Firefox spokesperson Christopher Hilton tells The Verge that the browser has seen a more than 50 percent jump in users in Germany and a nearly 30 percent increase in France.

  • emax_gomax@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    8 months ago

    after Apple started letting users choose their default browsers on iOS 17.4 in the EU last week.

    Lol, srsly, why does anyone use apple devices willingly. Like for work I sorta get it if there’s no alternative but it really took government action to compell this extremely basic customisation.

    • Turun@feddit.de
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      8 months ago

      Their integration is the best you can get.

      You need to buy an expensive phone, watch, computer (would you like to spend another thousand bucks for a monitorstand?) to take advantage of it, which is why I don’t have and don’t want anything apple. But if you have that, their software stack is superb.

      • expr@programming.dev
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        8 months ago

        The software is pretty overrated. Especially safari, which is a legitimately terrible browser and has been for a long time.

        • RatBin@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          8 months ago

          I had to use firefox for a long time for it’s the browser with the highest support across web pages and file formats, whereas chrome and edge will just stop working at times. Firefoxi is, as of 2024, one of the best choices.

        • Turun@feddit.de
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          8 months ago

          Jup, but that was only relevant on iOS, never for MacOS. Also the digital markets act will end even that.

          For example you can make and receive calls on your computer instead of your phone when you are working on your PC. That is unmatched by any other ecosystem.

          • Sanctus@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            0
            ·
            8 months ago

            You can literally do this with an android too. Link to Windows. I’m unsure how KDE’s app is. But its not just apple that lets you use your phone and all its apps on your pc.

    • Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      edit-2
      8 months ago

      That’s a valid question, and I have a long answer to share.

      short version: suitable balance between convenience and privacy.

      Long version: I started with Android, because it allowed me to customize things just the way I like it, unlike iOS where ridiculous restrictions was a reoccurring theme at the time (and still is to a lesser extent). Just using a custom ringtone was convoluted enough whereas many other basic things were completely impossible.

      Like, does any car manufacturer sell a car where you can’t adjust the seat, open the windows or change the radio station? Well, Apple makes phone in that same style, and it’s completely absurd.

      Eventually, I got tired of the spyware part of Google’s business plan, so I switched to to Lineage OS, which allowed me to get rid of most of that nonsense. I was still bothered by GAPPS, so I reinstalled (again), but completely de-googled this time. For several years, I went back and forth between both styles, to figure out what’s an acceptable balance of convenience and privacy.

      This went on for many eyars until 2019 when my bank notified me that the paper code booklet will be phased out in the coming years. I was still using the old-school method of verification because the mobile app refused to work with anything other than stock Android with all the Google bloat still in it.

      Some other important apps failed a similar way, and various work-arounds didn’t really work. I came to realize, that in the world of 2010, you kinda could still get away with having reasonable levels of privacy, but in the 2020s the world around me had already changed to such an extent that sticking to the same level of privacy was getting harder and harder. So some sort of change was necessary. Either I’ll have to cut down on features and convenience dramatically, or give up a part of my privacy. I chose the latter.

      Around the same time iOS 14 came out, which allowed you to change your default browser. As usual, iOS was many many many years behind Android, but at least one of the obvious basic settings was finally made available. At that point I realized that it’s surprisingly difficult to find the right balance between privacy and convenience. I had only bad options available, so I picked the one that seemed least bad to me.

      I mean, iOS is still trash, but now it’s barely tolerable trash. It took Apple like 10 years to make the software just barely tolerable, so switching earlier would have been incredibly frustrating.

    • WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      8 months ago

      I’m on iOS and had Firefox as my default for several years. Probably shit journo meant browsing engine.

      • emax_gomax@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        8 months ago

        Reading through the replies, I’m amazed anyone went through the effort to install Firefox but didn’t bother changing the default browser to it. Something in this story smells fishy.

        • WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          8 months ago

          Eh. I have fiddled with many different browsers as my default. Doesn’t mean much when it’s all WebKit.

      • lea@feddit.de
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        edit-2
        8 months ago

        No, third-party browsing engines are not a thing that’s been implemented yet, and might never be by Firefox. This is about a screen that prompts EU users to pick a browser rather than defaulting to Safari and leaving it up to them to install another.

        • WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          edit-2
          8 months ago

          Are you telling me every Android phone manufacturer globally prompts their user base to select all their default apps, instead of defaulting to whatever Google, Samsung or some telco choose?

          I have a hard time believing that considering all the bloatware…

          • CommanderCloon@lemmy.ml
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            0
            ·
            8 months ago

            You are prompted what app to use when trying to do something, yes. If you click a link in an app for the first time, it will ask you what browser to open it into

          • RatBin@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            0
            ·
            8 months ago

            Samsung browser isn’t bad, but I occasionally used opera to download web pages in PDF more reliably. Chrome is there, it’s basic and fast…but it’s not the best browser.

      • brbposting@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        8 months ago

        I believe they meant prompting users to choose a default browser.

        Everybody sticks to the default defaults. It’s such a truism that fairness dictated legislators got involved.

      • fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        8 months ago

        The only thing new is that the first time it prompts you to pick which app to pick as your default (and installs it). Only the prompt is new, manually installing something and making it default has been an option for a while.

    • vlad@lemmy.sdf.org
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      8 months ago

      Ease of use. Your average grandma is more likely to understand how to use “the apple” instead of “the droid”.

      • Dariusmiles2123@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        8 months ago

        I don’t think that’s true. Old people are struggling with every phone OS. My mom has an Android phone and nothing really seems more difficult on it than on the iPhone I have to use for work.

        It’s just that there are differences, but saying that iOS is so much easier doesn’t seem true to me.

        Just look at how difficult it is to move an app from one app to another file on iOS. I might be stupid but I’m always struggling with that😅

      • calm.like.a.bomb@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        8 months ago

        All the elderly people in my family use Android… and they never complained about it. So what gives? I bet that if I’d give them an iPhone they’d be very annoyed and won’t understand how it works.

    • CaptainEffort@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      8 months ago

      In the US at least, sadly, it’s imessage. It’s a weird social thing - if you have “green bubbles” people really look down on you.

      It’s dumb and superficial, but it works.

      • can@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        8 months ago

        So they hook you while you’re an insecure teen and by the time you grow up you’re too entrenched in their ecosystem?

        • glockenspiel@programming.dev
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          8 months ago

          They hook you into an ecosystem. That’s it, thats the game. I don’t think it has too much to do with insecurity. Group chats and video chats with people outside of imessage is awful. Group chats lose a lot of features because SMS was all there was for a long time. Standard (not Google-ified) RCS is still too bare at the moment so I don’t think the looming rcs fixes that aspect of it.

        • ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          8 months ago

          Yep. Damn near every tween with a phone just HAS to have an iPhone. If you offered a kid a used regular iPhone 12 with a Crack in the screen, or a new Samsung s24 ultra, they’re taking the iPhone.

        • unalivejoy@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          8 months ago

          Signal lets me customize the bubble (and background) colors. I can still make everyone green if I wanted.

      • brbposting@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        8 months ago

        Copying my comment from a month ago -

        “Finally!

        … being able to send longer messages, sending high quality pictures, read receipts, typing indicators, GIFs, location sharing, the ability to send and receive messages over Wi-Fi, and improved group messaging.

        And you still see folks thinking color is what’s important.”

        • pm_me_your_quackers@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          8 months ago

          Honestly, it’s the first thing to come out of iPhone users mouths, and when you tell them about Signal, more often than not they say “eww I’m not installing another app”.

          They’d rather an Android user spend another $1200 than install a free app. It’s not features, it’s elitism.

    • fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      edit-2
      8 months ago

      This change doesn’t do anything that you couldn’t do before. It’s just a prompt forcing you to pick an option before you can access the web vs just having safari and needing to find an alternative. It’s the same story as on a PC in Windows.

      I use it because I’m tired of Androids shit. I have both an Android phone and an iPhone and I only use the android phone for things that I cannot do on the iPhone. And if I wasn’t a massive computer nerd I’d just forgo the second phone entirely.

      • cm0002@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        edit-2
        8 months ago

        I use it because I’m tired of Androids shit

        Care to explain further? Android and iOS do mostly the same BS, except android edges out iOS in side loading, customizability and root access. Even on Google’s flagship Pixels, unlocking the bootloader and gaining root is no problem.

          • cm0002@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            0
            ·
            8 months ago

            Oh yea I forgot about that lol, android also doesn’t handicap the NFC chip for “reasons” lmao (Dunno if Apple is still doing that, I’m not 100% up to date on their shenanigans)

        • fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          8 months ago

          The UI and UX overall are so much nicer on iOS. Especially with gestures, Android’s gesture system is half baked at best.

          Sure you can’t rice your phone, but I don’t want to rice my phone. With Android I’m tempted to do stupid shit to my phone because I could, which then causes the phone to be unstable or just not work at all and I have to wipe and reload. With iOS that’s not an option, and honestly I’ve grown past that shit. When Cyanogenmod died all interest I had left in Android died with it. And over the years I’ve found out I wasn’t alone. Root is great, but have you ever just had a phone that works?

          Even when I don’t do stupid shit I’ve experienced so many bugs. My camera for example runs at 2fps on my Pixel 4, and I can’t figure out why. UI and UX for apps aren’t as rigidly followed on Android to the experience is a lot less consistent (insert Apple not following their own guidelines meme). And honestly I run into so many more bugs in various apps on Android. In the past year I’ve had maybe 5 app crashes on iOS using it as my main phone. On my Android phone I’ve had at least twice that + at least one full phone crash.

          Also the SOCs available on Android phones are garbage. I haven’t looked much into the SD 8 gen2/gen3, but I honestly doubt they’d be as efficient as Apple’s silicon + deep hardware software tie in. (insert iPhone 15 overheating).

          • cm0002@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            0
            ·
            8 months ago

            Lmao, so most of your problem with android is your own self control and third-party app aesthetics. Btw, I have root enabled right now and my phone has never had an issue just working (and it’s a Pixel Fold, a first gen Google product no less).

            You complain of gestures, yet, you’re silent on iOS’s shit notification system? Has iOS finally gotten the ability to turn off individual app notification channels yet? (As in, you can turn all of an apps “promotional” notifications off, but leave actual important ones on)

            Bugs are in everything, iOS has had it’s fair share of nasty bugs. On top of that, the Pixel 4 is rather old, latest Pixels have been solid performers for the most part.

            Android SOCs aren’t currently beating Apple SOCs, but they’re far from garbage and it’s doubtful you’ll be able to tell the difference in real world usage

            • fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              0
              ·
              8 months ago

              You complain of gestures, yet, you’re silent on iOS’s shit notification system?

              I have no qualms with iOS’s notifcation system. iOS handles it in app, vs android you’d have to do that in the settings, and not all apps support this. Slack for example does it in app on both iOS and Android. And Discord just doesn’t do either.

              latest Pixels have been solid performers for the most part.

              The Tensor chips have been hot garbage. There’s a reason I haven’t upgraded my Android phone to one of those. I won’t complain about this pixel performing on par with an iPhone 2 years older than it, and worse than my iPhone 15. But 2 fps in the camera there’s something wrong. And all the stuttering since new just isn’t acceptable. The difference is VERY noticeable when the phone throttles to 10fps in maps. I had to resort to underclocking in order to maintain decent performance longer term at the expense of even worse performance in day to day tasks.

          • Johanno@feddit.de
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            0
            ·
            8 months ago

            Ok so you hate android because you couldn’t stop tinkering with it and it got unstable? And you love apple because they don’t let you tinker with it?

            You must the only one who is actually benefiting from apples anti-consumer practices. Keep using apple. It seems the right choice for you.

            If you don’t tinker with Android it is stable and has almost no bugs. Can’t speak for apps because that is the developers responsibility.

            And yes Android phones are usually more inefficient but as long as I can use it a whole day without charging I don’t care.

            • fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              0
              ·
              8 months ago

              Ok so you hate android because you couldn’t stop tinkering with it and it got unstable?

              It’s unstable without tinkering with things too. Usually the OS is fine, it’s the individual apps that are the problem, even the built in stuff from Google has problems. My current device isn’t even some shitty Samsung or Motorola phone, it’s a Pixel 4. What’s supposed to be the gold standard.

              You must the only one who is actually benefiting from apples anti-consumer practices.

              Is preventing users from rooting their phone doing stupid shit and breaking their phone really anti consumer? Anti enthusiast? Yes. Anti consumer? Not so much. And it’s not like you can even do that on all Android phones.

              • Johanno@feddit.de
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                0
                ·
                8 months ago

                It is anti-consumer. And yes many Android phones are anti-consumer too just not as bad as Apple yet.

                I as the consumer want to have the option to do what I want with my device. I want to be able to root it, install software that isn’t meant for it and even flash a completely different os.

                It’s a choice. Nobody has to do but should be able to if they want to. Taking this choice away is anti-consumer.

                Gluing in a battery into a phone when there’s no need to because it even has space left to make the old swapable ones possible is anti-consumer because you take the option away to change it without breaking your phone.

          • blawsybogsy@lemmy.ml
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            0
            ·
            8 months ago

            i have a rooted android (running calyx) and it just works and its great. i never fuck around with it at all, whether due to necessity or ricing desires.

        • Bezier@suppo.fi
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          8 months ago

          I had an iphone. I’m not going back there because of how restrictive the platform is, but for the basic things it could do, the experience was generally just a lot nicer and more polished.

          • fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            0
            ·
            8 months ago

            And that’s honestly why I love the iPhone so much. I just realized I stopped caring about doing anything but basic things, and god damn does it do it so well.