LeechBlock causes infinite loading of all pages on FF Android

[michallegut]

After enabling the extension on FF Android websites don't load anymore. They are stuck in infinite loading state. This happens even without any rules, on a freshly installed extension.

[proginosko]

Can you explain what you mean by "infinite loading state"?

[michallegut]

It gets stuck at this point

[proginosko]

So pages don't load at all? And if you disable LeechBlock, they load fine?

[michallegut]

Yes, but I usually need to restart the app after disabling

[StevenTheChief]

I am also having this issue. @proginosko let me know if you need any logs or video examples.

[proginosko]

I don't have an Android device, so I've been testing the extension on an Android emulator. I haven't been able to reproduce this issue, so really the only way to get to the bottom of it would be for someone with the issue to do some basic debugging directly. Here are some directions on how to debug FF for Android with Windows. The key would be to look for error messages from either background.js or content.js (which is injected into each web page). Let me know if you need more guidance.

[StevenTheChief]

Am i searching in the right place? I have never debugged before so I'm learning. Here are some photos that show the hangup and what the leechblock settings look like.

[proginosko]

Yes, so far so good!

In the about:debugging tab of Firefox (desktop) click on the Android device name under "USB enabled" on the left side. You should see something like this:

There are two places to look for possible error messages. The first would be LB's background script, which you can monitor by clicking the Inspect button next to "LeechBlock NG" (in the Extensions section). A new browser tab should open (with title "Toolbox (USB)"). Select the Console tab within it to see any error messages.

The second place would be LB's content script, which is injected into any web pages opened in FF for Android. Click the Inspect button next to one of the tabs with a page that isn't loading properly on Android (in the Tabs section). Again, select the Console tab within the newly opened tab (with title "Toolbox (USB)") to see any error messages.

Error messages are indicated in red. You can change the filter in the Console tab so that only error messages are shown (not warnings, etc., of which there can be many generated by the web page itself!).

Hope this all makes sense!

[proginosko]

BTW, I recommend you also check that LB has permission (in FF for Android) to access all sites. It should look like this:

[josphh]

I can confirm I've been having the same issue since around version 1.6.8.2. In order to get Firefox working again I need to disable the extension and clear cache in that order.

I don't think the problem was caused directly by version 1.6.8.2, as I did not have any issues immediately after the update was installed. The issue probably came a week or so after the update, so was most likely caused by a change on Firefox's side. I'll be able to give debugging a go if it hasn't been done already?

Details:
Firefox version 138.0
Leechblock version 1.6.9
Android version 15
Model: Google Pixel 6 Pro

[StevenTheChief]

I haven't had a chance yet. I planned on doing this later today.

[josphh]

Hey @proginosko, I followed your steps to try and debug the browser and it's been quite difficult to actually debug. I'll write what I found below.

Everything works as normal on start up (Leechblock menu, website blocking), until you visit a website.

On visiting this (or any other) page after browsing for a bit, the timer freezes as shown. Then, upon a page refresh, the timer completely disappears.

During this time, I get the following error in Leechblock whilst debugging:

And the following errors in the actual webpage itself.

After browsing more websites, it causes Leechblock, Firefox, and any other extension installed, to freeze up - including the Firefox debugging utility on my desktop.

Interestingly enough, Leechblock seems to cause more problems when any other browser extension is installed. Having Leechblock alone installed means that I can browse as normal, but only Leechblock will crash. Enabling any other browser extension (so far I've tried uBO and LibRedirect) causes Firefox to freeze completely.

Let me know if I can be of any help!

For reference, I debugged this on my desktop which has a Linux install.

[StevenTheChief]

I'm not able to get past this. Galaxy S25, Android 15 debugging on Firefox 138.0.3, Windows 11.

[josphh]

@StevenTheChief Do you have any other extensions installed? If you do, is there a different result when they're disabled?