You can now install any add-on in Firefox Nightly for Android, but it is complicated
Mozilla released a new Firefox Nightly version for Android, and this one is special, as it is the first version of the new Firefox for Android that allows users to install any extension that is listed on Mozilla's official add-ons repository Mozilla AMO.
The restoration of full add-ons support in Firefox for Android is a major request by users of the browser. While it is unclear how many Firefox users on Android used add-ons prior to being upgraded to the new Firefox, it is clear that most add-on users lost access to extensions when the upgrade happened.
Firefox for Android Stable supports just a few extensions currently, but Mozilla promised that it would regain full add-ons support eventually.
Mozilla created the override in Firefox Nightly for extension developers and advanced users only, and made it difficult to enable full extensions support.
The entire system is based on Mozilla's Collections system. It is not possible to install an extension directly from its main Mozilla AMO profile page, and there does not seem to be a way to browse available collections. Also, Firefox's default selection of add-ons seems to use the same system and it will be replaced by the Collection that you select. If an installed extension is not in the new Collection, it will be uninstalled.
Attention: Not all extensions will work; it should be clear for some, e.g. add-ons that modify how tabs are displayed in the browser. Firefox for Nightly may lack support for some add-on APIs as well and you may run into issues when using the browser because of that.
Enable Full Add-ons Support in Firefox Nightly
- Tap on the main menu (three dots) and select Settings.
- Scroll all the way down and select "About Firefox Nightly".
- Tap on the Firefox Logo at the top (next to Firefox Browser) five times until the "Debug menu enabled" notification is displayed.
- Go back to the main Settings page.
- Scroll down to the Advanced section and activate "Custom Add-on Collection".
- You are asked to type the User ID of the collection owner and the name of the Collection.
You need the unique user ID of the collection and the name of it, e.g. 926754 and ghacks, for the Ghacks Collection (which I edited just a moment ago, and promise that I won't remove any listed from. If you need a specific add-on, let me know and I try to add it).
You can create your own Collection but need a Firefox account for that. The main entry point is this page: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/collections/. Don't confuse Add-on Collections with Firefox's newer Collections feature.
Add any extension you like to the custom Collection, and the change is reflected after you restart the Firefox browser locally. Removing extensions from a Collection is problematic as extensions will be uninstalled in that case automatically.
A tap on Add-ons in the interface lists all extensions of the selected Collection. You can install these just like any of the officially supported add-ons. I did not run into any installation issues, and it is possible that extensions, even those that are not compatible, will install just fine. If you notice issues, uninstall the add-on again and things should be resolved.
Closing Words
Full add-ons support is a major step in the right direction, and the current implementation is probably the best that Mozilla could do in the short period of time it had after the release of the new Firefox for Android. It seems likely that add-ons support remains exclusive to the Nightly version for the time being.
Now You: which add-ons do you need on Android?
thanks you saved my 1000 tabs :)
Fantastic! Thank you! This worked like a charm. Had exactly the same issue in Firefox on a PC and this fixed it.
Thank you for sharing this! Like you, I’d noticed that disabling/re-enabling the extension would work for that browser session, but I hadn’t tried anything yet to force a fix. I’m SO glad it was this easy!
I sure hope the OneTab team issues an official fix ASAP, though. Now that it’s been a few days, they’re starting to get bad reviews, which is unfortunate.
Yes! I also tried the workaround. I also reported this bug to OneTab team on the first day I faced this issue.
Thanks, Ashwin for the fix!
I was nearing desperation when I found your direction. It worked.
Thank you so much.
Hi, OneTab developer here. Sorry for this – it’s not clear why this bug is suddenly happening for some people, but we’re urgently investigating this with the Mozilla/Firefox team and will be providing a fix very shortly.
Thank you so much for sharing this fix! You saved my tabs. The only note/point I would like to add is for Step 2.
Perhaps put a note stating they should copy Step 3 and forward of your tutorial to Word. Once we close Firefox, we lose visibility to your tutorial. For me, I know I would not be able to remember the .bkp.
Again, thank you!
Easy temporary fix: To make OneTab work again, type “about:addons” in your Firefox address bar. Then find OneTab in the list of extensions, and click the blue toggle button twice. This will disable and then re-enable OneTab, and cause it to work again.
We’re working with Mozilla for a permanent fix. Sorry for the inconvenience, this is a very strange issue that is only affecting the Firefox version of OneTab.
I have found by disabling and then re-enable in the add on menu I get my tab back. Short term fix. Will try yours.
Thank you. I thought I had lost a month of digging. I’ll be a little more attentive about exporting the urls from the extension list now. It’s a great tool but Firefox doesn’t always play nice with its extensions.
Good news – I’ve been working with Mozilla all morning to resolve this. Mozilla have confirmed it was due to a bug in Firefox (related to extension permissions downgrades).
To fix OneTab, just go to “about:addons” in your Firefox address bar, click the ‘cog’ icon in the top right, and click ‘Check for updates’. This will upgrade you to OneTab v1.39, which fixes the issue.
Darn, I tried everything here and I still can’t get my tabs back. I even did a full system restore to a point last week hoping that my saved tabs would be in the old .xpi file, but no luck.
I’m pretty disappointed :(
Probably I should’ve been more patient, but now I don’t know how to feel about this. I lost about 900 tabs in the recovery process (I reinstalled OneTab), which, incredible as it sounds, weren’t all just a messy dump I’m never going back to, but actually important stuff (yeah, I have a peculiar workflow).
Trying to suppress the anger and reflecting on what happened, it seems I should blame myself for not having a backup. But surely I couldn’t back it up manually every time I save a tab, it would defy all purpose of having this addon in the first place. A couple of years ago data was stored at “~/.mozilla/firefox/%PROFILE%/jetpack/[email protected]/simple-storage”, and you could back it up with simple crontab. This is no longer the case, this folder is just empty. And since OneTab is closed-source black box, I couldn’t have done anything else as well.
So the only reasonable lesson to be learned is that I actually must stop relying on OneTab, since sooner or later it will let me down again. Fuck it.
I just disable and re-enable. No tabs lost!
I switched from OneTab to Tab Stash (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tab-stash/) months ago and haven’t looked back. I had never experienced any data loss with OneTab, although I was a bit concerned by some reports of data loss I read about. My main issue was with OneTabs performance, it’s a hog. I had been looking for a replacement and testing out a ton of addons for a couple of months when I finally discovered Tab Stash, and am damn glad I did. I really can’t recommend it strongly enough…
Thanks, bsdaddict. Never tried it, looks nice, but I’m a bit concerned by small number of stashed tabs on these screenshots, not sure if it’d be usable when stashing a lot of tabs. How many tabs do you usually have stashed?
Tab Stash is is a great alternative to One Tab, y’all… I made the switch months ago and am very happy with it.
>DO THIS FIRST: Before trying the following fix, I recommend disabling OneTab and re-enabling it from the about:addons page, to access and regain your tabs.
Worked for me! Many, many thanks!
I know it’s late but ist there an option for chrome on android tablets aswell? My wife hates it that the search bar and Tab list will just come Up again when she Scrolls up