Mozilla will open Firefox for Android for more extensions

About damn time, they should never have disabled it in the first place.
- Let's just appreciate the fact that basically no other browser has this.
  With chrome/ium you can't even block ads.
  
  That's a lie sir. Brave blocks ads out of the box. Vivaldi also has ad block filters. You can add custom filters to both browsers. Also edge has shitty ad blocker. Kiwi browser supports almost all chrome extensions. Basically almost all except chrome and still you can block most of the ads using correct dns server.
  
  I use kiwi browser for the extension support.
- It's enabled in the beta version, although limited to a small number of extensions.

Now, if only iOS would allow true Safari alternatives. 🥲
- They'll soon be forced to allow sideloading, in the EU at least. Should open the doors for proper alternative browsers.
  
  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.
  
  I wonder what the alternatives to App Store will be called. F-Store? iDroid?
  
  They'd still be restricted to the Webkit rendering engine though, right?
- Very sad that Firefox does not provide an .ipa file of firefox without webkit. Jailbroken, trollstore and altstore users could benefit of extensions before apple allows sideloading.

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.
- This is Android aggressively killing apps, not Firefox.
  
  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.
- 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.
  
  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.
  
  Wow, I'm pretty sure my laptop has less RAM than that. ~Cherri
- This annoyed me too. I use Firefox Nightly with accessibility.blockautorefresh set in about:config, and it helps.
  https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1204335
- had that issue since updating my phone to android 13, mozilla really needs to fix it
  
  I also feel RAM too aggressive since A13, but it could be my custom ROM as well.
- I feel this pain. But you try to stop a video that started playing in Firefox. I dare you.
  
  Its in notification with background play lol
- Yeah, I open my 2FA app in split screen when I do this
- Huh, good to know.
  I've found edge to be quite aggressive on the reloads as well (at least, on desktop).
  Makes it difficult for developing anything that has to deal with tabs going to "sleep" (like websocket reconnects, rehydrations, reauths).
  I'm a hair away from ditching chrome

why it was restricted in the first place?
- 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.
  
  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.
- Maybe they couldn't guarantee that the mobile version could run well with all of them? That's what I've always assumed.
  
  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.

Can we have tabs when using a tablet please?
- And why not phones too if the user prefers it that way. Can we have our user preferences back please?
- Let's tab tablets
- No no, that would make way too much sense.
  Written on a Fold 4 that's currently not using Firefox ლ(ಠ益ಠლ)
- You don't have tabs using a tablet?
  
  I think he means tabs along the top like on a PC browser.

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.
- You can also just use the collections of other users
  
  Like mine, for those who don't want to curate: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/collections/17401236/p1xiekat-Android/
- Same for Firefox forks, Mull and Fennec.
  
  Yep. I always mention Fennec who may hesitate to use Beta since it's a stable release with full add-on support.
  I've never tried Mull.
- https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2020/09/29/expanded-extension-support-in-firefox-for-android-nightly/
- Firefox Beta as well.

My goodness that's awesome. I never understood why they locked it down in the first place about a year ago. What changed?
- They wanted to have compatibility with Chrome extensions. But that was all just a n EEE move by Google. More perfidious since they created the open standard in the first place

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

Nice. What I need now is the ability to group tabs together
- Have you tried sidebery? When I found tree layout for tabs to be a thing I haven't looked back.
  
  Thank you! I am going to install it right now on my desktop PC. I was referring to the android version btw 😂

Permission to shout hurrah in an annoyingly loud voice sir!
- Permission granted Private

Installed firefox yesterday. Nothing really changed or improved. Uninstalled firefox.
- It's 3 clicks to install AdBlock on Firefox mobile and that alone instantly makes it superior to Chrome.
  
  Ublock origin is better I believe.
- What is the main reason you (presumably) use Chrome over Firefox? People here might be able to help you solve the problem.
  
  In general what chromium browsers have out of the box in firefox you have to install addons to have that functionality and still it's worse experience. For example pwa support. Worst thing is that websites and now software only supports chromium.
  
  Not a Firefox hater (I use Fennec), but Chrome is faster than Firefox.
- 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.
  
  For YouTube, check out ReVanced on GitHub
- It's funny how some people are willing to use weird android mods that can't run half of the apps to protect their privacy while others can't even wait 0.01s longer for a page to load.
- I still use it but I have to say the fact that the page auto-refreshes when you leave the app and come back drives me bonkers.
  
  Maybe your phone runs out of ram?
  Or is it the 4 hour idle setting?:

Yesssss

This is great.

It's about damn time

God I miss the old Firefox for Android :(
- Huh, I'm still using it.
- Are you suggesting this is bad? What was better about "old" Firefox for Android?
  
  No, this is similar to the old Firefox for Android, which is why I like it.
  When you could just browse AMO and add an add-on at will. It was also much smoother.
  
  It had a tab bar.

For every one who want to test it out you can use iceraven browser a Firefox fork that supports way more extensions than stock Firefox mobile https://github.com/fork-maintainers/iceraven-browser
- You can also use the Nightly app and load addon collections. It's an absolute pain in the arse, and a lot of extensions don't work, but it's one way to get them.
  
  I didn't know that this feature is already dort of waring in the nightly build but it makes sence that they will test it out in nightly

no need for beta anymore or are there still some restrictions in place?

I haven't been using Firefox for Android because I heard they don't have a WebView Implementation so the firefox browser has to be used beside the Chromium WebView meaning there's an attack surface of two browser engines. I also heard that the Firefox sandboxing and site isolation isn't very good between websites.
I've been using Vanadium WebView and browser because of that.
- I don't know what this means
  
  Android System Webview allows apps to display browser windows in the app rather than taking you to your web browser app. On Android, chromium is used for webview. If you use Firefox as a default browser, the remote attack surface increases because they're two different browsers with different security issues.
  Site isolation enforces security boundaries around each site using the sandbox by placing each site into an isolated sandbox. Firefox doesn't have that feature so they're vulnerable to attacks like Spectre.