Firefox Lite is dead: development has ended

Martin Brinkmann
Jul 5, 2021
Firefox, Google Android
|
39

Firefox Lite, a mobile version of the Firefox web browser designed specifically for Asia, won't receive any updates anymore after June 30, 2021.

Developed by Mozilla Taiwan, Firefox Lite was released in 2018 for Google's Android operating system. The browser was designed for Asian markets, not included on Google Play, but was not region-locked either. Anyone with access to the APK file could install it on a compatible Android device.

Firefox Lite was based on Chromium WebView, and not on Mozilla's own rendering engine; this set it apart from Firefox for Android but also from many Chromium-based browsers for Android, as one focus of development was privacy.

The web browser came with a Turbo Mode that blocked known trackers and advertising, options to block the loading of images, and also a component that highlighted coupons on specific sites.

Our only review of Firefox Lite dates back to 2019 when Firefox Lite 2.0 was released.

Mozilla laid off 250 employees in 2020 as part of a restructuring of the organization. Active Firefox Lite development ended and development switched over to maintenance mode. Mozilla did release patches for the mobile browser in that time that focused on security fixes.

A recent SUMO overview on Mozilla's website confirms the end of Firefox Lite. The browser was sunset on June 1, 2021, and will be abandoned on June 30, 2021. Firefox Lite won't receive any updates, security or otherwise, after June 30, 2021 anymore.

Mozilla recommends that users switch to the new version of its Firefox web browser for Android.

Firefox for Android offers a different experience, since it is not based on Chromium WebView. Some features can be added by installing extensions, e.g. to block advertisement or prevent tracking, but others may not be supported by Firefox for Android. Most Chromium-based browsers don't support extensions at all, on the other hand.

Closing Words

Mozilla maintains two main browsers for Android currently, even after the abandoning of Firefox Lite. There is the main Firefox web browser for Android and Firefox Focus/Klar. The classic Firefox web browser for Android is not supported anymore, just like Firefox Lite.

Now You: which mobile browser do you use? (via Sören Hentzschel)

Summary
Firefox Lite is dead: development has ended
Article Name
Firefox Lite is dead: development has ended
Description
Firefox Lite, a mobile version of the Firefox web browser designed specifically for Asia, won't receive any updates anymore after June 30, 2021.Firefox Lite, a mobile version of the Firefox web browser designed specifically for Asia, won't receive any updates anymore after June 30, 2021.
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Ghacks Technology News
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Comments

  1. anonymous said on September 23, 2020 at 9:50 am
    Reply

    thanks you saved my 1000 tabs :)

  2. Anonymous said on September 23, 2020 at 10:00 am
    Reply

    Fantastic! Thank you! This worked like a charm. Had exactly the same issue in Firefox on a PC and this fixed it.

  3. J Smith said on September 23, 2020 at 2:24 pm
    Reply

    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.

    1. White said on September 23, 2020 at 6:35 pm
      Reply

      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!

  4. Ken said on September 23, 2020 at 4:17 pm
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    I was nearing desperation when I found your direction. It worked.

    Thank you so much.

  5. OneTab team said on September 23, 2020 at 4:52 pm
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    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.

  6. TRS said on September 23, 2020 at 4:55 pm
    Reply

    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!

  7. OneTab team said on September 23, 2020 at 5:36 pm
    Reply

    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.

  8. don backer said on September 23, 2020 at 5:38 pm
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    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.

  9. Anonymous said on September 23, 2020 at 5:45 pm
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    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.

  10. OneTab team said on September 23, 2020 at 10:10 pm
    Reply

    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.

  11. Anonymous said on September 24, 2020 at 6:20 pm
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    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 :(

  12. Anonymous said on September 26, 2020 at 6:22 am
    Reply

    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.

  13. ckjk said on September 26, 2020 at 5:05 pm
    Reply

    I just disable and re-enable. No tabs lost!

  14. bsdaddict said on September 29, 2020 at 10:21 am
    Reply

    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…

    1. Anonymous said on September 29, 2020 at 2:57 pm
      Reply

      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?

  15. bsdaddict said on October 3, 2020 at 3:40 am
    Reply

    Tab Stash is is a great alternative to One Tab, y’all… I made the switch months ago and am very happy with it.

  16. Nostradamus said on April 26, 2023 at 4:03 pm
    Reply

    >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!

  17. MartinS said on August 18, 2023 at 7:07 pm
    Reply

    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

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