What Happened to Firefox OS? 

Same thing as what happened to Ubuntu Touch: Not enough funding and not enough developers or hardware, so a cycle developed of not having apps, so nobody used it, but nobody used it so there are no developers.

Fun fact. KaiOs is the third largest phone OS of the world and it's an OS that was based on FirefoxOs

That version, the one you'd run as a home screen app, was never the best way to experiment Firefox OS. It was just an experiment that didn't run well. The best way to do it was with one of the official devices or with a real instalation with a compatible device such as a Sony Xperia Z3C. In both cases, the OS running would be Firefox OS and not Android with Firefox OS sandboxed into it. The real thing was faster and more stable. Oh, and I'm the one that uploaded that 2048 version to the Firefox Marketplace :)

I imagine in an alternate timeline Firefox OS would be a privacy-focused competitor to Chrome OS

"Foxfood" is an internal Mozilla term like the "dogfood" as in "eating our own dogfood" to test software with a friendly staff & community audience before releasing more widely

5:36 I didn't expect an os to have jiggle physics.

IMO, the thing that killed Firefox OS is that Mozilla got caught in a bad spot between manufacturers, carriers, and other OS makers. Very different world than installing Firefox on a general-purpose PC. Never owned the stack from OS down to hardware, with hardware locked behind closed-source driver blobs and legal contracts. That gave manufacturers & carriers key gatekeeping leverage in OS distribution. And Mozilla didn't have the heft of a Google, Microsoft, or Apple to get what they wanted from the manufacturers & carriers. But, Mozilla really, really wanted this OS to escape a tinkerer market ASAP and get into average consumers' hands so that it could make a difference. That led to compromises on open source & open web aspects of the OS to just get it practically working & shipped. And there was a push to get it working on low-end devices like US$25 phones in "emerging markets" - which led to a lot of performance challenges, unsurprisingly. In the end, there wasn't really a point to an alternative, compromised OS that struggled in distribution, performance, and developer adoption.

I went to a Firefox Dev Days in Vancouver around 2013, since they were pushing FirefoxOS pretty heavily at the time and wanted developers. It was OK! It felt primitive, but it had some potential, and it was pretty easy to get into. They had a competition to see who could design a working app for it in the shortest amount of time - they had 5 FirefoxOS dev-kit phones to give away, and I ended up winning one of them with my app. I think it was an app to tell you if you should bring your umbrella with you by querying some web APIs for weather. Pretty neat! The phone was slow, the OS was buggy, but I kinda liked the underdog-ness of it all. We certainly had fun playing with it!

Man it's crazy to hear "Firefox" and "underdog" in the same sentence when back in the day they were almost dominating the web browser world

You didn't install a new OS at all: you installed a launcher. That is not the same.

Android 0.9 beta was originally just an application for Windows phones. There were only like 16 apks and no app store when i installed it on my HTC touch.

At first I thought this was regular smartphone, this shows how big they got through recent years.

I unironically used a Firefox Phone back in the day, circa 2011 I think? The phone was hot garbage. Phantom touches, lack of app support... It was NOT a good time. With better hardware, I'm sure it would've been a decent option.

man your house is a fire hazard. I wouldn't let a bulging battery near my stuff

It transformed into mischievous Fox Spirit and had to be sealed away

Firefox OS is somewhat still alive as Panasonic MyHomeScreen OS for their smart TV but it’s days are numbered due their switch to Amazon FireOS for 2024 model years (which is as ironical as sad because it was genuinely fine tv system)

I had one of these! Then I moved on to Windows Phone and my aunt used it as her first smartphone for a year or two. She eventually gave up on it and moved to Android. Was a cool project. I still use Firefox as my browser today!

6:42 that tablet seriously looks like a bigger phone lol

i'm getting the "designed for old people" vibe cause of the large icons

2:02 THE BLACK SPOT!!!!!!

I think XDA developers has a full install of Firefox OS.

I had a Panasonic TV with FirefoxOS. It was.... not that great.

This brought back memories Sean! I actually owned a Firefox OS Smartphone from LG here in Europe back than! Always searching for the alternatives even back than! Thanks for the great video as usual!

Man I remember all those alternative OSes that existed... This video took me back 😅

the most awesome part about firefox os was that everything was just NORMAL WEB APPS like 90% of the apps worked perfectly fine just in any ol' web browser, only a few that required native apis, didn't

It stood out to me as a bit odd that the firefox OS had chrome seemingly as the default browser, being on the homescreen

Kind of weird that Firefox OS is a mobile OS whereas Chrome OS is a desktop OS.

The same thing that happened to Windows Phone and Ubuntu Touch. Google blocked them until they invested in KaiOS.

4:43 watching you just deny those permissions hurt my soul

0:41 IE still reigning supreme in 2013! I honestly thought it wasn't no. 1 by then anymore.

The OS was dead on arrival because it targeted budget devices but the OS was quite heavy. My experience with their prototype Geeksphone Peak was horrible. There was a retail phone with Firefox OS in my country too and it lost to similarly priced Androids in every sector.

I still use those background images to this day, both in a browser style as well as my phone’s background. I liked it :) I bought a cheap phone with the OS on there, and played around for a while. It ran like a cheap phone, but that was more of a hardware thing than a software. I made a few apps for it, but they never got uploaded anywhere. Maybe if I charge that phone up, I can see about saving them . ..

I was a big fan of Firefox OS. I still own two LG Fx0. It is a very unique designed smartphone. Not to say, beautilful! It's really sad that mozilla was not patient enough to support it more long than they did.

KaiOS actually living on cheap non Android phone with non touch screen. Seriously, I had one phone with KaiOS and some community could flash unofficial ROM for Android.

An interesting fact is that disney actually put where's my water on firefox os. My theory is that disney just wanted to allow everyone to play wmw on any device, because they put wmw on almost every operating system imaginable, including, blackberry, windows phone (and windows 10), firefox os, and lg smart tv (yes, that's real, unfortunately it seems to be lost to time, since we only have videos on it, and a waback machine snapshot of the marketplace which featured wmw, but no actual app files).

As a KaiOS user since 2018, watching this feels like learning the lost history of my ancestors LOL.

Dont let the Lexy kitty see that Spicy Pillow

I had a MacBook with a swollen battery that I never noticed until I took it to camp once. Besides the usual effects of 40°C weather, it’s the only time I actually used the laptop keyboard (and not a connected keyboard). I could only use it plugged in because to use the actual keyboard part I had to remove the battery.

I would 100% love a Firefox alternative to Windows OS. Pretty please.

I loved Firefox OS! My first smart phone was Firefox OS. Even today, I love the concept.

Now let a group of the most of genius Linux users revive this OS

when i was younger i had a galaxy tab 3. this video just took me straight back

6:55 the fun shake button

I remember owning a phone running firefox os, man so litghtweight and simple.. but the storage is short so the main storage is SD card.. happy to experience their OS

I tried an computer-based install when it came out and liked it, but the only native hardware was really low end phones that crippled the user experience.

That tablet seems like a candidate for linage.

My favorite part of Firefox OS is the Fira Sans font which I still use today on my phone. They really nailed it by getting Erik Spiekermann's excellent Meta font an updated look and releasing it fully open source.

i like how they built compiz wobbly windows in as the stretch for the app drawer lol

Man the Galaxy Tab at the beginning, I thought it was a phone from today

Thanks for showing this, it saves me time in replicating what you already did (in the name of curiousity), you got another subscriber from Manila Philippines, MABUHAY!

I'm wandering... Is the FirefoxOS apk any different than a launcher? Or is it just reskin of the android stock launcher

This is very, VERY cool! Thank you very much, Action Retro!

Back then I thought FireFoxOS would be interesting, boy was I disappointed when I learned it was mobile only. I was hoping it would be a way to resurrect old computers, oh well, disappointing.

Sean, we need longer videos. I love you and I know that you have to appease the algo, but the community can correct me if i'm wrong here - I'd love longer videos at the expense of fewer uploads.

1:45 I had the same bulging on a tablet, but after leaving it on a charger for a while it reformed and is now totally usable again with acceptable battery life 🤔

THANKS, you are the only one that i see changing a bad component before start to do anything :)

It likely would have saw more success if it was called FireOS, but I get the name was already taken by Amazon.

i sincerely, unironically love the jelly icons, they're so fun :)

This just shows why the internet archive should be protected at all costs, because the government should isn't, and greedy companies are vultures for it

It got fat from all the cookies.

Thanks for doing all this so i didnt have to! I was straight up looking to install OSes today, that's how i found this. back to Haiku and Steam OS for now.

Also, good luck at your band's gig! I am now double honked off that I couldn't make VCF this round. (what an EPIC band it is, too.)

I’m a long time subscriber and always enjoy your willingness to share your talents with the world. I’ve got an old TabE and I’d like to see you put Chrome OS Flex on something like it. Idk if it’s possible, but your channel seems like the place to find out.

Plot twist, i use firefox since 2017 until today since i found that chrome is ram consume monster

The project was mostly Brandon Eich’s while he was briefly CEO of Mozilla before he was forced to resign for political reasons. Firefox OS died off soon after.

it is actually just a preview and not the actual complete os

Fun fact I use to write apps for Firefox OS for a little bit. I had a few apps I published on the store during my high school years.

Only 2 OS is dominating in the market😢😢😢. Sad to see this😢😢😢.

My 10 year old Panasonic Viera TV runs on Firefox OS and it’s glorious. Does everything a modern tv does without the bloatware and ads

I hope you are well because I’m getting the feeling that you are having a struggle. If you are then I send you good wishes and vibes.

I forgot all about this OS I remember it being very interesting.

I listen to tech podcasts regularly and in 2010, I never have heard of this…

I had a firefox os phone as a daily driver for about a year. It had one, and just one problem: it did not had any kind of cut and paste functions altogether. That such a basic function was unavailable was what made me switch to an Android phone as soon as possible.

i think the main problem was the "to low hardware requirement", because almost all device only reaching that, and on that level off hardware, the whole system was super sluggish... I know a multiple case, how people "ran away with scream" from the platform after "accidentally" buying a firefox os device.. As a developer i waned to buy a "decent" hardware version device, but was almost impossible, even if the manufacturer maked a "stronger hardware" phone version, that was sold immediatly, and only the "not mutch cheaper", but mutch slower version was avaiable...

Thanks for the chuckle, brother: 'This penguin looks mildly disturbed'. X'cellent!

Seeing unlocked a memory I forgot i had. Talk about a throwback!

Well that made me nostalgic ... I owned both a ZTE open and a Firefox Flame, both pretty underpowered devices for their time but they ran pretty well thanks to the pretty barebones OS (especially the ZTE Open, this thing was pretty reactive despite having only 256mb of ram)

Dude you used Samsung Tab 4 which for me its the best looking tab of all time. I remembered bought this instantly, upgrading from Tab 2 which has hugeee bezel around it. While the Tab 4 is looking super slim, super beautiful. Its 7 inch screen also perfect for me as I find any tablet bigger than 7 are too much I'd rather use laptop. God that thing still looking great after all these time

One of my favorite channels. Thank you!

idiots happened the existence of kaiOS proves that it absolutely had a viable market all it had to do was just...think about it...

I went back to fire fox about 3 months ago and have loved evey minute!

My first smartphone was a firefox os phone which I bought with my own money during college. I would say it ran way better than this android apk version. I loved that phone so much.

Firefox OS then was like Chrome OS.

Never met a single Galaxy Tab 4 that wasn't spicy (phone/tablet repair is a hell of a drug)

Nothing can beat the Windows Phone for a third mobile OS.

Never knew Mozilla made an OS! Pretty neat.

I'm surprised that the battery didn't go into a super critical state.

probably failed because the apps couldn't be ordered manually...like the favorites in their ridiculously user hostile android browser

Firefox never had the popularity and market share of chromium based browsers so It was kinda obvious this would fail as well.

Wow... time is cyclical. Sounds like Windows 11... just a web interface on the kernel.

How did some executive look at that OS and say, yeah this is good, ship it right now....oh wait companies still do this today

Please don't toss that Galaxy Tab after rescuing it from the bloated battery!😊

So you didnt flash anything, just installed a launcher that is made to look like firefoxOS?

0:01 I switched out the Firefox logo on my current system with this one. I just don't like the current minimalistic one. On the other hand the logo somewhat is a good representation of Firefox in general. The browser got worse over time just as it's logo did.

So firefox os is basically an app launcher that made Touchwiz look better.

Its also still in use today.. WebOS is firefox os. Its on most lcd tv sets and oled tv sets these days.

i always wanted a home screen with jiggle physics

Ubuntu Touch On Google's Nexus Devices From 11 Years Ago (Asus Nexus 7 2nd Gen & LG Nexus 5)

This made me miss using my LG Fx0. That phone was--and still is--absolutely beautiful, even if it's just sitting on my shelf now. ATT hates good phones. FirefoxOS was my favorite phone OS. The apps were basic but worked extremely well, the discovery system for web apps was useful and accurate, the marketplace (when it worked) was filled with useful stuff, and it all worked rather cohesively. I was devastated when it was killed off. Still haven't fully forgiven MoCo for that decision.

I'm pretty sure Symbian OS was still the most popular OS in 2013.