# Add-on support in new Firefox for Android

**URL:** <https://discourse.mozilla.org/t/add-on-support-in-new-firefox-for-android/53488>\
**Category:** Add-on Support\
**Created:** [February 7, 2020, 10:39pm UTC](https://discourse.mozilla.org/t/add-on-support-in-new-firefox-for-android/53488 "2020-02-07T22:39:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 179

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**Author:** ![excalamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b38774/32.png) [@excalamus](https://discourse.mozilla.org/u/excalamus)\
**Post date:** [April 4, 2022, 1:37am UTC](https://discourse.mozilla.org/t/add-on-support-in-new-firefox-for-android/53488/179 "2022-04-04T01:37:05Z")

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I’m going to chime in here as a “would-be contributor”. I say  
would-be because it’s most likely I won’t be.

I just spent the last 20 hours or so writing an extension. My  
main target was Firefox for Android. I did this to fix a problem  
I had (related to the browsing experience, not the core  
application). I took it upon myself to find a solution and the  
time to try sharing my solution with others. These kinds of  
choices are the bedrock of community, the want to help others.

Now I see this thread and understand that not only can I not  
share my extension with others, I can’t even really use it  
myself, locally. The decisions by Mozilla talked about here  
explain why it was so hard to test on mobile, why I couldn’t find  
a way to simply load my extension locally, and why the docs are  
confusing.

I want to let Mozilla know that the inablity to meaningfully  
create and distribute add-ons has a negative effect on the  
community. As would-be contributor, I feel betrayed. I feel  
dirty, as though I’d just been robbed. It’s a yucky feeling. The  
20 hours I spent developing could have been spent with my  
family. I could have worked on my house. I could have learned a  
skill that helped others, that benefited a community. Instead,  
it looks like I’ve been told that my add-on, and subsequently my  
time, is not worthwhile. Not because of some inherent technical  
issue. Instead, because…well, I’m not sure why. It has  
something to do with Mozilla feeling that add-ons detract from  
the browsing experience or are unsafe or… I can’t quite tell  
why.

Anyway, I’m not going to start running a nightly build just to  
run my add-on. I don’t see that as a viable solution. I really  
wanted to make the add-on work for Tor Browser. I can see that’s  
not likely to happen.

Maybe I missed something and my understanding is off. Maybe I’m  
spoiled by Emacs. I don’t think that making extensions needs to  
be this difficult.

Is there a way I can run my little, 20 line add-on locally, on my  
personal device, for my own benefit? Or is it really the case  
that I’m barred from that?

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_[View the full topic](https://discourse.mozilla.org/t/add-on-support-in-new-firefox-for-android/53488)._