Fix or remove new settings search functionality on Android

🐞 Bug Report

It doesn't always show, it is gated behind a nimbus features flag FxNimbus.features.settingsSearch . When it does show, it has a few things we don't want

  1. It saves settings search history and persists it across sessions.
  2. It shows settings we disable/hide, allowing it to get into undefined behavior and broken states.
  3. It doesn't always show and is unclear why it shows when it does.

I think we should either remove the search functionality, or fix it the problems listed above. It could be a nice quality of life feature to have if it worked right.

Settings screen showing new settings search button.png image.png image.png

Reproduction steps

Go to settings, notice that there is a magnifying glass icon that shows up sometimes (it seems more often on dev builds). Tap on it and notice that there are settings that are searchable, but not otherwise accessible (not all disabled settings are searchable, only some). Notice that after searching, there is a "Recent search results" history list that will persist across sessions.

User impact

High given it retains settings search history and can show settings that we don't intend the user changing, leading to undefined behavior including broken app states and required reinstalls

Bookkeeping

  • Browser version:
  • Browser channel:
    • Release
    • Alpha
    • Nightly
  • Distribution method:
    • Installer/archive from torproject.org
    • tor-browser-launcher
    • homebrew
    • other (please specify):
  • Operating System:
    • Windows
      • Version:
    • macOS
      • Version:
    • Linux
      • Distribution + Version:
      • Desktop Environment + Version:
    • Android
      • Version:
      • Device:
    • Tails
    • Other (please specify):

Have you modified any of the settings in about:preferences or about:config? If yes, which ones?

No

Do you have any extra extensions installed?

No

Troubleshooting

Does this bug occur in a fresh installation?

Is this bug new? If it is a regression, in which version of the browser did this bug first appear?

esr 147 rebase on debug build

Does this bug occur in the Alpha release channel?

Yes, it appears to not show (but does show on debug)

Edited by clairehurst