Their small selection is already insanely helpful for me. I’ve been using firefox mobile for a year now and it’s just as fast as chrome with the additional benefits of:
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darkmode
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adblocking (including youtube!)
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shorter, more sharable links without tracking
and thats all thanks to the extensions that arent available in other mobile browsers unless devs directly integrate them into your app.
Don’t forget the “Video Background Play Fix” add on. That paired with the adblocking makes it where you can watch ad free YouTube while in another app or even with the screen off.
These two together made me disable the YouTube app on my phone. Firefox is just a much better way to view YouTube.
I use Revanced, but keep Firefox Youtube and invidious as backups.
The only thing that isn’t quite on par (for me?) is 60fps videos. Those only play on 30. The 60 option isn’t available. Maybe that’s a codec incompatibility?
I think there’s a HD Youtube extension that might enable that for that youtube player.
YouTube might just not offer those for mobile browsers.
Ah, you might be right! Doesn’t work on chrome either.
60 FPS videos are only available at 720p and above, so maybe your browser is defaulting to 480p?
Nah, I did the following: I picked a video in my Youtube app that I know has 60fps options. Then I switched to Firefox, played the same video and checked the quality options. In the app, it gives you the options 720p60, 1080p60 for example. In firefox, it does not.
Does it work for you in Firefox mobile?
Geeeez, I didn’t know about that one - Thank you very much sir!
Here’s another trick. Go to youtube and then go to your Firefox menu and check “desktop site”. And then you can install it as a PWA on your Homescreen. Don’t worry, when you open it up for the first time from your Homescreen, it will be back in Mobile web format.
This essentially makes it an isolated app from your browser. Not cluttering up your history and tabs.
TIL, that’s a great tip! cheers
I replaced the YouTube app on my SO’s phone with a Brave Browser YouTube link (Brave includes both features out of the box) because having to sit through ads when they wanted to show me a video was driving me nuts…
I use Firefox because of tamper monkey, buy Brave is my go to easy solution for friends so I don’t have to explain about installing extras.
You dont need tampermonkey for Ublock Origin and Video Background Play Fix. It’s under add-ons when you go to settings.
Chrome on mobile is practically unusable for me. Without ad block the experience is horrible on mobile.
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Finally. There are some, but it’s only a small selection.
The timing couldn’t be better. For me, the only thing missing from Firefox for Android (or, even better, Mull) was a translation feature; otherwise, it was perfect. The lack of translation was the only reason I found myself opening the Chrome app, and I am eagerly looking forward to no longer needing it.
I was once a fervent supporter of Google, but now see it moving towards Apple’s approach. This shift doesn’t feel like the result of malicious intent on the part of Google’s engineers, but rather a change driven by non-technical roles (business, marketing, …) aiming to boost revenue margins. When these roles lead a company’s direction, you can already hear the ticking clock of its fate.
Get “Translate Web Pages (TWP)” Addon for Firefox via custom addons collection! It does love translations of websites just like how the built in translator in chrome does!
TWP is even better than just google translate because it lets you choose between Google, Bing, Yandex, and DeepL translations, if a translation looks sus you can take a look at what the other translation engines say.
At least on PC
Is that available on Firefox for Android? I’m not seeing it in the menu.
You have to create an add-on collection first and then it’ll be available. (tutorial here)
Hopefully the RES folks port to mobile, there’s times when Reddit is the only location for a slice of knowledge.
Use RDX. I use it with a redirector extension.
I’ve been enjoying full extension support on Firefox for a good while now, by running the beta version and using a custom extension collection. To be honest, it seems like most extensions just work fine out of the box, at least the ones I’ve tried.
Yeah I went to firefox beta for ublock origin… but it seems most things work.
I think uBlock Origin was always available, as one of the select extensions for Firefox on Android.
It refuses to install on the non-beta version… had to upgrade to allow it.
Does this matter for ios?
Maybe. The EU just ruled on Apple Safari, so they may be forced to allow other browsers in their phones.
Changing the day actual Firefox arrives on iOS but I’ve really tried to daily drive the Firefox skin on iOS and it’s just too painful and hobbled. The history and bookmark sync was awesome, but damn it just ain’t Firefox.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
This week, the organization urged developers to evaluate their extension code in preparation for the occasion, since it’s expecting a lot of demand.
Allowing Firefox for Android users to download and install extensions that haven’t been thoroughly reviewed poses a risk, particularly given the sensitivity of data stored on phones (e.g. payment cards and personal details).
Unlike passive display technologies like televisions, the browser lets users take an active role in how content gets processed and presented.
Web publishers for years have asked site visitors to disable ad blocking extensions, a step YouTube has recently undertaken in force.
Among the larger browser makers, Mozilla managed to roll out support for a limited set of Recommended Extensions for Firefox on Android in January, 2021.
We are exploring ways to reduce this friction, but ultimately need to exercise some degree of oversight to balance openness, agency, and safety for browser extensions."
The original article contains 588 words, the summary contains 149 words. Saved 75%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Bring it.
I like the way that the article opens in Firefox when I click it, so it has bug white gaps between the paragraphs 😂
Just about how many…? Like 6 years too late. FF market share on mobile is like 0.6%.
As if extensions is the reason of Firefox faltering on mobile. Do Chrome and Safari allow extensions on mobile?
Safari does. I think they’re the same as desktop Safari but it seems like a different and smaller ecosystem from the Chrome/FF one and the good ones tend to cost a dollar or two (or six). Still, I have an ad-blocker, a dark mode one, a Userscripts one, one to get rid of AMP links, and a few others.
Oh nice! I didn’t know.
Safari actually has a pretty good extension system (for mobile)
It’s a bunch of things. Not having extensions however removed a potentially differentiating feature, which certainly didn’t help.
But mobile Firefox does have extensions. It’s just not a big number.
I just counted, it’s 22… and there a lot of redundancy in there. So I’d say that FF on mobile had extensions technically. Want something as extreme as RES or some video downloader? You have with fiddle with nightly… which barely any average user would.
True, and that’s why they are opening it up.
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