This is how I make the most of Firefox on my Android phone

Not too way back, I aired my grievances about Google Chrome’s shortcomings on Android. In comparison with many options, Chrome isn’t as versatile or customizable, leaving me to both take care of its quirks or discover one thing else. Whereas I haven’t kicked it off my telephone, Mozilla Firefox has usurped it as my go-to internet browser on Android.

For these not sure about migrating to Firefox from Chrome, I need to provide a number of setup suggestions, insights, and suggestions for maximizing your Firefox searching expertise on Android.

Like most apps and Android telephones in 2025, it’s worthwhile to discover the settings and options to get essentially the most out of Firefox.

Listed below are a number of checkboxes and toggles I go to instantly after putting in the browser:

Firefox’s homepage contains steered content material that I’d somewhat ignore. Fortunately, the browser permits me to cover all of it, and I select to try this.

• Faucet on the three-dot menu button, then choose Customise homepage. I uncheck each field on this checklist, however some could also be helpful. Soar again in permits you to shortly return to a earlier searching session, whereas Lately visited shows a listing of websites you’ve opened in prior classes.

Allow the underside deal with bar

Google Chrome’s steady channel lacks this selection, however putting the deal with bar on the backside of the show improves accessibility by leaps and bounds. There’s no must stretch my thumb to the highest of the show to entry it.

• Faucet the three-dot menu button > Settings > Customise > toggle on Backside beneath the Handle bar location part.

Soar from tab to tab extra effectively

Firefox permits you to change tabs by swiping the Handle bar. That is even higher when positioned on the foot of the display screen, permitting you to do it with one hand.

• Faucet the three-dot menu button > Settings > Customise > toggle on Swipe deal with bar sideways to change tabs.

Disable knowledge assortment

For those who’re a privacy-minded consumer, go to the Information assortment submenu inside Settings. Right here, you possibly can cease your browser from sending efficiency knowledge to Mozilla.

Allow exterior obtain supervisor help

Google Chrome forces you to obtain content material via its obtain supervisor, however Firefox offers customers an choice. As a 1DM consumer, I recurrently cross on bigger recordsdata to it for background downloading. A easy toggle permits this characteristic.

• Faucet the three-dot menu button > Settings > toggle on Exterior obtain supervisor underneath the Superior part.

Though I wish to deal with these items instantly after putting in Firefox, your mileage might range. You would possibly take pleasure in having a listing of shortcuts in your homepage or use Firefox’s inner downloader. The good factor is that Firefox enables you to select.

For those who require one thing explicit, you possibly can go for a Firefox fork that’s extra attuned to your wants. As an example, I take advantage of Firefox Focus for quick-fire searches. It doesn’t maintain on to go looking historical past, making it an incredible tertiary browser.

Iceraven provides extra technical customers a swathe of extra choices, together with about:config help and fewer browser analytics reporting instruments.

All good fashionable browsers help extensions. These third-party add-ons improve the searching expertise by including options to the browser itself or enhancing the assorted websites I go to. Google Chrome for Android doesn’t but help extensions, however Firefox does. It’s one of many main causes Mozilla’s browser is my go-to over Google’s on my telephone.

What’s additionally nice about Firefox’s extension help is its broad selection. In accordance with Mozilla, over 1,800 can be found. Lots of the extensions for desktop are additionally obtainable for the smaller display screen, permitting me to (nearly) reproduce my desktop searching expertise on my telephone.

I attempt to maintain my put in extension checklist on Android to a minimal, however these I take advantage of enhance my internet searching expertise in ways in which I can’t do with out.

Right here’s a listing of my favourite Firefox extensions for Android and what they do:

• uBlock Origin: A easy but highly effective content material blocker for Firefox. It helps loads of filter lists for particular forms of promoting content material, widgets, and people annoying cookie pop-up messages.
• Darkish Reader: I wrestle to browse black-on-white web sites at evening, however Darkish Reader saves my eyes. It forces websites to load with a darkish background, and it’s extremely simple to make use of.
• Tampermonkey: It is a userscript addon that permits me to change how sure web sites function or load. There’s an unlimited library of trusted userscripts, and my favourite is enabling infinity searching on boards, however that is simply scratching the floor.
• Outdated Reddit Redirect: I detest the trendy Reddit structure on Android, so this little extension forces the location to load the outdated UI.

There are a bunch of different extensions on the market that’ll serve your explicit wants. To browse the total checklist of choices inside Firefox, faucet the three-dot menu button > choose Extensions > Extensions Supervisor. The browser will provide a listing of Really useful extensions, however faucet Discover extra extensions to view the 1000’s of choices obtainable.

Highly effective search choices have slowly develop into a very powerful factor on my telephone’s homescreen. Many customers will depend on Google’s search bar widget, whereas those that make use of third-party launchers might go for their built-in techniques. Nevertheless, I’ve lately adopted a brand new strategy: the Firefox Search widget.

I pair this with customized search engine choices that enable me to question different search engines like google or AI instruments. I’ve written a separate information detailing the method, however I’ll give you a short overview of including customized search engines like google to Firefox:

• Faucet the three-dot menu button, choose Settings > Search > Handle different search engines like google > + Add search engine. Insert a customized search string URL, title the engine, and that’s it.

This little trick permits me to make use of ChatGPT and Perplexity as fast gateways to direct data on-line, and I don’t must undergo their particular apps, both.

So, how does the Firefox Search widget match into all of this? Nicely, it makes use of whichever default search engine I select. At the moment, that’s Perplexity for me, however you possibly can go for DuckDuckGo, Wikipedia, and extra. So, by putting the widget on my residence display screen, I can leap immediately right into a search via my chosen service. It’s actually neat!

There are some downsides, although. Tapping the widget doesn’t open a textual content discipline however as a substitute acts as a shortcut to Firefox itself. I’d additionally admire an choice to pick a search service from the widget. However, it does appear par for the course. The Chrome widget operates equally however doesn’t have the choice to go looking through third-party channels like Firefox.

Regardless, the choice to go looking the online utilizing companies aside from Google Search is sufficient cause for me to make use of Firefox’s answer.

As an Android telephone consumer, Google Chrome has to have a spot on my telephone. Some websites simply don’t work properly on Firefox, and the majority of Google’s properties are extra simply accessible via Chrome, particularly when logged in. Nevertheless, that is additionally a flaw.

I need to maintain my searching exercise siloed in a distinct browser. If I must entry a Google property or knowledge saved on a Google service, I take advantage of Chrome. If it’s the rest, I’ll use Firefox or another.

If I must sync my desktop and telephone searching knowledge, I don’t want Google. As an alternative, Firefox Sync offers a helpful browser syncing different for individuals like me utilizing a Mozilla account. This permits me to entry the identical Firefox expertise throughout a number of units.

Because it’s a completely separate platform and requires a distinct account, I can simply sync searching knowledge between my desktop and my Android telephone with out cross-pollinating my Google account knowledge. I’m not a privateness nut, however I choose holding my searching habits away from Google’s eye. Firefox permits me to do that.

Mozilla Firefox is not at all excellent. It’s why I’ve a number of different browsers put in for hair-on-fire moments. Nonetheless, it’s an extremely versatile browser for Android. Though I’ve tried and loved a number of options, together with Arc Search and Courageous, I nonetheless depend on Firefox for my day-to-day on-line travels.