Microsoft begins turning off uBlock Origin and other extensions in Edge
www.neowin.net
Microsoft is now in the process of turning off Manifest V2-based extensions in Edge, such as uBlock Origin. However, not everything is lost at this point.

The latest Edge Canary version started disabling Manifest V2-based extensions with the following message: “This extension is no longer supported. Microsoft Edge recommends that you remove it.” Although the browser turns off old extensions without asking, you can still make them work by clicking “Manage extension” and toggling it back (you will have to acknowledge another prompt).

At this point, it is not entirely clear what is going on. Google started phasing out Manifest V2 extensions in June 2024, and it has a clear roadmap for the process. Microsoft’s documentation, however, still says “TBD,” so the exact dates are not known yet. This leads to some speculating about the situation being one of “unexpected changes” coming from Chromium. Either way, sooner or later, Microsoft will ditch MV2-based extensions, so get ready as we wait for Microsoft to shine some light on its plans.

Another thing worth noting is that the change does not appear to be affecting Edge’s stable release or Beta/Dev Channels. For now, only Canary versions disable uBlock Origin and other MV2 extensions, leaving users a way to toggle them back on. Also, the uBlock Origin is still available in the Edge Add-ons store

    • x00z@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      3 hours ago

      I don’t suggest Librewolf for the plebians though.

      It comes with very aggressive anti-fingerprinting and privacy features.

      For people in [email protected] that’s less of a problem but I wouldn’t suggest it to my family members.

        • muhyb@programming.devEnglish
          1·
          3 hours ago

          You can think of it as a mobile version of LibreWolf. Strict security settings are default and Mozilla’s telemetry is disabled/removed. Also unlike regular Firefox, you can download it from F-Droid (currently you need their repo but it’ll be added officially soon, probably).

          • dan@upvote.auEnglish
            1·
            2 hours ago

            Are they doing their own development or are they still mostly reliant on Mozilla? The thing with all these forks is that I doubt they’d be able to continue development if Mozilla were to disappear, since they still rely heavily on Mozilla.

            • muhyb@programming.devEnglish
              1·
              2 hours ago

              They are reliant. These forks are basically tweaked Firefox.

              Yeah, FIrefox is a huge code base. If Mozilla disappears, some big developer group must take over the flag. Otherwise with only community effort, the development would be slowed down.