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Firefox IOS

Firefox 81 Released, Can Now Be Your Default Browser in iOS (engadget.com) 34

Posted by EditorDavid from the better-browsers dept.
Engadget reports: One big benefit of iOS 14 is that you can set non-Apple-made apps as your default, including for email and web browsing. Hot on the heels of you being able to set Chrome and Gmail as your clients of choice, Firefox is enabling you to make its browser the default on iPhones and iPads. Naturally, you'll need to have both the latest version of the operating system and the apps, and then just make the switch inside settings.
Meanwhile, Bleeping Computer profiles some of the new features in this week's release of Firefox 81, including:
  • The ability to control videos via your headset and keyboard even if you're not using Firefox at the time
  • A new credit card autofill feature for Firefox users in the U.S. and Canada
  • A new theme called AlpenGlow
  • Firefox can now be set as the default system PDF viewer

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Firefox 81 Released, Can Now Be Your Default Browser in iOS More

Firefox 81 Released, Can Now Be Your Default Browser in iOS

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  • gmail and now firefox (Score:3)

    by renegade600 ( 204461 ) on Saturday September 26, 2020 @03:10PM (#60546436)

    This past week gmail and now firefox. I wonder who is next. could it be that Apple is trying to worm its way out of anti-trust lawsuits?

    • re (Score:2)

      by guacamole ( 24270 )

      It took only 14 years... just wow. Microsoft IE4 antics pale in comparison.

    • I doubt it. Third party browsers on iOS are crippled by not being able to use the Content Filtering API in the same way Safari can. Try adblocking using Brave and Edge for iOS and watch it fail to stop YouTube adverts, then try the same lists on Safari using Content Filtering API and watch it reliably block them every single time.

      Then try using password managers with Safari on iOS. You can AutoFill and log in automatically but you can't generate new passwords or automatically add new logins.

      This means

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by dgatwood ( 11270 )

        I doubt it. Third party browsers on iOS are crippled by not being able to use the Content Filtering API in the same way Safari can. Try adblocking using Brave and Edge for iOS and watch it fail to stop YouTube adverts, then try the same lists on Safari using Content Filtering API and watch it reliably block them every single time.

        Third-party browsers on iOS are more crippled by not being able to be anything more than a skin around the built-in WebKit.

        The main reason I use multiple browsers on the Mac is that Facebook (mostly) and other websites randomly have bugs that affect only one browser. But if all your browsers are all using the same engine, then those bugs affect every browser.

        Being able to have multiple "browsers" on iOS is like being able to have multiple steering wheel wraps on your car. When the wheel underneath stops w

      • Not going to upgrade. Anyone can block ads and videos by just setting it to not display images. Even the social media tracking icons are GONE. And the web bugs, etc.

        Saves tons of bandwidth on your cell plan, sites load faster, what's not to like?

        After all if the browser never sends a request to load a tracking image or video, they can't track you.

        I can see this "feature " being removed at some point, because this is Firefox, and all good things get fucked up eventually, so not going to upgrade.

        • Anyone can block ads and videos by just setting it to not display images.

          Ah... the benefits of Lynx [wikipedia.org] ... :-)

          • Display of sites that use tables to lay out multiple columns are a fuckup in boolynks and links. Page down, page down, page down, page down ... on one site I have to page down 31 times to get to the central column with the actual content.

    • could it be that Apple is trying to worm its way out of anti-trust lawsuits?

      To the uninformed it would appear the timing is beyond coincidental. The programmers among us know that implementing a system in an OS to change default app behaviour is complex enough that work most definitely has begun on it long before the anti-trust lawsuit hit.

  • The Epic lawsuit has got them jittery... and Microsoft did go through a trial over this kind of thing...

  • A new credit card autofill feature (Score:4, Insightful)

    by QuietLagoon ( 813062 ) on Saturday September 26, 2020 @04:15PM (#60546604)
    When is something useful going to be added, like autoplay video blocking that actually blocks autoplay videos.
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • Usually the choice is to disable javascript on that page.
      • Today I don't want an ad-blocker so much as I want a content-finder. Find me the paragraphs and stop fucking with the css every time I change websites. I literally just want the thing that I was looking for. I'm fine writing/downloading maps for individual sites which are hard to interpret when I need those, and clicking on image placeholders when I need those. I don't want to see menubars, I want an option to reveal the menubar. Then I want to choose the CSS values I find best for reading.

      • Or I just stop using iOS devices for browsing and stick to Android, Linux, or Windows where I can properly install Firefox with uBlock Origin.

    • "A new credit card autofill feature for Firefox users in the U.S. and Canada"

      Dam almost snorted coffee out of my nose. (oops visuals, sorry!) my browser storing my banking info. lol right!
      What market are they making this for?
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Migrated from Chrome to Firefox a while back for various reasons, feeling less spied upon being one of them. Which feature do I miss the most? Credit card autofill. Buying stuff online was so much easier with Chrome, and now I find having to punch in my address and phone number again and again. For some of us, this is a much wanted feature. I am not arguing that this should be a useful or even wanted feature for everyone, but I would expect enough people want this that Firefox delivering is a good thing.

      I a

    • NoScript exists.

  • rendering engines after the last Firefox SSDP revelation. Only God and the Devil know what the heck Mozilla is doing.
    So Gecko now can be "used" in an iOS app? Wonder if this will make Goanna viable on iOS. Again maybe not, pretty hard to get in to Apples Walled Garden.
    Was looking at WebKit. for supported platforms.

    A small browser might make a good side project ;)
    Don't mind me just pondering ;)
  • Correction: The default browser can now be Safari with a firefox theme. It is not gecko underneath.

  • Themes? (Score:3)

    by DontBeAMoran ( 4843879 ) on Saturday September 26, 2020 @05:37PM (#60546730)

    Yet another reason Firefox lost the plot - who the hell uses themes in 2020? You have no business making applications if you can't follow the basic rules of user interface design, i.e. your application has to look the same as the rest of the OS.

    • i.e. your application has to look the same as the rest of the OS.

      I would argue that it look the same as other applications within the same domain. No reason for a music player to "look like the rest of the OS" - Circuit design, other graph editing tasks? Why the hell should these look like a word processor? I get it, you dont like when applications mess with the look of those "fundamental buttons" in the title bar... nobody does... thats a different issue.

    • I love it how firefox gets excoriated for both adding and removing features.

      Basically there's a hard core of inveterate whingers who will complain unless firefox has exactly the features they want and exactly none of the ones they don't.

    • Yet another reason Firefox lost the plot - who the hell uses themes in 2020?

      Literally every browser on iOS except Safari. They are afterall just some themed front end to Safari's engine. Don't pretend that this browser is "Firefox".

  • How many years now and it still auto-plays crap videos despite 6 different settings not to.

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