Mozilla has announced that the Android version of Firefox will soon support any and all extensions, and has informed extension developers about this change.
For the past few years Firefox for Android officially supported a small subset of extensions while we focused our efforts on strengthening core Firefox for Android functionality and understanding the unique needs of mobile browser users. Today, Mozilla has built the infrastructure necessary to support an open extension ecosystem on Firefox for Android. We anticipate considerable user demand for more extensions on Firefox for Android, so why not start optimizing your desktop extension for mobile-use right away?
This almost instantly makes Firefox the most capable and versatile browser on Android. It’s taken them a long time, but the ability to load whatever extension we want will be a great asset.
This is good news for me. This has long been a gripe of mine with firefox mobile.
However, when mozilla say “support an open extension ecosystem on Firefox for Android”, everyone needs to be aware that the portrayal as an open ecosystem is quite disingenuous. This change will let users install desktop extensions on mobile, which is fine, but the desktop extensions on firefox have NOT been an open ecosystem for years. The exact opposite is true, mozilla are coercive gatekeepers and have been interfering with owner choice in side-loading extensions on the normal user versions of firefox.
It’s a shame I have to criticize Mozilla over this. I want/need firefox to fight the good fight fight against a chrome monopoly. But I strongly believe in FOSS and I can not look the other way when mozilla digs their heals in as being the app police. This is wrong for FOSS. Unfortunately mozilla’s pro-walled-garden position is hurting their reputation in the hearts of FOSS devs…
Just to be clear, Firefox on Android *had* full extension support for normal desktop browser extensions for years up until it had a midlife crisis redesign at version 79 in August of 2020. Since then it has only been possible to install other extensions that aren’t on their short list by going through an arcane process of creating and adding a “Custom Add-on collection”, and it was only available in the nightly builds and more recently in the beta versions.
The other way to say this is Android Firefox will now suddenly be flooded with extensions that were never designed for it, or indeed for a touch interface leading to massive inconsistencies and frustration.
I’ve been burnt to many times by similar initiatives pushing apps designed for a different use case on to a different platform and being surprised when consumers get sub par outcomes (android TV?)
Adurbe,
The vast majority of extensions that I use like downloaders, blockers, automation tools are configured via an extension page that ought to work equally well on android. So I think quite a few could prove very useful even on android. If they don’t work you can always run FF without extensions and be no worse off, but at least having them makes FF for android feel like less of a second class citizen, at least IMHO.
Edit: they could/should also let users know which extensions were specifically built for android specifically.