Time to switch to uBlock Lite or another ad blocker.

If you have uBlock Origin, you might notice Chrome automatically disabling the extension.

Google Chrome has begun to phase out uBlock Origin. The developer of the free ad blocker, Raymond Hill, recently reposted a screenshot that shows Chrome automatically turning off uBlock Origin because it is “no longer supported.”

The change comes as Google Chrome migrates to Manifest V3, a new extension specification that could impact the effectiveness of some ad blockers. uBlock Origin has launched uBlock Origin Lite, which uses Manifest V3, in response to the transition. However, you have to manually install the extension because it’s “too different from uBO to be an automatic replacement,” according to a FAQ Hill that posted to GitHub.

    • fine_sandy_bottom@lemmy.federate.cc
      26·
      2 months ago

      I’ve been a firefox supporter since netscape.

      That said, things aren’t going great.

      Because it’s market share is in the toilet more and more web sites just aren’t supporting it any more. My university’s website, some government websites, and 2x industry platforms I use for work just plain do not work in firefox.

      Mozilla just bought an advertising company. They can spin it as they like but basically, mozilla’s primary revenue source in the future is going to be ads.

      They just had a throw down with the developer of uBlock. I don’t think this is particularly meaningful, but it’s not a tick in the right column.

      • thatsnothowyoudoit@lemmy.ca
        6·
        2 months ago

        Nothing a user agent spoofing extension can’t fix.

        Also, if anyone has concerns about Firefox there are some really interesting forks.

        Zen has been my go to for a couple of weeks.

        • el_abuelo@programming.dev
          21·
          2 months ago

          Why is that? Folks aren’t going round writing user agent parsers to maliciously disable functionality in Firefox. They’re just writing bad code that doesn’t work on anything but the browser they use.

          I use Firefox mainly because I don’t trust Google and at work it ensured at least one of us sees bugs that chrome users don’t.

        • fine_sandy_bottom@lemmy.federate.cc
          11·
          2 months ago

          When I say “aren’t supporting” I mean “not testing”. These sites are broken.

          All Firefox forks in existence are merely soft forks. They’re not committing code, they just compile with different flags and configure.

            • fine_sandy_bottom@lemmy.federate.cc
              11·
              2 months ago

              That link is talking about tabs?

              That’s just css. Every soft fork messes with that. You can yourself in user.css

              The big deal with tabs is getting UX right. It’s more about how it looks and whether it’s intuitive, rather than implementation.

    • officermike@lemmy.world
      24·
      2 months ago

      I have, and as a tab hoarder, the transition has been rough. I really miss the tab grouping feature from Chrome, and I haven’t found any FF extension that suitably replaces it.

      I had already switched to mobile Firefox years ago for extension (uBlock) support, and that was an easy transition.

      • Mossy Feathers (She/They)@pawb.social
        18·
        2 months ago

        Thankfully, as a long-time Firefox user, I’ve never been pampered by this magical feature and so it’s not something I miss. Perhaps a chrome exodus will cause Firefox to pick it up though.

        Then again, I’m currently wearing a tinfoil hat that says, “Mozilla’s CEO is a Google sleeper agent” so I’m about 50/50 on whether or not Mozilla will just straight-up fold in a couple years; but there’s still the half that’s hopeful!

          • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
            2·
            2 months ago

            If you want to take a chance relying on a system meant to store temporary data to store permanent/semi-permanent information then go ahead, I’ll continue using the bookmarks bar and never worry about an update erasing all my tabs :)

            • xmunk@sh.itjust.works
              5·
              2 months ago

              The volatility is a feature… every once in a while I rely on my tabs being lost to oblivion to avoid being overwhelmed.

      • Hellinabucket@lemmy.worldEnglish
        9·
        2 months ago

        The tab grouping is the only thing I keep going back to chrome for on mobile. I spend of surprising amount of time deep diving certain things and it really helps to keep all the branches of the tree together in one group.

        • MushroomsEverywhere@lemmy.world
          1·
          2 months ago

          Big same. I really like Firefox on mobile for the addons (mostly Consent-o-matic, hate cookie popups), but I still mostly use Adblock Browser because of the tab groups. The convenience really wins me over, sadly.

      • partial_accumen@lemmy.world
        4·
        2 months ago

        I prefer FF, but if it helps you the Vivaldi Browser is Chromium based and will continue to support the v2 Manifest (old extensions) until July 2025. That might buy you time. Who knows what the landscape and options exist then.

      • GreyBeard@lemmy.one
        3·
        2 months ago

        I recommend giving Sidebery a shot. It allows you to use a vertical list of tabs instead, that follow a tree hierarchy, so you can have an entire group together and collapsable. Before it was Tree Style Tabs, but development of that seems to have slowed to a stop.

      • shadshack@sh.itjust.works
        3·
        2 months ago

        When I switched to Firefox a while back, I also switched to using the Tree Style Tabs extension. It gives you vertical tabs which can be nested like a folder structure. I found it’s way more convenient to know which tab was spawned from a parent tab, and keep similar tabs all in one little grouping. In my opinion, it’s even better than Chrome’s tab grouping. I lose a tiny amount of screen real estate along the left side of the browser, but it really didn’t take long at all to get used to, and now I vastly prefer it.

        • Revan343@lemmy.ca
          5·
          2 months ago

          The basic Chromecast was discontinued, and the Chromecast functionality was rolled into Google TV. Existing Chromecasts should keep working, hope they don’t have any major security bugs though, because I doubt those are getting patched

      • catloaf@lemm.eeEnglish
        41·
        2 months ago

        It was? I’m pretty sure I just used mine not too long ago and it worked fine.

        • m-p{3}@lemmy.ca
          12·
          2 months ago

          They’re moving to the Google TV streamer, which isn’t just a dongle behind the TV anymore.

  • solrize@lemmy.world
    701·
    2 months ago

    Or alternately, Ublock Origin’s Chrome phaseout has begun. My own Chrome phaseout was completed years ago ofc.

    • Weslee@lemmy.worldEnglish
      41·
      2 months ago

      Only place I still use chrome is my chrome book, btw if anyone knows of any browser that works with Chromebook touchpad/grestures (other than chrome ofc) pls let me know

  • DirkMcCallahan@lemmy.world
    172·
    2 months ago

    Every so often I have to use Chrome because a website (like my utility company) requires me to. It’s such a shitty experience. Why are people even still using Chrome?

    • Sestren@lemmy.world
      10·
      2 months ago

      99% of the time you can just spoof the user agent and it’ll work perfectly fine. They only restrict it because they won’t hire enough developers to provide support for multiple browsers.

  • Pichu0102@lemmy.worldEnglish
    5·
    2 months ago

    Frustrating to say the least. Still use chrome because it has some things I still like, but I also used the registry key to keep manifest 2 extensions for now. Switching back to Firefox from chrome after I think a decade of use is going to be mentally taxing, especially for someone who reacts as poorly to change and is as lazy as me. Frustrating how Google has gone from the earlier days of don’t be evil to being who they are today.

    • Spotlight7573@lemmy.worldEnglish
      14·
      2 months ago

      A Chromium thing. Some Chromium-based browsers are going to keep some kind of internal ad blocker that has more functionality than MV3 allows for but I don’t know of any that are keeping the older functionality for extensions in general.

      • YungOnions@sh.itjust.works
        3·
        2 months ago

        The developer of Thorium (a Chromium based browser) has stated they intent to maintain older functionality for as long they’re able.

      • Sir_Kevin@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        21·
        2 months ago

        I’ve been using Brave. I don’t think there are any extensions that I’m using that I couldn’t live without. Ad blocking is built in, so I don’t foresee this effecting me much if at all.

        • fine_sandy_bottom@lemmy.federate.cc
          82·
          2 months ago

          I’m not sure it will work out that way.

          Brave will face the exact same problem an add-on or extension will. When they say ad blocking is built in, they’ve just compiled the binaries with specific addons baked in. So your experience with ads will be the same as anyone using chromium + ublock lite, or vivaldi, or whatever else.

          Also, you might want to give this a read:

          https://www.spacebar.news/stop-using-brave-browser/

  • adarza@lemmy.caEnglish
    1·
    2 months ago

    i thought they were prompting for installing replacement addons that are mv3? (like ubo lite or abp to replace ubo).

    • Spotlight7573@lemmy.worldEnglish
      41·
      2 months ago

      Only for ones that are explicitly a replacement for them.

      gorhill’s reasoning from the FAQ:

      Will uBO automatically transition to uBO Lite in the Chrome Web Store?

      No.

      You will have to find an alternative to uBO before Google Chrome disables it for good.

      I consider uBO Lite to be too different from uBO to be an automatic replacement. You will have to explicitly find a replacement to uBO according to what you expect from a content blocker. uBO Lite may or may not fulfill your expectations.

  • shastaxc@lemm.ee
    11·
    2 months ago

    I prefer Firefox for almost everything. But I prefer the way Chrome treats x509 certificates.

    • Spotlight7573@lemmy.worldEnglish
      81·
      2 months ago

      From the article’s second paragraph:

      uBlock Origin has launched uBlock Origin Lite, which uses Manifest V3, in response to the transition.

        • WindyRebel@lemmy.world
          3·
          2 months ago

          Chrome is just a name. It runs on Chromium which is a Google product and open source. Many browser alternatives out there use Chromium under the hood. The point I’m making is that it’s going to be tough to find something not Chromium based that will have all of the features and compatibility that you expect, which makes it tough to recommend other browsers. Firefox and Safari are two that are their own thing, and generally supported, so there’s a start.