Mozilla has sunset its Firefox Lite browser for Android. As of June 30th, Mozilla will no longer provide updates or security patches to Firefox Lite and it won’t be available for download on the Google Play Store. However, anyone who already has the app installed can continue to use it if they choose.
Mozilla confirmed the end of support for Firefox Lite in a blog post, directing users to download the Firefox for Android app instead.
Firefox Lite was, as its name implied, meant to be a stripped-down, lightweight version of Mozilla’s mobile browser. Android Police points out that the app never really achieved that goal. Mozilla launched Firefox Lite under the name ‘Firefox Rocket’ in 2017. It was designed for Indonesia and focused on performance and minimized data use. In 2018, Mozilla changed the name to Firefox Lite, but the name flip-flopped back and forth a few times until the 2.0 update in 2019.
In 2020, Mozilla added some unnecessary features to Firefox Lite, contributing to bloat. Given the app was meant to be lightweight, bloat isn’t what you want to see. Android Police notes that Mozilla adds ads to the browser’s notifications and new tab page. The company also added a new travel feature that wasn’t very good and became completely useless when the pandemic shut down travel just a month after it launched.
Anyway, Firefox Lite is gone. If you haven’t tried Mozilla’s revamped Firefox for Android browser, it’s actually really good. Some people have taken issue with the limited number of add-ons available for it, but considering add-ons aren’t available with basically any other mobile browser, having a limited number is a significant step up.
You can download Firefox for Android for free on the Google Play Store.
Source: Mozilla Via: Android Police
