[HN Gopher] Iceraven - Firefox for Android fork with more add-on... ___________________________________________________________________ Iceraven - Firefox for Android fork with more add-ons and configuration options Author : mmwelt Score : 144 points Date : 2022-01-04 16:07 UTC (6 hours ago) (HTM) web link (github.com) (TXT) w3m dump (github.com) | nick__m wrote: | About a year ago, I used to use Iceraven but I switched back to | FF nightly when support for custom addons list was added back. | | Even though I like the project, I consider that it's what FF for | Android should have been, I returned to FF because nowadays a | browser needs frequent security updates and Iceraven is not | staffed to have frequent releases. | LanternLight83 wrote: | It's a shame that this is the case for 99% of alternative | browsers and forks. Sometimes I think the only solution would | be to embrace something like Gopher, where hostile sites aren't | feasible and browsers are free to diversify without constant | maintenance. | SubzeroCarnage wrote: | I maintain the Mull fork and also help maintain Fennec F-Droid. | (Currently compiling 96.1.0 as I type this). | | Both are fully compiled from source and available on F-Droid. | | I personally cannot recommend Iceraven as it is consistently | behind updates, something you don't want for a browser. | | https://divestos.org/misc/ffa-dates.txt | [deleted] | igorstellar wrote: | Perhaps offtop, Is there at least 1 browser for Android that | supports per-page zoom? Safari does it on iOS with a super simple | setting, but the only way to increase font size in ANY of Android | browsers is to increase scale in Accessibility which will break | some websites with larger fonts. I feel like this is super basic | feature that I can't find. | jsmith99 wrote: | If you just want extension support without a whitelist, Firefox | Nightly for Android lets you supply a custom list of extensions | (called an AMO) which you can add any extension to. | | https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2020/09/29/expanded-extensio... | brnt wrote: | So now I need to create accounts and lists, where I really just | wanted one particular add-on. Its a workaround at best. | joecool1029 wrote: | You can also use Iceraven's custom extension collection on | firefox nightly. | | userid: 16201230 | | name: What-I-want-on-Fenix | gkoberger wrote: | Small nitpick, but AMO is just our internal acronym for | addons.mozilla.org, which is where all the extensions come | from! | m4rtink wrote: | Thats a lot of fragile manual steps, not to mention needing a | user account and being dependent on Mozilla infra. Hardly | straightforward + not to mention addons on Android Firefox | overall still barely working in the new Android version, with | no visible progress to fix that. | asimops wrote: | The question is, why I would want to install a nightly just for | add-ons? To my knowledge you f.e. need an add-on to block a | specific cookie, because FF Android doesn't have this option... | The question is when/if the product manager at Mozilla will | realize the state of the browser at some point :/ I can just | say that as far as I am concerned, the only thing that is | keeping me with FF Android is the vendor lock-in with FF Sync. | mod50ack wrote: | Yeah, this is dumb as hell. Thankfully, Fennec F-Droid | enables it for stable builds. | jaynetics wrote: | Yeah, just do these 5 steps in FF, then register at that | website, and do a bunch of steps there for every single | extension you want to install. | | Or rather, if you just want extension support, don't use FF. (I | for one am very happy with Kiwi. OP fork also sounds nice.) | jsmith99 wrote: | It's a bit inconvenient but you only need to do it once. I | like Kiwi as well and it seems to get frequent updates now, | at least as github releases (play store version is updated | less often). | brnt wrote: | No, I'll forever need to register my Firefoxes on mobile, | and fight any 'inadvertent' changes that store personal | data in the future. | | I prefer my software stateless, having me register accounts | adds work and seems to me to be at best a silly workaround. | colordrops wrote: | I've gone the opposite direction and installed Firefox Focus. | | I found myself accumulating 100s of tabs that I would supposedly | get back to, and it was causing anxiety. Firefox focus is | ephemeral and your tabs will disappear. It doesn't permanently | store cookies. It has a built in ad blocker. It's perfect to keep | me "focused" on the task at hand. | user_7832 wrote: | The repeated "accept cookies" pop ups are what make me switch | back every time I use FF though. Is there any fix for it? | brnt wrote: | Skip those user hostile sites. | brink wrote: | It's only 95% of the internet. | dendrite9 wrote: | I use incognito for most browsing, every so often I lose my | tabs. And it is ok. If I care, and remember the site, I'll open | it normally and make a bookmark. If not it isn't the end of the | world. | | I keep about 20 tabs open in normal browsing for easy | reference. Incognito for most browsing. And Firefox Focus for | even more ephemeral stuff, copied links I don't want to touch | my other browsing, and screenshots. It sounds a little crazy to | write it out, but it works for me. | donio wrote: | Firefox on Android has an option to auto-close tabs after a | while, I have that set to "close after a day" to keep things | tidy. | lelandfe wrote: | For Safari iOS: Settings > Safari > Close Tabs > After One | Day/Week/Month | xanaxagoras wrote: | Does "more add-ons" mean it's still a whitelist? I'm trying to | find a mobile browser I can use floccus with. So far I've only | been able to find Kiwi which is not privacy oriented. | danielEM wrote: | nice, but what I really need now for my mobile with display port | is a 1 to 1 desktop Firefox browser | therealmarv wrote: | Containers in Iceraven, somebody got them working? How can I open | a new container tab? I cannot figure out on how to use them on | this mobile browser. Maybe this extension + a mobile Firefox is | not compatible to each other. | causality0 wrote: | If I can have a genuine user agent switcher I'll throw you a damn | parade. | jeroenhd wrote: | There are two addons in the fork's whitelist that allow you to | change the UA. | bordercontrol wrote: | That's possible. Install Firefox Nightly, create a custom addon | collection on the Firefox addon site, add an user agent | switcher to the collection, add the collection to Firefox | Nightly. You now owe me a parade. | NikolaeVarius wrote: | Why the hell would you use this product. It has caveats a mile | long | jeroenhd wrote: | To use a stable version of Firefox with about:config and more | than the ten addons that Mozilla have supported in the last two | years. | | I'm not sure if this is the fork you want, but to get some of | the features that Firefox used to have for years you can't use | the normal stable build anymore. | tyingq wrote: | An android browser that supports extensions is hard to find. I | assume the ones you can find all have caveats. | webmobdev wrote: | It mentions that it is an alpha version - that's why the long | list of caveat. And as Firefox becomes a spyware / adware, | forks like these are welcome news. | kadoban wrote: | What leads you to call (or predict?) Firefox spyware/adware? | webmobdev wrote: | Firefox's address bar has ads now - | https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/7/22715179/firefox- | suggest-... | morsch wrote: | So does the new tab page: https://support.mozilla.org/en- | US/kb/sponsor-privacy | | And of course they've always sold access to the list of | default search engines. | kadoban wrote: | Thanks. As long as they can be turned off easily, I | personally don't mind that much, but yeah, hard to argue | against your wording given that. | toastal wrote: | Fennec exists and its already on the F-Droid. Goals are different | but probably close enough. | | The biggest thing I miss is full add-on support. Not having | CleanURLs and an AMP redirector suck despite add-ons existing for | desktop that don't really need a mobile UI. | asimops wrote: | For half of what CleanURLs does, you can use uBlock Origin. It | has a filterlist that removes tracking parameters, etc. It will | not however clean links on copy. | gruez wrote: | >It has a filterlist that removes tracking parameters, etc. | | Which filter list is this? I didn't realize ublock has link | rewriting functionality. | asimops wrote: | It's AdGuard URL Tracking Protection under privacy. This | uses https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uBlock- | issues/issues/1356 | mod50ack wrote: | I use Fennec and both those extensions. | | https://blog.dbmiller.org/2021-08-19-using-fennec-or-mull-fo... | | Fennec is also great because it doesn't include Mozilla's | sponsored stuff as well. | worble wrote: | If you're on Fennec you can already use a custom addon | collection where you can add anything you want. | brnt wrote: | I use Fennec but have no idea what a 'custom addon | collection' is. I'd like to install one particular addon | thats currently not available. | input_sh wrote: | The way supported add-ons work right now is that there's a | list (AKA a collection) of supported add-ons maintained by | Mozilla that you see on a phone by default. | | You can create a custom collection on a desktop and then | override that Mozilla's collection within mobile Firefox's | settings: | https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2020/09/29/expanded- | extensio... | | You can install any add-on available on the desktop like | that, but your mileage may vary of course. | dblohm7 wrote: | > he way supported add-ons work right now is that there's | a list (AKA a collection) of supported add-ons maintained | by Mozilla that you see on a phone by default. | | They're not maintained by Mozilla, but they're | "recommended" and are reviewed more thoroughly. | | (I used to work on Firefox for Android) | blibble wrote: | is there a way to do this with the official build of the | stable version? | | I would assume running nightly is less than ideal for | regular browsing | dblohm7 wrote: | Unfortunately custom collections are limited to Nightly. | brnt wrote: | Thanks. I don't wish to use a Firefox account however. It | seems a bit arbitrary to not allow direct installs, but | allow them through this workaround. | input_sh wrote: | They allow direct installs of add-ons that they _know_ | were tested properly and work fine on a phone, not those | where they can 't guarantee that level of stability | (while still giving you that as an option if you feel | like experimenting). | | I don't see how that's arbitrary, I see it as a well | thought out process, even if I wish more add-ons were | added to that collection. | dblohm7 wrote: | (Former Firefox for Android engineer here) | | I agree that there should be more allowed add-ons. | Engineering didn't put in all the effort to implement the | add-ons APIs on Mobile only for it to be restricted to | such a small set. Unfortunately that's a product | decision. | donio wrote: | Yep, I use this to get vimium-FF on Fennec. It's a little | fiddly to setup but it's just another item on the long list | of tweaks to make Android tolerable. | ARandomerDude wrote: | What are HN's thoughts about the security of F-Droid? I always | see neat app ideas like the one in the parent comment, but I've | been afraid of what I don't know security wise. | dvdkon wrote: | Everything being built centrally and transparently by an | established group puts it leagues ahead of any other app | store in my mind. Installing other people's software will | always be a potential security problem, but that is | unavoidable now. | zauguin wrote: | Do the new configuration options allow accessing the list of | trusted CAs? Or if doubting the CA trust decisions from our | Mozilla overlords is considered too much blasphemy, can we at | least see details of the certificate for the current site? | asimops wrote: | If you are rooted, you can also force your own add-ons into | stable firefox like so: USER=16201230 | COLLECTION=What-I-want-on-Fenix cd | /data/data/org.mozilla.mozilla.firefox/files curl -o | mozilla_components_addon_collection_*.json "https://addons.mozill | a.org/api/v4/accounts/account/$USER/collections/$COLLECTION/addon | s/?page_size=50&sort=-added" touch -a -m -t 203012300130.00 | mozilla_components_addon_collection_*.json | | edit: remove fennec fdroid because TIL that it already has the | same add-on override that the FF nightly has. So there is no need | for this hack if you have fennec. | [deleted] ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2022-01-04 23:00 UTC)