Firefox for Android
Ranked 13 of 53 web browsers by recommenders
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.
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.
136 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 76
- criticize it
- 60
- approval share
- 56%
Recommended in 12 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 76 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 1.2 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 12 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Runs uBlock Origin and other extensions
“Shoutout to Firefox for Android for being the only mobile browser of note that lets you use uBlock Origin”
Comment from 19 Nov 2025 in “Your smartphone, their rules: App stores enable corporate-government censorship” “I use Firefox on Android perhaps entirely because it supports uBlock Origin and my other extensions.”
Comment from 18 Dec 2025 in “Firefox will have an option to disable all AI features” “Firefox on Android with the UBlock Origin and Sponsorblock extensions is still the gold standard”
Comment from 6 Oct 2026 in “System-level ad-blocking in Android” - Comment from 16 Dec 2025 in “Mozilla appoints new CEO Anthony Enzor-Demeo”
- Comment from 15 Aug 2026 in “Firefox is now the last major browser that still supports uBlock Origin”
- Comment from 20 Feb 2026 in “YouTube Blocks Background Listening Workaround for Free Users”
- Comment from 21 Nov 2025 in “Android and iPhone users can now share files, starting with the Pixel 10”
- Comment from 1 Jan 2026 in “iOS allows alternative browser engines in Japan”
- Comment from 17 Dec 2025 in “Is Mozilla trying hard to kill itself?”
- Comment from 5 Sep 2026 in “Shutting down our public encrypted DNS”
- Comment from 14 May 2026 in “On The Conflation of Money and Things”
- Comment from 28 Aug 2026 in ““It works better in the app””
- Comment from 25 May 2026 in “Founder of 7/11 Japan, Toshifumi Suzuki, has died at age 93”
- Comment from 2 Sep 2026 in “Hang on to Your Firefox”
- Comment from 5 Sep 2026 in “Shutting down our public encrypted DNS”
- Comment from 9 Jun 2026 in “Apple says it may remove some apps from the Store if they don't attract users”
- Comment from 2 Sep 2026 in “Introducing Ad Blocker for Firefox on iOS”
- Comment from 2 Jan 2026 in “iOS allows alternative browser engines in Japan”
Stable and polished on phones
“Native Firefox on native Android (or at least the Samsung variant) here and I haven't had issues either.”
Comment from 1 Sep 2026 in “Google Has Removed MV2 Extensions from the Chrome Web Store, Including UBO” “Firefox on Android, at least for the phones I regularly used, has been very stable.”
Comment from 31 Aug 2026 in “Google Has Removed MV2 Extensions from the Chrome Web Store, Including UBO” “I've been using Firefox on Android for years and haven't noticed a lack of polish.”
Comment from 2 Sep 2026 in “Hang on to Your Firefox” - Comment from 24 Feb 2026 in “Firefox 148 Launches with AI Kill Switch Feature and More Enhancements”
- Comment from 2 Sep 2026 in “Hang on to Your Firefox”
Good for YouTube and background audio
“With Firefox for Android you can install an extension to force h264 from YouTube and the problem is solved.”
Comment from 6 Dec 2025 in “Netflix’s AV1 Journey: From Android to TVs and Beyond” “Firefox Android can play audio even when the phone is locked, and I use it regularly.”
Comment from 26 Nov 2025 in “Someone at YouTube Needs Glasses: The Prophecy Has Been Fulfilled” “I've been using Firefox on android for over a decade, including for YouTube”
Comment from 31 Jan 2026 in “YouTube blocks background video playback on Brave and other Browsers” - Comment from 2 Sep 2026 in “Introducing Ad Blocker for Firefox on iOS”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Weaker sandboxing and tab isolation
“Firefox on Android is significantly more vulnerable to exploits, lacks internal sandboxing and doesn't properly isolate tabs from each other.”
Comment from 29 Apr 2026 in “Show HN: Adblock-rust Manager – Firefox extension to enable the Brave ad blocker” “lacked nearly any sandboxing whatsoever and had downright reprehensible security practices”
Comment from 4 Mar 2026 in “Motorola GrapheneOS devices will be bootloader unlockable/relockable” “Firefox 147 doesn't provide site sandboxing or even basic content sandboxing on Android.”
Comment from 17 Feb 2026 in “GrapheneOS – Break Free from Google and Apple” Breaks some sites and runs slowly
“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.”
Comment from 16 Dec 2025 in “Mozilla appoints new CEO Anthony Enzor-Demeo” “Many js/media heavy websites (that needed to have their js enabled to be viewed) lagged under firefox”
Comment from 6 Oct 2026 in “System-level ad-blocking in Android” “Firefox Android with uBO still feels like it has worse First Contentful Paint than Chrome Android”
Comment from 17 Dec 2025 in “Mozilla appoints new CEO Anthony Enzor-Demeo” Inconsistent performance, less smooth lately
“From my experience it's inconsistent and incredibly frustrating, but that's my experience with Firefox mobile overall.”
Comment from 2 Sep 2026 in “Hang on to Your Firefox” “before firefox switched to Fenix base, for navigating tabs, opening closing them really really smooth but then....”
Comment from 25 Apr 2026 in “Firefox Has Integrated Brave's Adblock Engine” “Firefox was so good on mobile when nobody had a chance to use it then it was crap when they did”
Comment from 13 Jan 2026 in “Owners, not renters: Mozilla's open source AI strategy” Missing save-page and history features
“Neither Firefox or Vivaldi on Android has an option to save pages, only to print them to PDF”
Comment from 22 Sep 2026 in “Attention is all you have” “Firefox Android also doesn't have the WebExtension history API which is insanely annoying”
Comment from 17 Aug 2026 in “Firefox for iOS now has a native adblocker” “Lack of support for mhtml is one of the things keeping me away from Firefox on mobile.”
Comment from 11 Jun 2026 in “HTML is a native image format, hear me out”
Other web browsers people recommend
The four most recommended other web browsers, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Firefox | 1,572 | 1,371 | 53% | 12 | 16 yrs125 owners | — |
| Google Chrome | 503 | 1,086 | 32% | 12 | 10 yrs11 owners | — |
| Brave | 397 | 248 | 62% | 12 | 4.9 yrs16 owners | — |
| Safari | 307 | 577 | 35% | 12 | 13 yrs27 owners | — |
| Firefox for AndroidThis page | 76 | 60 | 56% | 12 | — | — |
What people said
40 of the 144 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Many js/media heavy websites (that needed to have their js enabled to be viewed) lagged under firefox”
“Firefox on Android with the UBlock Origin and Sponsorblock extensions is still the gold standard”
“Neither Firefox or Vivaldi on Android has an option to save pages, only to print them to PDF”
“I don't see YouTube ads on Android + Firefox mobile + uBlock Origin”
“Yes, I use Firefox on Android with ublock origin, it works great.”
“I use Firefox on Android to watch YouTube videos without ads.”
“especially with the recent redesign I think it's actually super polished”
“I've been using Firefox on Android for years and haven't noticed a lack of polish.”
“the usability gain of the mobile web with ublock Origin is insane”
“From my experience it's inconsistent and incredibly frustrating, but that's my experience with Firefox mobile overall.”
“Native Firefox on native Android (or at least the Samsung variant) here and I haven't had issues either.”
“Firefox on Android, at least for the phones I regularly used, has been very stable.”
“you can with liberedirect or ublock origin and firefox for android”
“Firefox Android also doesn't have the WebExtension history API which is insanely annoying”
“Using FF on android with a fully fledged uBlock Origin is so good. Makes the web usable.”
“Lack of support for mhtml is one of the things keeping me away from Firefox on mobile.”
“I didnt get a dickover with Firefox android and ublock origin.”
“Firefox on Android indeed works great, and so does uBlock Origin.”
“It looks good on Firefox For Android with the uBlock Origin add-on.”
“Firefox on Android is significantly more vulnerable to exploits, lacks internal sandboxing and doesn't properly isolate tabs from each other.”
“before firefox switched to Fenix base, for navigating tabs, opening closing them really really smooth but then....”
“those users could be served by switching to Firefox solely for the purpose of using an adblocker”
“lacked nearly any sandboxing whatsoever and had downright reprehensible security practices”
“Firefox for Android has been killing it for me with the latest ux updates”
“Still seems to work with Firefox on Android and the Video Background fix extension too.”
“Firefox 147 doesn't provide site sandboxing or even basic content sandboxing on Android.”
“I've been using Firefox on android for over a decade, including for YouTube”
“Firefox was so good on mobile when nobody had a chance to use it then it was crap when they did”
“miss Firefox for Android (with Ublock, sponsorblock, etc)”
“It just needed full addon support but when that was finally there it was great.”
“I use Firefox on Android perhaps entirely because it supports uBlock Origin and my other extensions.”
“Firefox on Android mobile is also useful because it allows extensions”
“Firefox Android with uBO still feels like it has worse First Contentful Paint than Chrome Android”
“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.”
“Extension (adblock) support on mobile is worth more to me than anything you just listed off.”
“With Firefox for Android you can install an extension to force h264 from YouTube and the problem is solved.”
“Firefox Android (which I'm using) does have an option in the settings under Accessibility called "Zoom on all websites". It works!”
“Firefox Android can play audio even when the phone is locked, and I use it regularly.”
“Install real mobile firefox, including installing firefox addons I've built for myself.”
“Shoutout to Firefox for Android for being the only mobile browser of note that lets you use uBlock Origin”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.