Permissions not being asked upon add-on installation

Add-ons Add-on Support
1

I have an add-on (https://addons.mozilla.org/pt-BR/firefox/addon/chega-de-bbb/) which blocks annoying contents about reality shows et al, which is supposed to work on every web site the user navigates to.

Naturally, it has a content script that must be injected on every page to alter it, and therefore the user must grant permission for the add-on to read and modify web site contents.

However, when I installed the add-on from addons.mozilla.org, the browser didn’t ask me to grant permissions to the add-on, and therefore it didn’t work. I had to go to the add-on’s management page and grant the permission, and after that it worked as expected.

I don’t want to have all users go through this process, because it’s too much friction. Why isn’t the browser asking the permissions grant when the add-on is installed?

The add-on is using manifest V3 and, therefore, only works on Firefox v109.0 or newer. Tested on Ubuntu v22.04.1.

Thanks!

1 Like
2

I’m having the same issue (even for host_permissions). The user must manually grant permission for every single website.

Seems like a bug? Other browsers that implement mv3 don’t make the user perform these actions.

3

Yes, it totally feels like a bug. Add-ons using manifest V2 don’t have this issue.

Chrome immediately asks for permission before installing the extensions.

Having the user manually grant permission is a ton of unnecessary friction.

4

As i understand, the add-on needs to explicitly perform a request from the user about optional permissions.

You can check if its allowed by the user in the browser.runtime.onInstalled event handler or before each action that needs this permission.

If it’s not , you can display a clarification message and/or ask the user to grant this permission for the add-on.

And yes, it’s a friction just like the permission requests by mobile applications.

5

Ariel is correct, please see this blog post for more information: https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2022/11/17/unified-extensions-button-and-how-to-handle-permissions-in-manifest-v3/

6

Hi,

I recently developed a Firefox browser extension using Manifest V3, it’s to show coupons & offers on 1000s of online shopping website.

To function properly, the extension needs to have permission for ‘Access your data for all websites’ ( <all_urls> permission)

During installation, permission prompt does show up, but it doesn’t ask permission for ‘Access your data for all websites’ but ask for other permission.

I have specified this permission in the permissions key in my manifest file. However, when I try to install the extension, It asks for other permission, but not <all_urls> permission: Screenshot at https://i.imgur.com/UiG5Dve.png

After installation, it start working properly only if user has manually granted permission from extension settings https://i.imgur.com/4QWOLOC.png Most users would not know this and may uninstall the extension if permission is not granted prior.

Please suggest the fix.

Here is how my Manifest V3 permission code look like https://i.imgur.com/JmMM3l2.png

I am using Firefox latest version and I have checked with/without any other extensions or add-ons that may be impacting the installation process.

I would greatly appreciate any help or guidance in resolving this issue. I believe the permission prompt is crucial for my extension to function properly and I would like to get it working as soon as possible.

Thank you for your time and assistance.

Best regards,

Krishna