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Why is Apple so biased against Firefox?

Another one on the pile for no issues with Firefox. I've been using the ESR version for years and I don't think that I've ever had it crash. I'd suggest you check to see if it could be an issue with extensions, or try running it with a fresh profile.

I did have an issue with the keyboard shortcut to switch tabs (Fn+Ctrl+up/down) being taken over by macOS's window snapping so I had to figure out how to switch those shortcuts around. Otherwise, I can't think of any issue "caused by Apple". It would be up to Mozilla to put it in the store if they wanted, but I doubt that they will because they prefer to be able to manage the update cycle without having to rely on Apple or anyone else.
 
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Using FF 146.0 on Sequoia. No issues, but I am not a power user either...so that may make a difference.

Esoteric users of esoteric features may have a different experience. :)
 
Johnchapin said:
Firefox crashes every time MacBook sleeps. Also, there is no Firefox application in the Apple store. This is not user friendly.
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Firefox is a piece of crap, and always has been. There was a point a few years in my web application development life where I literally blocked Firefox from accessing one of my applications. Keeping up with its myriad of incompatibilities was not worth the time it took, for the 3% of people who tried to use it. Hardly any of them, mind you, used Firefox deliberately. It was just there on the machine.
 
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Johnchapin said:
Firefox crashes every time MacBook sleeps. Also, there is no Firefox application in the Apple store. This is not user friendly.
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Even assuming your complaints are valid, how in the world does that mean Apple is biased? Both of the issues you mention are Mozilla/Firefox's responsibiity, not Apple's.
 
Johnchapin said:
Firefox crashes every time MacBook sleeps. Also, there is no Firefox application in the Apple store. This is not user friendly.
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So you really believe Apple has technologies in placethat are biased against Firefox, off ALL browsers?
I mean, you don’t even understand that Firefix themselves is to blame for not making an App Store version available.
Both are not Apple‘s fault, but you wouldn’t accept that would you?
 
I don't think Apple is biased towards Firefox. Safari is also focused on privacy, though I honestly can't understand why they would prefer a browser like Firefox when Apple provides a lightweight, privacy-friendly browser that's perfectly integrated with the software and hardware of all its products. Furthermore, it features optimizations that help iPhone, iPad, and MacBook batteries last longer.
I obviously respect the decision of those who make Firefox the default browser.
 
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Sh3ldon said:
I don't think Apple is biased towards Firefox. Safari is also focused on privacy, though I honestly can't understand why they would prefer a browser like Firefox when Apple provides a lightweight, privacy-friendly browser that's perfectly integrated with the software and hardware of all its products. Furthermore, it features optimizations that help iPhone, iPad, and MacBook batteries last longer.
I obviously respect the decision of those who make Firefox the default browser.
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- Much, much, MUCH better choice of extensions.
- Cross platform
 
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Sh3ldon said:
I don't think Apple is biased towards Firefox. Safari is also focused on privacy, though I honestly can't understand why they would prefer a browser like Firefox when Apple provides a lightweight, privacy-friendly browser that's perfectly integrated with the software and hardware of all its products. Furthermore, it features optimizations that help iPhone, iPad, and MacBook batteries last longer.
I obviously respect the decision of those who make Firefox the default browser.
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If, when you say 'privacy', you mean Apple's usual Nanny behaviour of telling you how to use their computers and what you should be able to do on the internet, then, yeah, Safari is focused on privacy. It's only recently acknowledged that some of its 'privacy' settings aren't quite up-to-scratch, with the allowance of some 3rd Party extensions in that regard.

Integrating a so-so browser into all your products doesn't make it better - just built-in and prolific. And its limitations certainly account for 'optimizations'.

Meanwhile, if one has a soft spot for Safari, there is Orion - which uses the guts of Safari, but - and here's the game changer - allows the installation of most of both Chrome and FF extensions. And has an iOS version, too.
 
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I use FF on all my Mac Mini's and it is my default browser. I have never had any issues even when I had an M2 Mini with 8GB of RAM.
 
Agreed with many others here: neither of those points implies a bias from Apple against Firefox.

I'm not sure what's causing the crash, but it sounds like it's something more specific to you. If you're up for providing some detail about what's happening, I'm sure others here would help you troubleshoot that if you're stuck there.
 
Bazza1 said:
If, when you say 'privacy', you mean Apple's usual Nanny behaviour of telling you how to use their computers and what you should be able to do on the internet, then, yeah, Safari is focused on privacy. It's only recently acknowledged that some of its 'privacy' settings aren't quite up-to-scratch, with the allowance of some 3rd Party extensions in that regard.

Integrating a so-so browser into all your products doesn't make it better - just built-in and prolific. And its limitations certainly account for 'optimizations'.

Meanwhile, if one has a soft spot for Safari, there is Orion - which uses the guts of Safari, but - and here's the game changer - allows the installation of most of both Chrome and FF extensions. And has an iOS version, too.
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Definitely keeping my eye on Orion. Especially for Linux!
 
WarmWinterHat said:
- Much, much, MUCH better choice of extensions.
- Cross platform
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Yes, that's true. I assumed everyone like me only used Apple products and didn't consider the fact that Firefox is cross-platform. As for extensions, it's true that there's no question about it, but don't they ultimately weigh down the browser (when there are a lot of them, I mean)?
 
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Bazza1 said:
If, when you say 'privacy', you mean Apple's usual Nanny behaviour of telling you how to use their computers and what you should be able to do on the internet, then, yeah, Safari is focused on privacy. It's only recently acknowledged that some of its 'privacy' settings aren't quite up-to-scratch, with the allowance of some 3rd Party extensions in that regard.

Integrating a so-so browser into all your products doesn't make it better - just built-in and prolific. And its limitations certainly account for 'optimizations'.

Meanwhile, if one has a soft spot for Safari, there is Orion - which uses the guts of Safari, but - and here's the game changer - allows the installation of most of both Chrome and FF extensions. And has an iOS version, too.
Click to expand...
Even so, I have to admit that I'm comfortable with the garden Apple designed for me, but it prevents me from looking just outside the hedge. It's my choice; I don't have any specific needs, and I'm fine with that, although I understand that a more advanced user, or one who simply doesn't want to be seen as a child to be educated, might turn to other browsers, which are more free and more focused on privacy.
 
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Sh3ldon said:
Yes, that's true. I assumed everyone like me only used Apple products and didn't consider the fact that Firefox is cross-platform. As for extensions, it's true that there's no question about it, but don't they ultimately weigh down the browser (when there are a lot of them, I mean)?
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I guess it depends how fast your computer is. My installation of Firefox seems to run faster than Safari on most web pages, but then I don't have many extensions.

The only one which processes the page in real time is Ublock Origin (which is so much better than any ad blocker on Safari that it's the main reason I stick with FF). In fact, blocking the adverts ends up speeding things up considerably most of the time.

I also have a translation one, which only kicks into life if I decide to translate the page, a containerisation one which is a bit like Safari Profiles except you can have different containers for each website if you wish (it's a cookie management thing) and Bitwarden which pops into life when I click a hotkey combination.

I think most extensions are like this - they don't do much unless invoked, so don't slow down the browsing experience.

Back to the container stuff - it means I can use social media and let it write whatever cookies it wishes, but as it's locked in its own container, no other website can read them, and it can't read cookies from any other website. It can also be used to, for example, log into a site twice with different accounts if you put each tab in a different container.

Another thing which keeps me on FF is that I can whitelist some websites and then have every other cookie deleted when I exit the browser. It probably doesn't make too much difference, as many sites use system fingerprinting now, but Mozilla is doing its best with that, too.
 
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It's no different than Windows preferring Edge and Android preferring Chrome. Each ecosystem wants you to use their provided default.
 
Johnchapin said:
Firefox crashes every time MacBook sleeps. Also, there is no Firefox application in the Apple store. This is not user friendly.
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This literally has absolutely nothing to do with Apple.

Developers are responsible for their own apps and where they sell them. Firefox is responsible for making their app work on Apples devices, and they decide if they want to host their app in Apples App Store or just on their own website. Apple literally has zero say in either situation.
 
chrono1081 said:
... they decide if they want to host their app in Apples App Store or just on their own website. Apple literally has zero say in either situation.
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Actually, Apple has considerable sway as to how / if it accepts an app to their store. The biggest issue is that they set what features may run in an app - 'sandboxing for security reasons' is their rationale, but more often than not, it looks more like their usual nanny behaviour at play.
If a developer has an app in the Store and elsewhere on the net on their own site / GitHub, the one outside of the Store will likely be more fully-featured. And often cheaper (if not free).
 
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Johnchapin said:
Firefox crashes every time MacBook sleeps. Also, there is no Firefox application in the Apple store. This is not user friendly.
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You're making quite an accusation without any credible evidence. The app crashing is likely an issue localized to your specific Firefox installation on your Mac, and as for the App Store, it would be on the Firefox foundation to take the step to add their applications to the App Store.

Considering how open-source based the Firefox foundation is, I would think they avoid the App Store if they can.
 
Apple make Safari. Firefox is a competitor. They don’t need to do anything for them.

Let’s face it, Mozilla hasn’t exactly made popular decisions in recent years anyway.
 
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I wish Firefox had some of the tighter integration that Safari has e.g. automagically injecting 2FA codes from Messages into a web page. It also doesn't play well with sites that make use of the camera for authentication.
 
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