I remember wanting to try out Firefox on Android but not being able to use it with Tampermonkey which was a real bummer. Better late than never, I guess?
One question on my mind is why it took so long. Is Android a harder platform to make extensions available on or something?
It did support extensions until they basically redesigned the app from the ground up a few years back. They said they’d focus on stability first then move on from there.
Holy Fuck. Call me Ramsay, Finally some delicious fucking tech. the separation gap between mobile and pc has been going on for far too long. anything to help merge the pair. yes. all the yes.
I’ll be impressed when they actually allow for the installation of extensions from places other than their addon store like I can on the desktop version. Maybe in another 5 years, if Mozilla lasts that long.
Brave is a ticking clock counting down. They can continue putting off some of the chromium updates that Google is pushing but eventually they are going to go the way of the rest of the chromium forks.
That’s nice, maybe they can finally re-enable about:config in the damn thing too. They removed it from mobile Firefox years ago and the lack of it aggravates the hell out of me.
If you have enabled the sync feature in Firefox, it seamlessly works with Fennec; as does the integration between Fennec and Firefox Desktop. Simply log on with your Firefox account in Fennec, and you won’t even feel the difference.
I know it’s a big issue for many given the bad news and crap Google does, but Mozilla is actively taking away features from Gecko whereas Vivaldi, Microsoft, Google and Samsung are improving chromium. I find it hard to make Firefox behave how I want it to when browsers like Vivaldi or even Edge make it easy.
I know a common sentiment I hear (at least on Reddit) is “Why didn’t so and so’s browser use Gecko?” but when a company or person does, a lot of /r/Firefox and /r/Linux users will get upset that they are forking Firefox instead of adding to Firefox/Gecko.
For sure. Chromium, Gecko, WebKit, Trident, Presto… I also remember people then telling users to ditch other browsers… and the same people who said it 10-15 years ago are now the same people who are worried about the duopoly (WebKit and Blink) and lack of Gecko and browser/rendering engine innovation(s).
About time. I’m tempted to switch back to Mull from Bromite, but I’m worried about the security of Firefox compared to Chromium (that’s why I switched in the first place), I’ve heard that particularly Mobile Firefox has awful sandboxing and bad security, I’m pretty sure it was the GrapheneOS team saying this? I’m no security expert though…
Yes it was the GrapheneOS team who said that. See the paragraph just above https://grapheneos.org/usage#camera. I literally just skimmed their guides and saw this yesterday while considering getting a Pixel.
I use Mull and Vanadium on Graphene OS, and the experience on Vanadium is just okay by comparison. It is true that not having extensions does decrease the attack surface, and Vanadium does have a built in ad blocker, but it simply isn’t as all encompassing as ublock’s list.
I use Mull mainly but don’t log into anything with it, and have noscript extension on by default.
I also turn off JS by default in Vanadium. Both browsers have ways of making exceptions for certain sites in this case, but NoScript has more granular control.
I remember reading on reddit a convo that basically the GrapheneOS team was much more concerned with security than privacy. This isn’t to say they don’t care about privacy at all, just that they will always prioritize security first.
This makes sense considering their decision to only officially support the Pixel line of devices. You still are supporting Google by giving them your money (and a bit of your data in the process of purchase). Additionally, the decision to default to using the Google Play Store and sandbox the apps, rather than use the Aurora Store, also points to these underlying values.
Yeah, I can tell this just from skimming their FAQ and Usage Guides. When they talk about the applications they offer, they always sell it as the most secure thing ever. I still personally care more about privacy than security though.
Posted this above, but it might interest you as an alternative to Vanadium:
Bromite hasn’t been updated in a while, so you should at least switch to Cromite if you’re not switching to Mull. It’s a fork by a previous Bromite contributor and includes some improvements, like a bottom toolbar and adblock plus (so normal block lists, not Bromite’s less customizable ad blocker.
They’re different, but according to its readme, Cromite includes “security enhancement patches from GrapheneOS project”, so I assume it contains Vanadium’s changes as well as other improvements.
Bromite hasn’t been updated in a while, so you should at least switch to Cromite if you’re not switching to Mull. It’s a fork by a previous Bromite contributor and includes some improvements, like a bottom toolbar and adblock plus (so normal block lists, not Bromite’s less customizable ad blocker.
iOS/iPad OS is relatively much easier to develop and it’s a completely different branch from Android as it’s a skin on top of Safari Web View. All other platform use their own Quantum/Gecko Engine.
I mean.. it already does support desktop addons so I'm not exactly sure what's new here. It looks like this just fixes android killing background processes due to battery saving, but you can always just disable battery optimisation for firefox, or put it in "never sleeping apps", though granted even without doing this i've never experienced problems.
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