1186037 - Import bookmarks and history from stock browser (Samsung S4, Android 4.4.2) doesn't work

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Firefox for Android Graveyard :: General, defect)

Description

[Barbara Bermes [:barbara] - NI please!]

Reference to comment here https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1172623#c14

Samsung Galaxy S2 & Google Nexus tablet
NO  -->  Saved bookmark in Samsung default browser: did not import to Fennec build
NO  --> Saved bookmark in Opera browser: did not import to Fennec build
NO  --> Saved bookmark in Firefox browser: did not import to Fennec build (might not have to be considered)
YES --> Saved bookmark in Chrome browser (any bookmark folder): _did_ import to Fennec build

It seems that it's only importing history and bookmarks from Chrome and no other installed browser. It would be nice to find out if you can detect the user's default browser and import these bookmarks/history.

Since most of our users are on Samsung Galaxy's, we should investigate this issue. If the import functionality doesn't work at first, the user will loose trust and will be frustrated.

Comment 1

[Mark Finkle (:mfinkle) (use needinfo?)]

We can only import history and bookmarks from applications that support making that data public. All applications on Android are by default sandboxed, and the data is private.

The Android Stock Browser, and Chrome afterwards, provide a permission and API to access history and bookmarks. We use that system. Other browsers, including Firefox, do not support that system.

Comment 2

[Barbara Bermes [:barbara] - NI please!]

Good to know, when you say Android Stock browser, do you mean the default browser on e.g a Google phone like Nexus, and consequently a Samsung default stock browser could potentially not allow any access to the data?

Samsung is leading the Android market and if we can't access the stock browser's data, this feature might not be as powerful and useful for a new Firefox user on first app run.

Comment 3

[Mark Finkle (:mfinkle) (use needinfo?)]

(In reply to Barbara Bermes [:bbermes] from comment #2)
> Good to know, when you say Android Stock browser, do you mean the default
> browser on e.g a Google phone like Nexus, and consequently a Samsung default
> stock browser could potentially not allow any access to the data?

Exactly. The standard Android stock browser is the one that ships with that AOSP code. I believe Samsung ships a modified version with extra features. As such, it might not allow accessing the history and bookmark data.

> Samsung is leading the Android market and if we can't access the stock
> browser's data, this feature might not be as powerful and useful for a new
> Firefox user on first app run.

Maybe it is possible to see if any data exists, and only show the "Import" if there is data to import?

Comment 4

[Jan Henning [:JanH]]

Although if it is a Samsung specific problem, it doesn't affect all Samsung phones. I own a Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini and am able to import bookmarks and history from the stock browser just fine - I just tested it on Nightly.

Comment 5

[Barbara Bermes [:barbara] - NI please!]

Thanks JanH, indeed; it seems like a bug affecting Samsung Galaxy S4 (correction, I said S2 previoulsy) but not e.g. for Samsung Galaxy Note, or others. 


Bug reported for Samsung galaxy s4, Android 4.4.2

Our most used Samsung devices by users
- Samsung Galaxy S3 (phone)
- Samsung Galaxy S2 (phone)
- etc.

So we will need to see if we can reproduce this for S2 and S3 phones

Comment 7

[Gian-Carlo Pascutto [:gcp]]

(In reply to Mark Finkle (:mfinkle) from comment #3)
> Maybe it is possible to see if any data exists, and only show the "Import"
> if there is data to import?

Sounds sensible. Or pop up a notification if nothing was available. I'll file that.

Comment 8

[Barbara Bermes [:barbara] - NI please!]

(In reply to Aaron Train [:aaronmt] from comment #6)
> 
> *** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 963661 ***

Is 963661 for Chrome only or also stock?

Comment 9

[Aaron Train [:aaronmt]]

It was filed against Chrome

Comment 10

[Barbara Bermes [:barbara] - NI please!]

mfinkle can you nominate somebody to fix this please, this blocks first run for now and needs to go into 43

Comment 11

[Gian-Carlo Pascutto [:gcp]]

(In reply to Gian-Carlo Pascutto [:gcp] from comment #7)
> (In reply to Mark Finkle (:mfinkle) from comment #3)
> > Maybe it is possible to see if any data exists, and only show the "Import"
> > if there is data to import?
> 
> Sounds sensible. Or pop up a notification if nothing was available. I'll
> file that.

See 
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1188271
for some discussion.

The solution appropriate for the settings dialog might be different from the one appropriate for a first run experience.

Comment 12

[:Margaret Leibovic]

(In reply to Barbara Bermes [:bbermes] from comment #10)
> mfinkle can you nominate somebody to fix this please, this blocks first run
> for now and needs to go into 43

I think liuche could own this bug, especially if she's on the hook for the first run experience :)

Comment 13

[Mark Finkle (:mfinkle) (use needinfo?)]

(In reply to :Margaret Leibovic from comment #12)
> (In reply to Barbara Bermes [:bbermes] from comment #10)
> > mfinkle can you nominate somebody to fix this please, this blocks first run
> > for now and needs to go into 43
> 
> I think liuche could own this bug, especially if she's on the hook for the
> first run experience :)

Did we decide what the fix would be?

Are we going to try to only show the "Import" if we are sure it works? The alternative is to try, perhaps futilely, to get the import to actually work.

Comment 14

[Chenxia Liu [:liuche]]

I'm going to do some investigation and see if I can figure out what's wrong, and if there's a fix for it.

Comment 15

[Chenxia Liu [:liuche]]

Okay, this should be pretty straightforward actually - it looks like some of Samsung's phones uses a different content provider ( content://com.sec.android.app.sbrowser.browser/bookmarks ), but you can still access it.

However, the two samsung devices we have here are older models (10" tablet, S2) and work just fine with the existing code. Samsung might start using this new content provider starting with a certain version, so I'll either check for that version, or if the phone is a Samsung, try both content provider addresses.

It looks like Galaxy Note, S2, and S3-mini work, and maybe the problem starts with S4/Android 4.4. Barbara, I'll make a build and send it to you to test on your S4, but it's annoying that we have to special case some (but not all) Samsung phones.

Comment 16

[Chenxia Liu [:liuche]]

Further investigation:
- Samsung Nexus S (4.1) can import from stock browser
- S2 (2.3) can import from stock browser
- S5 (5.0x) doesn't have a stock browser, and importing from Chrome works fine. The original 4.4 version does ship with a stock browser, but we don't have one to test on.

Barbara, here's a build here for you to try - I haven't tested it locally because I can't repro it on any of our Samsung devices.
http://people.mozilla.org/~liuche/bug-1186037/import1.apk

I have it pop up first run every time, so you don't have to clear your history when you test it.

Comment 17

[Barbara Bermes [:barbara] - NI please!]

I tried your latest apk, still not working :( on the Samsung S4, 4.4.2.

Comment 18

[Chenxia Liu [:liuche]]

Okay, I've gotten an S4 and I can repro this problem. I think we can also figure out if we don't see *any* history/bookmarks files, and not show the Import button if it ends up not being possible.

Comment 19

[Gian-Carlo Pascutto [:gcp]]

(In reply to Chenxia Liu [:liuche] from comment #18)
> Okay, I've gotten an S4 and I can repro this problem. I think we can also
> figure out if we don't see *any* history/bookmarks files, and not show the
> Import button if it ends up not being possible.

See
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1188271

Comment 20

[Chenxia Liu [:liuche]]

Attachment: MozReview Request: Bug 1186037 - Import bookmarks and history from stock browser (Samsung S4, Android 4.4.2) doesn't work. r=mhaigh

Bug 1186037 - Import bookmarks and history from stock browser (Samsung S4, Android 4.4.2) doesn't work. r=mhaigh

Comment 21

[Chenxia Liu [:liuche]]

Cool, I got this working.

http://people.mozilla.org/~liuche/bug-1186037/

Comment 22

[Chenxia Liu [:liuche]]

Comment on attachment 8651328 [details]
MozReview Request: Bug 1186037 - Import bookmarks and history from stock browser (Samsung S4, Android 4.4.2) doesn't work. r=mhaigh

Bug 1186037 - Import bookmarks and history from stock browser (Samsung S4, Android 4.4.2) doesn't work. r=mhaigh

Comment 23

[Chenxia Liu [:liuche]]

Comment on attachment 8651328 [details]
MozReview Request: Bug 1186037 - Import bookmarks and history from stock browser (Samsung S4, Android 4.4.2) doesn't work. r=mhaigh

Bug 1186037 - Import bookmarks and history from stock browser (Samsung S4, Android 4.4.2) doesn't work. r=mhaigh

Comment 24

[Martyn Haigh (:mhaigh)]

Comment on attachment 8651328 [details]
MozReview Request: Bug 1186037 - Import bookmarks and history from stock browser (Samsung S4, Android 4.4.2) doesn't work. r=mhaigh

https://reviewboard.mozilla.org/r/16933/#review15391

Comment 25

[Pulsebot]

https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/fx-team/rev/8ad3f1c2b954

Comment 26

[Ryan VanderMeulen [:RyanVM]]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/8ad3f1c2b954

Comment 27

[Sebastian Kaspari (:sebastian; :pocmo)]

Recently we disabled and hid the feature on Android M+ devices because Google basically removed the public content provider for history and bookmarks. I wonder whether Samsung will keep their content provider when they release M devices and whether we should consider bringing it back.