Tyler's wiki

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====== Getting a decent browser on ancient Android ======

I have an absolutely ancient Motorola Droid X2 (released 2011) serving as an always-on weather display. The stock browser finally started choking on the weather site because it doesn't have up to date root certificates, and can't by made to bypass/ignore this. This device is //way// past the point of having the app store work, but we can get a decent Firefox on there, and while it too will complain about certificates, it can be made to install a permanent exception.

   - **ADB: **Get ADB. You can download the portable version [[https://xdaforums.com/t/tool-minimal-adb-and-fastboot-2-9-18.2317790/|here]].
  - **Debug mode:**  Turn on "USB Debugging". On my device, this was under Settings → Applications → Development.
  - **Test ADB**: Run "adb devices". The device may ask you to authorize. If successful, you should see "List of devices attached", "502…207 device"
  - **Find an acceptable Firefox (or whatever app)**: Get an APK for the latest Firefox to support your android version (which can be found in Settings → About). [[https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/mozilla/firefox/#variants|This site shows all variants of Firefox]], and can be made to search for other APKs, including with an Android version filter. For my Android 2.3.5 device, Firefox 47 was the pick.
  - **Install it**: Down the chosen APK(s), and for each, just run "adb install <your_apk>".
Note: don't navigate to random sites, as this old browser is likely to have security vulnerabilities. That said, if you're using these directions, your device is lightyears out of support anyway.