10 signatures reached
To: Mozilla Foundation
Mozilla - re-enable community add-ons in Firefox for Android
Dear Mozilla,
The new GeckoView based Firefox for Android has drastically reduced the ability to install add-ons. The only supported add-ons are from a centrally-vetted list of Recommended Extensions, which appears to have around 10 available at present.
Developers whose extensions are not on this list, and developers who wish to write new extensions, have no way to publish their extensions on Firefox for Android.
Mozilla, we ask that you:
- explain your future plans, and the reasoning behind them, beyond the pithy "we want to keep users' experience pristine". It would be very easy for you to just say "Android add-on support will be brought back to equivalence with the desktop versions once the WebExtension APIs are more completely implemented", however you have not done so.
- commit to enabling all developers to submit extensions targeting Firefox for Android on addons.mozilla.org, for end-users to access.
- commit to enabling extension developers to sideload xpis at will onto Firefox for Android (or a Developer version thereof) for their own personal testing, without requiring tethering to a PC.
Why is this important?
Firefox's entire history has been about empowering users and developers to build and configure a browser that works for them. This change in policy is a big change in direction of this ideal.
The current (apparent) policy is additionally harmful to innovation - the only blessed extensions available are those which are already highly popular, and which Mozilla has hence selected for special treatment. There is literally no pathway that a new developer could follow to reach this special status, as there is no way for them to build this popularity in the first place.
N.B. If you don't wish to provide your zip/postcode, please enter "0000" in the signing form. CommunityRun is run by GetUp, which is a reputable Australian activism organization (which I selected over the for-profit and somewhat shady change.org for this reason of trust). Hence, their petition platform is built around the assumption of a physical Australian presence of signatories. This assumption is clearly not valid for a digital, international petition such as this.