Firefox for Android ditches Preview builds to simplify releases ~ XDA

Friday, July 3, 2020

Firefox for Android ditches Preview builds to simplify releases

We talk a lot about Chrome when it comes to Android browsers, but there are several other great options available. Firefox is one such browser and Mozilla maintains a few different builds for people looking to try the latest features. There is stable Firefox, Firefox Beta, Firefox Nightly, Firefox Preview, and Firefox Preview Nightly. Sound messy? Mozilla agrees, which is why they’re eliminating the Preview builds.

Mozilla has started alerting users that they are making some changes to Firefox releases. Soon, there will only be Firefox, Firefox Beta, and Firefox Nightly. The Preview builds will be combined with Nightly, and the Preview Nighty builds will be discontinued entirely. This is a much more straightforward approach and should make it easier for users to decide which build to use.

If you want to use “new” Firefox (a.k.a. Fenix), the version powered by GeckoView, the Nightly build is the one to download. The Firefox Beta builds are more stable but still preview some upcoming features. Lastly, there’s the stable version for those who just need a rock-solid browser. Mozilla is also keeping the privacy-centric “Firefox Focus” browser around, but that’s a separate product from the main browser.

The transition is going to be a little rocky at first. Currently, there are still three different “Nightly” versions of Firefox listed in the Play Store. Eventually, there will only be the three browsers listed below. A Firefox developer clarified how the three builds were chosen:

There were some technical reasons along with keeping the apps with the largest active userbases why the 3 builds were chosen. The people in r/firefox made some incorrect assumptions about what builds were going to survive. The active full-featured browsers are: