My 5 must-have extensions for Firefox on Android (and what I use them for)

Firefox is an outstanding choice for your default Android browser. It’s more secure than Chrome and offers an abundance of features. One such feature is extensions. That’s right, Firefox is one of the few mobile browsers that includes extensions and for anyone who’s come to rely on them, it’s a breath of fresh air.

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Extensions boost the browser feature set to improve security, efficiency, and useability. I wanted to share with you the extensions I’ve found to be must-haves for anyone using Firefox on Android.

Installing Extensions

Before starting the list, I wanted to mention how to install extensions. It’s quite easy. Tap the menu button (in the top-right corner of the Firefox window) and tap Extensions. From within the Extension Manager, locate the extensions you want. Then tap the associated + button to install whatever you need and okay the installation by tapping Add (when prompted).

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Each of these extensions is freely available and free to use. And that’s all there is to installing extensions on Firefox mobile. And now, to the list.

1. ClearURLs

Simply put, ClearURLs removes tracking elements from URLs. This is one of the first extensions I recommend because it helps protect your privacy while you browse the internet. ClearURLs also makes it easy to share URLs with others — without having to remove the tracking elements of the address. 

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The extension can be enabled for both regular and private browsing, allow domain blocking, skip cleaning on local hosts, prevent tracking injection over history API, display an entry in the context menu, block hyperlink auditing, and filter ETag headers from requests. You can also enable badges, and statistics, and even view how many elements were blocked.

2. NoScript Security Suite

NoScript Security Suite is one of the best security extensions for Firefox mobile. This extension protects against cross-site scripting attacks, cross-zone DNS rebinding, CSRF attacks, and ClickJacking attempts. NoScript Security Suite can be run in regular and private modes and has extensive settings for per-site permissions, appearance, and advanced settings, such as sanitizing cross-site suspicious requests and cross-tab identity leak protection. You can even add individual sites to NoScript Security Suite and customize their permissions. You can also say certain sites can run JavaScript, Flash, and other types of executable content.

3. Dark Reader

If you’re a fan of dark mode, you’ll want this extension. Dark Reader works on most sites — even when Android’s dark mode won’t — to invert bright colors on websites. If you’re prone to grabbing your phone in the middle of the night and scrolling through websites, you’ve probably encountered sites that don’t behave properly with Android’s built-in dark mode. This extension solves that problem. 

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As far as settings are concerned, you can customize Dark Reader on a per-site basis or globally. You can access the Dark Reader settings by tapping the menu button at the top-right corner > Extensions > Dark Reader. On that page, you can customize the extension as needed.

4. Video Background Play Fix

Do you ever open a video stream and listen to the output of the content while doing something else on your phone? Without Video Background Play Fix, the playback stops when you try to do something else. With this extension, you can listen to the audio in the background, while you do something else in another window. So long as the video continues playing, you’ll still hear the audio, no matter what you do on your phone. Background playback on YouTube is a premium feature but you get it for free here. Like Dark Reader, there isn’t much in the way of settings (beyond permissions and enabling the extension in private browsing).

5. Ghostery

No one likes things that slow down website performance, such as ads and tracking cookies. With Ghostery, those things are blocked. Ghostery also automatically removes intrusive cookie popups and expresses dissent for online tracking. With this extension, you can easily manage adblocking, antitracking, and cookie removal with a single tap. You don’t have to worry about configuring Ghostery because it just works. There are no settings to deal with (other than enabling it to run in private mode and the usual permissions), so there’s zero learning curve. Add the extension to Firefox and it works in the background to keep you safe.

There you go. With these five extensions, your Firefox Mobile browser has been made more secure, private, and easy to use. Consider these extensions a must for any instance of Firefox for Android you use.

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