Mozilla Drops Firefox Support On Amazon Fire TV

This month, Mozilla has announced plans to phase out support for the Firefox web browser app on the Amazon Fire TV product line.

Amazon Fire TV exists both as an app and a physical stick that TV owners can install on their television sets to access a plethora of streaming services.

Although Firefox will be no longer supported on Fire TV effective at the end of this month, Amazon Silk web browser app remains available to Fire TV users.

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Mozilla Firefox support to end on Amazon Fire TV

In an email sent to Amazon customers this week, as seen by BleepingComputer, the company states that effective April 30th, 2021, the Mozilla Firefox app on Fire TV will no longer be supported.https://www.ad-sandbox.com/static/html/sandbox.html

Although the Firefox app will not be removed from customers’ Fire TV sticks or apps, it will cease to receive security or general updates, according to Amazon.

The email announcement is rather succinct and gives no details on the reasons for this move to abruptly stop supporting the Firefox web browser.

But, surely, Amazon didn’t miss out on the opportunity to mention that its own Silk web browser app will continue to remain available for customers to use.

Or, as Amazon puts it:

“With Amazon Silk, you can control videos and music with Alexa, add bookmarks, and launch private browsing sessions.”

“Say ‘Alexa, Open Silk.’ or download the app here.”

And, of course, “Thanks for being an Amazon customer,” concludes the email message.

Move comes from Mozilla’s shift in focus

Mozilla has told BleepingComputer that the decision to end support for Firefox on Fire TV is Mozilla’s given the shift in people’s preferences towards web browsers:

“As of April 30, 2021, we will end support for Firefox for Fire TV and Firefox For Echo Show.”

“In 2017, we recognized a void in the market, and a need from consumers to continue to access the content they wanted on Amazon’s Fire TV.”

“By being nimble and working quickly, we met that demand with our browser, Firefox for Fire TV and later, Echo Show.”

“Now, consumers have more options for accessing content on these devices. So, we decided to shift our focus and resources to building new experiences that bring value to people’s lives and continue to offer people alternative choices in the market,” a Mozilla spokesperson told BleepingComputer.

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Amazon Fire TV users who are accustomed to using the Firefox app better get themselves also acquainted with the Silk browser.

BleepingComputer has reached out to Amazon for comment and we are awaiting their response.

Updates:

4:00 PM ET: Added statement from Mozilla.

5:23 PM ET: Edited the headline and the article to clarify the decision to drop support is Mozilla’s, and not Amazon’s.