Firefox OS User Guide

This article is no longer maintained, so its content might be out of date.

Firefox OS is Mozilla's new mobile OS built entirely on web technologies.

Overview

Mozilla is partnered with a number of carriers and OEMs in the development of Firefox OS, to bring accessible devices to emerging mobile markets in 2013.

The Firefox OS Developer Preview is a release in collaboration with Telefonica and Geeksphone for the following devices:

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Firefox OS v1.01 is supported on two devices, as follows:

zte_small



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Supported devices provide all of the features you would expect from a smartphone, like email, SMS messaging, search, maps and GPS navigation, music player, FM radio, camera, Facebook and Twitter. Check the notification bar at the top for notifications, connectivity, battery life and clock.

quick_nav_bar

Organize your most-used apps in a simple tray on the bottom of your home page for quick access to browsing, email, calendars and contacts.

browser home page new

Of course, you'll enjoy the world-class Firefox browser and Firefox Marketplace marketplace for games and entertainment, social apps, weather and local content on your phone.

Tap and hold the home button to close and switch running apps.

open marketplace

Pull the utility tray down from the top of your phone for quick access to WiFi, Data, Bluetooth, Airplane mode & Settings.

enable_data


Firefox OS even has dynamic app search offered by no other mobile OS. It enables you to search for anything on the web and run it as an app on your phone without even downloading it!

mitchell_app

If you find an app you like, just tap the bookmark star in the bottom navigation bar.

app_nav_bar

Firefox OS enables you to customize all of its system features to your preferences in the following Settings:

setting1

setting2

setting3

setting4

Use the Help to access this user guide on your phone. You can search all of the help articles in your language or ask a question of our community of experts.

help!

Mozillians are here to help you learn Firefox OS.

help_others

We'll show you how fun it is to join our great community of support contributors!

Acknowlegements

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  • feer56
  • rtanglao
  • zombie
  • expresssive
  • tjovanovic
  • iNerd
  • ariestiyansyah
  • yalam96
  • pychen
  • hermina_condei
  • willyaranda
  • adampeebleswrites
  • Tonnes
  • Swarnava
  • Scoobidiver
  • rnewman
  • mandel
  • bram
  • Tylerdowner
  • verdi
  • mluna
  • Ibai
  • KadirTopal


The document "How To Use The Call Log" does not exist.

REDIRECT Calls and voicemail

Importing Facebook & SIM contacts

REDIRECT Add, manage and share contacts

Messaging

REDIRECT Send messages

Personalizing your settings

  1. To silence incoming calls, press and hold the power button for two seconds.
  2. The Phone menu appears.
  3. Tap Silence Incoming Calls.
  4. New calls will not ring.
Tip: Press and hold the power button at the top of your device to set the phone back to Ring Incoming Calls.

 

REDIRECT Set alarm clock

Connecting to WiFi

The document "How to connect to Wi-Fi on Firefox OS" does not exist.

Search

REDIRECT Visit websites on Firefox OS

REDIRECT Search and discover content

Maps & Navigation

REDIRECT Maps and locations

Pictures, Video & Music

REDIRECT Using the camera

The document "How to use the Gallery Application on Firefox OS" does not exist.

REDIRECT Listen to the radio

REDIRECT Adding music

REDIRECT Play and manage music

REDIRECT How to take a screenshot on Firefox OS

Calendars

REDIRECT Add and manage calendars

Email

REDIRECT Add email accounts

REDIRECT Send and manage email

The document "Composing an email from the Contacts app" does not exist.
  1. To open the email app, tap email.
  2. Tap menu icon and then tap contacts icon.
  3. You will see a list of your email accounts.
  4. Tap on the email account you wish to switch to.
  5. A list of folders for your selected account will be displayed. Tap on a folder to read the email in that folder.

 

This article explains how to use the To, CC and BCC fields when addressing an email.

  • Tap the email app to get started. email

To

To: The primary recipient(s) of this email.

  • Tap the To field to manually add an email address. Tap the + button to select someone from your contacts.

CC

CC: (Carbon Copy) The secondary recipient(s) of this email. People in this section will see the email addresses of those in the To: and CC: field.

  • Tap the CC field to manually add an email address. Tap the + button to select someone from your contacts.

BCC

BCC: (Blind Carbon Copy) Addresses in this field will have mail sent to them but they won't know who else was in the BCC field. That means that those in the BCC field will receive the email but those in the To and CC fields won't know who was in the BCC field.

If there is an entry in the BCC field and not in the To field, the email will be sent to all the BCC recipients and will be displayed as being sent to "undisclosed recipients" or similar wording by the receiving email program.

  • Tap the BCC field to manually add an email address. Tap the + button to select someone from your contacts.

Special Note for Gmail users

Gmail will remove the names in the BCC list from your sent folder. That means you will have no record of to whom an email was BCCed. If you need a record of whom you BCCed in an email, you will have to manually record this yourself before sending the email. This only applies to Gmail accounts.

Tip: Email providers limit the number of people that you can send an email to. Please check your email provider's website for the exact limit. If you need to email lots of people, it's better to use a mailing list or a bulk email service.

 

Deleting a single email

  1. To open the email app, tap email.
  2. Tap on an email to display it.
  3. Tap delete at the bottom to delete the email.
  4. The email will be deleted and moved to the trash and the remaining emails in that folder will be displayed.

Deleting multiple emails

  1. To open the email app, tap email.
  2. Tap on editicon.
  3. Tap on blueoff next to the emails you wish to delete.
    • Checkmarks will be displayed next to the emails you have selected to be deleted (blue circle checked).
    • To uncheck an email for deletion tap on blue on and a blueoff (blue empty circle) should show.
  4. Tap delete at the bottom to delete the selected emails.
  5. The emails will be deleted and moved to the trash and the remaining emails in that folder will be displayed.

 

  1. To open the email app, tap email.
  2. Open the email you want to forward by tapping on it.
  3. At the bottom of the screen, tap forward to forward the email.
  4. Edit the Subject if needed, add or modify recipients in the To and cc/bcc fields, modify the text as needed and then tap on Send. See composing and sending email for full details.
Tip: Often when forwarding email, you only want to focus on one aspect of the original email. In that case it's a good idea to modify the Subject field to concisely describe what you are focusing on and to add some explanatory text to the body of the email.

 

  1. To open the email app, tap email.
  2. Open the email you want to reply to by tapping on it.
  3. At the bottom of the screen, tap reply to reply only to the sender or tap reply all to reply to all.
  4. Fill in the Subject, add or modify recipients in the To and cc/bcc fields, enter the text of your reply and then tap on Send. See composing and sending email for full details.

 

Downloading and installing apps

REDIRECT Installing apps

REDIRECT Installing apps

Accessing the Marketplace from an Android Device

In order to run the Firefox Marketplace you need to have the latest version of Firefox for Android.

Launch Firefox and navigate to the Firefox Marketplace site (https://marketplace.firefox.com/)

Alternatively, you can follow these steps after launching Firefox to access the Firefox Marketplace:

  1. Press the Menu button of your phone.
  2. Select "Apps."
  3. Tap the top right icon.

 

REDIRECT How to use Facebook, Google, Twitter and YouTube on Firefox OS

If you are looking to uninstall an app from your Android device follow these steps:

  1. Launch Firefox for Android.
  2. Type "about:apps" in the address bar.
  3. Tap and hold the icon of the app that you want to remove.
  4. Press Uninstall.

 

REDIRECT What is the Marketplace?

The Firefox Marketplace offers you two ways to find apps, you can browse for new apps or you can search for them.

Search

If you want to search for the name of the App that you are looking for you can:

  • From the home screen, tap on the magnifying glass search-glass and write your search keywords.
  • In any other page, type your search keywords at the top of the screen.

The search function allows you to explore apps using their name or specific keywords. For example, if you search for "game" you can find the list of all the available games.

Browsing

If you decide to browse the Firefox Marketplace to see what's available, you can do so by selecting one of the 6 categories at the bottom of the Home page. Each of them will show you a list of apps that you can download.

You can reduce the selection of apps by taping on the "Filter" button and selecting the topics that you are more interested in.

It possible to customize the view to show screenshots of the apps or show more apps without scrolling. To do so, press the view-toggle button.  

  1. Open the Firefox Marketplace.
  2. Tap in the app that you want to report. You can find specific instructions to find any app in the following article: How to navigate and find Apps in the Firefox Marketplace.
  3. Scroll down to the bottom of the page.
  4. Press Report Abuse.
  5. Write your comments in the text box and press Send Report.

After being reported, one of the reviewers will check the app and take the required actions.  

The document "Navigate Between Open Applications in Firefox OS" does not exist.

Privacy and security settings

REDIRECT Privacy and Security on Firefox OS

REDIRECT Do not track on Firefox OS

REDIRECT Setting the Screen Lock

REDIRECT Setting the Screen Lock

REDIRECT Set your SIM PIN

It's helpful for Mozilla's engineers to be able to measure how Firefox for Android behaves in the real world. The Telemetry feature provides this capability by sending them performance and usage information. As you use Firefox, Telemetry measures and collects non-personal information, such as memory consumption, responsiveness timing and feature usage. It then sends this information to Mozilla on a daily basis and we use it to make Firefox better for you.

Firefox also has a Crash Reporter feature that warns you when Firefox closes unexpectedly, and allows you to send this information so the engineers can make Firefox more stable and secure.

For more about what kind of information is collected and how it's used, see our privacy policy.

How do I opt-in or opt-out of sending performance data?

You can turn this feature on or off at any time in your Settings:

  1. Tap the Menu button (either at the bottom right on some devices or in the upper right of the browser) and then Settings (you may need to tap More first) .
  2. Next tap Mozilla and then check or uncheck the box next to Telemetry in the Data Choices section.
  3. Check or uncheck the box next to Crash Reporter to send crash reports back to Mozilla.
  1. Tap the Menu button (either at the bottom right on some devices or in the upper right of the browser) and then Settings (you may need to tap More first) .
  2. Next tap Data choices and then check or uncheck the box next to Telemetry.

Basic settings

The document "How to connect to Wi-Fi on Firefox OS" does not exist.

REDIRECT View data usage

To check the battery level:

  1. Tap on settings icon to open the Settings app.
  2. Scroll down to the Device section and tap on Battery.
    BatterySettingsFirefoxOSWakaFlockabattery fos 1.3
    • The current battery level appears in the form of a percentage.

Under the current level percentage, you will also see Power save mode. Please visit this article to learn more about saving battery power.

Tip: The battery level also appears in the notification bar.
  1. Open the Settings app Settings 1.3Settings 1.4Settings- 2.0 (small) .
  2. Scroll down to the Device section until you see Battery. This view shows the percentage of battery life left.

Please visit this article to learn more about saving battery power.

Tip: The battery level also appears in the notification bar.

REDIRECT Share files using Bluetooth

  1. Notifications appear at the top of your home screen and on the lock screen.

    home screen notifications

  2. To open the Notifications tray, pull down from the top of your home screen.

    open notification tray

  3. To view a notification, tap it.
  4. Tap Clear All to remove all notifications from the screen.
Tip: Open the Settings app The image "Settings icon" does not exist., then tap Notifications to enable, disable, or customize notifications.

 

REDIRECT Turn on Airplane Mode

Firefox OS has a notifications system, so you have an easy way to access missed calls, voicemail, SMS text messages and any other activities on your phone.

The following screencast tutorial will show you how to pull down the notification tray to access voicemail and your missed call log.

Note: Important software update notifications will appear as a notification in the top of your home screen, so pull them down and tap them to update to the latest version for your safety and security on the web!

 

REDIRECT Send performance data to Mozilla

Word suggestions is a feature of Firefox OS which can predict and suggest words as you are typing. We will show you how to enable the "Word suggestion" feature.

How to enable Word Suggestions

  1. Launch the "Settings" application on your phone by tapping settings icon.
  2. Scroll down the menu to the "Personalization" section, find Keyboard Settings in Firefox OS and tap it.
  3. Check the "Word Suggestion" option:

Firefox OS Word Suggestion option  

Advanced settings

The document "Change the default language on Firefox OS" does not exist.

REDIRECT Keyboard settings

REDIRECT Change the wallpaper

How Do I Control Cellular and Data Connections and Settings?

Enable or disable your data connection by using the settings application or the notification tray.

  1. Tap Settings App (small) and choose Cellular & Data.
    (Screenshot)
    Carrier, data, roaming, and advanced settings information will appear.
  2. Enable or disable your data connection and data roaming settings by tapping the button.data_connection

  3. Use Advanced Settings to set up or change your network provider.
The data network appears under Data Connection when enabled.
Tip: Use the Cost Control application to check your data usage and to set notifications when you reach low levels.

 

REDIRECT Control screen brightness

REDIRECT Ringer, sound and vibrate settings

The document "Rename your Firefox OS device For Bluetooth Use" does not exist.

Fix Problems

REDIRECT Troubleshoot Firefox OS

This article gives answers to frequently asked questions about Firefox OS.

Chat

How can I get Whatsapp on my Firefox OS device?

Whatsapp is not currently available for Firefox OS, we apologize for this inconvenience. TuMe or Tuenti are alternative apps, or search for Loqui in the Firefox Marketplace. Also, we support Facebook chat by using the Facebook app that is pre-installed on Firefox OS.

Music & Sounds

How do I create a custom ringtone?

v1.01 does not support custom ringtones, we apologize for this missing feature and we are working on developing this in a future release for Firefox OS.

How do I download music from the browser?

v1.01 does not include this feature, but this is fixed in v1.1 which will be made available to our hardware and service partners as soon as it has completed final testing.

Stability

How can I prevent my device from hanging or getting stuck?

If you notice that app are lagging or becoming slow, simply press the power button on the phone and restart the device.

How can I recover from a hang on my phone?

You can recover in several ways, as follows:

  1. Press and hold the home button, then wait a minute for the device to become active.
  2. Press and hold the power button on the device and select Restart from the menu.
  3. Remove the back cover and remove and then re-install the battery to reboot the phone.


Email

What email providers are supported?

Hotmail, Yahoo mail, GMX mail and Gmail are currently supported with more on the way in future releases. Please try to connect your email account even if it is not listed here and then leave us feedback.

Are there any other limitations?

Currently Firefox OS doesn't support copy/paste, sending HTML email, viewing all email accounts at once and attachments. These features are being considered for future releases.

What do I do if my email provider isn't supported?

Please let us know via Ask a New Question. In the meantime, you can use the web browser on Firefox OS and visit your email from there.

How do I set the Screen Lock?

Please see Setting the Screen Lock for instructions on setting the screen lock on your device.

Why can't I place Calls or send SMS?

There are many reasons why calls or messages cannot be placed/sent.

  • Broken, malfunctioning or no SIM card: Please visit the nearest cell phone provider to pick one up.
  • Invalid/ incorrect number dialed - Please double check the phone number you have dialed. You can also see Calls and voicemail for tips and tricks.
  • Network issues - Please contact your service provider if you believe you are having network issues.
    • If you receive an error message like this:

      NetCon

      please check that your SIM card is inserted properly and that you are in an area where you are able to have reception.
If you are inside a building, try going near a window.
If you are travelling, you may experience connection issues due to your location. It is best to check with your carrier to see where reception is present.

Why can't I connect to a WiFi Network?

If you need help connecting to a Wi-Fi network, please see Connect to Wi-Fi or data.

There are many reasons why you are unable to connect to a Wi-Fi network:

  • No networks available
  • Invalid password/key entered
  • WPS button not pressed
  • Weak WiFi signal

You can turn Wi-Fi off and back on to see if it helps, and reboot your device.

Why is the Radio not working?

Please note that a 3.5mm headset must be plugged in for the radio application to work. The headset will act as an antenna for the radio.

Your radio may not be working because of the following reasons:

  • No headset: You must have a headset plugged in for the radio to work. If you have it plugged in, please double check that it is properly inserted and secure.
  • No signal: You may not have radio signals around you, therefore the radio will not be playing.
  • Wrong radio station: You may be on the wrong radio station channel, please double check the radio station you are on.

You can also try by going to the home screen and open the application switcher to close the radio application.
If that does not help, try rebooting your device.

Why am I not able to take pictures?

You may experience trouble taking pictures because of the following reasons:

  • No SD card: remove and replace the SD card to be sure it is inserted correctly for use. Refer to the documentation that came with your device for detailed instructions.
  • Low memory space: Your phone may not have enough space to take and store the pictures.
  • Malfunction: The camera or phone may be malfunctioning.
Tip: Take the battery out for 15 seconds, then put it back in and turn on the phone.

Why won't my applications load?

There are many reasons why applications may not be loading when they are tapped on. Here are is what you can try:

  • Malfunction: Take the battery out for 15 seconds, then put it back in and turn on the phone.
  • Faulty Application: The application may be malfunctioning. Report the application by following the steps in How to report a faulty app in the Firefox Marketplace.
  • Low Memory Space: Some applications may require available memory to be able to run. Please check that you have enough storage on the phone.
  • Application not installed properly: The application may not have installed properly. Uninstall the application and then install it back. See How To Uninstall An Application on Firefox OS if you need help uninstalling.
  • No Network Connection: Some applications may require a network connection, such as WiFi or 3G. Please make sure you are connected to the internet.

Why can I not connect to Websites?

There are many reasons why you are not able to connect to sites using the Firefox browser.

  • No Network Connection.
  • Network Connection has no data being transferred.
  • Glitch
  • Software issue(s)

To fix this issue, you can try the following:

  • Reboot the device. By turning the phone off, taking out the battery and SIM card and then putting them back in and turning the phone back on may resolve the issue. If this does not resolve your issue, continue reading.
  • Clear your browser cookies
  1. Tap the browser tab to open the sidebar.
  2. Tap the gear in the upper right to open the browser settings.

    browser_settings_fxos

  3. Tap the Clear cookies and stored data and tap OK to remove all stored private data and cookies.

    clear_cookies_fxos

How do I install an update?

If a software update is available for your device, a notification will appear in the status bar. To download and install an update, complete the following steps:

  1. Pull down the notification bar from the top of your screen to open the utility tray.
  2. Tap on the Update notification.
    The details of the available updates appear.
  3. Tap the update to start downloading it.
    You must be connected to WiFi to download updates.


    download_update
  4. When the download finishes, a screen will appear to indicate that the update is ready to be installed.

    install_update_firefox_os
  5. Tap the Install button to install the updates.
For System Updates, your phone will be unavailable while the update is being installed and the phone reboots.
You can set when to check for updates. Go to Device information in the settings, and visit the subsection Software Updates. You can also press Check now to check for updates right away.

Why do I not see any data usage on the Usage application?

There are many reasons why you are not seeing any data usage in the usage application.

  • SIM Card not inserted - a SIM Card must be inserted in order for the Usage application to run.
  • Tracking was not enabled
  • No data used - it is possible that you did not use any data
  • Data Usage was reset - you or somebody who had access to your device may have reset the data causing no usage to appear.

Enable Usage tracking

  1. Open the Usage application
  2. Make sure that a checkmark is placed next to what you want to be tracked.
    • If tracking was enabled, move on to the next subsection for troubleshooting.

What if I did use data and it's not showing?

  1. Press and hold the home button.
  2. Close the Usage application.
  3. Reopen the Usage applcation and check for results.
    • If closing and re-opening did not work, move on to the next subsection.

That didn't work, now what?

  1. Reboot the device.
  2. Launch the Usage application and determine if it is now working.
    • If rebooting did not work, please move on to the next subsection.

Closing and Rebooting did not work, what next?

  • Glitch - there is a possibility due to a glitch that data may not have been tracked. Since you have started using the Usage application now, data should now be tracked.
  • Get help from our community support team by clicking here

 

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