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I've downloaded Firefox Developer Edition and it seems pretty good but I'm wondering how safe it is.
I know that there are already some posts about developer editions of browsers such as Chrome and Firefox but I saw that people talk about a beta program. This doesn't seem to be the case with Firefox Developer Edition.
Can I use Firefox Developer Edition as my main browser? Is it secure as Firefox 'normal' edition?
Yes, you can use the Firefox Developer Edition as your main browser but it has slightly different privacy and security properties.
Most notably, Firefox Dev comes with additional development and debugging tools, some of them still experimental. That means more responsibility for the user and potentially a bigger attack surface since fresh features can be more likely to be vulnerable.
We'll include experimental tools that aren't yet ready to ride the trains to release.
You are also using the new features of the Aurora build (pre-beta).
By using the Developer Edition, you gain access to tools and platform features at least 12 weeks before they reach the main Firefox release channel.
Because of the developer-centric design, it's easier to make insecure settings. For example, in Firefox Dev you can disable signature enforcement which would result in the browser accepting unsigned extensions.
What are my options if I want to install unsigned extensions in Firefox? The Developer Edition and Nightly versions of Firefox will have a setting to disable signature enforcement.
Firefox Dev collects usage statistics ("Telemetry") by default which impacts your privacy.
Usage statistics or "Telemetry" is a feature in Firefox that sends Mozilla usage, performance, and responsiveness statistics about user interface features, memory, and hardware configuration. [...] This feature is turned on by default in Nightly, Developer Edition (Aurora), and Beta builds of Firefox to help those users provide feedback to Mozilla. In the general release version of Firefox, this feature is turned off by default.
If you're concerned about these points, you could also just use the default build and install additional developer extensions later when you need them.
