focus-ios VS uMatrix-issues

When Mozilla launched Focus for iOS in 2016, Apple had two WebKit implementations on iOS. Focus was implemented with UIWebView (slower, with more extensive content blocking capabilities), while Firefox was implemented with WKWebView (faster, with limited content blocking capabilities).[1]

Focus was Mozilla's way of offering Tracking Protection on iOS in some form without slowing down the performance of its main Firefox for iOS app. In addition to blocking ads within the Focus browser itself, Focus also provided iOS content blockers, which ironically (due to iOS content blockers being exclusive to Safari) allowed Focus users to block ads in Safari but not in Firefox for iOS.[2]

Focus migrated to WKWebView in 2017 after iOS 11 bridged WKWebView's feature gap, allowing Focus to retain its Tracking Protection feature through the transition.[3] With Firefox and Focus both on WKWebView, Mozilla then ported Tracking Protection to Firefox for iOS in 2018.[4] Tracking Protection improved Firefox for iOS, but could not be as comprehensive as the Safari-exclusive content blockers.

By that time, Mozilla had already launched Focus for Android in 2017 even though Firefox for Android already had the ability to block ads more comprehensively with extensions.[4] As a privacy-focused secondary browser, Focus was a niche app that turned out to be well-received by users, and Mozilla probably did not have a good reason to discontinue it even after Firefox for iOS gained Tracking Protection.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12977855

[2] https://blog.mozilla.org/en/products/firefox/introducing-fir...

[3] https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/focus-ios/issues/274

[4] https://blog.mozilla.org/en/products/firefox/latest-firefox-...

[5] https://blog.mozilla.org/en/products/firefox/firefox-focus-n...

Feature request is at https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/focus-ios/issues/2970 but it's been stale for a year.

The next update is supposed to fix this: Links should not open outside of Focus by default.

Just did, I'll link it here too just in case: https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/focus-ios/issues/3673

Github: Firefox Focus for iOS

Try reinstalling the app. If the problem persists, please use this page report crashes and bugs.

Someone mentioned this on Github months ago: Setting to disable link previews.

Please go to this page and click on New issue to report crashes and bugs.

You can report issues directly to the developers of Firefox Focus for iOS on Github.

Someone opened a new Github issue to request it.

But keep it mind that it has been discontinued quite some time ago, so keep an eye on the issue-tracker for vulnerabilities.

Is it a good idea to be using uMatrix? I was under the impression that development on the project ended back in 2020, the code is archived and no longer actively maintained.

uMatrix gives you control over the requests that websites make to other websites. Many websites integrate features which let other websites track you, such as Facebook Like Buttons or Google Analytics. uMatrix allows 1st party scripts in its default configuration. If you want the default functionality of NoScript consider blocking 1st party scripts everywhere by default. This addon has been discontinued.

Raymond Hill has stopped developing uMatrix and also stopped accepting PRs because it's currently too much work for him [1]. So be aware that bugs will probably not be fixed.

1: https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uMatrix-issues/issues/291#is...