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Comment by eadmund | Hacker News Reader

Looks like still no general support for extensions on Android.

uBlock origin works, but I really want my containers to sync.. That is, before I switched to iOS, in iOS land I can't even have ad blocking in FF (unless I set up my own DNS). DDG browser is a bit better, still leave through a lot more than Safari which fully utilizes the adguard app..

Non-Apple web browsers on iOS are all webkit wrappers that cannot do their own rendering or content filtering.

I know. Horrible right.

I don't get it. It is such a user hostile move. Is it some app store rule? Since Ublock is white listed I guess it is not the Google money atleast.

>Is it some app store rule?

No, previous version (Fennec) didn't have this limitation...

That has been a long and steady trajectory for Mozilla. Personally I think they're trying to create another walled garden for themselves and/or trying to make a buck while making sure they don't give stupid reason to Google for blocking their app from Play Store for random reason of the week. I hope its latter, because then Mozilla remains in slightly brighter light, but I'm not holding my breath for it anymore. They have been promising 'more extensions' on mobile for years now, and still neglect the one thing that actually sets their browser apart from mobile.

> Looks like still no general support for extensions on Android.

I tend to find Firefox Focus preferable on mobile anyway.

Just curious but why? I use FF regular on mobile, mostly for the ublock, but I wonder if I'd be better off with Focus.

Not the op, but I use both. Firefox focus as default (any link from a random app open on a short lived session, it just feels right), for regular browsing Firefox mobile (and yes, if I'm there and I choose to open a temporary tab, I use the normal incognito tab, with ublock origin)

I do that as well. One problem I have is that if I send a tab from FF desktop to FF Android it opens in FF Focus, although it's basically a click from a FF Android notification.

> any link from a random app open on a short lived session

My reason is mostly the above (and other related security reasons). In particular the ability to clean sessions, cookies etc. just by hitting the trash can next to the URL bar.

Secondary reason is on a small screen usability. The simpler the better. Firefox Focus is simple, minimal settings, and of course quick and easy to reset sessions.

And here I was considering finally upgrading. Good to know.

They hilariously managed to roll out yet another UI revamp on top of the UI revamp that broke extensions without actually fixing extensions. Of course the revamp is worse, Windows 3.1-style 3D bevels on bookmark icons now (while ignoring the total waste of screen space from the bookmark grid layout, of course). Mozilla's death spiral is obvious because it's clear all the smart people have already left the building

edit: defending this a bit since it seems the negativity isn't warranted. The build that broke extensions and rearranged the entire UI was pushed as an automatic update with no warning. The last update on the AMO blog about this state of affairs is from 8 months ago. This was a huge breakage done without warning and nothing seems to have been done to resolve it in the interim.

If you're just tuning in, addons were about 80% the reason to use Firefox on mobile at all. Now there is a committee to approve which extensions are permitted on mobile to "protect the experience", when previously open ended access to extensions literally was the entire experience.

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