Phenquestions
Mozilla revealed that it will end support for the organization's Firefox web browser for the Amazon products Fire TV and Echo Show on April 30, 2021.
The mobile version of Firefox landed in 2017 on Amazon's App Store and users could install it to use the web browser on the device. Amazon did launch its own Chromium-based browser Silk Browser around the same time. Mozilla's browser became a popular choice for Fire TV owners who wanted to watch YouTube, as a Google-Amazon dispute blocked official YouTube apps on the device. Firefox was used to access YouTube and play videos.
Eventually, Google and Amazon came to an agreement and the official YouTube app landed on Fire TV devices.
Tip: if you don't want to be bombarded with video ads in the official YouTube app, check out our guide on watching YouTube without ads on Fire TV.
Firefox for Fire TV has more than three times as many user ratings as Amazon's own browser, and it is ranked before Amazon's browser in web browsers and free apps & games.
A visit to the Firefox for Fire TV page on Amazon's App store informs users that support for the mobile browser has ended:
Firefox has ended support for Amazon Fire TV. This app may continue to work, but it won't receive security or other updates effective April 30, 2021.
A support page on Mozilla's Knowledgebase, not available in English, provides additional information on the decision; here are the essentials:
- Starting on April 30, 2021, Fire TV owners cannot install Firefox anymore on the device using the App store. The same is true for reinstalling the browser if it is installed already.
- The browser can still be used on the Fire TV device, but it is not supported, and won't receive feature updates or security updates anymore.
- On Echo Show, users will be redirected to Amazon's Silk browser automatically.
Fire TV users may sideload the Firefox web browser for Fire TV after April 30, 2021, e.g. by downloading the latest version from the official GitHub page. Other mobile browsers that are compatible with Fire TV may also be installed on the device.
Closing words
As a Fire TV 4K owner, I have installed and used Firefox on the device, but just a few times when I needed to access a Live Steam or website on the Fire TV device that was not accessible otherwise. Others may have used Firefox more heavily, but it appears that usage was too low for Mozilla to continue supporting the mobile browser.
Now You: do you use a Fire TV device? What is your take on Mozilla's decision?
