It asks me for a password to open Firefox.

Opening Firefox does not require a password. For what password exactly is that prompt?

Hi

Thanks for stepping forward to answer. Re your request for information; I am not very IT competent so I am not sure what is going on or that I can provide a meaningful response.

- Initially a younger, more competent, family member downloaded Firefox at my request when showing me how to use the phone. Every time I tapped the icon I was asked for a password. Underneath the main Icon there were various other Firefox icons; if memory serves things like Firefox Focus etc.

- I attempted to reinstall but now the phone seems to be stuck on downloading Firefox via something called APPURSE / APK. This appears to be something to do with making on-line payments, which I do not want.

Does this information help?

Regards

edit: fixed formatting as there were horizontal scrollbars due to space before second and third sentence.

I am not very IT competent so I am not sure what is going on

I'd expect you to be able to answer the question what password you're being prompted for.

I attempted to reinstall but now the phone seems to be stuck on downloading Firefox via something called APPURSE / APK.

Why would you want to re-install Firefox on your phone? In any case, install Firefox via the Google Play Store. There is no APK involved.

This appears to be something to do with making on-line payments

This doesn't sound like it has got anything to do with Firefox. I don't understand what you're doing though.

Hi christ1

I am being prompted for a password to open Firefox.

I attempted to reinstall because after the original installation I was asked for a password to open Firefox. I do not have and have never had a Firefox password

Is APK a phishing site then?

Should I uninstall anything that is or claims to be Firefox and start again from the Google Play Store? I suspect I may end up back where I started if I try this, but is it worth a try?

Regards

Bewildered

Hi

I think that what you might be seeing is a screen that allows you to set up a Firefox Account - useful if you have Firefox installed on other devices.

From what you mention about appurse and APK files, it may be possible that the copy of Firefox for Android that you have installed was done outside of the Google Play Store. If this is the case, your copy of Firefox will not be updated with the latest security and stability fixes as well as with useful new functionality.

Assuming you have no bookmarks and passwords saved in it (which, from what you are saying sounds unlikely), I recommend uninstalling Firefox from your device, opening the Google Play Store app and installing a clean new copy.

I hope this helps.

With the Android OS, the .apk refers to Android Package which is the package file format used by the Android operating system for distribution and installation of mobile apps

You can download Firefox from Mozilla as a apk to manualy install onto Android though you do not get Firefox updates with Firefox installed this way. ex: https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/all/#product-android-release

This thread is the only thread to have any mention of appurse on this forum.

Hi All

Thanks for help. I will not have time to revisit for a couple of days but suggestions from Seburo and James sound promising. (This assumes I have understood the technospeak correctly - package format etc. I operate at the level of words of one syllable current in 1960.)

Regards

Bewildered

Hi

I have uninstalled Firefox as recommended.

It occurs to me I may not need Firefox. On my laptop I use Windows operating system, Firefox browser and Gmail (hopefully that is the correct terminology). I use Firefox because I am attracted by their claims of privacy and independence. On my phone I seem to have no choice but to use Android and Google account I *may* be able to achieve privacy via Google account settings / phone PIN. For searches I can use DuckDuckGo. If so then Firefox is redundant (perhaps this what christ1 was trying to put across) or am I barking up the wrong tree?

Can you think of any reason I might want Firefox?

Regards

Bewildered