It seems that the team behind the popular Web browser Firefox may be working on an iOS version of the app according to new reports.
The state of the third-party Web browser ecosystem on iOS has never been a particularly good one. Granted the heavy hitters of Opera and Chrome are now available as downloads from the App Store, but the age-old favorite of Firefox is still sadly missing from our iPhones and iPads.
The reason for that is a long-running issue that the Mozilla folks has with how Apple allows third-party Web browsers onto iOS at all. See, rather than allowing them to use their own Java and rendering engines they’re forced to use Apple’s own WebKit and, until the recent release of iOS 8, it was a crippled version of Apple’s software at best. Now though, with the introduction of iOS 8 and the allowance of third-party browsers to use Apple’s Nitro JavaScript engine, things are much better for all concerned.
It seems that it may be this that has led to a softening of Mozilla’s resolve after an internal meeting apparently yielded the news that a version of Firefox for iOS is on the cards.
The statement, which apparently originated from Firefox VP Jonathan Nightingale, but has since passed around the houses, Mozilla realizes that it needs to follow its user base and, considering that user base is on iOS, that’s where Firefox also needs to be.
While Firefox on iOS will have to play by the same rules as everyone else it will be able to keep some of the features that makes it so popular amongst its loyal band of users. Syncing of data and heavy customization should work their away across to iOS unscathed. If you’re a Firefox user who’s been living with Safari thus far, things may be about to get a whole lot better for you.
We just don’t know exactly when.
(via: TechCrunch)
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