Firefox for Android used to let you add extensions, but that feature wasremoved in 2020when Mozilla did a major overhaul for security and a user-friendly interface. Unfortunately, that decision took a hit on extension compatibility. In August of this year, Mozilla revealed that it’sbringing back an “open ecosystem of extensions” for Firefox on Android, and now it has thrown us a little preview of these add-ons.
Mozilla’s Scott DeVaney previously said that these extensions would make their debut before the year wraps up, and now Mozilla hasconfirmedthat they will officially be available on December 14. To get us all pumped up, Mozilla has even rolled out a dedicatedextension pageto make discovering new content a breeze.
To give you a sneak peek at the goodies on the way, Mozilla just dropped a bunch of newopen extensionsfor Android. Some of the must-haves include Bitwarden’s password manager, Decentraleyes for privacy protection, a text-to-speech add-on, AdGuard’s ad blocker, Web Archives, and more.
At the moment, you’re able to check out 16 open extensions on Mozilla’s add-on page, and next month, it’s dropping more than 400 new extensions. That’s double what the organizationinitially hinted at just a few weeks ago.
Mozilla is bragging that Firefox will be the onlymajor Android browsersupporting an open extension ecosystem. This means that people will be able to create all sorts of new extensions for Firefox, which could give Firefox a leg up on rivals likeGoogle Chrome, which is a bit stingy when it comes to third-party add-ons. Meanwhile, over on iOS land, Safari recently hopped on the extension support train.
Since Firefox for Android got a makeover three years ago, it onlyplayed nice with fewer than two dozen extensions. To use desktop Firefox extensions with its Android counterpart, you have to dig into some developer menus, though Mozilla warned that this could cause problems.
Mozilla is also warning developers to buckle up for a wild ride. It’s expecting a surge in demand for extensions once they’re available for Firefox for Android, and the organization wants to make sure developers are ready for the influx of users. It has provided a handyset of instructionsto get developers started, and Mozilla is also encouraging them to test their code thoroughly.
It’s not clear yet if Firefox extensions will ever be available on iOS.Apple has its own extension systemthat’s different from Firefox’s, so it’s not a simple matter of making the extensions compatible.
