Pour one out for the ad-free Chrome browsing experience tonight. Chrome Canary, the pre-beta release version with the most far-out feature set, just reminded us that top extensions like the beloved uBlock Origin are not long for this Earth. The removal of a custom settings flag previously used to enable deprecated Manifest V2 extensions (like most popular ad blockers) has begun turning out the lights on the user-friendly Chrome party (via @leopova on Twitter/X).
Disabling features in the name of progress
Alas, poor uBlock, we hardly knew thee
The Manifest rulesets outline the way Google’s world-eating browser interacts with extensions — essentially the only things that give users significant control over their web-surfing experience. The V3 standards hit the popular software years ago, but V2-complaint extensions did and do remain functional in Chrome’s public release.
In an entirely expected and roundly denounced move, Google has begun testing the complete deprecation of Manifest V2 extensions in its super-ultra-early Chrome test build. Called Chrome Canary, it’s partly used to ensure subtle changes don’t outright kill the program — hence the name.
Ad blockers have been among the most-used extensions since broadband became widespread-enough to spare some bandwidth for flashing, animated, annoying ads sprinkled throughout every page. Fundamental changes within the Manifest V3 rules mean the most powerful of those, including long-time crowd favorite uBlock Origin, simply won’t work once Manifest V2 breathes its last.
Let the funeral march begin
If only Chrome hadn’t been getting worse for a while
Ad blockers still work in the public version of Chrome, but like all of ours, their deaths will come surely if not swiftly. Manifest V2 extensions have been “unsupported” in Chrome Canary since June, but a custom flag let you disable the disabling and turn your aging, lifesaving extensions back on. But that flag has disappeared from the latest Canary release, and the funeral dirge has begun to play. It’s only a matter of time before you can’t block most ads on the Chrome browser.
While there may not be hope, there is cope: Power users and novices alike have decried Chrome’s various UI changes over the last couple of years, a remembrance that takes away some of the sting. Despite lightning-quick rendering and nearly universal compatibility across regions, interface changes like the barely distinguishable active vs. background tab colors make it less painful to abandon Google’s internet portal. In other words, it’s a better time than ever to switch to Firefox, the free, open-source browser that at least gives you the freedom to surf the web the way you want.
