Best way to get back the old Firefox for Android user interface
Hi,
I made the mistake of updating Firefox on my Android tablet. I find the new user interface unusable, too much hassle having to dive into submenus just to find the back button or to close a tab.
Is there anyway to get back anything like the old interface? I started to use Chrome instead but I miss the ad blocking and other Firefox features. However if it's a choice between Chrome and Firefox as it stands, then Chrome is the better of a bad bunch.
Thanks, TonyS
All Replies (5)
Hi Tony
There is no way to go back to the older interface, but looking at your concerns, I might be able to help:
For the back button, yes it is in the menu, but you can also use the back icon on your Android device.
With regards to content blocking, have you tried Strict Tracking Protection mode? (info at https://mzl.la/3hgHQpq) This will block tracking ads and will speed up your web browsing.
You can also install uBlock from the list in the add-ons menu
I hope that this helps.
Thanks, for some reason I thought I'd tried the tablet back button and found it closed the browser. Maybe only if there's nothing to go "back" to.
Strict Tracking Protection - I find that blocks a few things, for example you can't access addons.mozilla.org. Or update Flash
Meanwhile I'm not enjoying Chrome so hopefully we get an improved Firefox for Android soon.
Okulungisiwe ngu aesmith
I can assure you that there are updates coming that will bring feature enhancements and bug fixes.
Thanks, I'll keep an eye out. Meanwhile I've re-discovered Opera and I think that might be a viable Firefox replacement in the short term. Far preferable to Chrome.
But the sad fact remains that Firefox is now the worst browser for an Android tablet, by a long way. So I really hope they do something. I think the issue is they assume Android only runs on phones with tiny screens where there's no room for task bars or buttons. That's not the case on anything with 8" or better screen and on these devices the current Firefox UI makes no sense. Really it should be select-able, just like Firefox on Windows or Mac where you can choose what's shown and what's hidden.
The moral is really never to install an update to a regularly used App without researching it first. If I'd done so I'd have kept the existing (v68?) install.
Until Firefox for Android gets up to feature parity with its old self, you can try the Fennec builds (older Firefox codename) on www.f-droid.org. They just take the source code for Firefox and recompile it with any proprietary bits removed.
The only caveat is that the codebase is whatever the last version of Fennec was so if any bugs or security issues have been discovered since- you're going to want to get back on the newer Firefox for Android (codename Fenix aka Daylight) as soon as you feel it's up to your expected set of features. The newer Fenix codebase has been in development for a few years and they decided to pull the trigger. But the development is moving swiftly now that it is under more scrutiny.