Firefox for Android brings back support for extensions

While Google Chrome remains a top choice for most Android users, Firefox also manages to secure a spot for itself. According to a recent announcement, it’s getting even better. Firefox parent Mozilla announced the support for new extensions for Firefox Android versions. This takes an edge over Chrome because if you use Chrome on Android, you’d know it doesn’t support extensions yet.

Mozilla Firefox for Android now supports extensions

Mozilla’s latest announcement notes the support for extensions on Firefox for Android devices. All supported extensions can be found on the Firefox browser’s add-on page, and at the time of writing, over 491 extensions are available. This leads to the question: why do we need extensions or add-ons for mobile browsers? Well, they enhance the overall browsing experience.

Mobile browser extensions let users tailor their browsing experience. You can add privacy shields that block trackers, banish unwanted content with blockers, boost productivity with helpful tools, or unlock new ways to explore the web. For instance, Android Authority notes that extensions like Automatic AdSkipper let you skip video ads on websites. Another extension, SingleFile, lets you save an entire webpage as an HTML file that you can access offline.

More importantly, Firefox for Android supported extensions previously until an app overhaul in 2020. But things have changed for the better now. In August of this year, Mozilla announced the successful implementation of the necessary infrastructure to reintroduce the open extension ecosystem to Firefox for Android. Following this milestone, the company began testing and including hundreds of additional extensions for Firefox for Android users. And today, we get what the company had promised: extension support for Firefox Android.

Firefox is far behind Google Chrome in terms of its userbase

According to a recent report published by Statcounter, Chrome takes an edge over its peers with 64.23% of the market share in mobile browsers worldwide. The top mobile browsers are Safari (25.24%), Samsung Internet (4.55%), Opera, and UC Browser. Meanwhile, Firefox stands in the seventh position with barely 0.5% market share.