Author Topic: Firefox on Android - what's changed?  (Read 1248 times)

Firefox on Android - what's changed?
« on: 17 June, 2018, 10:59:59 pm »
We've been away from home, WiFi & other such; the 4G bandwidth (O2/Giffgaff) sank into Tartarus (or epsilon minus, semi-moron ;-) if you prefer),  during that week.
Meanwhile, Firefox seems to have removed the option of "refresh the current page" (rather important if it's out of date & internet availability is random) from its menu. I've found a work-around for one site, but..
What's changed? This isn't quite what I'd expect from Firefox. What have I chucked out in the barrage of junk email?

fuaran

  • rothair gasta
Re: Firefox on Android - what's changed?
« Reply #1 on: 18 June, 2018, 12:57:48 am »
Can you pull down to refresh, as you can in Chrome?

Re: Firefox on Android - what's changed?
« Reply #2 on: 18 June, 2018, 02:11:33 am »
I don't think I can.

But "pull down" may have a specific meaning, but seems to be outwith my vocabulary. Please explain.

Re: Firefox on Android - what's changed?
« Reply #3 on: 18 June, 2018, 09:49:15 am »
On mine, press the 3 dots symbol top right, then the refresh circular arrow shows.

fuaran

  • rothair gasta
Re: Firefox on Android - what's changed?
« Reply #4 on: 18 June, 2018, 02:06:13 pm »
In Chrome on Android, you can swipe down, same as you would to scroll up the page. If you are at the top of the page, then pull down, it will refresh the page.

Though not sure if you can do this in Firefox. Seems it is a frequently requested feature, but don't know if it has been added yet. Seems you can do it in Firefox Focus?
It is very useful, when you get used to it.

Re: Firefox on Android - what's changed?
« Reply #5 on: 18 June, 2018, 08:51:58 pm »
Thanks for the replies. I'm starting to clarify the problem.

I've done the swipe down on Chrome & seen the immediate effect (before the page had changed, so null update).

I tried that on current version of Firefox (v 60.0.2) & a shaded crescent pulls down, like Chrome, though more reluctantly, but it does nothing AFIACT after a page has become out of date.
The 3 dots top right provide a dropdown menu that used to include back (previous page), refresh & forward (next page if back had been used). All 3 of those functions have now disappeared from the menu. I'm guessing that happened with the latest update, but haven't managed to work out when it was installed. It was available 6-Jun, so it presumably "installed itself" between then & 11th, when we went away.

Meanwhile the Windows (10) version of Firefox doesn't have those 3 functions in the equivalent dropdown menu, but neither did the version before 60.0.2 IIRC. I haven't found it an issue with a broadband connection plus keyboard & mouse, but it's a PITA on an Android phone in places with poor internet access.

Re: Firefox on Android - what's changed?
« Reply #6 on: 18 June, 2018, 08:58:16 pm »
Correction, I've just noticed that the Windows version has back, update & forward on left of the top toolbar. Obviously I've no idea how long it's been there.

yorkie

  • On top of the Galibier
Re: Firefox on Android - what's changed?
« Reply #7 on: 18 June, 2018, 11:55:03 pm »
I've just checked my Samsung Galaxy A5 with Firefox v60.0.2, the same as your phone and I have the back, forward, bookmark & refresh icons in the drop down menu in the top right. You haven't mentioned what phone and version of Android you are running and I wonder if it *may* possibly be related to a vendor modification (or possibly not - feel free to shout at me if I am talking crap!!)
I'm running Android 8.0.0, if that makes any difference.
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Re: Firefox on Android - what's changed?
« Reply #8 on: 19 June, 2018, 03:06:47 pm »
Good news (aka false alarm ::-)) :- the refresh function (et al) is now back at the top of the drop-down menu. I restarted the phone last night, since the battery was running down faster than usual (I suspect a mildly looping app). It looks as though the Firefox upgrade didn't install properly & the restart finished the job.

I'll add that Yorkie's suspicion of vendor modifications is one I share. After Andriod was updated to version 7, battery life plummeted from around 4 days to one day, with frequent instances of a full charge all but disappearing in a few hours. Phone needed restarting frequently to kill the looping app(s). I think Google had tested that release reasonably thoroughly on their own phones, but Sony hadn't done the same to their cutomisations and the plethora of unwanted apps which they provide. It wasn't until v 7.1 was installed that the system finally became stable, & the battery life improvements in version 7 actually delivered their benefit. I suspect, however that some of the problems lay in Google's code, which misbehaved when apps etc. called for operating system services.