While we’re still eagerly awaiting the stable version of the Firefox browser, we’re getting some sort of bad news from that front. When it finally does relaunch, we will be getting limited extension support. In fact, only those that are part of their recommended extension program will be added to the add-ons that will be supported by the new browser. The app will be completely rewritten and is now still in the Firefox Preview beta program stage so you still have time to enjoy your current version and extensions.
The open-source project is still receiving its finishing touches according to Android Police and is expected to launch this spring. But as early as now they’re letting people know that when it finally launches, there will be limited add-on support. In fact, there will only be around 100 add-ons in their recommended extensions program. Only a few extensions that are currently in the program will be migrated to the new version which is being built from scratch.
Mozilla says that they don’t have any plans yet or at least details on how to enable support for those extensions that will not be part of the program for the new Firefox for Android app. But that doesn’t mean that the virtual doors are closed. In fact, they said they “would like to expand our support to other add-ons” later on but there’s no timetable yet for when that will happen. What’s sure is that at launch, you might lose some of the extensions that you’re currently using.
The extension that we know will be included in the recommended extensions program are high-profile ones like Privacy Badger, NoScript, Facebook Container, LastPass, HTTPS Everywhere, among others. Hopefully, what they’re including are those that would be particularly useful for users, especially on mobile devices. There are around 90 others that are part of the extension program right now.
Those who are using Firefox Preview Nightly will also have to move to Firefox Preview as they will soon be deprecating the former soon. The feature set that is currently on Firefox Preview will also be migrated to the Firefox for Android Beta the week of February 17.
