WARNING: firefox mobile is deleting downloaded files without your knowledge after update
Recently my firefox updated to android version 151, I downloaded a file in incognito, and to my surprise as soon as I closed incognito the file got erased. No trace of it anywhere.
I investigated and figured out why quickly. There is a setting that was checked to delete files whenever the download history entry is deleted. Since closing incognito automatically deletes the download entry having this setting checked always deletes all downloaded files as soon as you close the incognito tab.
This is absolutely unacceptable and a horrible and dangerous design choice. Had I cleared my download history for any reason without knowing about this setting hundreds of files I downloaded months back could have been irreversibly deleted from my device, if you have set your download history to auto delete after a period of time or when closing firefox, immediately check your settings and secure your files.
Firefox maliciously changed the setting regardless of my preference during the last update. This has never happened to me before and needs to be addressed.
EDIT:
Half of the comments did did not read past the first sentence or have low reading comprehension before commenting nonsense. So I'll simplify it here.
THIS IS NOT AN INCOGNITO MODE ISSUE, IF AFFECTS EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOUR FILES EVER DOWNLOADED BY FIREFOX ON MOBILE.
Firefox has a setting to separate file download history from actual files downloaded, you can configure it to either delete the file when the history is deleted, or delete only history and not touch the files.
Theres multiple ways file download history can be deleted:
- You manually delete items from your history
- You have firefox configured to auto delete your download history when closed
- You have firefox delete your history after a period of time
- You leave incognito mode after downloading something (this will clear all entries in the download history made during the incognito session)
Now comes the issue: firefox has in the past update reset this setting, regardless of your previous preference, to auto delete files when they're removed from download history, here is a picture of what the setting looks like before and after v151: https://imgur.com/a/KmmOys0
This means, if you do not manually change this setting immediately, if any of the previously mentioned events capable of deleting history occur, all the entries deleted will take their respective files down with them. Meaning you can lose thousands of files you downloaded in the past without ever pressing any button that would have never been deleted otherwise.
Finally, thanks to everyone confirming this issue in the comments and trying to help respond to the massive amounts of people that never read the post before commenting.