The issue:
Android users with Firefox can’t access Google Search (including intl sites and localized domains like google.de, .co.uk, .com.br). Instead, they see a blank page.
Cause:
A server-side bug on Google’s end related to User-Agent (UA) sniffing, which serves an empty page to newer Firefox versions.
Affected versions:
All Firefox versions on Android (>= 65) including Mobile 121.0, Nightly 123, and older.
Chrome not affected:
The bug is specific to Firefox.
Solutions:
- Use a different browser (Chrome, etc.) or search engine (DuckDuckGo).
Advanced users can:
-
Change Firefox’s UA in developer settings or with add-ons.
-
Request the desktop version of Google from Firefox settings (region-dependent).
Status:
- Problem identified as critical and escalated.
- Still unresolved at the time of reporting.
Additional notes:
- Disabling Firefox’s Enhanced Tracking Protection doesn’t fix the issue.
- Some users report google.co.in loading the desktop site instead of mobile.
“bug” aka purposely making firefox unusable on one of the largest websites in the world so more people use chromium
(these allegations are based solely on prejudice against google and its subsidiaries, and do not necessarily hold true in reality)
perfectly reasonable and logical prejudice, i might add. we really need to get people to use alternative search engines. google has been sucking fat balls for a long time now. either people are going to start to switch, or the frog will continue boiling.
Google:
Even if it’s for only a short period of time, it’s enough to do a lot of damage. Especially as people are becoming privacy conscious and are looking to start using Firefox.
What does this mean, I’m confused?
Yes. So was I when I wrote this comment. I don’t know why I wrote Chrome… 😑
Makes way more sense now, lol.
I tried signing into Google today on Firefox and got ‘sigin in using a safe browser. This is not a safe browser’. I refreshed the page and it was gone and I was able to sign in. What the heck.
Google should follow their own advice and kill the user agent.
I’m on 121.0 mobile and have no issues accessing Google.com. Not that I use it anyway but figured I’d test.
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Weird, I suppose it makes sense though as I only really use Google if I absolutely have to which is almost never. So I likely wouldn’t have noticed it if I didn’t see it here first.
same, i’m on 121.0.1
I really don’t understand why Google isn’t being taken to court over the obvious monopolistic strategies they’ve been implementing.
@JokeDeity they are in court right now with the USA.
Or you know, Don’t use fucking Google?
Nowadays Google sucks ass anyway
It was fixed in a few hours:
https://status.search.google.com/incidents/hySMmncEDZ7Xpaf9i32C
And it was never broken for Chrome.
Google can do plenty of damage to Firefox in a few hours and the best way to do it is to simply not include Firefox in their testing. If you don’t know the standards the web is built on, it makes FF look unreliable, despite it being Google’s bug.
Real professional engineers at Google. Reading the browser name is just so hard.
another reason to not use that horrible, ad-infested site. even if caused by a “bug”.
Interesting, from Germany the Google homepage loads normally but shows the old version (while the search results page uses the new version). Either they partially fixed it, or Firefox in its beta version already works around the problem in some way.
It works here with the latest version. But moved to Kagi recently and very happy with the search results.
Thank you for the screenshot of a blank page.
Solution:
ah yes, a “bug”
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It’s not a bug. It’s a feature.
