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For the sliver of the market that prefer for Firefox instead of Chrome , the default web internet browser on Android equipment , the experience just got good . Firefox God Almighty Mozilla announced today the launch of over 450 newfangled file name extension — aka web browser attention deficit hyperactivity disorder - ons — which are now usable on Mozilla’sFirefox web browser Add - ons pageboy . These extension phone allow users to customise the nomadic internet browser to their need , whether that involve addinganti - tracking privacy tools , contentblockers , productivity pecker or other feature film that introduce new experience , likestreaming medicine , or those that countenance users to personalize the internet browser ’s user port — likeswitching all websites to a glowering modeor extend abettor way to manage tab .
The deficiency of extensions has been an take for Firefox for Android user for years followingthe 2020 launch of a rebuilt edition of the mobile browserthat replaced the app ’s old codebase with “ GeckoView , ” a new , fast and more customizable internet browser locomotive engine . At the prison term , the companysaid it made a decisionto limit the supported extensions to only those within the “ Recommended Extensions ” program — meaning those that were ordinarily install by death drug user . This option allowed Mozilla to rapidly get the new browser app into consumer ’ hand , but squeeze the long tail of extension development — and opportunity for software developer focused on this marketplace .
While Firefox ’s nightly builds later enable more extensions , the publically available Firefox for Android internet browser did not have access to these C of extensions , meaning most of Firefox ’s mainstream users were also without .
In August of this year , Mozilla saidit had finally completed the infrastructure require to bring the open file name extension ecosystem back to Firefox for Android . It then began to screen and make hundreds more extensions available to Firefox for Android users , culminate in today ’s news that there are now 450 + extensions available .
The society stressed the importance of having an opened ecosystem , noting that nearly half of all Firefox screen background users have an annexe installed to customize their experience .
Many of the commend extensions for the Android browser app have substance abuser numbers in the six finger’s breadth or more , but the app itself only retains a little slash of the mobile web browser app market , due to the traction that the default browsers , Chrome and Safari , have achieved on Android and iOS , respectively . On mobile twist , Firefox has a simple 0.5 % market share as of November 2023,according to information on StatCounter . By comparison , Chrome has a 64.23 % percentage . Safari , Samsung ’s internet browser , Opera and others are also ahead of Firefox in the mobile internet browser subspecies .
Still , the app has a small but devoted followers , including those who are looking for alternate options from others beyond the Big Tech giants . One of its fundamental selling points is automatic tracker block , which appeals to the more secrecy - apt . Per Google Play Store data point , Firefox for Android has topped 100 million installs to date .
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“ The opportunity for innovation is huge , ” said Giorgio Natili , Firefox ’s director of Engineering , in anannouncementabout the extensions ’ launching . “ It ’s thrilling to see university extension developer embrace this moment and make novel browse experience and features for Firefox for Android users . People do n’t have to browse the roving World Wide Web in a strictly singular way any longer . With extensions , you ’re gratis to commute the way Firefox for Android looks and behaves . It ’s only going to get better as more developers innovate within this exciting unexampled space , ” he added .
