The future of Firefox for Android

[Karlston]

Mozilla is working on a new mobile browser for Android called Fenix. The new browser is available as a development build currently.

 

The current Firefox for Android is also available but Mozilla focuses development resources on the new Fenix browser; that's the main reason why recent Firefox for Android releases look more like extended support releases that fix bugs but don't introduce a whole lot of new features in the browser.

 

While it was clear for some time that Mozilla planed to replace the current Firefox for Android with the new Fenix browser, it was unclear how all of that would happen.

 

Questions that we had no answers for included for how long the legacy Firefox for Android would be supported, when we could expect a first stable release of Fenix, and how Mozilla planed to migrate users from the old mobile browser to the new.

Firefox for Android future

 

A recently published support document highlights Mozilla's plans for the current Firefox for Android and also Fenix.

 

Mozilla's main idea is to maintain the legacy version of Firefox for Android until Fenix reaches migration readiness status. Firefox users on Android should be able to use the legacy version until Fenix is ready while Mozilla wants to minimize support costs.

 

To achieve that goal, Firefox for Android will move to the ESR branch after the release of Firefox 68. In other words: there won't be a Firefox 69 for Android that is based on the legacy version as it will use ESR versioning instead.

 

Timeline for legacy Firefox for Android

• May 14, 2019: release of Firefox 67 for Android
• July 9, 2019: release of Firefox 68 for Android
• September 3, 2019: release of Firefox 68.1 for Android (move to ESR channel)
• October 22, 2019: release of Firefox 68.2 for Android
• December 10, 2019: release of Firefox 68.3 for Android

The legacy version of Firefox for Android won't receive new feature updates anymore when it moves to the ESR channel. The browser won't receive support for new web technologies anymore, nor will it receive any other feature updates. Bug fixes and security updates will be provided.

 

The releases will follow the Firefox desktop release schedule.

 

Mozilla has not specified a support end for the browser. It seems likely that the browser will reach end of support before mid 2020; Support ends when Fenix is ready and users of the legacy version of Firefox for Android can be migrated to the new mobile browser.

 

Mozilla wants to make it clear that the move to ESR won't give the browser the Enterprise attribute. The main reason why the legacy browser is moved to ESR is that it allows Mozilla to maintain it with minimal effort while work on Fenix continues.

 

The ESR version reaches end of life after Fenix is deemed migration ready by Mozilla.

 

Source: The future of Firefox for Android (gHacks - Martin Brinkmann)

[Ha91]

I don't get it. This whole idea of a re-branding thing is just plain stupid.

Why can't they not improve the ESR versions and just continue with the normal stuff with the just ol' good Firefox? 😛

I guess people are just crazy and crazier when they get to positions compared to just living it off crazy.

So much money, resources would be saved because of it - let alone the confusion that all of this would strike to the average user. Gosh. The world is indeed headed to its end, it seems 🤣

[The AchieVer]

Mozilla: End of Firefox for Android slated for 2020 as Fenix rises

Mozilla will put Firefox for Android on life support later this year.

 

Firefox-maker Mozilla has outlined its transition plan for migrating existing Firefox for Android users across to the new Fenix mobile browser.

 

Fenix has been under development for the past few months, with developers experimenting with a new mobile-friendly interface that is hoped will appeal to younger users. 

 

The new browser is also the reason Mozilla hasn't delivered many feature updates to the existing Firefox for Android. 

 

A recently published document, spotted by Ghacks, reveals Mozilla's plans for the co-existing Android browsers and how it intends to proceed. 

 

"The goal of this plan is to provide users with a secure and supported legacy Firefox for Android product until Fenix has reached migration readiness, while minimizing our ongoing support costs," explains Mozilla.  

 

The plan is "to not make any user-facing changes until their eventual migration to the new Fenix-based product", it adds. 

 

In other words, no new features will be delivered to Firefox for Android until Fenix ships. 

 

Mozilla is planning to release Firefox 67 and Firefox 68 for Android in May and July, respectively, and then in September it will make Firefox 68 the base for the extended support release (ESR) version of the browser, which on the desktop means security patches only. 

 

There's no precise date for the end of support for Firefox for Android, but the document points to 2020 as the end of life for the mobile browser, known internally as 'Fennec'. 

 

As for why it's building a replacement browser, Mozilla notes that its existing methods for building Firefox for Android "causes instability in Fennec quality and crash rates owing to changes in Gecko, which diverts resources away from Fenix and GeckoView development to investigate and fix".

 

Gecko is Mozilla's browser engine for Firefox, while GeckoView is its alternative to Google's Chromium-based tool for allowing Android apps to display web content.  

 

The new look Fenix turns the standard browser on its head, positioning the URL bar at the bottom of the screen. As per Techdows, the current Fenix preview suggests the browser will have a dark mode and grouped tabs. 

 

For Android users keen to try out Fenix, Mozilla has made it available on its Taskcluster platform.

 

 

 

Source

[Karlston]

Similar topics merged.

[DKT27]

Waiting for years for this.

 

Meanwhile this is a good, Chrome based alternative to it.

[exodius]

Does Fenix can install firefox adons?