Mozilla released Firefox 85 this week, adding protections against so-called supercookies. But it is also taking a big step backwards with Progressive Web Apps (PWAs), which makes this browser much less interesting and useful.
“At Mozilla, we believe you have a right to privacy,” notes the Firefox 85 ad post. “You shouldn’t be tracked online. Whether you are checking your bank balance, looking for the best doctor or buying shoes, unscrupulous tracking companies should not be able to track you while you browse the web. For this reason, we are continuously working to protect Firefox from online tracking of our users. “
By the way, Firefox 85 now protects users from supercookies, which Mozilla says is “a type of tracker that can be hidden in your browser and track you online, even after clearing cookies. By isolating supercookies, Firefox prevents them from tracking your web browsing from one website to another. ”It also includes minor improvements to bookmarks and password management.
Unfortunately, Mozilla separately – and much more quietly – stopped working on the Site Specific Browser (SSB) feature that I highlighted a few weeks ago. This feature allowed users to use Firefox to create applications on their local PC from PWAs and other web applications, similar to the functionality provided in Chrome, Microsoft Edge and other Chromium-based web browsers.
“The SSB feature was only available through an [preference] and there are several known bugs, ”explains Dave Townsend from Mozilla in a Bugzilla issue tracker. “In addition, user research has found little or no perceived benefit for the user with the feature and, therefore, there is no intention to continue developing it at this time. Since the feature is costing us time in terms of bug screening and keeping it sending the wrong signal that this is a supported feature, we will remove the feature from Firefox. “
As you can expect, Townsend received a lot of criticism from users in the post, and I will point out that there is no way to measure the user’s benefit or interest, unless you make this feature easily detectable in the browser. But in any case, Mozilla is moving away from a fundamental principle of modern web applications, and in doing so, they are becoming irrelevant.
“There is currently no plan to support PWA in Firefox,” Townsend finally blurted out in response to a complaint.
Well, there it is. Likewise, there are currently no plans to recommend or use Firefox again.
Tagged with Progressive Web Apps, PWAs