Firefox on Android Finally Gets Add-on Support, but There's a Catch

Having announced plans to roll out a new version of Firefox Nightly based on the Preview version on Android, Mozilla has finally started fulfilling its long-standing promise to bring addition support to its new mobile browser.

This feature has just started rolling out to Firefox Preview (Nightly), but it supports only i add-on – uBlock Origin at the moment. With a little bit of luck, however, the software will soon contain back up for most of the other add-ons available on desktop.

Information technology'south worth noting here that support for add-ons is a much-awaited feature that Firefox users on Android take been demanding for years. All the same, information technology was only last year that Mozilla finally announced that information technology is working on bringing characteristic parity between the desktop and mobile versions of Firefox, including the implementation of add-on support in Firefox's mobile apps.

To test out the new feature, you can install or update Firefox Preview (formerly Fenix) on your Android smartphone from the Google Play Store, then tap on the three-dot 'card' button on the navigation bar at the lesser right. From at that place, you need to cull the new Add-ons manager choice, which will then directly you to a listing of bachelor add-ons for your device, which, as mentioned already, currently includes simply uBlock Origin.

Firefox on Android Finally Gets Add-on Support, but There's a Catch — Screenshots Courtesy: XDA

Practice notation that the new feature is nevertheless at an experimental stage, which is why information technology is currently bachelor on Firefox Preview Nightly instead of the stable channel. The Preview version of Firefox, in case yous don't already know, is based on Mozilla's in-house GeckoView browser engine merely like the regular Firefox. Information technology offers you the highest level of privacy and security like the popular open-source browser. However, it likewise comes with enhanced tracking protection, a revamped UI and a "noticeably faster browsing feel," according to Mozilla.

It'due south also worth noting that Mozilla is planning to transition its main Firefox browser on Android to the Preview version at some stage in the coming days. The new Preview-based Firefox has apparently been in testing for several months, and it will start rolling out to existing Firefox for Android users via the Nightly app from the January 21 earlier being pushed to the stable channel by June, 2020.