Firefox 153 breaks a popular workaround for accessing advanced settings on Android

Firefox 153 seems to have accidentally broken one of the few remaining ways Android users could access Firefox’s hidden about:config page on the stable release.

I first came across a Reddit post from a user who believed Mozilla had removed the chrome://geckoview/content/config.xhtml page entirely after updating to Firefox 153. Curious whether this was an intentional change or just a bug, I decided to test it myself.

On Firefox 152.0.6, the workaround still works exactly as expected. Typing chrome://geckoview/content/config.xhtml into the address bar opens the full list of advanced preferences, allowing you to search for and modify hidden settings.

After updating the same device to Firefox 153, though, the behavior changes completely.

The page still opens, but instead of loading the list of preferences, it gets stuck on an endless loading spinner. I was able to reproduce this consistently, suggesting the workaround is indeed broken in the latest stable release.

This workaround has existed for quite some time. Although Mozilla restricted direct access to about:config on stable Android builds years ago, power users discovered that opening the GeckoView configuration page through chrome://geckoview/content/config.xhtml still exposed the same preference list. It quickly became the go-to method for anyone who wanted to tweak advanced browser settings without installing Firefox Beta or Nightly.

That said, by the looks of it, it’s possible that this isn’t a move from Mozilla to deliberately shut down the workaround.

Several users pointed out that Firefox Nightly continues to load the page normally. Plus, since the page itself still loads and only the preference list fails to populate, it feels more like something broke internally than a feature that was intentionally removed.

Of course, until Mozilla actually ships the fix, stable users who rely on this page are left without a working way to access those hidden preferences. If you absolutely need about:config today, Firefox Beta, Nightly, or forks like Fennec or Waterfox remain viable alternatives.

We’ve not yet spotted any public response from Mozilla regarding the issue, but if we do, we’ll be sure to update this story accordingly.

Firefox 153 has been a busy release beyond this bug. Mozilla shipped native Containers, Windows HDR, and new PDF tools on desktop, a big Linux graphics upgrade, a round of iOS bug fixes, and even fixed a tiny long-standing web annoyance.

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