10 Best Firefox Add-ons (Extensions) for Android Devices
Firefox is one of the old-timers that have stuck around to date. Despite its modest market share, it remains a strong choice, especially if you’re looking to steer clear of the Chromium engine’s monopoly. It’s also one of the only browsers that supports add-ons on Android.
Here are some of the most popular and arguably most useful extensions (or ‘add-ons’ as Firefox calls them) for mobile devices:
1) Ghostery
Ghostery is an open-source ad blocker that claims to reduce your digital footprint and provide a cleaner browsing experience. Like other ad blockers, it prevents annoying pop-ups, offers options to whitelist/blacklist certain websites from using the extension, and has a “never consent” feature that eliminates the cookie consent pop-up you see when visiting a new website for the very first time.
This add-on allows you to:
- Block HTTP requests from third-party tracking scripts.
- Monitor the number of trackers on each website, their type, and the company operating them.
- Automatically respond to cookie consent pop-ups.
- Monitor the number of ads blocked on every page you visit.
- Preview trackers on the search engine results page, even before you visit the site.
2) Firefox Relay
Firefox Relay allows you to ‘mask’ your email address when using it anywhere online. The idea is to hide your primary email from entities and companies you don’t trust. Relay creates an alias for you to anonymously sign up for services, protecting your actual email from being shared online.
This add-on allows you to:
- Create up to five aliases for your phone number and email.
- Reply to emails anonymously.
- Block spam and promotional emails from being forwarded to your inbox.
- Remove common trackers from emails sent to you.
3) uBlock Origin
uBlock Origin isn’t strictly an ad blocker, as its description states. It’s more of a “content blocker” that helps remove unwanted clutter from online websites. It is the most popular add-on of its type, in part due to its efficiency in eliminating ads, all without charging a fee. With Chrome dropping support for the extension, there is all the more reason to stick with it on Firefox.
This add-on allows you to:
- Block ads, pop-ups, coin miners, and other annoying elements.
- Point-and-click to block a specific JavaScript file from loading.
- Create your own whitelists and rules to override elements from ad-blocking filter lists.
- Browse the internet clutter-free, without much strain on system resources.
4) Google Search Fixer
On Firefox, Google doesn’t allow its proprietary implementation of some of its features within the search engine. For instance, it won’t show Advanced Search Options for any of its search types, and dropdowns to see answers to questions are also not visible. Google Search Fixer, as the name suggests, essentially fixes this.
This add-on allows you to:
- Bypass Google search restrictions on non-Chromium browsers.
- Spoof the required user-agent info so that Google Search sends the Chrome-specific page to Firefox.
5) ClearURLs
ClearURLs is an add-on that removes tracking elements from shareable URLs. These tracking elements often monitor user behavior and collect data to improve targeted ads and searches. These trackers can easily be identified when a URL is elongated more than it should be; ClearURLs cleans that up, with tracker elements both at the start and the end.
This add-on allows you to:
- Remove tracker elements from a URL.
- Block common ad domains.
- Clean up multiple URLs at once.
- Block tracking injection over history API.
- Remove tracking services as the middleman when redirecting to a link.
6) Bitwarden Password Manager
Bitwarden, the reputed password manager, has an extension that allows users to use it from within Firefox’s mobile app. It essentially generates and saves your account passwords, with strong security, in an encrypted vault. The service is generally known to be secure and transparent when handling user data.
This add-on allows you to:
- Generate and save unique passwords for all of your online services and accounts.
- Send sensitive data directly to others, encrypted on both sides.
- Sync passwords across all of your devices, free of cost.
- Autofill logins to websites.
7) LeechBlock NG
LeechBlock NG allows you to block distracting websites at certain intervals of the day. It’s completely free, open source, and easy to set up. You can use this extension to block any “time-sucking” website that’s addictive.
This add-on allows you to:
- Choose up to 30 websites to block for any time or interval of the day.
- Set a countdown timer for using a website within a specified time.
- Easily specify websites to block by using wildcards (e.g.,
*.somesite.com) and exceptions (e.g.,+allowme.somesite.com).
8) Dark Reader
As the name suggests, Dark Reader implements a “Night Mode” for any website you visit. It is especially beneficial to use on websites that don’t offer a native Dark Mode.
This add-on allows you to:
- Implement the dark mode functionality on any webpage.
- Invert bright colors into a high contrast.
- Adjust brightness, contrast, sepia filter, dark mode, font settings, and ignore list.
9) Video Background Play Fix
On YouTube, both Picture-In-Picture and Background Play are part of the Premium subscription, meaning they’re paid features. With this add-on, you can bypass that limitation and watch videos from YouTube and most other media players on Firefox in PiP.
This add-on allows you to:
- Listen to the audio in the background.
- Watch videos in PiP.
- Listen to music on YouTube with the screen locked.
10) Tomato Clock
Tomato Clock is a background timer that tracks your browser usage in 25-minute intervals, known as “Tomatoes.” It notifies you when a “Tomato” is complete via Firefox’s notification system, accompanied by a sound.
This add-on allows you to:
- Keep track of time spent browsing.
- Set intervals and breaks to manage your time online.
- Monitor stats from your previous browsing sessions.
