Apple greenlights browserless Firefox app for iPhone
Apple has approved an application submitted by Mozilla that syncs history, bookmarks and open tabs with versions of the open source outfit's Firefox running on desktop computers.
The Cupertino firm isn't keen on letting other browsers run on the Jesus Phone - but the Firefox Home app has, somewhat surprisingly, been given the …
Both of these browsers use Safari's Webkit engine to render pages, thus they are allowed.
Opera Mini does no actual code interpretation or execution on the iDevice itself - it is all done on Opera's Servers , it sends all data as images back to the iDevice.
Webkit or not, that's at least three browsers, so it seems that the phrase "The Cupertino firm isn't keen on letting other browsers run on the Jesus Phone" in the article was a bit misleading.
They aren't browsers (unless you go back to the days when browsers were entirely passive). They are browser emulators, which heavily restricts what you can do with them.
I use bolt rather than Safari and it let's me do everything Safari does, I dont know (or care) how it does it it just does (obviously no flash etc) but it allows me to browse my "special interest" sites quickly without leaving history all over my phone (if you know what I mean!)
...There's one major setback with the app, though. Users can't synchronise what they do on the phone with their desktop version of Firefox....
Hey, they've got their foot in the door, at least one-way... I imagine their thinking is that if the first effort is itself rejected, there will no sense in making an excessive effort. Now that they think they have been accepted, in principle, they can further develop the app.
But they reckon without Apple's "arbitrary" app-kicking rules (arbitrary to everyone else, perfectly sensible to Apple) example: MyFrame.
So what if there is another add-on for firefox which does this. I would much prefer my browser to integrate exceptional add-on idea rather than me waiting for updates of the add-ons i want when new browser versions are released.
There is no lack of them on the iPhone. Literally dozens of them. What Apple doesn't allow is other JS interpreters than their own, so you're basically limited to WebKit as the base for your browser.
And there was nothing surprising about Firefox Home being approved, really. It was fully expected.
Suppose I have an iThing, and I put this on it, and it has some storage room left to store my bookmarks and stuff, and so it stores all that not on the device, but "to the cloud"? What?
not quite. Mozilla and other people make bookmark-syncing addons for firefox, and normally these share the bookmarks both ways, but the iPhone version is the equivilant of read-only mode. it can display synced bookmarks from elsewhere, but not make new ones. If you bookmark on the iPhone one presumes it is just a normal bookmark.
It's clearly not browserless; it views the sites in your links inside FFH - and you have all the normal functionality of the site. I rather like it, actually...
the article actually means that Mozilla weren't allowed to include their browser in the app- you have to use Safari or you're not getting on the phone.
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Apple greenlights browserless Firefox app for iPhone
Apple has approved an application submitted by Mozilla that syncs history, bookmarks and open tabs with versions of the open source outfit's Firefox running on desktop computers. The Cupertino firm isn't keen on letting other browsers run on the Jesus Phone - but the Firefox Home app has, somewhat surprisingly, been given the …
This topic is closed for new posts.
Posted Friday 16th July 2010 17:07 GMT
JASR
Other iPhone/iPad browsers... #
http://atomicwebbrowser.com/
http://www.appbird.com/adblockweb/
oh and of course Opera...
Posted Saturday 17th July 2010 22:22 GMT
Gangsta
WebKit #
Both of these browsers use Safari's Webkit engine to render pages, thus they are allowed.
Opera Mini does no actual code interpretation or execution on the iDevice itself - it is all done on Opera's Servers , it sends all data as images back to the iDevice.
Posted Sunday 18th July 2010 18:19 GMT
Anonymous Coward
RE: Webkit #
Google browser is allowed too.
Webkit or not, that's at least three browsers, so it seems that the phrase "The Cupertino firm isn't keen on letting other browsers run on the Jesus Phone" in the article was a bit misleading.
Posted Monday 19th July 2010 12:37 GMT
Anonymous Coward
not misleading at all #
They aren't browsers (unless you go back to the days when browsers were entirely passive). They are browser emulators, which heavily restricts what you can do with them.
Not the same thing at all.
Posted Tuesday 20th July 2010 10:16 GMT
Anonymous Coward
Bolt #
I use bolt rather than Safari and it let's me do everything Safari does, I dont know (or care) how it does it it just does (obviously no flash etc) but it allows me to browse my "special interest" sites quickly without leaving history all over my phone (if you know what I mean!)
Posted Friday 16th July 2010 17:07 GMT
Patrick O'Reilly
Opera Sync?? #
I know I'm not going to be the last to mention this so why not be the first.
Why would the CoM ever have a problem with a bookmark application, it's just a glorified synced notepad.
Posted Friday 16th July 2010 17:38 GMT
rahul
Starting effort accepted... #
...There's one major setback with the app, though. Users can't synchronise what they do on the phone with their desktop version of Firefox....
Hey, they've got their foot in the door, at least one-way... I imagine their thinking is that if the first effort is itself rejected, there will no sense in making an excessive effort. Now that they think they have been accepted, in principle, they can further develop the app.
But they reckon without Apple's "arbitrary" app-kicking rules (arbitrary to everyone else, perfectly sensible to Apple) example: MyFrame.
Posted Friday 16th July 2010 18:47 GMT
Stuart Halliday
Copycat #
They may have done this because Xmarks, the better alternative Sync tool for Firefox, is doing the same?
Posted Monday 19th July 2010 18:34 GMT
L1feless
great #
So what if there is another add-on for firefox which does this. I would much prefer my browser to integrate exceptional add-on idea rather than me waiting for updates of the add-ons i want when new browser versions are released.
Posted Friday 16th July 2010 22:50 GMT
uhuznaa
Browsers #
There is no lack of them on the iPhone. Literally dozens of them. What Apple doesn't allow is other JS interpreters than their own, so you're basically limited to WebKit as the base for your browser.
And there was nothing surprising about Firefox Home being approved, really. It was fully expected.
Posted Saturday 17th July 2010 09:50 GMT
Anonymous Coward
I don't get it. #
Suppose I have an iThing, and I put this on it, and it has some storage room left to store my bookmarks and stuff, and so it stores all that not on the device, but "to the cloud"? What?
Posted Saturday 17th July 2010 22:21 GMT
skellious
"I dont get it" #
not quite. Mozilla and other people make bookmark-syncing addons for firefox, and normally these share the bookmarks both ways, but the iPhone version is the equivilant of read-only mode. it can display synced bookmarks from elsewhere, but not make new ones. If you bookmark on the iPhone one presumes it is just a normal bookmark.
Posted Saturday 17th July 2010 22:21 GMT
Tom Kelsall
Browserless? Not so... #
It's clearly not browserless; it views the sites in your links inside FFH - and you have all the normal functionality of the site. I rather like it, actually...
Posted Monday 19th July 2010 18:34 GMT
Alastair 7
Well.. #
the article actually means that Mozilla weren't allowed to include their browser in the app- you have to use Safari or you're not getting on the phone.
This topic is closed for new posts.