continue to function if you then update to the latest.

    I think the move was an attempt to create a walled garden. But for whatever reason, they have now decided against it. Thank goodness.

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  • [–] 29 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    Maybe they couldn't guarantee that the mobile version could run well with all of them? That's what I've always assumed.

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  • [–] 13 points 3 years ago (3 children)

    Which I think is kinda weird decision since they could've just hidden a setting that unlocks all addons in the options. But maybe they were so incompatible at the time that it wasn't worth the headache.

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    • [–] 34 points 3 years ago (6 children)

    Can we have tabs when using a tablet please?

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    [–] 29 points 3 years ago* (last edited 3 years ago) (11 children)

    For those who don't know yet: Firefox Nightly for Android let you install any extension you desire.

    You just need to create a custom collection on the web site and link your ID in nightly.

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    [–] 26 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    My goodness that's awesome. I never understood why they locked it down in the first place about a year ago. What changed?

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    [–] 23 points 3 years ago

    great, now waiting for them to finally fix the supremely janky tab behavior.

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    [–] 22 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    Nice. What I need now is the ability to group tabs together

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    • [–] 21 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    Permission to shout hurrah in an annoyingly loud voice sir!

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    [–] 14 points 3 years ago (7 children)

    Installed firefox yesterday. Nothing really changed or improved. Uninstalled firefox.

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  • [–] 45 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    It's 3 clicks to install AdBlock on Firefox mobile and that alone instantly makes it superior to Chrome.

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  • [–] 27 points 3 years ago (5 children)

    Literally was just telling my partner how much better browsing is since switching to Firefox on android. The ability to install extensions period is a huge upgrade, but also there are several available that are fantastic and not features available on chrome. Not sure what you mean about needing extensions to match chrome features. In fact, none of the extensions I've installed are features present in chrome. Plus I can block ads and trackers, activate dark mode everywhere, and use YouTube for audio with my screen off. I am kicking myself for being lazy. On top of giving Google personal data for no reason, I've had a worse browsing experience for years.

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    [–] 11 points 3 years ago

    Yesssss

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    [–] 9 points 3 years ago

    It's about damn time

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    [–] 8 points 3 years ago

    This is great.

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