Dear Mozilla community,
I would like to revive a discussion that began in August 2019 with the topic “Firefox for Ubuntu Touch,” which continued until December 2022. This conversation highlighted a consistent need from Ubuntu Touch users for a native Firefox version. Although various workarounds have been explored (via Libertine, extensions like “Scroll Anywhere,” and parameters such as MOZ_USE_XINPUT2=1), we still don’t have an official port in 2025. This proposal follows up on the previous discussion Firefox for Ubuntu touch which took place between 2019 and 2022, but whose alternative solutions did not result in a satisfactory native port.
Why reopen this discussion now?
The alternative solutions mentioned in the original discussion (using Firefox through Libertine, extensions to improve touch scrolling, or environment variables like MOZ_USE_XINPUT2=1) all have their limitations: non-optimized mobile interface, reduced performance, and degraded user experience.
Since late 2022, the Ubuntu Touch ecosystem has evolved considerably, both technically and community-wise. Here are some significant changes that justify reconsidering this port:
- Growing user base: The Ubuntu Touch community has expanded substantially, with increasing adoption in markets concerned with privacy and ethical alternatives to dominant systems.
- Technical stability: The framework has gained maturity and stability, with regular updates and progressive resolution of issues that may have been obstacles to porting in 2022.
- Better community organization: Development teams are now better structured, with more robust contribution and testing processes.
- Extended hardware support: The number of officially supported devices has increased, expanding the potential audience for applications.
Why would Firefox be beneficial for Ubuntu Touch?
Our platform would gain tremendously from having Firefox:
- Alignment of values: Mozilla’s principles regarding privacy, transparency, and open web perfectly match the Ubuntu Touch philosophy.
- Alternative to the WebKit engine: Currently, Ubuntu Touch relies exclusively on WebKit. Adding Gecko would offer healthy technological diversity for the mobile web ecosystem.
- Advanced features: Ubuntu Touch users could benefit from tracking protections, containers, and many other advanced Firefox features.
- Synchronization: For existing Firefox users on other platforms, the ability to synchronize their data would be a considerable asset.
- Extension support: Firefox’s extension ecosystem would significantly enrich the web experience on Ubuntu Touch.
Benefits for Mozilla and the Firefox ecosystem
This port would not only be beneficial for Ubuntu Touch:
- New mobile ecosystem: In a landscape dominated by Chrome and Safari, Firefox on Ubuntu Touch would represent a strategic presence on a growing alternative mobile platform.
- Engaged users: As demonstrated by the discussion on your forum starting in 2019 and the persistent enthusiasm until 2022 (and beyond), the Ubuntu Touch community consists of technically savvy, persevering users who are ideologically aligned with Mozilla’s values, thus forming a base of loyal and invested users.
- Valuable features already identified: Users have specifically mentioned Pocket and tab synchronization as essential features they would like to see on their Ubuntu Touch device.
- Experimentation ground: This port could serve as a laboratory to test features and approaches that could later be transposed to other platforms.
- Strengthening Mozilla’s image: Supporting alternative platforms would reinforce Mozilla’s positioning as a defender of an open and diverse web.
Concrete approaches to facilitate this port
Aware of the technical challenges and limited resources, here are some proposals to make this project viable:
- Ready testing community: We have a motivated and technically competent community, ready to intensively test preliminary versions. Users who have already tested Firefox via Libertine since 2019 have valuable experience in identifying interface and touch interaction issues.
- Existing technical knowledge: The community has already identified partial solutions such as the
MOZ_USE_XINPUT2=1variable to improve touch support and the “Scroll Anywhere” extension to facilitate scrolling. This knowledge could accelerate the development of a native version. - Volunteer developers: Several developers from our community have already expressed willingness to contribute to the code, under the supervision of Mozilla teams.
- Technical documentation: We can create detailed documentation on Ubuntu Touch specificities to facilitate the porting work, including lessons learned from the first attempts via Libertine in 2019.
- Progressive approach: We propose starting with a minimum viable version, then progressively enriching the features, prioritizing those already identified as important by users (synchronization, Pocket).
- Resource sharing: Some organizations using Ubuntu Touch would be ready to contribute financially or through human resources to this project.
Opening the dialogue
How do you perceive the opportunity of this port in 2025? After more than five years since the first request on this forum, do you think that the technical evolutions of Ubuntu Touch and Firefox could facilitate this project today? Could the work done on Android and iOS versions be partially reused for Ubuntu Touch?
The persistence of this request since 2019, despite imperfect workarounds, demonstrates a real and lasting need. I am convinced that this project represents a potentially beneficial synergy for both Firefox and Ubuntu Touch, and I remain available to delve deeper into any aspect of this proposal that might interest you.
Sincerely,
Benoit Herman
Dedicated Ubuntu Touch user