# Firefox for Android 76 Hacker News commenters recommended Firefox for Android and 60 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 12 of 13 months. **Verdict:** Free browser people recommend for working uBlock Origin and other extensions on Android, and for feeling stable and polished. Critics often point to weaker sandboxing and some broken sites. ## Why people recommend it - Runs uBlock Origin and other extensions (18 comments): "Shoutout to Firefox for Android for being the only mobile browser of note that lets you use uBlock Origin" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45983130)) "I use Firefox on Android perhaps entirely because it supports uBlock Origin and my other extensions." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46317624)) "Firefox on Android with the UBlock Origin and Sponsorblock extensions is still the gold standard" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49984035)) - Stable and polished on phones (5 comments): "Native Firefox on native Android (or at least the Samsung variant) here and I haven't had issues either." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49516728)) "Firefox on Android, at least for the phones I regularly used, has been very stable." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49515551)) "I've been using Firefox on Android for years and haven't noticed a lack of polish." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49530659)) - Good for YouTube and background audio (4 comments): "With Firefox for Android you can install an extension to force h264 from YouTube and the problem is solved." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46174007)) "Firefox Android can play audio even when the phone is locked, and I use it regularly." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46053413)) "I've been using Firefox on android for over a decade, including for YouTube" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46835404)) ## What people warn about - Weaker sandboxing and tab isolation (3 comments): "Firefox on Android is significantly more vulnerable to exploits, lacks internal sandboxing and doesn't properly isolate tabs from each other." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47949051)) "lacked nearly any sandboxing whatsoever and had downright reprehensible security practices" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47249237)) "Firefox 147 doesn't provide site sandboxing or even basic content sandboxing on Android." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47051794)) - Breaks some sites and runs slowly (3 comments): "Firefox on mobile is visibly breaking a couple of sites every now and then; if you can put up with that for no ads (I can), then its great." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46290799)) "Many js/media heavy websites (that needed to have their js enabled to be viewed) lagged under firefox" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49985348)) "Firefox Android with uBO still feels like it has worse First Contentful Paint than Chrome Android" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46297314)) - Inconsistent performance, less smooth lately (3 comments): "From my experience it's inconsistent and incredibly frustrating, but that's my experience with Firefox mobile overall." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49530492)) "before firefox switched to Fenix base, for navigating tabs, opening closing them really really smooth but then...." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47900241)) "Firefox was so good on mobile when nobody had a chance to use it then it was crap when they did" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46606573)) - Missing save-page and history features (3 comments): "Neither Firefox or Vivaldi on Android has an option to save pages, only to print them to PDF" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49806267)) "Firefox Android also doesn't have the WebExtension history API which is insanely annoying" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49327846)) "Lack of support for mhtml is one of the things keeping me away from Firefox on mobile." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48489059)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Opera browser](https://hackerapproved.com/p/opera-browser.md): 70 recommend - [NetSurf](https://hackerapproved.com/p/netsurf.md): 17 recommend - [Dia browser](https://hackerapproved.com/p/dia-browser.md): 14 recommend - [Floorp Browser](https://hackerapproved.com/p/floorp.md): 13 recommend - [Konqueror](https://hackerapproved.com/p/konqueror.md): 12 recommend ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Firefox for Android", https://hackerapproved.com/p/firefox-for-android/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).