# FireFox for Android: Updating add-ons

**URL:** <https://discourse.mozilla.org/t/firefox-for-android-updating-add-ons/12849>\
**Category:** Development\
**Created:** [January 6, 2017, 10:47pm UTC](https://discourse.mozilla.org/t/firefox-for-android-updating-add-ons/12849 "2017-01-06T22:47:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 15\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![SubDevo](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex001/user_avatar/discourse.mozilla.org/subdevo/32/5566_2.png) [@SubDevo](https://discourse.mozilla.org/u/SubDevo)\
**Post date:** [January 6, 2017, 10:47pm UTC](https://discourse.mozilla.org/t/firefox-for-android-updating-add-ons/12849/1 "2017-01-06T22:47:06Z")

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Just a few “basic” questions that I can’t seem to find the answers to.  
On FireFox for Android:  
How does the auto update for addons work? How often does it check?  
Can I manually check for addon updates?

TIA  
SubDevo

EDIT: This may not be the correct board for this question. If so, please let me know.

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**Author:** ![SubDevo](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex001/user_avatar/discourse.mozilla.org/subdevo/32/5566_2.png) [@SubDevo](https://discourse.mozilla.org/u/SubDevo)\
**Post date:** [January 7, 2017, 3:28pm UTC](https://discourse.mozilla.org/t/firefox-for-android-updating-add-ons/12849/2 "2017-01-07T15:28:18Z")

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Nevermind… It was a stupid question…  
I found FireFox defaults to 24 hours between checks.  
In fact, delete this embarassing thread please…

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**Author:** ![noitidart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9f8e36/32.png) [@noitidart](https://discourse.mozilla.org/u/noitidart)\
**Post date:** [January 7, 2017, 3:29pm UTC](https://discourse.mozilla.org/t/firefox-for-android-updating-add-ons/12849/3 "2017-01-07T15:29:43Z")

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No problem, we all have questions. I flagged your topic though requesting deletion.

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**Author:** ![SubDevo](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex001/user_avatar/discourse.mozilla.org/subdevo/32/5566_2.png) [@SubDevo](https://discourse.mozilla.org/u/SubDevo)\
**Post date:** [January 7, 2017, 3:30pm UTC](https://discourse.mozilla.org/t/firefox-for-android-updating-add-ons/12849/4 "2017-01-07T15:30:31Z")

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Thanks! 🙂

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**Author:** ![leo](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex001/user_avatar/discourse.mozilla.org/leo/32/35237_2.png) [@leo](https://discourse.mozilla.org/u/leo)\
**Post date:** [January 7, 2017, 4:39pm UTC](https://discourse.mozilla.org/t/firefox-for-android-updating-add-ons/12849/5 "2017-01-07T16:39:18Z")

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@SubDevo I don’t think it was a stupid question - I didn’t know Firefox checked for add-on updates every 24 hours.

If you really want the thread deleted, I can still do that, but it’s possible someone else might come here wanting to ask the same question, and find your answer first, saving them the effort!

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**Author:** ![ngyikp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@ngyikp](https://discourse.mozilla.org/u/ngyikp)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2017, 7:50am UTC](https://discourse.mozilla.org/t/firefox-for-android-updating-add-ons/12849/6 "2017-03-11T07:50:57Z")

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Does the extension auto-update only happen on Wi-Fi and/or mobile data as well? I can’t seem to find any documentation or settings to adjust this.

I’m planning to build an extension which will have several images packed into the XPI to speed up load times on each page reload, and it would suck for users on mobile data to get a 1MB update…

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**Author:** ![noitidart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9f8e36/32.png) [@noitidart](https://discourse.mozilla.org/u/noitidart)\
**Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 3:20pm UTC](https://discourse.mozilla.org/t/firefox-for-android-updating-add-ons/12849/7 "2017-03-12T15:20:56Z")

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There is no update settings for wifi/data for the extension level. You can control app updates on the Android platform. Extensions will update regardless of wifi/data - from what I recall, things might have changed.

If you aren’t making a webextension, I would say hold off on the Android extension, the future for Android is very unclear, you will most likely end up wasting your time on it as they ban non-webextension addons on Android.

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**Author:** ![j0naht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@j0naht](https://discourse.mozilla.org/u/j0naht)\
**Post date:** [June 4, 2018, 1:22am UTC](https://discourse.mozilla.org/t/firefox-for-android-updating-add-ons/12849/8 "2018-06-04T01:22:40Z")

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How can you force the update like with firefox desktop?

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**Author:** ![NilkasG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/0ea827/32.png) [@NilkasG](https://discourse.mozilla.org/u/NilkasG)\
**Post date:** [June 4, 2018, 2:01pm UTC](https://discourse.mozilla.org/t/firefox-for-android-updating-add-ons/12849/9 "2018-06-04T14:01:04Z")

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You could try to run this function, which updates a single extension in (desktop) Firefox:

> <https://gist.github.com/NiklasGollenstede/5507687123e4088f70ea1337af004848>

  
Maybe it works on Android as well (run it in the browser context through the remote debugger).

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**Author:** ![hawk\_lord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/13edae/32.png) [@hawk\_lord](https://discourse.mozilla.org/u/hawk_lord)\
**Post date:** [January 18, 2019, 7:17pm UTC](https://discourse.mozilla.org/t/firefox-for-android-updating-add-ons/12849/10 "2019-01-18T19:17:25Z")

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I forced an update by opening about:config and setting this to 0:

`extensions.getAddons.cache.lastUpdate`

It would be easier if there was a button to do it.

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**Author:** ![NilkasG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/0ea827/32.png) [@NilkasG](https://discourse.mozilla.org/u/NilkasG)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2019, 10:09pm UTC](https://discourse.mozilla.org/t/firefox-for-android-updating-add-ons/12849/11 "2019-01-21T22:09:01Z")

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Well, at least there is a menu option at the top to “Check for Updates” (all extensions).

You really only need to use a hack to explicitly only update one extension (but for all others a repeated check should be a no-op anyway).

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**Author:** ![hawk\_lord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/13edae/32.png) [@hawk\_lord](https://discourse.mozilla.org/u/hawk_lord)\
**Post date:** [January 22, 2019, 6:23pm UTC](https://discourse.mozilla.org/t/firefox-for-android-updating-add-ons/12849/12 "2019-01-22T18:23:57Z")

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Unfortunately, I have no such menu option.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![NilkasG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/0ea827/32.png) [@NilkasG](https://discourse.mozilla.org/u/NilkasG)\
**Post date:** [January 22, 2019, 6:30pm UTC](https://discourse.mozilla.org/t/firefox-for-android-updating-add-ons/12849/13 "2019-01-22T18:30:46Z")

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Sure?:

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex001/uploads/mozilla/original/3X/1/8/184c5a642c3f5f5a727f109e8718c8b0cab137ae.png)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![hawk\_lord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/13edae/32.png) [@hawk\_lord](https://discourse.mozilla.org/u/hawk_lord)\
**Post date:** [January 22, 2019, 7:20pm UTC](https://discourse.mozilla.org/t/firefox-for-android-updating-add-ons/12849/14 "2019-01-22T19:20:46Z")

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We are talking about Firefox for Android.

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**Author:** ![kgbme](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex001/user_avatar/discourse.mozilla.org/kgbme/32/23644_2.png) [@kgbme](https://discourse.mozilla.org/u/kgbme)\
**Post date:** [February 4, 2019, 2:17am UTC](https://discourse.mozilla.org/t/firefox-for-android-updating-add-ons/12849/15 "2019-02-04T02:17:46Z")

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Yup, mobile Firefox!..🙂

Default value for Add-on (extension) update check interval is 86400 (seconds), or 24 hours as mentioned and it can be accessed via URL:

> about:config?filter=extensions.update.interval

Moar info @[How to get Firefox to check for extension updates more often](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/how-to-firefox-extension-autoupdate)