Support Firefox for Android

[jefft0]

A simplified Firefox for Android add-on only needs the preference for Custom Gateway Host. Then I can point it to my home IPFS node to open a URI like fs:/ipfs/Qm.... and browse the permanent web.

The simplified add-on doesn't need the IPFS Web UI since there is no local IPFS daemon.

[Kubuxu]

I think handling should go through this: https://github.com/ligi/IPFSDroid

For now it is a place holder but they aim at providing unified IPFS interface on Android

[jefft0]

I tried IPFSDroid. When I click an fs: URL in Firefox, it opens the external IPFSDroid application. I think a Firefox add-on is still necessary to rewrite the URL while staying in Firefox. Also, I'm only using the Firefox add-on to redirect to a Custom Gateway. The purpose of IPFSDroid is to run IPFS on the phone which is different.

Is it possible to have a version of the add-on which only rewrites fs: to use a Custom Gateway?

[lidel]

The "problem" is that the addon already does it (if you disabled redirect). For example:

fs:/ipfs/QmPQN7bUeCsYpLzkcNRWicE6C2o4XAG96x2AANNRz9J3aL
redirects to
https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmPQN7bUeCsYpLzkcNRWicE6C2o4XAG96x2AANNRz9J3aL

On desktop the addon does what you want, but on Android there is additional moving piece: intents.

I think the issue is that Android prefers IPFSDroid for fs: because it lists the protocol as a supported one while Firefox does not.

Not sure if it is possible for Firefox to dynamically extend its Android Manifest with protocols handled by 3rd-party addons.

Requires further research.

[jefft0]

Thanks for the feedback, but I still don't understand. Are you saying that on Android it is not possible to view an IPFS web page in Firefox? I'm talking about an HTML page where the CSS, JavaScript and embedded images are all fetched with fs:/ipfs/Qmxxxxx . This works beautifully in the Firefox desktop add-on. Are you saying this won't be possible on Android, and fs: has to launch the external IPFSDroid viewer?

[lidel]

Short answer: we did not test/support add-on on Android yet, but fetching site assets from fs:/ipfs/Qm.. is technically possible. WebExtension version of this add-on will support it.

---

Longer answer: I did some preliminary research regarding Firefox for Android and these my findings.
Forgive me going into low level technical details, this is also sort of a node-to-self.

• It does not work right now. I am unable to install v1.5.9 on Firefox for Android on my Nexus 5.
  According to page Extensions for Firefox for Android some of XUL internals / parts of old SDK (which we rely on right now) are not supported on Mobile. This explains why add-on is hidden on AMO pages and I had to open the direct link to attempt install (which did not work).

• Good news: WebExtensions are supported since Firefox 48 for Android:

  With the release of Firefox 48 we are announcing Android support for WebExtensions. WebExtensions add-ons can now be installed and run on Android, just like any other add-on.

  with a caveat:

  [..] because Firefox for Android makes use of a native user interface, anything that involves user interface interaction is currently unsupported (similar to existing extensions on Android).

In short, Android support in on the Roadmap as two steps:

1. Move Add-on to WebExtensions (Move to WebExtensions #20)
2. Ensure it works on mobile (add GUI workarounds, if needed)

[facastagnini]

It will be great to have this plugin working on firefox for android... let me know if you need a tester.

[lidel]

Quick status update from Mozilla about Android goals for firefox 57:

We aim to complete enough APIs to allow the most popular add-ons on Android (AdBlock Plus and uBlock Origin) to run as WebExtensions. To support those we will complete: browserAction, pageAction, options_ui, permissions and maybe contextMenus (being investigated at this time).

There is no plan to support other APIs like history, bookmarks etc by Firefox 57.

[lidel]

Another update from Mozilla:

Firefox 55 for Android has gained browserAction support. Currently a textual menu item is added to the bottom of the menu on Android. It supports browserAction.onClicked and setTitle and getTitle. Tabs support was added to pageAction.

[lidel]

(updated 2017-09-10)
Quick status update with tickets that are blocking this effort:

• Support web-ext run on Firefox for Android (fennec) #737 (OPEN)
• Bug 1185785 - [tracking] Extension API for Android (OPEN, meta-ticket for Android support)
  • Bug 1302504 - Add support for options_ui on Android ( FIXED in Firefox 56)
  • Bug 1364945 - [runtime] runtime.openOptionsPage does not work on Android ( FIXED in Firefox 57)
  • Bug 1330159 - [tracking] BrowserAction API support for Android WebExtensions (OPEN)
    • potential workaround: Webextension - How do I make the browserAction popup work on Firefox Android

[jefft0]

Should IPFS Companion 2.0.13 work in Firefox for Android? I can install it, but I can't open the Preferences to change the Custom Gateway.

[lidel]

Hm.. indeed, opening Preferences is implemented in Firefox 57, which is the current Beta (will be released as stable in November). I changed a minimal version at AMO to Firefox 57.

If you want to test it right now, install Firefox for Android Beta
(can be installed alongside the stable version) and give it a try.
CSS may be out of whack -- plan is to address it before 57 hits stable.

[jefft0]

Thanks! Firefox Beta works great. The future has arrived!

[lidel]

@jefft0 I fixed CSS so that you dont need to zoom/pan on Android anymore 👌
If you want to test it, opt-in for 2.0.15beta1