Firefox Fenix preview comes to Play Store, you can test it now

Mozilla has tried to break into the mobile browsing market a few times with iterations of its Firefox browser on both iOS and Android. Unfortunately, good as the Firefox mobile browser is, it struggled to brand headway on either platform. Now, Mozilla is looking to change that.

The difficulties on iOS tin can be attributed to Apple tree'due south insistence on using WebKit and refusal to let users choice anything but Safari equally a default browser.

Android, on the other paw, is a different story. Users can choose to use any browser they want, although using Chrome does have benefits — many apps apply Chrome as the underlying engine for their in-app browsers. While you can change this likewise, I detect the Chrome version works best and almost consistently.

Regardless, Firefox on Android has a more significant problem than competing with Chrome. The Android version of the browser never really felt right, nor was it well designed.

However, Mozilla is testing a new Android browser called Firefox Fenix that looks prepare to change that.

Nosotros first learned about Fenix back in March. At the fourth dimension, users could merely download a evolution APK from an external source to attempt it out. Now, Fenix is on the Play Store, but you'll need to jump through some hoops to get it.

How to download the Fenix preview from the Play Store

Commencement up, you'll demand to bring together a Fenix Nightly Google Group using the aforementioned business relationship equally the ane used with the Play Shop. One time you lot bring together the group, click the link from 'Step 2' at the top, which will ask y'all to opt into receiving Nightly builds. Finally, yous can go to the Play Shop to download the app.

Farther, this all falls in with Mozilla's plan to pull developers away from Firefox for Android. The company announced final summer that later the release of version 68, Firefox for Android would move to the Extended Support Release (ESR) co-operative. In other words, it will keep to receive security updates but no new features, which should free up developers to work on Fenix instead.

Version 68 is due out on July ninth, 2019. On meridian of that, a support document well-nigh the company'due south Android browsers suggests Firefox — codenamed 'Fennec' — volition reach cease-of-life in 2020. Presumably, Fenix will have over at that point.

If y'all're an avid Firefox fan, I'd highly recommend downloading and testing out the Fenix preview. It already feels miles ahead of Firefox for Android. The modern design looks fantastic, and it is incredibly quick. Plus, Fenix supports syncing bookmarks through your Firefox account. It even has a dark mode.

Despite that, it is all the same a preview build, and as such has some stability issues and missing features. Mozilla is also using this every bit an opportunity to try out some new features, such every bit a revamped tab manager and a new 'Collections' role for saving groups of tabs.

Only if this early preview is anything to go past, the future of Firefox is bright.

Source: Mozilla document, Caschys Blog Via: XDA Developers

Source: https://mobilesyrup.com/2019/05/18/firefox-fenix-preview-play-store/

Posted by: morristwounds.blogspot.com

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