Redoubt Android 157.0-1 — Beta 4 (superseded by Beta 5)

Warning

Superseded by Beta 5. Please install Beta 5 instead. It updates Beta 4 in place and keeps your settings. It also switches on uBlock Origin's cookie-notice lists once for profiles that didn't get them: updates from Beta 3, and installs whose first launch was offline.

Fourth beta of Redoubt for Android, and the first built on Firefox 157. Redoubt for Android now follows Firefox's regular releases instead of ESR, so new Gecko versions and Firefox for Android's security fixes arrive with each release. It installs over Beta 3 as an update and keeps your settings. Requires Android 8.0 or later. This is a prerelease.

What changed since Beta 3

Firefox 157. The engine and app move from Firefox ESR 153.4 to Firefox 157.0. That brings four major versions of fixes and features, including Android-only security fixes that ESR never received.

Cookie banners are handled by uBlock Origin. Firefox 156 removed its built-in cookie-banner service, and Beta 3's cookie-banner settings went with it. Fresh installs of Beta 4 now get uBlock Origin's "EasyList/uBO – Cookie Notices" filter lists switched on, and you can switch them off in uBO's Filter lists pane.

• If you're updating from Beta 3: turn them on yourself in uBO → Filter lists → Cookie notices. uBO only applies Redoubt's default list selection on its very first run, and the same applies if your first launch was offline.
• How it differs: filter lists hide or block banners. They don't click "Reject".

New Firefox 157 cloud features are switched off. Firefox 157 turns on several features that send data to Mozilla or Google. Redoubt switches off:

• Shake to Summarize: AI page summaries through Mozilla's LLM service.
• IP Protection: Mozilla's VPN, with its setup prompt and its start at launch.
• Shortcut icons: "Add shortcut" icons fetched from Mozilla's Merino servers.
• Google Lens: Lens image upload.

Fixed

• Default-browser prompt: Android's "Set Redoubt as your default browser?" dialog no longer appears on the fourth cold start. Beta 3 also has this bug.
• Add-on re-enable: re-enabling a disabled extension now starts it right away, instead of after a restart. Betas 2 and 3 also have this bug.
• Add-on disable at install: a "disable" choice made while installing an extension is no longer overwritten.
• WebGL and canvas permissions list: it no longer opens empty after a restart.

Unchanged: local-network protection for top-level navigations stays on, as in every beta, and uBlock Origin is still 1.75.0.

Verify what you downloaded

sha256sum -c SHA256SUMS.signed
apksigner verify --print-certs fenix-<abi>-release.apk | grep -i SHA-256

The certificate digest must be:

64:14:EB:33:46:81:CF:6E:92:90:34:B5:6A:06:2D:2B:8D:A0:90:82:21:72:F7:A3:95:2C:85:FD:D1:28:3B:D0

Signed with APK signature schemes v2 and v3, no v1, with the same key as earlier betas.

Which file

fenix-arm64-v8a-release.apk suits almost any phone from the last several years. Use armeabi-v7a for older 32-bit devices and x86_64 for emulators. The universal APK carries all three and is much larger, so prefer a per-ABI build.

Known limitations

• Testing coverage: the automated on-device tests ran on an x86_64 emulator only. The ARM builds contain the same app with ARM engines and were checked, but not run on a physical phone. Reports from real devices are especially welcome.
• Faster release cadence: Redoubt now follows Firefox releases, so expect more frequent updates.
• No content-process sandbox on Android: Redoubt ships the same privacy configuration and Gecko security patches as LibreWolf desktop, on a platform with weaker process containment. docs/android/PARITY.md says exactly where.
• DNS over HTTPS: DoH configuration from preferences doesn't apply. Use the DoH screen in Settings.
• First-run network traffic: the first run contacts Remote Settings (revocation, blocklists, tracking-protection lists), uBlock Origin's filter-list hosts, and GitHub for Redoubt's pinned uBO list catalog. Nothing telemetry-, ads- or crash-reporting-shaped is contacted.
• Single signing key: one person holds the signing key. If it is lost, this applicationId can no longer be updated.

Provenance

Built from 6202ee6d16bdc5cf9d9f2df4b5c311817fce1a8c against Firefox 157.0. Three ABIs come from one fat AAR, with R8 on. Signed by the maintainer; CI never sees the key. The evidence is in docs/android/evidence/lw-m7-01/release-157.0/.