Firefox is all I ever used on desktops and I would love to install Firefox on Android, but until they let me set a custom homepage it’s not an option. I can’t be arsed to make an extra click to get to my selfhosted dashboard which has links to all my most frequented sites and services. It’s a fundamental function, so how they have not fixed it is beyond me. Until then I’m using Kiwi which is Chromium based but it is open source, has built in ad blocking, and also supports extensions like uBlock Origin. And I’m pretty sure it was the first Android browser to have the bottom address bar.
Oh, sorry, I misunderstood, but yeah, we agree then, it’s crazy. And what is crazier is that it did work a few years ago, and then at some point they removed it.
No worries, I most definitely could have phrased it a lot better.
Having the feature then losing it is even whackier. 🥴 Especially I’d think their focus would be android users and making sure it’s up to date/functioning for them.
I hope Apple will relax the rules on web browsers in order for Firefox to use their own engine instead of WebKit. New EU laws will put more pressure on Big Tech.
That is odd. Firefox Nightly at least has an Add to Homescreen option to put a shortcut to the current URL on your homescreem. Then you could put that icon where you want it.
Agreed, but they are both one tap to take you to your desired homepage. Only difference is there is no Home button in the app. Not sure why Mozilla would leave that out. There is always the extension route, that is one thing I’ve always liked about Firefox: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/android/addon/home-button-for-ff-on-android/
That extension was made when you could customize your homepage in FireFox settings, and it just lacked a home button.
FireFox currently does have a home button now… you just can’t change it from taking you to their hardcoded start page.
That extension was last updated 4 years ago and no longer works for current versions regardless.
I appreciate you trying to help, but please don’t take shots in the dark, this is a known issue and extensions are not able to work around this problem. As you can see verified by an official FireFox mod on the issue:
Firefox is all I ever used on desktops and I would love to install Firefox on Android, but until they let me set a custom homepage it’s not an option. I can’t be arsed to make an extra click to get to my selfhosted dashboard which has links to all my most frequented sites and services. It’s a fundamental function, so how they have not fixed it is beyond me. Until then I’m using Kiwi which is Chromium based but it is open source, has built in ad blocking, and also supports extensions like uBlock Origin. And I’m pretty sure it was the first Android browser to have the bottom address bar.
Wait, I can change my homepage URL on iPhone. I find it hard to believe that’s an option exclusive to iPhone.
Edit: it’s at the bottom of the settings>homepage tab
You can’t do it on Android, it’s not an option… Google it if you want to verify it.
Sorry, I didn’t mean “I can’t believe” as in “I think you’re lying” but “I can’t believe” as in “what an absurd feature to leave out on android”.
Oh, sorry, I misunderstood, but yeah, we agree then, it’s crazy. And what is crazier is that it did work a few years ago, and then at some point they removed it.
https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/fenix/issues/7551
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1807866
So yeah, doesn’t seem like a priority and might not get fixed for a long, long time… so until then I’m using Kiwi.
No worries, I most definitely could have phrased it a lot better.
Having the feature then losing it is even whackier. 🥴 Especially I’d think their focus would be android users and making sure it’s up to date/functioning for them.
I hope Apple will relax the rules on web browsers in order for Firefox to use their own engine instead of WebKit. New EU laws will put more pressure on Big Tech.
That is odd. Firefox Nightly at least has an Add to Homescreen option to put a shortcut to the current URL on your homescreem. Then you could put that icon where you want it.
Adding a shortcut to their homepage != using your own homepage
Agreed, but they are both one tap to take you to your desired homepage. Only difference is there is no Home button in the app. Not sure why Mozilla would leave that out. There is always the extension route, that is one thing I’ve always liked about Firefox: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/android/addon/home-button-for-ff-on-android/
That extension was made when you could customize your homepage in FireFox settings, and it just lacked a home button.
FireFox currently does have a home button now… you just can’t change it from taking you to their hardcoded start page.
That extension was last updated 4 years ago and no longer works for current versions regardless.
I appreciate you trying to help, but please don’t take shots in the dark, this is a known issue and extensions are not able to work around this problem. As you can see verified by an official FireFox mod on the issue:
https://old.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/v1700e/firefox_for_android_no_custom_homepage/