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.
Or time to switch to Firefox
Laughs in Firefox
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.
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!
Bookmarks are the better tabs for tab hoarders
Just saying
Lies.
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 :)
The volatility is a feature… every once in a while I rely on my tabs being lost to oblivion to avoid being overwhelmed.
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.
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.
No ETA, but Firefox is getting this.
Huzzah!
(IIRC) vertical tabs are already in Firefox, just hidden. Floorp has an option to enable them with a Beta disclaimer.
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.
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.
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.
Try winger and group tabs into nameable windows
I don’t know how chrome does it but I like the simple tab groups add-on. I then just keep the sidebar open to it.
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.
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.
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.
They are.
Not maliciously, but out of laziness.
I regularly see “you need chrome to use this site”.
Would love to see examples of this, I’ve never seen it (since 2000 or so)
Issue is that some sites just refuse to work saying you need to install a supported browser. Changing the user agent fixes this.
Would love to see an example of this
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.
Not entirely accurate.
Zen brings a number of additions that even the Mozilla team have taken note of regarding features they hope to implement down the road.
Ref: (ff engineer taking about zen’s implementation - that’s not enabling feature flags) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41307555
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.
Google Chrome’s Google Chrome phaseout has begun
Chromecast was killed I didn’t notice lol
Mine still works, i wonder if it’s just discontinued and no more support for it.
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
My three haven’t gotten the memo, I guess.
It was? I’m pretty sure I just used mine not too long ago and it worked fine.
They’re moving to the Google TV streamer, which isn’t just a dongle behind the TV anymore.
Yeah according to this site
Or alternately, Ublock Origin’s Chrome phaseout has begun. My own Chrome phaseout was completed years ago ofc.
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
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?
because a website (like my utility company) requires me to
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.
Begun, the Chrome wars have.
Been using Firefox for a loooong time. Nothing is changing that anytime soon
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.
Is Manifest V3 a Chromium thing or a Google Chrome thing?
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.
The developer of Thorium (a Chromium based browser) has stated they intent to maintain older functionality for as long they’re able.
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.
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:
In this garbage article: ZERO MENTIONS to any alternative.
From the article’s second paragraph:
uBlock Origin has launched uBlock Origin Lite, which uses Manifest V3, in response to the transition.
I meant browsers. Chrome ain’t the only browser in town.
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.
Are there any to mention?
yes, there are various other browsers still supporting proper ad blocking
Oh, I thought we were talking about extensions.
Google destroyed that capability for extensions, so you have to use another browser.
I understand that. But I don’t think OP was asking about browsers. Maybe I’m wrong.
Just google it :^)
I prefer Firefox for almost everything. But I prefer the way Chrome treats x509 certificates.
I don’t use chrome.
i thought they were prompting for installing replacement addons that are mv3? (like ubo lite or abp to replace ubo).
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.
