We all knew that the time would eventually come. Google is removing bypasses in Chromium and Google Chrome that allowed users to run legacy extensions in the browser.
Google moved to a new extension rules system, called Manifest V3, which turned out to be a very controversial move. The company claimed that this was all for performance and security, but the change had the fortunate side effect that it would impact content blocker extensions more than any other extension type.
Google modified the rule set several times, which would have killed content blockers more or less in the beginning, and content blockers continue to be available.
However, Chrome users who have enabled bypasses to continue using these extensions will soon realize that they can’t anymore. The reason is simple: Google removed them.
This is not the end of content blocking in Chrome and other Chromium-based browsers. Here are the options that you have going forward:
- Switch to a MV3 extension: Browser extensions such as uBlock Origin Lite are available. These continue to block ads in Chrome, but they lack some of the advanced features of the classic blocker.
- Use a Chromium-based browser that continues to support MV3 extensions: Brave, Vivaldi and Opera all pledged to support MV2 extensions going forward. It remains to be seen whether this is going to be the case once the bypasses are removed.
- Switch to Firefox: Firefox supports MV2 and MV3 extensions. You can install uBlock Origin in Firefox and get the best level of protection out of any version of the extension.
- Use a browser with a built-in content blocker: Plenty of options, Brave, Opera or Vivaldi all come with the functionality.
Ungoogled Chromium still supports MV2 extensions, and should for the foreseeable future.
I use Ungoogled Chromium myself, but it will only work until MV2 is stripped out from the codebase. It’s only a matter of time.
For all its blemishes, Firefox remains the best answer to the Chromium monoculture, so with it I will stick. Having the best version of uBlock Origin makes the decision that much easier
There is another option – use a browser like Pale Moon or Basilisk that still allow XUL-based extensions, including uBlock Origin Legacy. No need to worry about anything that Google does with Manifest v2, Manifest v3, nothing – XUL-based extensions are completely independent of anything that Google decides.
I am with you on that but the problem with that Andy is that the XUL based extensions are often enough fragmented or abandoned. Last I checked uBlock Origin was being cobbled together on and off by some random folks with two main forks that rarely get updates.
Userscript management (last time I checked) was being handled by an ancient fork of GreaseMonkey that had seemingly been abandoned.
There are some solid extension like ηMatrix (uMatrix fork), a flashgot fork that the name now escapes me but for them most part the entire repository is very much not brimming with extensions like the often vastly inferior webextension extensions. When Justoff (if that was the handle/name) vanished then so too did a lot of the momentum too. I am not sure of their whereabouts but I believe he resided in the country of Ukraine if I am not mistaken.
I would love it if the Pale Moon and Basilisk also got a big push but that remains to be seen.
Thanks for calling it out.
I imagine for the most part people are waiting to see how the Ladybird Browser pans out but Pale Moon and Basilisk are decent enough browsers that need a big push from extension developers but its hard to say when or if that would ever happen.
I constantly update the two browsers but I have not used them in a while or checked in on their extension development so my information may be dated now and things may have improved.
I wish firefox stayed on XUL because all it did was splinter the community and for the most part offer us an inferior extension system which has more than handful of times hamstrung extension developers.
@Mystique: “Greasemonkey for UXP” is a fully revamped version and is now ready. uBO is next.
Just dump anything google based and send a message. Maybe move to Firefox until they get too big for their boots too and then move to something else. Never allow these companies to feel too comfortable with too much marketshare. They have no interest in the end user, none of them do really so keeping them uncomfortable and balancing things out is best. If you give them absolute dominance they will become garbage and abuse that privilege.
Google is well and truly far beyond the point of turning into a scumbag and need to be taught a lesson just like Microsoft. We could name dozens of times that google have abused their position and its user base. It’s time people… its time.
Good Golly, Miss Molly… hey, what did you expect? It’s an advertisement company developing a browser meant to advertise. I’ll be off to somewhere between heaven and hell before I ever understand the popularity of Google…
Firefox it is and remains