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MintMain21
Familiar face
Status: Delivered

Unlike some other users, I'm a fan of the "Daylight" update to Firefox for Android in 2020. I think the new UI is slicker and easier than the competition, but from the beginning there was always room for improvement.

For me, my biggest concern with Daylight has always been the Add-On Compatibility, or lack-therof. I appreciate how Nightly allows me to curate my own Add-On Collection to try add-ons and use ones I like, but after a year and a half since Daylight launched I feel like expanded Add-On support shouldn't be limited to Nightly, especially since Nightly is, by nature, an unstable build.

I propose two solutions to improve Add-On support on Android.

1. Port over the current Custom Add-On Collection feature as-is to either Beta or Stable (this would include hiding it as a "secret setting" behind the Firefox Logo on the About Page).

2. Curate a larger collection of Add-Ons tested for compatibility on Android that could be given their own unique badging on the Add-Ons site, and in turn installable on any Android build of Firefox.

The former-most option would be the easiest to apply for the sake of those willing to use Nightly's fix, but the latter-most option would be more user friendly, improve user participation in the Android Browser's development (by allowing users to submit recommended extensions for Android similar to how the general Recommended badging works), and free up Nightly builds for testing Extension features that have yet to be perfected on Android.

Mobile-Android

81 Comments
MintMain21
Familiar face

We're halfway there folks.

https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/fenix/issues/26948#issuecomment-1284027702

We're live in Beta, but there's still more we can do.

clorofolle
Strollin' around

Today I tried to switch my parents' browser on mobile from Chrome to Firefox, they already use Firefox on desktop and don't really mind as long as it's familiar to them (they're not good with phones). The new page is very different from Chrome's, they got overwhelmed with there being no prominent search bar in the middle of the screen. No problem, I thought, Firefox is highly customizable, I'll set google as the home page! But alas, apparently customizing the home page to a custom one was removed. 😞 This sounded really weird for Firefox. But I thought - oh well, good thing about Firefox is, there must be so many add-ons that will fix this issue! But nope, selection for Android is very very limited.

What *is* Firefox when it doesn't allow their users to customize it to their liking? When Chrome beats you guys on controlling how your browser feels and behaves, it means there is a problem. I sadly had to disinstall it on their phones as they weren't comfortable with change, and I was really disappointed, because finding walls instead of workarounds is not what I expect of my favourite browser. I hope to see the add-ons back soon! 😃

tlzyiqleu
Making moves

Mozilla should at least add the Add-ons they make to Firefox Mobile.

KevinBrosnan
Employee
Employee

This will be in development in 2023


Are more extensions coming to Firefox for Android?

Absolutely. Right now we’re focused on implementing Manifest version 3 (MV3) for Firefox desktop (i.e. wide ranging foundational changes to WebExtensions API). In 2023 we’ll begin work on the mobile adoption of MV3. Though we’re still early in planning, MV3 will certainly offer a number of advances for mobile extensions, such as elegant handling of process restarts and improved security by splitting extensions into their own processes, while also retaining critical MV2 features that support privacy and ad blocking capabilities. Indeed our goal is to design MV3 for mobile in such a manner we’re able to open up the discoverability of mobile extensions beyond the short list available today. As plans take shape, we’ll be sure to keep you informed. In the meantime you’re welcome to join conversations about extensions development on Firefox Add-ons Discourse.



https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2022/12/15/new-extensions-available-now-on-firefox-for-android-night...

Status changed to: In development
Jon
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hey all,

Exciting news...

This has been reviewed and will be in development in 2023. Check out @KevinBrosnan's comment along with this blog post for more details.

Feel free to keep the conversation going here and stay tuned for updates 😁

-The Community Team

clorofolle
Strollin' around

This is exciting news. Thank you devs for hearing us out! 😄

Kurama
New member

It would be really helpful if we get the feature to add custom Add-ons

 

ypYlolvlLm
Strollin' around

The addition of extensions in the Android-app was a game changer. Though it's very bad that you can't install an extension from a file as you can on the desktop version.

Add the option to install extensions from a file.

Jatur
New member

It would be nice to have the Snowflake addon for firefox for android. You can use the addon on pc but I want to be able to use it on android.