Firefox for Amazon Devices to Reach End of Support by the End of the Month
Last updated June 14, 2021
- Users of the Firefox browser have until April 30, 2021, to pick up another web browser.
- The software may continue to work on the Fire TV, but it won’t receive any security updates.
- The official suggestion is to jump to the Silk browser, which has full Alexa integration.
Mozilla has announced that the support for the Firefox browser on Amazon devices like the Fire TV or the Echo Show will stop on April 30, 2021. From that date and onward, users of these devices won’t be able to install the popular web browser from the official sources and won’t get any updates or security patches on existing installations. If you are using Firefox on an Amazon device, use the following couple of weeks to test alternatives and switch to something else.
To clarify, if you prefer Firefox over all other options, you will still be able to use your favorite browser on Amazon devices after the EoL date is reached. However, because you will not be receiving any security updates, you are recommended to abandon ship. For this reason, Firefox users on Echo Show will be automatically redirected to Amazon’s own Silk browser.
Fire TV users won’t get an auto pointer, so they may continue without interruptions. If you happen to read this after April 30, 2021, and you’re wondering where to source a Firefox browser package for your Fire TV, you may want to try your luck on the project’s official Github page. Again, this repository won’t be updated at all, so you’re not advised to use the browser after the end of this month. Also, how long the browser will continue to work on the device is unknown.
As for why this is happening, we can only assume that Mozilla didn’t see the usage rates that would make the project's continuation worth the resources put into it. Typically, people kept Firefox around on Amazon devices to rarely use a website or live stream wouldn’t work due to obscure incompatibility reasons. This is obviously not enough for continuing the support, so Mozilla is pulling the plug to focus the available resources elsewhere.
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