"Marketplace" downloads stop before completion; can't install applications
For February, everything was fine. On about the 28th, my device no longer is able to download from the "Marketplace" (marketplace.firefox.com). The only apps that can install are the ones that are basically links to websites. Others now just appear to download and then, right at the end, a message appears saying that it stopped. Other times, messages appear saying the app has an invalid signature. Another weird message spoke of an "editorial brand".
If I choose the plain icon on screen to continue to load, I get the message of it stopping. There is always a notice of an update being available to the "Marketplace" and it seems to download but then a message appears saying that there was a problem downloading. It used to work for me (I have been installing various OS versions, up to 1.3, and the problem exists with all). So it doesn't seem to be the device, but the website that is not functioning correctly. I have reformatted and reinstalled the OS a few times.
FirefoxOS is abandoned and unfortunately the "Marketplace" is ending, but I was hoping to get as many apps as I could beforehand. Can the website still be fixed before its gone? If not, maybe I could request certain apps to be emailed?
Modified by somebodysomewhere
All Replies (5)
anybody been able to download from the "Marketplace"? anybody know how to actually ask someone directly at Mozilla to fix the website in time?
I am also having the exact same problem on my LG Fx0 smartphone that has "Boot2Gecko 2.1.0.0-prerelease" (unbranded Firefox OS 2.1) installed on it as an OS. When I have tried to install several apps to it from the Firefox OS Marketplace today in an attempt to get some last-minute apps before the Marketplace shut down I also got messages that the downloads had stopped. Trying to restart the downloads also failed, and I saw the error message "INVALID_SIGNATURE" show up a few times while trying to install apps from the Marketplace. Like the original poster, I sincerely hope that Mozilla fixes this issue, and then maybe extends the life of the Firefox OS Marketplace by at least another month because of it so that us last few die-hard Firefox OS users can still download some final apps to our smartphones!
"Good" to know I wasn't the only one. Hope you managed to get some items in the past. Too bad I can't figure out how to specifically let Mozilla know of this.
Still, I put a lil' video on YouTube about it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kCyKPSfN2c
Thanks for the update (neat phone, by the way).
Modified by somebodysomewhere
While it is not quite like side loading a apk on Android there is some sources around on manually installing Apps on Firefox OS devices like Panasonic Tv with Firefox OS and Firefox OS simulator.
https://hacks.mozilla.org/2013/03/how-to-install-packaged-apps-in-firefox-os-options-and-tools/ https://davidwalsh.name/firefox-tv
Sadly, it looks like the issue that I and the original poster were having is kind of a moot point now-- the powers that be at Mozilla blew the Firefox OS Marketplace away this morning. It has ceased to be. When I try to load the Firefox OS Marketplace app on my LG Fx0 phone today I get a browser error page saying the the server isn't found. :( I thought that they might have at least given up until the end of the day on March 30th to work things out and grab any last-minute apps that we could, but no. The fact that there were crippling issues with the Marketplace that prevented Firefox OS phone users from downloading and installing apps since last February though is really the kick in the teeth, and shows that the organization's promise to provide continued support for the Marketplace and "keep the lights on" while it was in Maintenance Mode was a load of horse pucky.
It's a real shame-- I loved using what was essentially Firefox OS 2.1 and I loved having the extremely cool-looking LG Fx0 phone, so much so that I have soldiered on still using that phone as my daily-use main smartphone to this day. I personally can't stand the inconsistent scattershot UI of Android, and I don't want to buy into Apple's ecosystem after 2-and-a-half decades of intentionally avoiding it, so Firefox OS was my salvation. I overlooked or worked around Firefox OS 2.1's many half-finished features and flaws, and stayed stubbornly loyal to it over the years, but with the shutdown of the Firefox OS Marketplace today even I am going to have to start looking into where I am going to go from here when it comes to my next smartphone OS. The code base for B2G, Firefox OS's community successor, hasn't seen a commit since 2016. Jolla's "Sailfish X" smartphone OS is "not available in my country." The Eelo OS project has just started, so there is nothing really there yet (like that project even has a snowflake's chance in hell of succeeding since they are trying to reinvent the same wheel from scratch of a "Google-less" smartphone OS that was already forged by the now dead carcasses Firefox OS, Ubuntu Touch, and even Windows Phone before them). I suppose that I could always pray that KaiOS gets placed on a proper smartphone with great specs, but I won't hold my breath. Unfortunately, it looks like my pickings are slim. :(
Anyway, I would like to thank James for his suggestion of trying to manually install apps on my phone using a method similar to what is done with testing apps on Firefox OS TV's, but with the Firefox OS Marketplace now gone as of this morning I no longer can download or grab any apps to try this with and see if it would have worked. Bummer.