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Extensions in Firefox for Android Update

7 responses

Dec. 12, 2023 UPDATE: Please see this post for the most updated information around extensions on Firefox for Android.

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Starting with Firefox 85, which will be released January 25, 2021, Firefox for Android users will be able to install supported Recommended Extensions directly from addons.mozilla.org (AMO). Previously, extensions for mobile devices could only be installed from the Add-ons Manager, which caused some confusion for people accustomed to the desktop installation flow. We hope this update provides a smoother installation experience for mobile users.

As a quick note, we plan to enable the installation buttons on AMO during our regularly scheduled site update on Thursday, January 21. These buttons will only work if you are using a pre-release version of Firefox for Android until version 85 is released on Tuesday, January 25.

This wraps up our initial plans to enable extension support for Firefox for Android. In the upcoming months, we’ll continue to work on optimizing add-on performance on mobile.  As a reminder, you can use an override setting to install other extensions listed on AMO on Firefox for Android Nightly.

We’ll be sure to provide more updates on this blog about extensions in Fenix as they become available.

7 comments on “Extensions in Firefox for Android Update”

  1. john wrote on

    Hello why i already have the version 85 for android installed if the are coming on 25th only???

  2. Matthew Giampapa wrote on

    Why won’t you allow users to load xpi files like on the desktop and older versions of Firefox for Android? I still use version 68.11.0 because of this, and I know I am not alone.

  3. Russell Haley wrote on

    If I am reading correctly, this is only a change to the installation method, and the actual state of extension support remains unchanged. If so, this is a great disappointment. You are “wrapping up” plans to enable extension support at 18 extensions out of thousands.

    Stylus: Blocked.

    PDF.js: Blocked.

    Font Contrast: Blocked.

    Kill Infinite Scroll: Blocked. (And it’s a required workaround for the aggressive memory eviction on Android.)

    Compact Reddit Redirect: Blocked.

    The suggested workaround of using Nightly is a non-starter.

    The Nightly package updates frequently and is several times the size of the Release and Beta packages, presumably because of debug symbols. This costs money on limited data plans and wears out flash on cheaper devices that do not have tens or hundreds of GB of free space for wear leveling, which makes Nightly especially unsuited for the poor and people in developing countries with poor hardline network connectivity.

    There is no way to migrate open tabs (or collections?) between release channels, which makes switching, and switching back, a big hassle. I’m still on Beta because of that, after switching to it for earlier access to bug fixes back when Fennec was being rapidly iterated. And most users would prefer to switch back when or if addon support returns to the Release channel, because of the data cost and flash wear-out, and because Nightly exposes us to more regressions and probably more telemetry.

  4. David Wright wrote on

    This is some truly GREAT news, I’ve been trying out the nightly version of firefox on my android phone. At least for me it seems to load pages a little bit slower than some chromium based android browsers that I also have installed on my phone. But one great feature about firefox android is the fact that we can at least utilize certain add-ons !

  5. Mojtaba Daneshi wrote on

    Hello Admins,
    Thanks for what you are doing to make Firefox better and better.
    Sincerely

  6. Olivier Crête wrote on

    Does that mean that add-on authors will be able to mark their add-ons as compatible with Android on AMO and make them available to users of the stable version?

  7. Er AnsAr Mughal wrote on

    Plz add print page and save as pdf add ons. thanks