Chromebook is like Apple devices. It helps only Google-made apps, and some of them are Chrome, Play Music, Google Keep. You can utilize that app without any app installations. However, what to do if you want to install any different apps like Firefox. Everyone knows Firefox is the best browser used by people across the world. c
Firefox on Chromebook
Like the Android tools, you can tweak the settings on Chromebook to install the Firefox application. There are two possible methods to install the Firefox browser on Chromebook. However, these two possibilities are limited to selected Chromebooks.
- Getting Firefox from Google Play Store
- Utilizing Linux Version
How to Install Firefox Android App on Chromebook
Some of the more modern Chromebook supports downloading apps from the Google Play Store. However, with the Android apps, you will get the UI and features of a regular smartphone application, not the normal PC UI.
(1) Start the Google Play Store on your Chromebook.
(2) Search for Firefox on the search bar.
(3) Agree on the Install button to install the Firefox browser. There are other Firefox browsers like Firefox Focus (block online trackers), Firefox Preview (experimental browser). If you want the standard Firefox, install the Firefox: quick, private & secure web browser.
(4) Start the Firefox app. It will look similar to the Android version.
How to Install Firefox Linux App on Chromebook
First, you need to check if your Chromebook helps Linux applications. For that,
(1) Start Settings on your Chromebook.
(2) Search for Linux. If you find Linux (beta), then you can install Linux apps. If you can’t find Linux (beta), there is no method that you can install Linux apps on Chromebook.
(3) Now, start the Terminal window and type the below command.
sudo apt install firefox-esr
(4) The ESR stands for Extended Support Release, which is meant for business purposes. If you want a standard Firefox, uninstall the ESR application.
sudo apt delete firefox-esr
(5) Presently, go to the Mozilla website and download the Firefox for Linux application.
(6) Unzip the file and move the file to your Home folder.
(7) Rename the Firefox file to tar -xvjf firefox-68.0.2.tar.bz
(8) Presently, go back to the Terminal and execute the below command.
sudo nano /usr/share/applications/firefox.desktop
(9) After that, start the Editor and paste the following lines for code.
[Desktop Entry]
Name=Firefox
Comment=Browse the World Wide Web
GenericName=Web Browser
X-GNOME-FullName=Firefox Web Browser
Exec=/home/YOURUSERNAME/firefox/firefox %u
Terminal=false
X-MultipleArgs=false
Type=Application
Icon=firefox-esr
Categories=Network;WebBrowser;
MimeType=text/html;text/xml;application/xhtml+xml;application/xml;application/vnd.mozilla.xul+xml;application/rss+xml;application/rdf+xml;image/gif;image/jpeg;image/png;x-scheme-handler/http;x-scheme-handler/https;
StartupWMClass=Firefox-esr
StartupNotify=true
(10) Change the YOURUSERNAME to your own username.
(11) Save the changes and close the Editor.
Presently, you will see the Firefox browser on your Chromebook’s menu.
Alternatively, you can additionally install Linux OS on Chromebook to access the Firefox browser.
These are two methods that you can install the Firefox browser on your Chromebook. However, you won’t get the same UI features as your Windows application in all these two methods. We suggest you utilize the Chrome browser on Chromebook.