Prepare your Firefox desktop extension for the upcoming Android release

Niceee, Firefox Android needs more attention. It's such an underrated browser. It's non chromium, search bar on bottom by default, uBlock Origin, https-only mode, cookie banner reduction (soon), the best reader mode of all browsers, and addon support.

For me it's the ability to install extensions. I can't browser without the dark reader extension. If I look at bright screens for long time, I get a headache and won't get sleep
- Wish it were as easy to use as Samsung Internet browser dark mode. You can enable/disable with just 2 taps: settings > enable/disable.
Cookie banner reduction already exists usint uBlock. You just need to enable some additional lists
- uBlock settings > filter list > annoyance > AdGuard/uBO - Cookie Notices
- Oh yeah I went crazy and enabled all the annoyance filters, including every other filter lol. Browsers will never be able to keep up with the uBlock Origin extension. It's probably the single most privacy preserving software out there.
I really did not like the search bar at the bottom. Thankfully, you can move it back up!
- I found it unexpectedly appealing on the bottom, but good to know you can move it up! Extra point for Firefox.
Can I log in to my Google account though, in the actual browser? Firefox is fantastic,l and those features are amazing, but I keep all my browsing, bookmarks, and so on in one place, my Google account.

I need to be able to look something up on my pc or tablet etc which all run chrome, and be able to find that quickly on my phone by typing into the address bar, etc.

I don't usually care much about integrations but this one is too convenient to give up.

And I suppose, thinking about it, it would have to support multiple profiles too, because I have my personal Google account profile in Chrome, then my work Google profile, etc. Different sets of bookmarks and settings and so on for the different needs.
- No, you won't get Google profile sync built into Firefox. They have their own Firefox profile sync.
- Firefox has its own syncing system via a Firefox account that'll sync your bookmarks, open tabs, history, logins, etc..
  
  Firefox on desktop does support multiple profiles, but they are nowhere near as convenient as Chrome's which is just a few clicks.

That's the reason why I use Firefox on Android.

That's the reason why I might start to use FF again (tbh at this point I don't see why to use anything else).
- I am using Firefox as well and I don't think I'd go back to Chrome, but I wish it supported progressive web apps a bit better!
Fr. Chrome on android is much more stable in my experience. But Firefox still wins due to adblock + sweet sweet dark mode.

Can someone TLDR please ?

Are you a developer? If not then the only thing you need to know is that Mozilla is essentially announcing enabling desktop extensions to be able to work on mobile
- Oh cookies auto delete here I come
- Sick! I just switched to Firefox nightly so I can use ublacklist on mobile.
- Ah thanks.
- So how have we gotten mobile extensions over the last year? Were those pre-selected by Mozilla, perhaps?
- Oh, finally!
  
  They were only disabled... five? years ago?
Firefox Mobile supported add-ons for many years, but due to having to change some things under the hood a few years ago, add-ons got restricted a bit (though you could still use them).

They're basically announcing they finally fixed the issue and they're coming back.
- More than just a bit, they only approved a few at all as far as I could tell fron the years of using the browser but yea.
They don't spell this out, but my interpretation is that extension devs will be able to publish extensions for use on Android, without Mozilla explicitly approving each one of them.

Many desktop extensions work as-is on Android, so when this goes live, we'll likely see dozens, if not hundreds, of extensions becoming available in the following weeks.

Glad I made the switch back to FireFox a year or two ago. As a Dev, I was entrenched in Chrome and it wasn't an easy move but with the path Google are currently treading around ad serving, blocking the ad blocks etc. I feel I made the right choice.....

I use Firefox on Android and it's great. Ad blocking is the big one but it's just a good browser. I deleted the Twitter and Reddit apps recently and Firefox lets me bookmark the sites on the launcher so it's like a separate "app" but not taking up 100s MB of space and I can block ads on these sites. I'm hoping that I'll be to use the Twitter desktop extension that prunes even more junk out of the experience - recommendations, what's trending and other clickbait garbage
- Do you have anything installed to make them stop bugging you about using their awful apps?

Reads like they are finally returning to full addon support. I've been using Firefox for Android long enough to remember that, before the grand redesign, they supported all addons and let you access about:config.

Back then, I was using uMatrix on FfA, now I am forced to use NoScript, which is more fickle to use and less stable.

Finally. You've been able to use desktop addons this whole time, but you have to do a whole runaround:

Create Firefox account

Sign in on desktop

Install the add-ons you want

Create an app collection and publish it

Sign in on mobile

Enable developer mode

Download your custom app collection

(Optional: sign out on both devices)
- Yeah, and it only worked on some add-ons, for some reason.
- Fortunately IceRaven supports pretty much all extensions. Only few of them actually work however.
Hopefully it won't break too many forks.

Woah that’s awesome. So ublock origin on android Firefox? Freaking nice!

uBlock on Firefox mobile has been out for a while now
- From the beginning. Even when Firefox had to restrict the mobile add-ons a few years ago, uBlock was one of the few that remained.
- ~~Had to use the nightly build version, though~~ I suck and I've been off platform too long
  
  It's the thing I miss most after intentionally going to 'that other platform' for dev reasons, though Brave Browser is a decent stand-in for FF+uBlock on this side of the walled garden.
you can use ublock origin on android firefox right now.. been using it for years.
I use it since maybe a year now on Android and it's amazing. The toggeling of the overlay and weird zap objects/overlays function takes some getting used too but otherwise its just like on the Desktop.
- Yeah, the way Firefox manages addon interfaces on mobile makes it really unintuitive to use ublock's tools, but you can absolutely use them with some practice and patience. Personal filters makes so many websites usable.
  
  Hopefully whatever this update is will make using the element zapper/filter easier.

Is there an extension for hiding the annoying attempts of reddit web app trying to get you to install their app, then login through Google? Still find myself there when it's from a Google search.

This might not be a proper solution but having old reddit redirect extebsion seems to almost all attempt by reddit to get me to use the app.
- Yeah, just an addon to automatically redirect all Reddit links to the old.reddit.com version would already make Firefox addon support on Android super useful for me!
  
  Since Reddit threads are still sometimes the only results when searching for questions to uncommon issues.
Possibly some of the non-default lists in ublock origin? Worth having a look!
Stylus and creating a userstyle

Element hiding filter of uBlock/css rules for uBlock
- Huh, I thought it was just doing url based blocking and not hooking into the UI side, will have to take a look. Kinda treat browser plug-ins as a set and forget it thing.

This is great news, I've just switched to Firefox & Firefox Focus on Android as a longtime user of Mobile Chrome and Desktop Firefox. It always felt weak on mobile, but things have changed. Still hating the purple though, and the placement of the new tab button but that's a small price to pay.

Nice, no more nightly and beta for me...

Fennec from F-Droid is a way to go. It lets you enable extensions and is based on stable release

So we finally get some major functionality back? I never cared about that redisgn but removing proper extension support was a really shitty part of it that I did care about!

If this comes through, I might no longer need Iceraven (andoid firefox with full addon support, like before they tore it out; I use it for Singlefile)

Alright, so what extensions are you guys looking forward to? On mobile I don't think about it too much cause most of the websites I use on Desktop I use as apps on Android, so a couple of website specific extensions are useless for me

uBlock and DandelionSprout's filter lists are a must!

https://github.com/DandelionSprout/adfilt
- uBlock was already available for Firefox for Android
Redirect amp to html, search by image, clear urls, localCDN, web archives, tampermonkey etc.🫡 So many useful extensions.
Sponsor Block (+ the already existing uBlock origin) for an ad-free YouTube.

Currently using the fennec build Firefox with those add-ons and have since ditched the YouTube app. Works great so far as an ad-free/native alternative to apps like revanced or newpipe
- Enhancer for Youtube is great too because it enables so much more UI fixes (and disables auto play :))
- I use the Libretube app for that on my phone, it uses Piped to get the videos which tends to be a littpe more reliable than waiting for Newpipe updates and has Sponsorblock build in, for the next release we will even get Dearrow support build in! (Crowdsources titles and thumpnails to reduce clickbait)

This is seriously cool. I've been waiting for this for a while.

Well that's nice. But how many developers will care to make Android extensions at this point? Also will the current unsupported extensions in custom collections stop working?

Does this mean that I'll be able to get temporary containers on Firefox Android?

Some parts of the container API is not available on Android unfortunately. No container extension will work until that is fixed.

https://github.com/stoically/temporary-containers/issues/465

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1807456
- I wonder if hidden tabs are. It's not that I want tab groups on mobile, but it'd be interesting to see attempts, specially with how absolute dogshit grouped tabs are on mobile chrome, specially if there's pop ups involved (an inversion from desktop chrome, which has the best grouped tabs)
That extension requires rather deep integration into the UI, which I don't think is possible for Android extensions. So, I doubt, it will become available...

Ooo, exciting news!

504 gateway timeout. Exiting /s

Great i have been using all my fav extensions for a while in the beta version. Great news nonetheless!

It was already possible to use all extensions on Firefox for Android Nightly

But it was not an activity that an ordinary person was willing to spend time on doing.
- That's also true

Finally! Been using ancient version due to the addon crap they pulled in the past

Kiwi Browser has been able to use a good majority of the Chrome extension repertoire already though

Wtb this news for iOS.

Unfortunately apple doesn't allow any alteranative browsers on iOS... Everything that behaves as a browser must wrap Safari...
- Remember when Microsoft was given an anti-trust lawsuit just for bundling IE with Windows?
- Wait really? Lmao
- Thankfully it is like that. People who want to stay in a shitty ecosystem should feel the consequences. Maybe this will make them realize eventually
Good incentive to switch to an android device tbh!

So we're finally getting official support for most extensions on android?

Please please please don't' bring MV3 to Firefox for Android, Mozilla. 🤞

Why not? Mozilla already fixed the biggest issue plaguing MV3 by continuing to allow MV2 ad blockers.
They are, since there are definitely benefits and makes migration easier, but they are also allowing the support needed for adblockers to be just as strong as they are now. So it keeps the benefits while also keeping adblockers strong like right now.

https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2021/05/27/manifest-v3-update/

The issue is that Chrome is trying to replace webRequest.BlockingResponse which is essential for content blockers, which Mozilla is pointing out and keeping supported.
MV3 existing isn't a problem. MV2 deprecation is.

Will this also affect IceRaven browser, a fork of Firefox mobile? Also, will it allows us to load extensions locally, like the Bypass Paywall Clean extension?

IceRaven is a close fork, so it will almost certainly apply to IceRaven, too (maybe with a short delay).

Loading extensions from files, I would not assume to work. Even their current developer workflow requires using an AMO collection.
Someone could reupload Bypass Paywall Clean to AMO. As I understand from quick research, the DMCA takedown request was not challenged by the dev. Or you can use another paywall removal extension.
- You can add the Bypass Paywalls Clean filter lists to uBlock Origin and the user scripts to TamperMonkey to get, as I understand it, almost all the basic functionality of the extension.
You can already install it using a old version of Firefox beta or fennec and then update the choose browser to the last version.

Everything is here

Beautiful

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@gaul I'm sick of FF. I don't understand why they crippled it for Android.

Im only using it because the other choice is Chrome.

Let People Do Things Without Being Forced To Do Other Things They Dont Want To Do.

So, after years of shitting on their users they decided to go back to before?

Not really since the blog post details that the infrastructure is much better and the way add-ons are handled is better too.
- Addon support was great before it was butchered 3 years ago. The current move should have coincided with the GeckoView migration, not three years later.

Okay, whoop.

Let me fucking download my files to where I want to on mobile, goddamnit.

Android has locked down free access to storage in recent versions. Blame Google.
That's 100% Google's fault. Firefox has no control on over this, Android prevents apps from accessing the full file system now.
- There's no need to access the full file system to download to wherever the user wants. In fact the user might not want to use the local file system, but instead a "cloud" storage provider app!
  
  The Storage Access Framework is built precisely for this.