
Why does Google Hangouts still not work in Firefox? - fletchowns
It seems a little ridiculous that Google Hangouts video calling still does not work in Firefox 57. Why is it still not supported?
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ungzd
AFAIK, it uses NPAPI plugin. Chrome stopped supporting NPAPI plugins, but that
only means user can't install them, Google chooses now what plugins you should
have, and it bundles Flash and Hangouts with browser. These plugins are well
hidden, no more chrome://plugins and I can't find them in filesystem.

You can see "Extension: Google Hangouts" in Chrome Task Manager when Hangouts
is active.

But I still think it's not malicious trick for browser wars, more likely that
they abandoned Hangouts and will shut it down after some time, launching even
more half-working chat services before that, with machine learning, VR, brands
engagement, integrated video news and other crap everyone can't live without.

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bfrydl
For the same reason Microsoft used to make things that only worked in Internet
Explorer.

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auganov
AFAIK Google Hangouts uses non-standard WebRTC functionality.

Found a decent write-up: [https://webrtchacks.com/hangout-analysis-philipp-
hancke/](https://webrtchacks.com/hangout-analysis-philipp-hancke/)

Can't tell you whether or not that's the real reason. But I can definitely
confirm that the lack of widely supported 'Plan B multiplexing' is (was?) a
real pain point for WebRTC devs.

~~~
Hydraulix989
Vanilla WebRTC in its current form is still too unstable to actually be usable
for production video chat applications. Its limitations affect all of the
leading commercial providers: Tokbox, Twilio, Agora, etc.

For example, on MacOS, there is a severe breaking CoreAudio bug in WebRC that
hasn't been fixed for over 3 years which affects 8% of users by causing
unmuted microphones to not transmit any audio [1]. We've never seen this
problem come up with Hangouts though.

iOS builds for Google's WebRTC libjingle_peerconnection library have been
broken for over 2 months, too [2].

It's no surprise that there is some core Hangouts team within Google building
something else. Even Google's own AppRTC "reference" application
implementation has some seriously questionable design decisions in its code
(such as sending signaling messages to Google App Engine to forward over
websockets).

Google needs to figure out how to bridge the gap between both organizations so
that everyone can benefit from the stability gains made by the Hangouts team.

[1]
[https://bugs.chromium.org/p/webrtc/issues/detail?id=4799](https://bugs.chromium.org/p/webrtc/issues/detail?id=4799)

[2] [https://github.com/pristineio/webrtc-build-
scripts](https://github.com/pristineio/webrtc-build-scripts)

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db48x
There is no technical reason, Google has simply decided that they won't
support Firefox.

~~~
Sylos
Hey now, they're "actively working to develop a solution that will enable
Hangouts to work in Firefox without a [NPAPI] plugin" [0].

These things take time, you know. Especially with the limited resources of
Google, Mozilla not already having announced the deprecation of NPAPI plugins
two years ago [1] and there not already being a web standard, mainly pushed by
Google, that enables video and audio calling for every modern browser out
there [2].

[0]: [https://gsuiteupdates.googleblog.com/2017/02/google-
hangouts...](https://gsuiteupdates.googleblog.com/2017/02/google-hangouts-
temporary-issues-with-firefox.html)

[1]: [https://blog.mozilla.org/futurereleases/2015/10/08/npapi-
plu...](https://blog.mozilla.org/futurereleases/2015/10/08/npapi-plugins-in-
firefox/)

[2]: [https://webrtc.org/](https://webrtc.org/)

~~~
robert_foss
That's some hugh quality snark right there. Thank you good sir.

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ascended
It’s never not worked for me if you’re referring to
[https://hangouts.google.com](https://hangouts.google.com) I use it daily as
my primary IM and am primarily a Firefox user across all platforms. Never had
an issue with Hangouts even after the Quantum update

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NightlyDev
I used to be a Firefox user, but I switched to Chrome. With the new Firefox
and the way Google are doing things nowadays I'm really considering switching
back.

~~~
goostavos
I made the switch. I want to say its glorious, but there are definitely some
pain points. Not with Firefox itself, mind you (it's seriously amazing), but
with 3rd party apps. Things that I use every day _suck_ on Firefox. Top of the
list right now is Lastpass, which while completely seemless on Chrome, doesn't
even have the ability to copy a username or password on Firefox (what??)
(anyone have a two-factor auth alternative?).

Still, they really nailed it with quantum. The dev tools are excellent
(finally!). I can deal with the second rate extensions if it means
compartmentalizing just a small slice of my life from Google.

~~~
soupshield
When I switched to Firefox I also switched to bitwarden for password
management. Auto-filling is still in beta but I don't miss it. The Firefox
extension is fast and simple to use.

[https://bitwarden.com/](https://bitwarden.com/)

~~~
StavrosK
I use the built in auto fill with Kee (for KeePass). It works great, my
password manager types my passwords in initially and Firefox stores and syncs
them across devices with reliable auto fill.

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Molaxx
Google search also looks lousy on Firefox mobile for no apparent reason.

~~~
dblohm7
They use user agent detection to serve Gecko-based browsers a lesser version
of their pages. Override your user agent to WebKit and you'll see what I mean.

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dmarlow
Slack also doesn't support FF for its Slack Calls functionality. It's
infinitely infuriating.

~~~
ascended
Not true, I’m a work from home consultant and use slack calls vie Firefox
several times a day without a problem even after the Quantum update

~~~
klez
"Doesn't support" does not mean "doesn't work". It just means that if you have
a problem with slack on Firefox that doesn't happen in Chrome, they will not
go out of their way to fix it and, probably, that they don't test slack on
Firefox (or not as much as they test it on Chrome).

~~~
dmarlow
I should have been more clear. I meant that it doesn't work. I get a message
saying that I should use chrome. I'll get a screenshot and update here.

Here is their doc: [https://get.slack.help/hc/en-us/articles/205138367-Common-
is...](https://get.slack.help/hc/en-us/articles/205138367-Common-issues-when-
connecting-to-Slack)

------
dm319
Also web.whatsapp.com, mighty text and the allo equivalent - none seem to work
on firefox.

~~~
jeroenhd
Whatsapp Web works perfectly for me in Firefox, but only after messing with my
adblocker settings; the website depends on javascript from at least three
domains to work.

