Firefox for Android

## Firefox for Android ##

For more and more people mobile devices are the primary way, or even the only way, to access the Web. But at the moment the mobile web suffers from closed and controlled software platforms and a tendency towards a browser monoculture. Firefox for Android (codenamed Fennec) is an open, hackable, standards-based alternative browser, just like the desktop Firefox.

[Download Firefox for Android](https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/mobile/).

There are two different flavors of Firefox for Android, one for tablets and one for phones:

* the original version of Firefox for Android, like the desktop Firefox, uses XUL to construct its user interface. This is still the version aimed at, and officially supported on, tablets.

* the new version of Firefox for Android uses native Android widgets instead of XUL: this greatly improves performance, especially startup time, and memory consumption. This version is targeted at phones, although it also runs on tablets. See the [NativeUI project page](https://wiki.mozilla.org/Fennec/NativeUI).

### The Firefox for Android Project ###

The main starting point for information about the Firefox for Android project itself is the [project Wiki page](https://wiki.mozilla.org/Mobile).

Help build Firefox for Mobile: provide feedback on our [IRC channel](irc://irc.mozilla.org/#mobile), join our [Wednesday development meeting](https://wiki.mozilla.org/Mobile/Notes), or even [file some bugs](https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/). Keep up to date with project news on [planet firefox](http://planet.firefox.com/mobile/) and [Twitter](@MozMobile).

### Firefox for Android for Web Developers ###

To test your web site on Firefox for Android, you can [install it on an Android device](https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/mobile/) or [run it on your desktop using the Android Emulator](https://wiki.mozilla.org/Mobile/Fennec/Android/Emulator).

To learn about the UA string used by Firefox for Android, and about APIs like geolocation that are particularly useful for mobile developers, see the [Firefox Mobile for Developers](https://developer.mozilla.org/Firefox_Mobile_for_Developers) page. ***this page needs to be updated***

### Firefox for Android for Add-on Developers ###

To develop add-ons for the XUL version of Firefox for Android, see the [Fennec Extensions guide](https://wiki.mozilla.org/Mobile/Fennec/Extensions).

Developing add-ons for the native version of Firefox for Android is different because it does not does not use XUL, so you can't use XUL overlays to build a UI. There are two alternative options:

* you can use the [Native Window](http://starkravingfinkle.org/blog/2011/11/firefox-android-add-ons-in-a-native-world/) object to create some Android UI components,see this [blog post]()
* you can use the [Add-on SDK](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/developers/docs/sdk/latest/dev-guide/tutorials/mobile.html) to create add-ons which work on both mobile and desktop versions of Firefox