this post was submitted on 20 Oct 2023
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I've got a brand new Pixel 8 and my battery isn't making it through the day. Android tells me Firefox is eating it up in the background. I just changed it to restricted battery use and I'll see if that helps.

I do not want to switch to Brave or Chrome, but this is intolerable. What are you favorite Firefox alternatives and why? Mull? Librewolf?

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 year ago (4 children)

I wouldn't trust a google phone telling you that a competitors browser is problematic

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That is a good point, but if it's not Firefox like my pixel is telling me, then what else could it be on a brand new phone? (I know you can't answer this)

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It is probably all the google telemetry and monitoring and wifi scanning to map your location for sale that is running in the background. I plan on getting a pixel 7a soon but will immediately wipe the google junk and load grapheneos. Apart from getting rid of all the spyware this also doubles the battery run times.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Was thinking about doing this also but not sure if its worth it as im already using lineage

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If you value the extra privacy and security, then it's absolutely worth it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Yes but I dont have a pixel and I use mostly foss apps on my phone. The few nonfree apps are in a shelter sandbox (not sure how comparable this is to graphene's sandboxing).

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

But does Google pay and banking apps work ?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Banking, most likely (depending on the bank).

Google Pay/Wallet/whatever-it's-called-today, no.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Yeah I used to use lineage on OnePlus 5 I think. But safety net wouldn't allow my bank to work and obviously broke pay.

Unfortunately that's a deal breaker. Until there's another system to pay. Miband, ring , fingerprint whatever.

I need to keep Google for those things. I haven't used cash since 2018

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

@mertn
This.

Google can't be trusted now.
@monty33

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

@mertn @monty33 this is bullshit, lol.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

Maybe Google does not, but I sometimes see Firefox Beta as the top process in FKM using a custom ROM rooted.

I love Firefox, I like that as it is not a system app it is easier to keep the data with tools like Swiftbackup along with multiple ROMs, taking my cookies logins etc saves lots of time, but it doesn't feel snappier than Chrome for me (I used Chrome with AdAway) hopefully things change in the future.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

Honestly check the time on active/background. My power usage shows 6 minutes active and 24 minutes background right now and I know I have been using Firefox actively for more than 6 minutes.

That said, when I have had Firefox draining in the background it has usually been due to a website misbehaving. Reddit, for example, would drain a lot of power if I left a tab open. I imagine it has to do with trying to sync messages or something.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Been up since 8 and Firefox is currently using 24%. 2 hours and it's smashing battery.

Not sure if this is new after they upgraded to Android 14

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

@monty33 Try Firefox Focus for Android, way faster (way less features) than regular Firefox on Android. @firefox

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Personally... I wouldn't switch to something chrome based but you could take a look at bromite or ungoogled.

I doubt FF forks are going to solve the problem.

What's it doing all day? Does closing tabs make any difference?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I have it set to close tabs after one day, so I'm not sure if it could be this. I don't generally have the same tabs open everyday.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

You can try Fennec from f-droid. It's what I use and has been good so far.

If you want to try chromium based browsers, theres something called thorium . The android version is okay (haven't used it much) but the desktop version is really good. Then there's also bromite

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Isn't bromite dead? The last commit was on jan 27. Cromite is a fork that is on the latest version of chromium.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Oh, I wasn't aware of that. Thanks for the info.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Cross platform browser led by one of the devs from Opera. Begun after Opera was bought by current operator. Feature rich, privacy focused. Responsive Dev team. Worth a look for sure.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What addons in use? Is "Studies" on?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Studies are off and only ublock origin

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

DuckDuckGo seems decent.