For a while now, Firefox has been working on a complete redesign for its Android browser known as “Fenix.” The updated browser delivers a lot of changes for the better, but it also cripples Mozilla’s extension support.
Firefox’s stable channel on the Play Store jumps from v68 to v79 with this update, including essentially a year’s worth of updates in a single go. The updated version uses the same codebase from the beta versions of Firefox on Android, as well as pulling over the redesigned UI. All of the elements have a more modern design as well as some nice quality-of-life changes. For example, the address bar can now be moved to the bottom of the screen, a more comfortable location for many users.
The official changelog for this update also details everything else that’s new.
- New Tabs Tray
- Perform voice searches from the address bar.
- Icon now shows up in the address bar when Reader mode is available.
- More add-on support
- Enhanced Tracking Protection is set to Strict by default.
- You can now sort your logins by name or last-used date.
There’s a lot of good here, but the one big negative is extension support. As Android Police points out, this feature gets a considerable downgrade. Where Firefox v68 supported thousands of extensions, v79 only launches with a handful, listed below. On the bright side, this should be fixed over time as developers are able to update their extensions/add-ons.
- uBlock Origin
- Dark Reader
- HTTPS Everywhere
- Privacy Badger
- NoScript Security Suite
- Decentraleyes
- Search by Image
- YouTube High Definition
- Privacy Possum
Also noteworthy is that this Firefox redesign isn’t available for all Android users just yet. As TechDows notes, only a few regions are supported so far: SA,UA,NZ,BG,NO,PH. Luckily, you can just sideload the update if you’re feeling impatient.