Mozilla ports simplified private browsing app to Android

Less than a year since the release of Firefox Focus for iOS, Mozilla has ported the privacy-focused browser to Android.

What is Firefox Focus?

Firefox Focus is a simplified browser app that makes it easy to block online trackers – ad, analytics, and social – as well as other content trackers like embedded videos, news article embeds, and so on.

It also allows users to delete browsing information (cookies, website history, etc.) after each use session, by simply tapping the big Erase button on the search field.

Finally, the blocking of trackers and Web fonts can make the loading of pages faster, although some parts of web pages may not be loaded. In any case, these settings can be easily changed by the user at any moment, as they are accessible from the main screen.

The Android version

The Android version of the browser has been equipped with new features, including a ad tracker counter that can show you how many and which trackers have been blocked per each site, and a notification reminder that will remind you to erase your browsing history if you’ve just closed the app without doing so.

“For Android users we also made Focus a great default browser experience. Since we support both custom tabs and the ability to disable the ad blocking as needed, it works great with apps like Facebook when you just want to read an article without being tracked,” Barbara Bermes, Senior Product Manager in the Firefox Mobile division, pointed out.

The app is still a work in progress, and Mozilla has noted that some things have to be improved (e.g. dialog windows are still not supported), but the main attraction is definitely that it offers a simplified “private browsing” option for users.