# Firefox Focus Fixes Browsing on Android

August 18, 2017 ยท 2 minute read

Posted in:  computing web android



This is a quick review/blurb about [Firefox Focus for Android][ffa], which
really does solve all of your web browsing problems on Android. Or at least
mine, which may or may not be similar to yours.

What it is: Firefox Focus is a tiny, fast-loading browser comparable to [Chrome
Custom Tabs][cct]. Unlike Chrome Custom Tabs, it is privacy focused, and
includes an ad-blocker.

My main problem with browsing on Android is that, while I love Firefox on
Android, I have to admit that it uses a lot of RAM relative to what's installed
in my very old phone. So if I have an app that opens links in an external
browser, opening Firefox will push the app out of memory, so that when I go back
to it, it will likely have lost my place.

I could use Chrome custom tabs for this, except that Chrome on Android does not
include an ad-blocker, which is absolutely unacceptable in 2017. Besides, not
every app will use Chrome custom tabs.

So here's what I do. Install Focus, and choose to use it always whenever an app
asks what browser I want to use to follow a link. Links load fast, and the app
that called the browser is not pushed out of memory.

Firefox Focus is *not* suitable to be your only browser, though. It does not
support multiple tabs. It doesn't store history, or cookies, or passwords
between sessions. For this, there is Firefox, and Focus conveniently has an
"Open in Firefox" item on its menu. This way, you can have a full featured
browser close at hand while using the lightweight browser by default.

[ffa]: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.mozilla.focus
[cct]: https://developer.chrome.com/multidevice/android/customtabs