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Firefox doesn't run in the background

  • 5 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 3 views
  • Last reply by Paul

Wolf 007
Wolf 007
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"... If you minimize Firefox while playing video/audio, it will continue to play in the background, so you can multitask on your phone. "

I loved this feature. It was for me the main reason to prefer Firefox to other browsers. It worked even in the screensaver mode. And it still works on my Samsung Note 4 SM-N9100 (Android 5.1.1) with Firefox 68.11.0 It still works on my Samsung Note 8 SM-N950F (Android 8.0.0) with Firefox 63.0.2

And now I have Samsung Note 10+ SM-N975F (Android 10, Kernel 4.14.113) with Firefox 81.1.2 and this feature doesn't work anymore!! When I switch from Firefox to Home screen or to other app, Firefox plays the website-video in the background for about 30 sec and then stops.

I don't complain about the interface of Firefox 81.1.2 which is in my opinion much worse than it was in 63.0.2. But could Mozilla at least provide in new versions this important feature?

"... If you minimize Firefox while playing video/audio, it will continue to play in the background, so you can multitask on your phone. " I loved this feature. It was for me the main reason to prefer Firefox to other browsers. It worked even in the screensaver mode. And it still works on my Samsung Note 4 SM-N9100 (Android 5.1.1) with Firefox 68.11.0 It still works on my Samsung Note 8 SM-N950F (Android 8.0.0) with Firefox 63.0.2 And now I have Samsung Note 10+ SM-N975F (Android 10, Kernel 4.14.113) with Firefox 81.1.2 and this feature doesn't work anymore!! When I switch from Firefox to Home screen or to other app, Firefox plays the website-video in the background for about 30 sec and then stops. I don't complain about the interface of Firefox 81.1.2 which is in my opinion much worse than it was in 63.0.2. But could Mozilla at least provide in new versions this important feature?

Modified by Wolf 007

All Replies (5)

TyDraniu
TyDraniu
  • Top 25 Contributor
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Did you enable the Video Background Play Fix addon?

Wolf 007
Wolf 007 Question owner
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TyDraniu said
Did you enable the Video Background Play Fix addon?

No, I didn't try it, because background playing doesn't work now even for websites which don't use Page Visibility API. And furthermore, on my old devices (Note 4 and Note 8) this feature works without this addon.

Modified by Wolf 007

TyDraniu
TyDraniu
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OK. It won't work on the release version, but should work on Beta. AFAIR there is an about:config switch to keep app awake in background.

Wolf 007
Wolf 007 Question owner
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TyDraniu, thank you very much for your advices. Unfortunately I have release version and it doesn't work...

I've just downloaded old version 68.11.0 (apk) and installed it. Now background playing works perfectly and I have again the better interface. Hopefully Mozilla will fix this problem in the next version. 81.1.2 is terrible.

Paul
Paul
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Hi

Yes, this should be rectified in Firefox for Android 82 with the add-on that will be available in that update.