- Proton has confirmed that its Firefox VPN extension is temporarily unavailable
- The issue is believed to be due to a mandatory Mozilla review process.
- While the team is working on a fix, users are advised to use the standalone app.
Proton made headlines by making the Proton VPN browser extension free for everyone, opening up robust privacy tools to users who don’t want to pay for a premium subscription. But Firefox users suddenly ran into a major obstacle. One of the best VPN add-ons for Mozilla’s browser has been temporarily removed, leaving free and paid users unable to download or manage the tool.
Users started noticing the problem about a week ago, reporting on Reddit that the VPN browser extension was getting stuck in an endless loading circle. This freeze prevented access to crucial settings such as split tunneling, a tool that lets you choose which websites bypass the VPN, even if the underlying encrypted connection would have remained active.
Shortly after these bugs appeared, the add-on disappeared from the Mozilla Add-ons store entirely. Anyone attempting a new installation is now faced with a standard “Page not found” error. Proton VPN has since acknowledged the situation, with the company confirming that the extension is temporarily unavailable “due to a review requirement from Mozilla.”
“The team is aware and working on it”
This sudden removal caused understandable friction within the community, especially for those who rely exclusively on browser-based protection for light streaming or everyday browsing.
Taking to the official r/ProtonVPN subreddit, one user wrote: “I’m really disappointed, I’m a paid user who waited over a month for the Firefox extension to be fixed, and who repeatedly said the developers were ‘aware’ of the issue. Now I find the extension has been completely removed instead of updated.
What happened to the Firefox extension? from r/ProtonVPN
In response to the growing confusion on social media, Proton’s official support channels have confirmed the ongoing downtime.
Reassuring users on X about alternative ways to stay safe while the extension is under review, the company said: “You can use the desktop app. »
Additionally, community members monitoring the situation on Reddit reiterated that “the team is aware of this and working on it,” although no official timeline for the add-on’s return has been provided.
What to do while waiting
If you’re currently looking for the best Firefox VPN extension and rely heavily on Proton, you’re not completely out of luck. While we wait for the Mozilla review queue to clear and the official add-on to return, there are a few simple solutions:
- Use the desktop client: As suggested by the Proton support team on X, the standalone Proton VPN desktop app remains fully functional and is unaffected by Mozilla’s review process. It provides superior system-wide protection, encrypting all traffic on your device, and includes advanced features not typically found in a lightweight browser add-on.
- Change browser: The underlying issue is strictly related to Mozilla’s specific review queue. If you prefer to keep your VPN traffic strictly isolated from your web browser, a popular choice for users who want to run a VPN in one window and their standard connection in another, the extension remains completely operational on Chromium-based alternatives like Google Chrome, Brave, and Microsoft Edge.
- Sideloading the extension (for experienced users): If you absolutely must use Firefox and are comfortable with a more technical approach, the open source community offers a fallback method. As one Reddit user pointed out, “The .xpi extension can be created and then installed manually, based on the source code found here,” linking directly to Proton’s official GitHub repository. Although effective, this method is generally only recommended for advanced users.
- Use Firefox’s built-in VPN: Launched with update 149, Firefox now includes a free VPN directly integrated into the browser. Although the feature is only available to users in the US, UK, Germany, and France, if you reside in those countries, you’ll be happy to know that Mozilla has removed its 50GB data cap for the entire summer – just enough time, perhaps, for Proton to fix the problem.
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