
Ask HN: Why is Google search different on mobile Firefox compared to Chrome? - 1drr
For instance the Images tab is quite degraded and different in Firefox (Can&#x27;t swipe picture), I also noticed that some widget apps like soccer matches are degraded. try typing &quot;Barcelona matches&quot; in both browsers and notice how degraded the matches widget is in Firefox compared to chrome (For instance the matches are clickable in Chrome but not in Firefox). There are other examples that I can&#x27;t remember right now, I am sure of it.<p>I also noticed that AMP isn&#x27;t available in Firefox, though I am not a fan of AMP, I still find it weird that it&#x27;s not available, considering Google&#x27;s motives behind AMP, which is to improve user experience, allegedly.<p>Isn&#x27;t this a bit anti competitive and alarming?
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ninedays
Because there are multiple evidences for years that Google purposefully
degrades the user experience for people not using Google Chrome in order to
entice them to switch. Happens mostly for Firefox but it also happens for
Chromium (basically, almost all non Chrome browsers)

Check how long it takes for Gmail to load on Firefox to have a sneak peek on
how the UX is degaraded.

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st3fan
If you change the User Agent to Chrome you can see that it works pretty well
on Firefox actually.

~~~
nullwasamistake
Yes. Google has been doing this for years, they serve a degraded version of
YouTube as well.

Get an add-on to change your user-agent to latest chrome

~~~
beatgammit
But then it looks like everyone is using chrome in marketshare reports...

~~~
giancarlostoro
You only need to do so for Google sites. Maybe an enhancement on Firefox
Containers that only do this for Google sites.

~~~
CanisDirus
There's an addon that does exactly this:
[https://addons.mozilla.org/pl/firefox/addon/chrome-ua-on-
goo...](https://addons.mozilla.org/pl/firefox/addon/chrome-ua-on-google-
android/)

~~~
jsmith99
This addon works but it caused me to see a lot more captcha puzzles. My
recaptcha v3 score changes from 0.1 to 0.9 depending on whether the extension
is enabled.

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timwis
Duckduckgo.com has a consistent experience in both browsers :) that's what I
use on FF mobile.

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lern_too_spel
Almost certainly because Firefox Mobile's share is too low for them to test
on, which would mean it's safer to serve a stripped down results page that is
guaranteed to work on any browser than to risk breaking search entirely for
those users with shiny features. The fix is to encourage everybody else to use
Firefox Mobile too and use an extension in the meantime like I do.

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lol768
Relevant bug report: "google.com - Firefox Android doesn't receive the tier1
sent to Chrome Android"
[https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=975444](https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=975444)

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toupeira
You can use [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/google-
search...](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/google-search-
fixer/) to work around this.

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ggggtez
>AMP isn't available on mobile firefox >it's Google's fault somehow

Is this just begging for karma? There isn't even version or OS info. How is
anyone going to actually discuss this other than just arguing blindly?

~~~
1drr
I created a new account to post this, so I have no interest in Karma.

It was just something that I noticed when I switched from mobile Chrome to
Firefox. You don't have to discuss this blindly, just pull your phone and test
for yourself, it'll only take you 2 seconds.

My phone has Android 8.0, Firefox Mobile 68.0

~~~
theturtletalks
I think his point is that Firefox should integrate with AMP. Now I’m not sure
if Google puts obstacles in place to make this harder, but wasn’t AMP recently
open sourced?

~~~
UnoriginalGuy
AMP is built on Google's CDN, and the standard is controlled by Google for
Google's own self interests.

It being "open source" or not kind of misses the bigger picture. If Google had
any interest in AMP being a web standard they would have sent the spec out,
and helped fund a neutral org to run it.

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crtasm
How does it compare if you use startpage.com (a privacy proxy for google
search)?

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gcigng
Wouldn’t Mozilla have to build out AMP support in FF itself...?

~~~
SquareWheel
AMP doesn't require web browser support. It's just a JS library.

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amelius
> Isn't this a bit anti competitive and alarming?

Never attribute to malice that which can be explained by laziness.

(Variation on Hanlon's razor)

~~~
paulintrognon
Well according to st3fan, "If you change the User Agent to Chrome you can see
that it works pretty well on Firefox actually." That means that they removed
features on firefox on purpuse right? Or does that just mean they implemented
their feature "for chrome only", checking the user agent to make sure it works
on chrome only?

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20489237](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20489237)

~~~
dmitrygr
Oftentimes a team at Google doesn't have the QA resources to test
configuration X. In that case to avoid a potentially bad experience, feature Y
is often gated to tested configs and and disabled for X, leaving X with the
old experience since it _had been tested_ on X.

Why does QA test only Chrome? Well if there is only enough QA time to test one
browser, imagine having to be the guy to explain to the higher ups why it
wasn't chrome.

~~~
1drr
I find it surprising that an organization the size of Google doesn't have the
resources to test key features in such a notable browser.

Though I just searched and it seems Firefox has a shockingly low market share
in mobile:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_web_browsers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_web_browsers)

Perhaps that's why it's not given the attention it needs, how unfortunate.

~~~
gundmc
Bingo, Firefox mobile has << 1% of the mobile browser user base. It's hard to
justify the resources to test every change and feature to ensure a good user
experience for such a small number of users.

~~~
amelius
And the reason for this is probably that Chrome comes bundled with Android.

~~~
mrgreenfur
Agreed, and this is likely the entire reason for Android to exist: more
searches

