▲ ▼ I can’t use chrome extensions on mobile

posted by Yocheved , 1424 days ago permalink , show insights

I wish someone could figure out a way to make chrome extensions work on mobile. I know that on iOS, there are share extensions that work with apps. It would be great if there were some way chrome extensions could be turned into apps with share extensions that could be used in iOS.

For example, I use Pocket for bookmarks. I use the chrome extension on my desktop and I use the share extension when browsing on my iPhone. In an age when the majority of people are browsing websites on mobile phones, there should be a way to access great chrome extensions on mobile too.

WHO NEEDS THIS

▲ ▼ Abishek Muthian Ideator , 1424 days ago permalink

Unfortunately, the issue with iOS browser ecosystem is due to the proprietary lock-in by Apple. Third-party browsers on iOS, unlike android are just a skin on the top of Safari i.e. they are forced to use the WebView API instead of a full-fledged browser engine.

So, Chrome/Firefox on iOS are not even close to what's available on android/desktop; thereby unable to use all functionalities incl. extensions in the case of Firefox. In-fact, not even Safari extensions can work with Firefox on iOS due to Apple's proprietary lock - https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/add-ons-firefox-ios.

This makes iOS device dangerous to even browse the web, once the OS updates stop as safari doesn't get update via Appstore, leading to exploitation of vulnerabilities - https://googleprojectzero.blogspot.com/2019/08/a-very-deep-dive-into-ios-exploit.html. Where as a 7 year old android device, can still receive latest Firefox from Playstore although OS updates are not as good as iOS ecosystem in android.

reply I WILL PAY FOR THAT
HOW MANY WILL PAY FOR THIS
▲ ▼ Nick , 1423 days ago permalink

Yandex browser for Android does allow to use chrome extensions. IIRC there are only 2 or 3 browsers for android that allow to use Chrome extensions, and Yandex browser is one of them, I personally tried running chrome extensions in it and they really worked.

reply I WILL PAY FOR THAT
HOW MANY WILL PAY FOR THIS