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URGENT: Firefox 40.0 for iOS is completely frozen and inaccessible

  • 7 replies
  • 2 have this problem
  • 30 views
  • Paskiausią atsakymą parašė SUMOsJR

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Today I updated to Firefox 40.0 for iOS and its completely frozen every time I launch it.

Background:

I had over 200 tabs open when I upgraded. Every few days I sort through my open tabs and send those that I want to preserve to Pinboard. Although I am due to clean up tabs, this has never been a problem with previous Firefox upgrades.

In its current state Firefox is holding several important topics I was looking up hostage. I can’t just delete and reinstall the app because I don’t know that I will be able to find those pages again.

Expectation:

When I start Firefox for iOS I expect it to open the last tab I was on and allow me to interact with normal Firefox controls like entering the tab menu or typing in the URL bar.

Reality:

Everything is completely frozen. The most recent tab opens but it stuck with the purple loading bar 1/3 to 1/2 full. I cannot interact with any of the application controls such as opening menus or interacting with the URL bar. Firefox usually crashes to springboard after a minute or two if I wait for it to load.

I’ve tried

- Force quit. This doesn’t change anything.
- Phone restart.  When I restart my phone Firefox works for about 30 seconds but rapidly slows and freezes.
 - Closing tabs.  I’ve restarted my phone and closes a few tabs until Firefox stops responding.  I’ve done this enough times to close about 40 tabs. It’s made virtually no impact.
 - Other browser.  I’ve tested some of the same websites that are giving me trouble on Safari and they load quickly.  I do not appear to have connectivity issues nor do the websites that I am loading.
 - Disabling external privacy features.  I use AdGuard Pro as well as NextDNS to improve privacy and speed when I browse.  I have disabled both services but it did not improve Firefox’s performance.

I’ve also noticed that, when I can get to the tabs pag, all the thumbnails have disappeared and been replaced with favicons. This suggests to me that perhaps Firefox emptied some kind of internal cache when it was upgraded. That said, historically if I clear the browsing cache with hundreds of tabs open I don’t have any sort of problem like this.

I will install screenshots in a follow-up to this post — I need to restart my phone to make them and I don’t want to lose what I’ve typed here. :-)

Final Thoughts: Firefox and Apple both encourage frequently updating apps. If Mozilla wishes to maintain a rapid update cycle it is critical that they do not introduce breaking changes. It is not reasonable for a user to “migrate” to a new version when they have (a) no means for rollback and (b) updates are either forced or hard to avoid.

Please help me resolve this so I can save the tabs that I need without information loss.

Today I updated to Firefox 40.0 for iOS and its completely frozen every time I launch it. Background: I had over 200 tabs open when I upgraded. Every few days I sort through my open tabs and send those that I want to preserve to Pinboard. Although I am due to clean up tabs, this has never been a problem with previous Firefox upgrades. In its current state Firefox is holding several important topics I was looking up hostage. I can’t just delete and reinstall the app because I don’t know that I will be able to find those pages again. Expectation: When I start Firefox for iOS I expect it to open the last tab I was on and allow me to interact with normal Firefox controls like entering the tab menu or typing in the URL bar. Reality: Everything is completely frozen. The most recent tab opens but it stuck with the purple loading bar 1/3 to 1/2 full. I cannot interact with any of the application controls such as opening menus or interacting with the URL bar. Firefox usually crashes to springboard after a minute or two if I wait for it to load. I’ve tried - Force quit. This doesn’t change anything. - Phone restart. When I restart my phone Firefox works for about 30 seconds but rapidly slows and freezes. - Closing tabs. I’ve restarted my phone and closes a few tabs until Firefox stops responding. I’ve done this enough times to close about 40 tabs. It’s made virtually no impact. - Other browser. I’ve tested some of the same websites that are giving me trouble on Safari and they load quickly. I do not appear to have connectivity issues nor do the websites that I am loading. - Disabling external privacy features. I use AdGuard Pro as well as NextDNS to improve privacy and speed when I browse. I have disabled both services but it did not improve Firefox’s performance. I’ve also noticed that, when I can get to the tabs pag, all the thumbnails have disappeared and been replaced with favicons. This suggests to me that perhaps Firefox emptied some kind of internal cache when it was upgraded. That said, historically if I clear the browsing cache with hundreds of tabs open I don’t have any sort of problem like this. I will install screenshots in a follow-up to this post — I need to restart my phone to make them and I don’t want to lose what I’ve typed here. :-) Final Thoughts: Firefox and Apple both encourage frequently updating apps. If Mozilla wishes to maintain a rapid update cycle it is critical that they do not introduce breaking changes. It is not reasonable for a user to “migrate” to a new version when they have (a) no means for rollback and (b) updates are either forced or hard to avoid. Please help me resolve this so I can save the tabs that I need without information loss.

All Replies (7)

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Some pics!

The first is when I launch Firefox normally. It is completely frozen on whatever page it is supposed to load. Usually after hanging like this for a few minute, it crashes.

The second pic is accessing the tab menu first thing after restarting my phone. I can scroll through the tabs and maybe close one or to for 15 to 30 seconds and then it freezes.

I think it’s interesting that the tabs display favicons rather than the normal screenshots of pages.

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Almost forgot! System specs:

- iPhone XR
- iOS 14.7.1
- No modifications, jailbreak, etc.
- Carrier is AT&T but this was all over Wi-Fi anyway.
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"We have identified an issue with the recent version release of Firefox for iOS (version 40). The issue may present itself as the browser getting stuck loading the last tab or the browser becoming unresponsive. Our product engineers are looking into the issue and plan to release a fix in an upcoming dot release."
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/moved thread from Firefox to Firefox for iOS section.

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Hi there. I saw a post this morning that V40.1 was rolling out with a fix for the iOS issue where the browser was freezing or hanging when too many tabs were open.

The update is rolling out in stages so If you have not already received the update, you should be able to get the latest version off the app store.

I hope this helps.

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Hello!

I’m now on 40.1 but I’m still having problems. My tabs have been rearranged (which sucks, but I can deal with it).

The big issue is that, now, when I try to open one of the tabs it just shows a page with an empty URL bar and no content. It’s similar to when you switch away from a tab and then switch back and it reloads the page, except it never reloads. It just sits.

(Sidebar: I really wish I could tweak that behavior, e.g. by making cache invalidation less aggressive. It’s very common to be reading a long article, look away to another app and have it reload to the top of the document. Try reading a long PDF in Firefox for iOS sometime. It’s an exercise in self-flagellation. Anyway, I digress.)

To illustrate what I mean, I’ve attached two screenshots — the first shows the tab I’m trying to enter circled in red. You can see it’s a page I’ve successfully visited before the upgrade to 40, but the second screenshot shows the page I get when I tap on it. There’s no activity beyond that, it doesn’t reload it just stays at that blank page.

Because Firefox doesn’t show the URL it’s trying to load (another odd design choice which has created numerous headaches for me) I can’t even go into each tab and the URL out to Notes or something similar.

Any ideas?

Jason

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Hi Jason,

It has been a while since you last posted. Are you still experiencing this issue?