1544975 - "Change to extensions in Private Windows" is shown to new profiles with no extensions installed

Status: VERIFIED FIXED

(WebExtensions :: General, defect, P2)

Description

[Matthew N. [:MattN]]

If a user doesn't have extensions installed, we shouldn't be warning them that extensions are disabled in private browsing since they will find that out when they first install an extension. This warning will disturb and potentially confuse the majority of Firefox users who don't use extensions. mconca, was it intentional to show this to the majority of users where it's not relevant?

STR:

1. Create a new temp. profile: mkdir /tmp/pb
2. /Applications/FirefoxNightly.app/Contents/MacOS/firefox --profile /tmp/pb --private --no-remote

Expected result:
No extensions in private browsing warning in a new profile with no extensions. When I install an extension I am shown a checkbox to enable in private windows.

Actual result:
Disturbed by an irrelevant prompt "Change to extensions in Private Windows" even though I have no extensions. When I install an extension I am shown a checkbox to enable in private windows.

[Tracking Requested - why for this release]: Irrelevant/disturbing/confusing UI shown to the majority of Firefox users.

Comment 1

[Mike Conca [:mconca]]

The warning is shown to all users. This was a deliberate decision.

1. This change to Firefox's default behavior is important to communicate broadly.
2. The set of users who have no extensions and use private browsing is a small minority, not majority, of users.
3. To minimize disturbance, the warning is only ever shown exactly one time per user.

Comment 2

[Pascal Chevrel:pascalc]

Not tracking as per the rationale expressed by Mike.

Comment 4

[Matthew N. [:MattN]]

(In reply to Mike Conca [:mconca] from comment #1)

3. To minimize disturbance, the warning is only ever shown exactly one time per user.

This doesn't address the issue for new/temp profiles like described in comment 0.

This is still affecting me on a regular basis (though I thought it was going to be removed shortly after 67). Can we now update/remove this code to stop bothering new profiles?

Comment 5

[Andrew Swan [:aswan]]

This is still affecting me on a regular basis (though I thought it was going to be removed shortly after 67). Can we now update/remove this code to stop bothering new profiles?

+1, this still irritates me regularly.

Comment 6

[Mark Striemer [:mstriemer]]

Amy, this educational popup has been around for several releases now. Are we okay with removing it?

Comment 7

[Mark Striemer [:mstriemer]]

Attachment: Screenshot 2019-12-10 12.46.18.png

Comment 8

[Amy Tsay [:amyt]]

Can we remove it for only people with no extensions installed?

Comment 9

[Mark Striemer [:mstriemer]]

We could show it only if users have extensions installed, in that case I think we'd want to update the copy though since I'd imagine this is only happening to new profiles now and the copy is about a "change" to how extensions work in PB.

When you install an extension you get the checkbox to allow the extension in PB still. If we delay showing this until an extension has been installed then the checkbox and allow text would have been shown to the user already.

I think the purpose of this doorhanger was to notify users about the change if they haven't installed any new extensions and seen the checkbox on the install doorhanger.

If we don't remove this entirely I think we should revisit the content of the doorhanger. What do you think, Amy?

Comment 10

[Amy Tsay [:amyt]]

Ah, thanks for the background. Seeing that this was meant to run for a few releases, and the private browsing checkbox has existed for a while, I'm ok with removing this doorhanger.

Comment 11

[Shane Caraveo (:mixedpuppy)]

Attachment: Bug 1544975 remove private window extension change notification

Comment 12

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/61e3d523ed67
remove private window extension change notification r=robwu,fluent-reviewers

Comment 13

[Andreea Pavel [:apavel]]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/61e3d523ed67

Comment 14

[Alex Cornestean]

Hello,

Verified the fix on the latest Nightly (74.0a1/20200116214549) under Windows 10 Pro 64-bit and MacOS Catalina 10.15.

The "Change to extensions in Private Windows" doorhanger has been removed.