Firefox Fast & Private Browser 17+

Not good with Facebook

The iPad version of Firefox really doesn't work well with Facebook. Whether that's the odd JavaScript that Facebook uses or not I don't know but it locks up, drags the screen away from you when you're typing, gives blank content when you scroll, won't refresh, and gets into a proper mess when you try to play videos. The list goes on and it's pretty much unusable - but only on Facebook and only on the iPad. I've seen Safari on the iPad do strange things too so perhaps it's the JavaScript engine provided by Apple. Having said that, it's a great browser in general if you don't want to use Facebook on it. Having all my passwords synced across all my devices is a real bonus because it makes the use of securely-generated ones viable, and Pocket is extremely useful.

Almost perfect formula

Long one. I love Firefox on my desktop, it’s functional and doesn’t force me into an ecosystem like Microsoft edge, google chrome or safari. I have also tried duck duck go but I found it a little too barebones. Firefox’s entire system just works, because the account is not linked to any of my other accounts and it exists solely for the purpose of browsing , and I think FireFox offers a good balance of privacy and functionality, as you can see by their features. There are two reasons I gave it four stars - one, being that I think with a few tweaks the iOS app could become much more intuitive - I would recommend taking simple hints from safari, for example when the toolbar is at the bottom swiping up enters tab view and swiping along goes to the next tab - it would simply add to the user experience. The second reason is I think there could be more parallels with the desktop version- although the synchronisation is excellent and the accounts are hassle free, simply being able to add extensions and Themes on the desktop elevates it to the next model. That being said, I really appreciate Mozilla’s transparent and privacy focused approach, giving control to the consumer, and I think using Firefox with the DDG search engine is probably one of the best for privacy . Please continue the amazing work Mozilla !

Developer Response ,

Thank you so much for taking the time to share with us how we can improve Firefox for iOS. If there's anything else you'd like to suggest, you can do so by posting your idea to our feedback site at https://mzl.la/sumo-connect

Missing core features

Updated Nov 2022: 2*
Thought I would try the all new, all syncing firefox that just got released. Every few years I try again. Consistently the Firefox team never fail to produce an out-of-date, out of touch experience for browsing the web, from iOS through to desktop. Firefox is a dying technology, because they lack creative minds in understand how to improve the web browsing experience to bring back lightweight, fast experience, while allowing addon’s to provide exceptional features such as bookmark management, OS integrated password management which is far more secure than Firefox can ever offer. Uninstalled once again.

2020 Review: 3*
As has been the case for years now, no matter which OS environment you are using. Firefox bookmark feature is diabolical and frustrating. Appreciating it is a new feature, it will be great to see greater support for mouse + keyboard on iPadOS. Support for blocking adds (and other extensions) is a must. Other browsers have surpassed mozilla in this. Greater support for seeing photos online at better colour gamut and quality should just be standard for ALL browsers by now, it is 2020 not 1990 anymore. Other than this, Firefox is good. Their biggest brag seems to be about privacy these days, but so is Safari, but Safari have so features more modern than Firefox and that’s saying something!

Developer Response ,

Thanks for taking the time to share your experience using Firefox for iOS. We do update the app to fix unresolved issues and add new features. We hope that you consider trying Firefox on your device again in the future.