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Firefox for iOS - epic fail!

  • 1 ŋuɖoɖo
  • 5 masɔmasɔ sia le wosi
  • 6 views
  • Nuɖoɖo mlɔetɔ Stefan Arentz

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Firefox for iOS in Apple app store requirement is 8.2 or later. However on iOS 8 you don't have "Private browsing". I don't know what the reason is, maybe they are using mystical iOS 9 APIs to not save cookies, history, etc (I think it is not related to the WKWebView control they MUST use to display content).

Apart of "private browsing" issue, what we have:

- cannot arrange tabs; - cannot arrange bookmarks (bookmark folders ?!?!? are you kidding); - loosing open tabs (see below).

I am on iOS 8.4. So I am not blessed to have "private browsing". I had several open tabs. I wanted to search something through a search engine "privately" and I went to "Settings -> Clear private data" and turned everything "OFF" except "Cookies" and cleared it. Voila, I had no opened tabs anymore! I had to open them one by one through browsing history menu.

So what we have in Firefox for iOS- WKWebView application with "Firefox"" SYNC support. But I DON'T use SYNC !!!

I am Firefox user since 2004. I was EXTREMELY excited on their New Zealand release (I even tried to switch the app store location with no success, it wanted New Zealand credit card). Finally it was released globally. And the disappointment (for myself) is HUGE!!! ( I used it non-stop for two weeks).

Sorry, but I'm going back to my other (non-free, purchased) private-browsing capable browser! I don't trust it (it is not open source) and I hope I can switch to my favorite Firefox browser soon!

P.S. iOS update is not an option (solution)!

Firefox for iOS in Apple app store requirement is 8.2 or later. However on iOS 8 you don't have "Private browsing". I don't know what the reason is, maybe they are using mystical iOS 9 APIs to not save cookies, history, etc (I think it is not related to the WKWebView control they MUST use to display content). Apart of "private browsing" issue, what we have: - cannot arrange tabs; - cannot arrange bookmarks (bookmark folders ?!?!? are you kidding); - loosing open tabs (see below). I am on iOS 8.4. So I am not blessed to have "private browsing". I had several open tabs. I wanted to search something through a search engine "privately" and I went to "Settings -> Clear private data" and turned everything "OFF" except "Cookies" and cleared it. Voila, I had no opened tabs anymore! I had to open them one by one through browsing history menu. So what we have in Firefox for iOS- WKWebView application with "Firefox"" SYNC support. But I DON'T use SYNC !!! I am Firefox user since 2004. I was EXTREMELY excited on their New Zealand release (I even tried to switch the app store location with no success, it wanted New Zealand credit card). Finally it was released globally. And the disappointment (for myself) is HUGE!!! ( I used it non-stop for two weeks). Sorry, but I'm going back to my other (non-free, purchased) private-browsing capable browser! I don't trust it (it is not open source) and I hope I can switch to my favorite Firefox browser soon! P.S. iOS update is not an option (solution)!

All Replies (1)

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Private Browsing Mode is only available on iOS 9.0 and newer because that is when Apple added that functionality to the WKWebView. The only way to get access to this feature is by updating your device to a more recent iOS version.