{"slug": "ublock-origin", "name": "uBlock Origin", "category": "browsers", "category_name": "Browsers and extensions", "description": "Open-source, wide-spectrum content blocker browser extension for ads, trackers and page elements.", "recommenders": 103, "commenters": 138, "warners": 0, "score": 102.045, "rising": 28.02, "first": "2025-11-09", "latest": "2026-10-20", "why": "Loved for blocking ads so thoroughly that commenters call the web unusable without it, especially in Firefox on desktop and Android, and for custom filters that hide unwanted page elements.", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": true, "sentiment": {"recommend": 115, "neutral": 37, "compare": 2, "warn": 0}, "spark": [7, 7, 5, 7, 4, 6, 4, 17, 10, 26, 18, 4], "listed": true, "loved": ["Ad blocking", "Custom filters"], "caveat": "Chrome support", "short_quote": "I express gratitude towards the universe for Ublock Origin. Words can't comprehend how much I love it.", "icon": true, "domain": null, "github_repo": "github.com/gorhill/ublock", "official_url": "https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock", "pricing": "open source", "aliases": ["uBlock Origin"], "verdict": [{"text": "Loved for blocking ads so thoroughly that commenters call the web unusable without it,", "cites": [{"id": 795011600, "item_id": 49688225, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49688225", "by": "LooseMarmoset", "date": "2026-09-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The Internet is unusable these days without ublock origin or a pihole.", "excerpt": "every time I use the Internet on a computer without some sort of ad blocking, I am astounded to learn that there are still people who use the Internet without an ad blocker. The Internet is unusable these days without ublock origin or a pihole.", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Why is Google still serving dodgy ads?"}, {"id": 786229025, "item_id": 49139314, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49139314", "by": "drnick1", "date": "2026-08-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Firefox with uBlock Origin on Linux, and haven't seen an ad in years.", "excerpt": "> everything about the web is fine tuned to deliver ads to our eyeballs, browsers, operating systems and even protocols are being designed with ad delivery in mind. I use Firefox with uBlock Origin on Linux, and haven't seen an ad in years. It's not like ads weren't a thing 20 years ago. Pop-up windows were particularly bad. Javascript, in particular, has been constantly abused against the user ever since it was crea", "context": "Linux user", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "How Google helped destroy adoption of RSS feeds (2023)"}, {"id": 783671456, "item_id": 48979466, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48979466", "by": "pelagicAustral", "date": "2026-07-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "pretty shocking once you come off the protection of stuff like uBlock, which is what I use on FF", "excerpt": "Tangent. Somehow I went into the site using Chrome, which I use for work, and the site is almost unusable, it's ridden with ads, auto-play videos, banners, pop ups, WTF! what a sad state of affairs, I guess this is what most of the web looks like now, pretty shocking once you come off the protection of stuff like uBlock, which is what I use on FF...", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Modder Makes GTA: Vice City Playable Inside GTA 3 Inside GTA: San Andreas"}, {"id": 788981297, "item_id": 49311331, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49311331", "by": "WickyNilliams", "date": "2026-08-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Using FF on android with a fully fledged uBlock Origin is so good. Makes the web usable.", "excerpt": "It's a damn shame. Using FF on android with a fully fledged uBlock Origin is so good. Makes the web usable. I don't know how people stand browsing with chrome. I recommend FF whenever the topic of ads comes up and hope that word of mouth with eventually do its thing. Most people don't know about it in my experience.", "context": "Android user", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Firefox is now the last major browser that still supports uBlock Origin"}]}, {"text": " especially in Firefox on desktop and Android,", "cites": [{"id": 792489633, "item_id": 49530602, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49530602", "by": "connicpu", "date": "2026-09-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "the usability gain of the mobile web with ublock Origin is insane", "excerpt": "On Android I use Firefox despite the rough edges simply because the usability gain of the mobile web with ublock Origin is insane. Also it's nice sending tabs between desktop and mobile.", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking on mobile", "switched_from": "", "story": "Hang on to Your Firefox"}, {"id": 786314065, "item_id": 49144629, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49144629", "by": "HenryMulligan", "date": "2026-08-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Firefox on Android with uBlock Origin and it blocks ads just fine.", "excerpt": "Huh? I use Firefox on Android with uBlock Origin and it blocks ads just fine. I concur regarding Chrome though and try to avoid it.", "context": "Android user", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "How Google helped destroy adoption of RSS feeds (2023)"}, {"id": 788596865, "item_id": 49287304, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49287304", "by": "leosanchez", "date": "2026-08-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Firefox with ublock origin plugin on desktop as well as android.", "excerpt": "Firefox with ublock origin plugin on desktop as well as android.", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What browser do you use?"}, {"id": 787620096, "item_id": 49226256, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49226256", "by": "JohnTHaller", "date": "2026-08-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use uBlock Origin on my Windows, macOS, and Android versions of Firefox", "excerpt": "I use uBlock Origin on my Windows, macOS, and Android versions of Firefox but I also pay for YT Premium. It means I can use the official YouTube client on my Android devices without ads. I get YouTube Music. The creators I watch get a share of my monthly fee.", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft Edge is about to lock out older ad blockers, just like Chrome did"}]}, {"text": " and for custom filters that hide unwanted page elements.", "cites": [{"id": 796869104, "item_id": 49804319, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49804319", "by": "benjaopazoc", "date": "2026-09-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I have a very long list of uBlock Origin filters [2] to hide certain words and topics on Reddit", "excerpt": "I did the same thing this year, and I agree it's been one of the best decisions I've made. I'm happier, and my mind feels calmer, with less noise. I've started reading a lot, and even writing (I started a blog, and one of my first posts was about exactly this, if you want you can check it out [1]) I've also tried to stay away from the news. I have a very long list of uBlock Origin filters [2] to hide certain words an", "context": "", "use_case": "hiding news topics", "switched_from": "", "story": "Attention is all you have"}, {"id": 792191488, "item_id": 49511968, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49511968", "by": "BuyMyBitcoins", "date": "2026-08-31", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use a custom filter in uBlock Origin to hide the recommended sidebar in YouTube", "excerpt": "Couldn\u2019t have said it better myself. I use a custom filter in uBlock Origin to hide the recommended sidebar in YouTube (all except the video of what\u2019s next). Even so, there will occasionally be a video in search results with a topic that might be interesting from a channel I don\u2019t normally watch. I\u2019ve learned to right click and open the link in a private browsing window so that my search results (and that one remaini", "context": "", "use_case": "hiding YouTube recommendations", "switched_from": "", "story": "My experience has nuance, yours is a data point"}, {"id": 780963696, "item_id": 48810231, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48810231", "by": "Bender", "date": "2026-07-06", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use uBlock Origin to change the color scheme, remove visibility of my karma and filter out some submissions.", "excerpt": "I use uBlock Origin to change the color scheme, remove visibility of my karma and filter out some submissions. I use FoxReplace in Firefox to replace words. I use the Canonical addon if I am submitting a lot of links though I still end up with dupes. I use Force Reader View for some sites that people submit to HN that require javascript to read as it sometimes gets around that requirement and makes some blogs more re", "context": "", "use_case": "customizing HN", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What browser extensions or front ends do you use for reading HN, if any?"}, {"id": 793223184, "item_id": 49576449, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49576449", "by": "pmontra", "date": "2026-09-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I used uBO element picker to select the header and nuke it.", "excerpt": "Same thing in Firefox on Android but I used uBO element picker to select the header and nuke it. There is a link to the home page on the HTML below it and links in the footer. There is little to gain from that sticky header and much to lose.", "context": "Firefox on Android user", "use_case": "removing sticky header", "switched_from": "", "story": "Government Rails Site Hit Hours After CVE Patch"}]}, {"text": " The most common caveat is that the full extension no longer works in Chrome,", "cites": [{"id": 801151488, "item_id": 50071968, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50071968", "by": "PcChip", "date": "2026-10-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "hopefully the IT department pushes out uBlock Origin", "excerpt": "hopefully the IT department pushes out uBlock Origin with whatever browsers they require people use. I used to push it out to several customers with the Chrome GPOs... although I know it doesn't work in Chrome anymore", "context": "IT admin who pushed it to customers via Chrome GPOs", "use_case": "ad blocking via enterprise policy", "switched_from": "", "story": "Firefox Enterprise"}, {"id": 780914609, "item_id": 48807163, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48807163", "by": "dinkleberg", "date": "2026-07-06", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "since ublock origin got removed from Chrome, the experience is far better on firefox.", "excerpt": "That is weird, I've daily driven firefox for the better part of a decade (aside from when my employers have required chrome) and seldom encounter issues. I'm curious where you're hitting these. In fact, since ublock origin got removed from Chrome, the experience is far better on firefox. Also, if everyone chooses to not use firefox because it has low market share, it'll remain low market share forever.", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google Chrome Installed a 4GB AI Model on Your PC"}, {"id": 787572082, "item_id": 49223255, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49223255", "by": "computronus", "date": "2026-08-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I got the warning that UBlock Origin won't work, and I immediately ditched Vivaldi.", "excerpt": "Vivaldi is about to drop support for Manifest V2 as well: https://www.reddit.com/r/vivaldibrowser/comments/1urieed/comment/owi02gg/ I'd been using it solely for GMail / Google Drive / etc. at work, for whatever improved compatibility a Chromium browser might provide over Firefox, which I use for everything else. I got the warning that UBlock Origin won't work, and I immediately ditched Vivaldi. I'm sad about it, I th", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft Edge is about to lock out older ad blockers, just like Chrome did"}]}, {"text": " pushing users to Firefox, Brave or the more limited uBO Lite.", "cites": [{"id": 798144242, "item_id": 49884015, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49884015", "by": "rpdillon", "date": "2026-09-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "continues to support Manifest V2 for UBlock Origin, which is critical for my use case", "excerpt": "Just as a counterpoint, I switched to Brave because Firefox no longer holds the technical or moral high ground. Brave is an open-source browser which makes it different from Chrome and Vivaldi. Brave is a privacy-focused browser. Brave is the only browser that is open source and also lets me pay for it so I can have a clean, uncluttered, fast experience. Brave is the only chromium-based browser that I'm aware of that", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "I switched to Brave"}, {"id": 788968754, "item_id": 49310547, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49310547", "by": "alt227", "date": "2026-08-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Firefox still has Manifest v2 and fully working uBlock.", "excerpt": "I have used Firefox solely for over a decade. Recently I switched to Chrome to see what I was missing. I was horrified at Chromes memory bloat and the fact it puts tabs to sleep. Trying to click through old tabs was an absolute nightmare as it tried to quickly load back each tabs state and memory, and cpu spikes massively causing whole machine slowdowns, blank white pages, and app freezes. People say that Firefox doe", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Firefox is now the last major browser that still supports uBlock Origin"}, {"id": 788897392, "item_id": 49306087, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49306087", "by": "jimrandomh", "date": "2026-08-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Firefox with (non-lite) uBlock Origin", "excerpt": "I use Firefox with (non-lite) uBlock Origin, and occasionally fire up Chrome (with uBO Lite) for testing. The main issue that I run into is that uBO lite filters can't vary per-domain, so in order to rule out an ad-blocking-false-positive on something I'm developing, I have to turn it off for _all_ sites, not just localhost. (Actual false positives are rare, but needing to check is not so rare.)", "context": "web developer", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Firefox is now the last major browser that still supports uBlock Origin"}, {"id": 787629536, "item_id": 49226846, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49226846", "by": "wolvoleo", "date": "2026-08-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I mainly use Firefox anyway so I use the real ublock origin.", "excerpt": "Does it also block the background tracking you don't see with the same effectiveness? Also the amount of configurability is extremely reduced. I personally need that because I use custom lists to reduce websites to just a list of headlines (similar to hacker news). Removing all the highlights, polls, other crap I don't need. I mainly use Firefox anyway so I use the real ublock origin.", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking and custom list filtering", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft Edge is about to lock out older ad blockers, just like Chrome did"}]}], "praise": [{"label": "Ad blocking", "summary": "Commenters say it removes ads so well they rarely see any and find the web unusable without it.", "quotes": [{"id": 786229025, "item_id": 49139314, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49139314", "by": "drnick1", "date": "2026-08-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Firefox with uBlock Origin on Linux, and haven't seen an ad in years.", "excerpt": "> everything about the web is fine tuned to deliver ads to our eyeballs, browsers, operating systems and even protocols are being designed with ad delivery in mind. I use Firefox with uBlock Origin on Linux, and haven't seen an ad in years. It's not like ads weren't a thing 20 years ago. Pop-up windows were particularly bad. Javascript, in particular, has been constantly abused against the user ever since it was crea", "context": "Linux user", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "How Google helped destroy adoption of RSS feeds (2023)"}, {"id": 795011600, "item_id": 49688225, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49688225", "by": "LooseMarmoset", "date": "2026-09-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The Internet is unusable these days without ublock origin or a pihole.", "excerpt": "every time I use the Internet on a computer without some sort of ad blocking, I am astounded to learn that there are still people who use the Internet without an ad blocker. The Internet is unusable these days without ublock origin or a pihole.", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Why is Google still serving dodgy ads?"}, {"id": 792435808, "item_id": 49527238, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49527238", "by": "eikenberry", "date": "2026-09-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "my benchmark for browser ad blocking and ublock-origin is one of the few (only?) that does it.", "excerpt": "It doesn't block the inline ads between story and comments on reddit.. my benchmark for browser ad blocking and ublock-origin is one of the few (only?) that does it. This is why I use the Orion browser on iOS.", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Introducing Ad Blocker for Firefox on iOS"}]}, {"label": "Custom filters", "summary": "Custom filters and the element picker hide popups, sidebars, headers, keywords and unwanted topics.", "quotes": [{"id": 796869104, "item_id": 49804319, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49804319", "by": "benjaopazoc", "date": "2026-09-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I have a very long list of uBlock Origin filters [2] to hide certain words and topics on Reddit", "excerpt": "I did the same thing this year, and I agree it's been one of the best decisions I've made. I'm happier, and my mind feels calmer, with less noise. I've started reading a lot, and even writing (I started a blog, and one of my first posts was about exactly this, if you want you can check it out [1]) I've also tried to stay away from the news. I have a very long list of uBlock Origin filters [2] to hide certain words an", "context": "", "use_case": "hiding news topics", "switched_from": "", "story": "Attention is all you have"}, {"id": 792191488, "item_id": 49511968, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49511968", "by": "BuyMyBitcoins", "date": "2026-08-31", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use a custom filter in uBlock Origin to hide the recommended sidebar in YouTube", "excerpt": "Couldn\u2019t have said it better myself. I use a custom filter in uBlock Origin to hide the recommended sidebar in YouTube (all except the video of what\u2019s next). Even so, there will occasionally be a video in search results with a topic that might be interesting from a channel I don\u2019t normally watch. I\u2019ve learned to right click and open the link in a private browsing window so that my search results (and that one remaini", "context": "", "use_case": "hiding YouTube recommendations", "switched_from": "", "story": "My experience has nuance, yours is a data point"}, {"id": 791117120, "item_id": 49444820, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49444820", "by": "MYEUHD", "date": "2026-08-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "When this happens I use uBlock origin to remove that popup and the grey background behind it.", "excerpt": "> Reddit is the worst for this. I hate the disgusting, low class UX design where they let you read about 10-15 seconds of a page before locking you out. When this happens I use uBlock origin to remove that popup and the grey background behind it. Scrolling and loading more comments remains usable (unlike Facebook)", "context": "", "use_case": "removing Reddit login popups", "switched_from": "", "story": "Nitter and XCancel receive cease and desist notices"}]}, {"label": "Firefox on Android", "summary": "Running it in Firefox on Android is described as a large usability gain for the mobile web.", "quotes": [{"id": 792489633, "item_id": 49530602, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49530602", "by": "connicpu", "date": "2026-09-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "the usability gain of the mobile web with ublock Origin is insane", "excerpt": "On Android I use Firefox despite the rough edges simply because the usability gain of the mobile web with ublock Origin is insane. Also it's nice sending tabs between desktop and mobile.", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking on mobile", "switched_from": "", "story": "Hang on to Your Firefox"}, {"id": 788981297, "item_id": 49311331, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49311331", "by": "WickyNilliams", "date": "2026-08-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Using FF on android with a fully fledged uBlock Origin is so good. Makes the web usable.", "excerpt": "It's a damn shame. Using FF on android with a fully fledged uBlock Origin is so good. Makes the web usable. I don't know how people stand browsing with chrome. I recommend FF whenever the topic of ads comes up and hope that word of mouth with eventually do its thing. Most people don't know about it in my experience.", "context": "Android user", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Firefox is now the last major browser that still supports uBlock Origin"}, {"id": 793147777, "item_id": 49571736, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49571736", "by": "Brybry", "date": "2026-09-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Firefox on Android with ublock origin, it works great.", "excerpt": "Yes, I use Firefox on Android with ublock origin, it works great. But using adblocking DNS on your phone will also block most in-app ads which is a big quality of life improvement. I could also use a VPN to keep my phone always on my home network and thus behind my own ad blocking DNS but Mullvad's adblocking DNS was really nice and convenient.", "context": "Android user", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Shutting down our public encrypted DNS"}]}, {"label": "Browser choice driver", "summary": "Several commenters pick or keep their browser mainly because it supports uBlock Origin.", "quotes": [{"id": 788977952, "item_id": 49311122, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49311122", "by": "dyauspitr", "date": "2026-08-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It\u2019s also the sole reason I use Firefox as my primary browser.", "excerpt": "It\u2019s also the sole reason I use Firefox as my primary browser.", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Firefox is now the last major browser that still supports uBlock Origin"}, {"id": 792494400, "item_id": 49530900, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49530900", "by": "t067633", "date": "2026-09-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love my uBlock Origin.", "excerpt": "I don't love FireFox. I love my uBlock Origin.", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Hang on to Your Firefox"}, {"id": 787572082, "item_id": 49223255, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49223255", "by": "computronus", "date": "2026-08-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I got the warning that UBlock Origin won't work, and I immediately ditched Vivaldi.", "excerpt": "Vivaldi is about to drop support for Manifest V2 as well: https://www.reddit.com/r/vivaldibrowser/comments/1urieed/comment/owi02gg/ I'd been using it solely for GMail / Google Drive / etc. at work, for whatever improved compatibility a Chromium browser might provide over Firefox, which I use for everything else. I got the warning that UBlock Origin won't work, and I immediately ditched Vivaldi. I'm sad about it, I th", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft Edge is about to lock out older ad blockers, just like Chrome did"}]}, {"label": "YouTube experience", "summary": "Paired with SponsorBlock, it is said to transform YouTube by removing ads and distractions.", "quotes": [{"id": 784662081, "item_id": 49041380, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49041380", "by": "bigyabai", "date": "2026-07-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Sponsorblock and uBlock Origin makes YouTube a whole different experience.", "excerpt": "Flip side of it is - I love not seeing advertisements, of any type. Sponsorblock and uBlock Origin makes YouTube a whole different experience. Locally backed-up or on-demand TV shows are so much more bingeable than the ones on DVR. I love watching livestreams and not being pulled aside for a 30 second sponsored interruption. It makes me giddy with excitement paying for software and media that does not have any advert", "context": "", "use_case": "blocking ads", "switched_from": "", "story": "What If We Made Advertising Illegal?"}, {"id": 799744561, "item_id": 49984035, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49984035", "by": "Onavo", "date": "2026-10-06", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Firefox on Android with the UBlock Origin and Sponsorblock extensions is still the gold standard.", "excerpt": "Sigh, that's a lot of words to describe DNS based adblocking. In Android you can either set your DNS server in the system settings or via the VPN API. Sample code here https://github.com/t895/DNSNet/blob/a-couple-updates/service/src/main/kotlin/dev/clombardo/dnsnet/service/vpn/DnsNetVpnService.kt They both do the same thing. There are local device-only resolver apps like https://rethinkdns.com/ https://github.com/m66", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "System-level ad-blocking in Android"}, {"id": 797725489, "item_id": 49857843, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49857843", "by": "TomasEkeli", "date": "2026-09-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Works well for me on Firefox with uBlock origin without any special lists.", "excerpt": "Works well for me on Firefox with uBlock origin without any special lists. Personally I use my own fork of FreeTube on desktops, though, falling back to Firefox with uBlock when there are outages.", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking on YouTube", "switched_from": "", "story": "PipePipe: NewPipe hard fork implementing SponsorBlock"}]}, {"label": "Security and privacy", "summary": "Valued for blocking trackers and malicious ad-network scripts, with an advanced mode for blocking JavaScript.", "quotes": [{"id": 792252145, "item_id": 49515759, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49515759", "by": "joshheitzman", "date": "2026-08-31", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Those are also both excellent for security since the main threat is malicious scripts served up by ad networks.", "excerpt": "I've been using Brave for years and its great. Having JS off by default (i.e. shields) is excellent for security. They provide MV2 versions of AdGuard and uBlock Origin that you can enable directly from the browser settings. Those are also both excellent for security since the main threat is malicious scripts served up by ad networks.", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google Has Removed MV2 Extensions from the Chrome Web Store, Including UBO"}, {"id": 796118177, "item_id": 49757386, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49757386", "by": "hannasanarion", "date": "2026-09-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I trust Mozilla + uBlock to filter the invasive trackers", "excerpt": "Could be! I don't recall turning things like those on, I use firefox for features not privacy, and mostly leave stuff like that at their defaults, which I trust Mozilla + uBlock to filter the invasive trackers while leaving actually useful functionality, but it's possible I fiddled with it years ago and forgot. Some probably kinda strong counterevidence to that though is that this doesn't happen on all sites, only Am", "context": "", "use_case": "blocking trackers", "switched_from": "", "story": "I don't like passkeys"}, {"id": 791840960, "item_id": 49490060, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49490060", "by": "rdmuser", "date": "2026-08-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "First it was noscript them I switched to ublock origins advanced mode.", "excerpt": "Personally the cure for most of that has been to have js off by default. It's certainly a bit clunky especially when you are first growing your list of allowed sites and third party connections but ultimately it kills off so many annoyances and improves performance enough that it has been 100% worth it for me. First it was noscript them I switched to ublock origins advanced mode.", "context": "", "use_case": "blocking JavaScript and third-party connections", "switched_from": "NoScript", "story": "The Website Obesity Crisis (2015)"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "Chrome support", "summary": "The full extension no longer works in Chrome, and Vivaldi is also dropping Manifest V2 support.", "quotes": [{"id": 801151488, "item_id": 50071968, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50071968", "by": "PcChip", "date": "2026-10-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "hopefully the IT department pushes out uBlock Origin", "excerpt": "hopefully the IT department pushes out uBlock Origin with whatever browsers they require people use. I used to push it out to several customers with the Chrome GPOs... although I know it doesn't work in Chrome anymore", "context": "IT admin who pushed it to customers via Chrome GPOs", "use_case": "ad blocking via enterprise policy", "switched_from": "", "story": "Firefox Enterprise"}, {"id": 780914609, "item_id": 48807163, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48807163", "by": "dinkleberg", "date": "2026-07-06", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "since ublock origin got removed from Chrome, the experience is far better on firefox.", "excerpt": "That is weird, I've daily driven firefox for the better part of a decade (aside from when my employers have required chrome) and seldom encounter issues. I'm curious where you're hitting these. In fact, since ublock origin got removed from Chrome, the experience is far better on firefox. Also, if everyone chooses to not use firefox because it has low market share, it'll remain low market share forever.", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google Chrome Installed a 4GB AI Model on Your PC"}, {"id": 787572082, "item_id": 49223255, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49223255", "by": "computronus", "date": "2026-08-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I got the warning that UBlock Origin won't work, and I immediately ditched Vivaldi.", "excerpt": "Vivaldi is about to drop support for Manifest V2 as well: https://www.reddit.com/r/vivaldibrowser/comments/1urieed/comment/owi02gg/ I'd been using it solely for GMail / Google Drive / etc. at work, for whatever improved compatibility a Chromium browser might provide over Firefox, which I use for everything else. I got the warning that UBlock Origin won't work, and I immediately ditched Vivaldi. I'm sad about it, I th", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft Edge is about to lock out older ad blockers, just like Chrome did"}]}, {"label": "uBO Lite limits", "summary": "The Lite version has reduced configurability and cannot vary filters per domain.", "quotes": [{"id": 788897392, "item_id": 49306087, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49306087", "by": "jimrandomh", "date": "2026-08-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Firefox with (non-lite) uBlock Origin", "excerpt": "I use Firefox with (non-lite) uBlock Origin, and occasionally fire up Chrome (with uBO Lite) for testing. The main issue that I run into is that uBO lite filters can't vary per-domain, so in order to rule out an ad-blocking-false-positive on something I'm developing, I have to turn it off for _all_ sites, not just localhost. (Actual false positives are rare, but needing to check is not so rare.)", "context": "web developer", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Firefox is now the last major browser that still supports uBlock Origin"}, {"id": 787629536, "item_id": 49226846, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49226846", "by": "wolvoleo", "date": "2026-08-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I mainly use Firefox anyway so I use the real ublock origin.", "excerpt": "Does it also block the background tracking you don't see with the same effectiveness? Also the amount of configurability is extremely reduced. I personally need that because I use custom lists to reduce websites to just a list of headlines (similar to hacker news). Removing all the highlights, polls, other crap I don't need. I mainly use Firefox anyway so I use the real ublock origin.", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking and custom list filtering", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft Edge is about to lock out older ad blockers, just like Chrome did"}]}, {"label": "iOS availability", "summary": "Firefox on iOS lacks extensions, so iPhone users rely on uBO Lite in Safari or other browsers.", "quotes": [{"id": 789527553, "item_id": 49345472, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49345472", "by": "jbec_x", "date": "2026-08-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use firefox-based browsers with uBlock Origin installed.", "excerpt": "I was really hoping to see something like this. On both my android mobile and my linux machine I use firefox-based browsers with uBlock Origin installed. When I got an iPad for Work, I was disappointed that extensions where not supported on the iOS version of Firefox. Now, I can finally watch pirated content without the suspicious ads popping up all the time. (^-^)", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Firefox for iOS now has a native adblocker"}, {"id": 801371937, "item_id": 50085746, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50085746", "by": "ornornor", "date": "2026-10-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Now on desktop, use Firefox and uBlock origin.", "excerpt": "AFAIK on iOS all browsers are safari anyway. Apple doesn\u2019t allow you to use anything but safari\u2019s engine (WebKit) for browsers so chrome, Firefox, etc all run WebKit on that platform. Might as well use safari as it\u2019s better integrated. And it supports uBlock origin (lite). With that and NextDNS, I have no ads anywhere. For the YouTube app, I use proton\u2019s Albania vpn and no ads there either. Now on desktop, use Firefo", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple: Switch to Safari (From Chrome)"}, {"id": 784238147, "item_id": 49014884, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49014884", "by": "jjice", "date": "2026-07-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I also prefer the custom element removal or uBlock and can reuse my desktop filters.", "excerpt": "I use AdGuard, Wipr, and uBlock Origin Lite on my iPhone, and uBlock Origin on desktop. I swear there are little gaps in each that the others get, but they're very minor. When uBlock Origin Lote recently released on iOS (within the last year), I noticed a few more things blocked. I also prefer the custom element removal or uBlock and can reuse my desktop filters. It's free, so I'd recommend adding it as an addition t", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking on desktop", "switched_from": "", "story": "Safari Technology Preview 248 Released"}]}, {"label": "Setup effort", "summary": "Blocking JavaScript by default in advanced mode is clunky while building allow lists.", "quotes": [{"id": 791840960, "item_id": 49490060, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49490060", "by": "rdmuser", "date": "2026-08-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "First it was noscript them I switched to ublock origins advanced mode.", "excerpt": "Personally the cure for most of that has been to have js off by default. It's certainly a bit clunky especially when you are first growing your list of allowed sites and third party connections but ultimately it kills off so many annoyances and improves performance enough that it has been 100% worth it for me. First it was noscript them I switched to ublock origins advanced mode.", "context": "", "use_case": "blocking JavaScript and third-party connections", "switched_from": "NoScript", "story": "The Website Obesity Crisis (2015)"}]}, {"label": "Android scrolling", "summary": "One commenter saw scroll lag in Firefox on Android with only uBO installed, but did not confirm it as the cause.", "quotes": [{"id": 792245889, "item_id": 49515368, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49515368", "by": "unethical_ban", "date": "2026-08-31", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I like UBO", "excerpt": "I use firefox on all devices, but there are two notches against it in my book: Firefox on Android lags during scrolling on multiple sites that do not lag on Chrome. The only extension I have is UBO, and I don't know if that is the cause of it or not - I haven't tested thoroughly. One way or another there is a performance issue there by default. Second, GrapheneOS has this to say about Firefox on mobile: >Worst of all", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google Has Removed MV2 Extensions from the Chrome Web Store, Including UBO"}]}], "who": [{"by": "PcChip", "context": "IT admin who pushed it to customers via Chrome GPOs", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50071968", "date": "2026-10-13"}, {"by": "brokenmachine", "context": "Android user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49826456", "date": "2026-09-24"}, {"by": "pmontra", "context": "Firefox on Android user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49576449", "date": "2026-09-05"}, {"by": "Brybry", "context": "Android user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49571736", "date": "2026-09-05"}, {"by": "runjake", "context": "has an X account", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49454829", "date": "2026-08-26"}, {"by": "WickyNilliams", "context": "Android user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49311331", "date": "2026-08-15"}, {"by": "thrusong", "context": "web developer", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49307303", "date": "2026-08-14"}, {"by": "jimrandomh", "context": "web developer", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49306087", "date": "2026-08-14"}, {"by": "AstralSerenity", "context": "Android user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49305444", "date": "2026-08-14"}, {"by": "HenryMulligan", "context": "Android user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49144629", "date": "2026-08-02"}, {"by": "drnick1", "context": "Linux user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49139314", "date": "2026-08-01"}, {"by": "jerhewet", "context": "has presbyopia", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48496136", "date": "2026-06-11"}], "tags": ["for Firefox users", "for Android users", "for Brave users", "for Linux users", "for decluttering sites"], "use_cases": ["ad blocking", "content blocking", "blocking ads", "blocking trackers", "blocking youtube shorts", "ad blocking via enterprise policy"], "compared": [{"slug": "firefox", "name": "Firefox", "co": 74, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "chrome", "name": "Chrome", "co": 25, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "ublock-origin-lite", "name": "uBlock Origin Lite", "co": 17, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 2}, {"slug": "brave", "name": "Brave", "co": 13, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "sponsorblock", "name": "SponsorBlock", "co": 7, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "umatrix", "name": "uMatrix", "co": 4, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "librewolf", "name": "LibreWolf", "co": 6, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "noscript", "name": "NoScript", "co": 4, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49303202", "title": "Firefox is now the last major browser that still supports uBlock Origin", "mentions": 8}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49527748", "title": "Hang on to Your Firefox", "mentions": 6}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48471970", "title": "Google Chrome is killing all uBlock Origin bypasses, Edge, Opera to follow", "mentions": 6}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49514878", "title": "Google Has Removed MV2 Extensions from the Chrome Web Store, Including UBO", "mentions": 5}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49878759", "title": "I switched to Brave", "mentions": 4}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46185816", "title": "How I block all online ads", "mentions": 4}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"recommend": 7, "neutral": 3}, "2025-12": {"recommend": 7, "neutral": 3}, "2026-01": {"recommend": 5, "neutral": 1}, "2026-02": {"recommend": 7, "neutral": 1}, "2026-03": {"recommend": 4, "neutral": 2}, "2026-04": {"recommend": 6, "neutral": 1}, "2026-05": {"recommend": 4, "neutral": 3}, "2026-06": {"recommend": 17, "neutral": 5, "compare": 1}, "2026-07": {"recommend": 10, "neutral": 4}, "2026-08": {"neutral": 7, "recommend": 26, "compare": 1}, "2026-09": {"neutral": 6, "recommend": 18}, "2026-10": {"recommend": 4, "neutral": 1}}, "quotes": [{"id": 802569538, "item_id": 50160596, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50160596", "by": "y-c-o-m-b", "date": "2026-10-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "a good browser that can allow usage of uBlock Origin", "excerpt": "Oh wow, TIL about Wholphin. I'll have to give that a try. I wonder if this will finally resolve the issue with me having to login to JellyFin every few days for no apparent reason (it's not the server, I switched from Win to Linux and same problem). EDIT: all that remains for this stack is a good browser that can allow usage of uBlock Origin. BrowseHere is a pain to use with its constant nags about allowing pop-ups o", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "An ad-free Android TV"}, {"id": 801371937, "item_id": 50085746, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50085746", "by": "ornornor", "date": "2026-10-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Now on desktop, use Firefox and uBlock origin.", "excerpt": "AFAIK on iOS all browsers are safari anyway. Apple doesn\u2019t allow you to use anything but safari\u2019s engine (WebKit) for browsers so chrome, Firefox, etc all run WebKit on that platform. Might as well use safari as it\u2019s better integrated. And it supports uBlock origin (lite). With that and NextDNS, I have no ads anywhere. For the YouTube app, I use proton\u2019s Albania vpn and no ads there either. Now on desktop, use Firefo", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple: Switch to Safari (From Chrome)"}, {"id": 801151488, "item_id": 50071968, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50071968", "by": "PcChip", "date": "2026-10-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "hopefully the IT department pushes out uBlock Origin", "excerpt": "hopefully the IT department pushes out uBlock Origin with whatever browsers they require people use. I used to push it out to several customers with the Chrome GPOs... although I know it doesn't work in Chrome anymore", "context": "IT admin who pushed it to customers via Chrome GPOs", "use_case": "ad blocking via enterprise policy", "switched_from": "", "story": "Firefox Enterprise"}, {"id": 799847424, "item_id": 49990464, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49990464", "by": "2b3a51", "date": "2026-10-07", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I have disabled Ublock Origin for the site.", "excerpt": "T.I.L. about photopea, and I have disabled Ublock Origin for the site. I see a static 'slide show' column of non-video adverts on the right hand side of the screen - about 10% of screen width. Best of luck with the copyright complaint.", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Tell HN: GitHub refuses to remove cracked copies of my software after a month"}, {"id": 799744561, "item_id": 49984035, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49984035", "by": "Onavo", "date": "2026-10-06", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Firefox on Android with the UBlock Origin and Sponsorblock extensions is still the gold standard.", "excerpt": "Sigh, that's a lot of words to describe DNS based adblocking. In Android you can either set your DNS server in the system settings or via the VPN API. Sample code here https://github.com/t895/DNSNet/blob/a-couple-updates/service/src/main/kotlin/dev/clombardo/dnsnet/service/vpn/DnsNetVpnService.kt They both do the same thing. There are local device-only resolver apps like https://rethinkdns.com/ https://github.com/m66", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "System-level ad-blocking in Android"}, {"id": 798144242, "item_id": 49884015, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49884015", "by": "rpdillon", "date": "2026-09-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "continues to support Manifest V2 for UBlock Origin, which is critical for my use case", "excerpt": "Just as a counterpoint, I switched to Brave because Firefox no longer holds the technical or moral high ground. Brave is an open-source browser which makes it different from Chrome and Vivaldi. Brave is a privacy-focused browser. Brave is the only browser that is open source and also lets me pay for it so I can have a clean, uncluttered, fast experience. Brave is the only chromium-based browser that I'm aware of that", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "I switched to Brave"}, {"id": 798105761, "item_id": 49881610, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49881610", "by": "drnick1", "date": "2026-09-28", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "very restrictive DNS blacklist and uBlock Origin", "excerpt": "> A few of my most visited websites have issues on FF I use FF with FingerprintResist on, and many things such as WebGL outright disabled, on top of very restrictive DNS blacklist and uBlock Origin, and even despite all of that I find Firefox very usable. I can make online payments and book flights and other such things normally. I rarely, if ever, have to use a clean, stock Firefox profile or fall back to Chromium. ", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "I switched to Brave"}, {"id": 798085857, "item_id": 49880366, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49880366", "by": "behnamoh", "date": "2026-09-28", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "there are some that don't get blocked by uBlock, but then Brave catches them", "excerpt": "I've been enjoying Brave for a long time, and recently I have been using their AI sidebar connected to my own local server, which is so pleasant to use. I can ask questions about a web page or other things. I also like that using Brave has reduced my dependence on ad blockers because Brave itself is really good at blocking ads. In fact, there are some that don't get blocked by uBlock, but then Brave catches them. Not", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "I switched to Brave"}, {"id": 798073428, "item_id": 49879589, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49879589", "by": "atraac", "date": "2026-09-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I can have uBlock Origin on it and vertical tabs.", "excerpt": "Also been using Brave for a while. All the crypto stuff needs to be turned off but besides that for me, it's just better Chrome. Firefox always felt slower to me, Safari is just a weird kid from the neighborhood I could never get to like. I LOVED Arc. I think its a near perfect browser, but lack of proper mobile browser and Browser Company dropping Arc in favor of the new rebranded Arc with AI just left me with distr", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "I switched to Brave"}, {"id": 797725489, "item_id": 49857843, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49857843", "by": "TomasEkeli", "date": "2026-09-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Works well for me on Firefox with uBlock origin without any special lists.", "excerpt": "Works well for me on Firefox with uBlock origin without any special lists. Personally I use my own fork of FreeTube on desktops, though, falling back to Firefox with uBlock when there are outages.", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking on YouTube", "switched_from": "", "story": "PipePipe: NewPipe hard fork implementing SponsorBlock"}, {"id": 797223304, "item_id": 49826456, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49826456", "by": "brokenmachine", "date": "2026-09-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Firefox with uBlock Origin add-on and Revanced Apps. Because ads are cancer.", "excerpt": "I use termux to ssh and RealVNC to connect to a remote vnc session, all over a wireguard VPN. Also Syncthing to automatically sync files between the phone and my home server. I download podcasts and audiobooks into a folder on the server and they're automatically on my phone ready to play. Immich to connect to my self-hosted media. And ntfy to get notifications from my home stuff. Tasker to automatically activate my ", "context": "Android user", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple iPhone 18 Pro Camera test"}, {"id": 796955426, "item_id": 49809714, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49809714", "by": "Baljhin", "date": "2026-09-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "via content-blockers like uBlock Origin[2]", "excerpt": "Want to block these and other AI trash sites? Both from websearches - via uBlacklist[1], and references within other sites - via content-blockers like uBlock Origin[2]? Use this filterlist! -- https://github.com/alvi-se/ai-ublock-blacklist (And others e.g. https://github.com/alvi-se/ai-ublock-blacklist#similar-projects) [1] https://ublacklist.github.io/docs/introduction [2] https://wikipedia.org/wiki/UBlock_Origin", "context": "", "use_case": "blocking sites", "switched_from": "", "story": "How Three Brothers Built an AI Slop Empire"}, {"id": 796869104, "item_id": 49804319, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49804319", "by": "benjaopazoc", "date": "2026-09-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I have a very long list of uBlock Origin filters [2] to hide certain words and topics on Reddit", "excerpt": "I did the same thing this year, and I agree it's been one of the best decisions I've made. I'm happier, and my mind feels calmer, with less noise. I've started reading a lot, and even writing (I started a blog, and one of my first posts was about exactly this, if you want you can check it out [1]) I've also tried to stay away from the news. I have a very long list of uBlock Origin filters [2] to hide certain words an", "context": "", "use_case": "hiding news topics", "switched_from": "", "story": "Attention is all you have"}, {"id": 796118177, "item_id": 49757386, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49757386", "by": "hannasanarion", "date": "2026-09-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I trust Mozilla + uBlock to filter the invasive trackers", "excerpt": "Could be! I don't recall turning things like those on, I use firefox for features not privacy, and mostly leave stuff like that at their defaults, which I trust Mozilla + uBlock to filter the invasive trackers while leaving actually useful functionality, but it's possible I fiddled with it years ago and forgot. Some probably kinda strong counterevidence to that though is that this doesn't happen on all sites, only Am", "context": "", "use_case": "blocking trackers", "switched_from": "", "story": "I don't like passkeys"}, {"id": 795011600, "item_id": 49688225, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49688225", "by": "LooseMarmoset", "date": "2026-09-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The Internet is unusable these days without ublock origin or a pihole.", "excerpt": "every time I use the Internet on a computer without some sort of ad blocking, I am astounded to learn that there are still people who use the Internet without an ad blocker. The Internet is unusable these days without ublock origin or a pihole.", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Why is Google still serving dodgy ads?"}, {"id": 794673937, "item_id": 49667121, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49667121", "by": "xp84", "date": "2026-09-12", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I run UBlock Origin myself.", "excerpt": "Serious question: Do you watch a lot of YouTube? Why not just cough up the $16 for YouTube Premium? Creators actually do get paid more for Premium users' views than they do from adsense. You get to see none of these ads that piss you off. Look, I run UBlock Origin myself. But that's because there's zero other way to look at any Web content without going insane with videos and other garbage popping all over the place,", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "I spent $220 on Google app ads and 60% of the installs were robots"}, {"id": 794304130, "item_id": 49644008, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49644008", "by": "beej71", "date": "2026-09-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Definitely use uBO.", "excerpt": "I still find the old Internet in a few ways. Mastodon, Signal group chats, quiet local (geographically) or private Discord servers, RSS, email, XMPP or IRC if I feel like it. Definitely use uBO. I sometimes even surf Neocities. Stay away from \"algorithmic\" social media and all 24-hour news\u2014if something important happens, it'll show up on the HN RSS feed. If you want to stay politically active and informed, subscribe ", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "I think I hate the internet"}, {"id": 794127537, "item_id": 49632971, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49632971", "by": "emacdona", "date": "2026-09-09", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Firefox + uBlock, sponsor block", "excerpt": "I used to be one of those people that would countdown the hours to Apple's launch events and tune in for the live stream. I was never someone who updated my iPhone every year, but I _did_ update my iPhone every two years. Now, I can't even remember what version iPhone I have. I just remember that I bought it after my last one stopped working (after maybe 5 or 6 years of having it). I won't lie: part of the reason is ", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "iPhone Duo"}, {"id": 793825296, "item_id": 49614081, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49614081", "by": "thesuitonym", "date": "2026-09-08", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "somehow got around my pihole and ublock origin", "excerpt": "I used to feel that way, but I've come back around to finding it easier to read the news in the actual paper. For once, I'm not going to get distracted by a text or email notification. But more importantly, there's no cookie notification to dismiss, there's no autoplay video ad that somehow got around my pihole and ublock origin, there's no subscription nag flyout, and I don't have to log in every time despite clicki", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Making Teenagers Read Newspapers. A Nationwide Experiment in French High Schools"}, {"id": 793711888, "item_id": 49606993, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49606993", "by": "sersi", "date": "2026-09-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "luckily there's ublock origin", "excerpt": "Personally I liked it 10 years ago when I searched for something and Google actually delivered useful results that were related to what I was searching. Nowadays, when I search for anything, I mostly get blogspam, ai slop and useless articles or in the very best scenario, good content on a page infested with ads (luckily there's ublock origin). So yeah, when my goal is to search for content that would be in a wiki, I", "context": "", "use_case": "blocking ads", "switched_from": "", "story": "There's a new \"Google Jail\" for independent wikis"}, {"id": 793223184, "item_id": 49576449, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49576449", "by": "pmontra", "date": "2026-09-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I used uBO element picker to select the header and nuke it.", "excerpt": "Same thing in Firefox on Android but I used uBO element picker to select the header and nuke it. There is a link to the home page on the HTML below it and links in the footer. There is little to gain from that sticky header and much to lose.", "context": "Firefox on Android user", "use_case": "removing sticky header", "switched_from": "", "story": "Government Rails Site Hit Hours After CVE Patch"}, {"id": 793147777, "item_id": 49571736, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49571736", "by": "Brybry", "date": "2026-09-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Firefox on Android with ublock origin, it works great.", "excerpt": "Yes, I use Firefox on Android with ublock origin, it works great. But using adblocking DNS on your phone will also block most in-app ads which is a big quality of life improvement. I could also use a VPN to keep my phone always on my home network and thus behind my own ad blocking DNS but Mullvad's adblocking DNS was really nice and convenient.", "context": "Android user", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Shutting down our public encrypted DNS"}, {"id": 792651792, "item_id": 49540737, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49540737", "by": "1vuio0pswjnm7", "date": "2026-09-02", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "This includes UBO in Firefox.  The question is not if but when", "excerpt": "The problem is not any particular \"modern\" web browser It is the so-called \"modern\" web browser itself For certain users who care about certain things, the concept is fatally flawed The problem of the so-called \"modern\" web browser concept is that every computing task ends up \"inside the browser\" and thus outside the user's control \"Ad blocking\" is no exception Many so-called \"modern\" browsers now contain their own \"", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Hang on to Your Firefox"}, {"id": 792572659, "item_id": 49535791, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49535791", "by": "kiliancs", "date": "2026-09-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "my other old friends like uBlock Origin", "excerpt": "I left Firefox for the first time since... well, I _think_ I used it before it was Firefox. This self-imposed exile only lasted a couple months. I left looking for low-friction answers to my need to organize tabs and content. I didn't love giving up control to some central organization to process my data, but I had promised myself I'd write one or two extensions to answer my needs \"next week\" for years. After doing s", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Hang on to Your Firefox"}, {"id": 792498353, "item_id": 49531147, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49531147", "by": "pmontra", "date": "2026-09-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I intentionally break every single site by using privacy add-ons like uBO, uMatrix, PrivacyBadger etc", "excerpt": "Firefox performances have been good for so many years that I can't remember when it was the last time that I felt it to be slow. I only remember that Chrome used to be faster than FF (mainly the JS engine) and then it wasn't. Maybe it loses every single benchmark, I didn't check, but it is fast enough to be my primary browser, the one I use when I work as web developer and also when I'm not working. I run FF on a 201", "context": "", "use_case": "privacy blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Hang on to Your Firefox"}, {"id": 792494400, "item_id": 49530900, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49530900", "by": "t067633", "date": "2026-09-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love my uBlock Origin.", "excerpt": "I don't love FireFox. I love my uBlock Origin.", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Hang on to Your Firefox"}, {"id": 792493409, "item_id": 49530838, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49530838", "by": "stephen_g", "date": "2026-09-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "especially being able to use uBlock Origin", "excerpt": "I use Firefox and I like it (especially being able to use uBlock Origin), but I really dislike what Mozilla has become over the last ten years or so. I think that's the key distinction, I can mostly manage Mozilla's crap by turning off a bunch of stuff in my Firefox settings, but I think it's really important for the web to not use a Chromium based browser.", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Hang on to Your Firefox"}, {"id": 792489633, "item_id": 49530602, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49530602", "by": "connicpu", "date": "2026-09-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "the usability gain of the mobile web with ublock Origin is insane", "excerpt": "On Android I use Firefox despite the rough edges simply because the usability gain of the mobile web with ublock Origin is insane. Also it's nice sending tabs between desktop and mobile.", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking on mobile", "switched_from": "", "story": "Hang on to Your Firefox"}, {"id": 792435808, "item_id": 49527238, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49527238", "by": "eikenberry", "date": "2026-09-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "my benchmark for browser ad blocking and ublock-origin is one of the few (only?) that does it.", "excerpt": "It doesn't block the inline ads between story and comments on reddit.. my benchmark for browser ad blocking and ublock-origin is one of the few (only?) that does it. This is why I use the Orion browser on iOS.", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Introducing Ad Blocker for Firefox on iOS"}, {"id": 792308049, "item_id": 49519253, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49519253", "by": "Markoff", "date": "2026-09-01", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "he is using Firefox with uBO as his default browser on desktop", "excerpt": "This summer when visiting father I noticed he is using Firefox with uBO as his default browser on desktop, it made much easier to switch from Chrome to Firefox also on his phone since there was not Google sync across browsers argument present, but I can imagine this can make switching for people invested too much into Google account troublesome, since 3rd party Chromium browsers don't support Google Sync, neither doe", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google Has Removed MV2 Extensions from the Chrome Web Store, Including UBO"}, {"id": 792252145, "item_id": 49515759, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49515759", "by": "joshheitzman", "date": "2026-08-31", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Those are also both excellent for security since the main threat is malicious scripts served up by ad networks.", "excerpt": "I've been using Brave for years and its great. Having JS off by default (i.e. shields) is excellent for security. They provide MV2 versions of AdGuard and uBlock Origin that you can enable directly from the browser settings. Those are also both excellent for security since the main threat is malicious scripts served up by ad networks.", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google Has Removed MV2 Extensions from the Chrome Web Store, Including UBO"}, {"id": 792245889, "item_id": 49515368, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49515368", "by": "unethical_ban", "date": "2026-08-31", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I like UBO", "excerpt": "I use firefox on all devices, but there are two notches against it in my book: Firefox on Android lags during scrolling on multiple sites that do not lag on Chrome. The only extension I have is UBO, and I don't know if that is the cause of it or not - I haven't tested thoroughly. One way or another there is a performance issue there by default. Second, GrapheneOS has this to say about Firefox on mobile: >Worst of all", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google Has Removed MV2 Extensions from the Chrome Web Store, Including UBO"}, {"id": 792245265, "item_id": 49515329, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49515329", "by": "cisc", "date": "2026-08-31", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "uBlock Origin always worked best in Firefox anyway", "excerpt": "The solution is to use Firefox. uBlock Origin always worked best in Firefox anyway: https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/uBlock-Origin-works-best-on-Firefox", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google Has Removed MV2 Extensions from the Chrome Web Store, Including UBO"}, {"id": 792244513, "item_id": 49515282, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49515282", "by": "slfnflctd", "date": "2026-08-31", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I recently switched to Zen with Ublock Origin", "excerpt": "I recently switched to Zen with Ublock Origin and it does seem like some sites are slower than before. It's got me suspicious that site owners are increasingly throttling users with adblockers. YouTube absolutely does. Zen is my favorite browser experience by far, and I've been using the web since Netscape in 1994. But the slowdowns do put a damper on things. Also some of the streaming platforms don't seem to play ni", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google Has Removed MV2 Extensions from the Chrome Web Store, Including UBO"}, {"id": 792191488, "item_id": 49511968, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49511968", "by": "BuyMyBitcoins", "date": "2026-08-31", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use a custom filter in uBlock Origin to hide the recommended sidebar in YouTube", "excerpt": "Couldn\u2019t have said it better myself. I use a custom filter in uBlock Origin to hide the recommended sidebar in YouTube (all except the video of what\u2019s next). Even so, there will occasionally be a video in search results with a topic that might be interesting from a channel I don\u2019t normally watch. I\u2019ve learned to right click and open the link in a private browsing window so that my search results (and that one remaini", "context": "", "use_case": "hiding YouTube recommendations", "switched_from": "", "story": "My experience has nuance, yours is a data point"}, {"id": 792136033, "item_id": 49508502, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49508502", "by": "roosterIllusi0n", "date": "2026-08-31", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Tell people to use firefox with ublock origin and privacy badger.", "excerpt": "Google has done this before. They want to know what you click. There were extensions to undo it in the past. Then they seemingly switched to javascript and stopped the link jacking for a bit. Today, you shouldn't be using google for search. It is one of the worst options. So this new link jacking really doesn't matter. Tell people to use firefox with ublock origin and privacy badger. I am sure there are even better c", "context": "", "use_case": "blocking junk", "switched_from": "", "story": "In less than a year, Google made scraping 10\u00d7 harder"}, {"id": 791840960, "item_id": 49490060, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49490060", "by": "rdmuser", "date": "2026-08-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "First it was noscript them I switched to ublock origins advanced mode.", "excerpt": "Personally the cure for most of that has been to have js off by default. It's certainly a bit clunky especially when you are first growing your list of allowed sites and third party connections but ultimately it kills off so many annoyances and improves performance enough that it has been 100% worth it for me. First it was noscript them I switched to ublock origins advanced mode.", "context": "", "use_case": "blocking JavaScript and third-party connections", "switched_from": "NoScript", "story": "The Website Obesity Crisis (2015)"}, {"id": 791687857, "item_id": 49480491, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49480491", "by": "eru", "date": "2026-08-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "it works for me reasonably well in Firefox on Android with ublock origin.", "excerpt": "I used to have some trouble with linkedin, but currently it works for me reasonably well in Firefox on Android with ublock origin.", "context": "", "use_case": "fixing LinkedIn on mobile", "switched_from": "", "story": "\u201cIt works better in the app\u201d"}, {"id": 791669601, "item_id": 49479350, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49479350", "by": "wolvoleo", "date": "2026-08-28", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I wish ublock origin did this too", "excerpt": "Tbh I'm all in favour of ad fraud because it undermines the whole industry which I'd love to see disappear. I love running ad nauseam which instead of hiding ads clicks them all in an invisible browser, making advertisers pay for ads I didn't even see. And devaluing the entire concept. I wish ublock origin did this too, it's so common that it would totally screw up entire ecosystems. The number of people running ad n", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Advertisers Could Soon Demand 'Verified Clicks'"}, {"id": 791277264, "item_id": 49454829, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49454829", "by": "runjake", "date": "2026-08-26", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "a web browser with uBlock Origin and visiting x.com", "excerpt": "I have an X account, so a web browser with uBlock Origin and visiting x.com. You can probably still self-host a Nitter instance, at the risk of a C&D? https://github.com/sekai-soft/guide-nitter-self-hosting", "context": "has an X account", "use_case": "accessing x.com", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What are you using to access x.com at the moment?"}, {"id": 788981297, "item_id": 49311331, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49311331", "by": "WickyNilliams", "date": "2026-08-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Using FF on android with a fully fledged uBlock Origin is so good. Makes the web usable.", "excerpt": "It's a damn shame. Using FF on android with a fully fledged uBlock Origin is so good. Makes the web usable. I don't know how people stand browsing with chrome. I recommend FF whenever the topic of ads comes up and hope that word of mouth with eventually do its thing. Most people don't know about it in my experience.", "context": "Android user", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Firefox is now the last major browser that still supports uBlock Origin"}, {"id": 788968754, "item_id": 49310547, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49310547", "by": "alt227", "date": "2026-08-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Firefox still has Manifest v2 and fully working uBlock.", "excerpt": "I have used Firefox solely for over a decade. Recently I switched to Chrome to see what I was missing. I was horrified at Chromes memory bloat and the fact it puts tabs to sleep. Trying to click through old tabs was an absolute nightmare as it tried to quickly load back each tabs state and memory, and cpu spikes massively causing whole machine slowdowns, blank white pages, and app freezes. People say that Firefox doe", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Firefox is now the last major browser that still supports uBlock Origin"}, {"id": 788897392, "item_id": 49306087, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49306087", "by": "jimrandomh", "date": "2026-08-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Firefox with (non-lite) uBlock Origin", "excerpt": "I use Firefox with (non-lite) uBlock Origin, and occasionally fire up Chrome (with uBO Lite) for testing. The main issue that I run into is that uBO lite filters can't vary per-domain, so in order to rule out an ad-blocking-false-positive on something I'm developing, I have to turn it off for _all_ sites, not just localhost. (Actual false positives are rare, but needing to check is not so rare.)", "context": "web developer", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Firefox is now the last major browser that still supports uBlock Origin"}, {"id": 788596865, "item_id": 49287304, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49287304", "by": "leosanchez", "date": "2026-08-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Firefox with ublock origin plugin on desktop as well as android.", "excerpt": "Firefox with ublock origin plugin on desktop as well as android.", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What browser do you use?"}, {"id": 787629536, "item_id": 49226846, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49226846", "by": "wolvoleo", "date": "2026-08-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I mainly use Firefox anyway so I use the real ublock origin.", "excerpt": "Does it also block the background tracking you don't see with the same effectiveness? Also the amount of configurability is extremely reduced. I personally need that because I use custom lists to reduce websites to just a list of headlines (similar to hacker news). Removing all the highlights, polls, other crap I don't need. I mainly use Firefox anyway so I use the real ublock origin.", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking and custom list filtering", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft Edge is about to lock out older ad blockers, just like Chrome did"}, {"id": 787620096, "item_id": 49226256, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49226256", "by": "JohnTHaller", "date": "2026-08-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use uBlock Origin on my Windows, macOS, and Android versions of Firefox", "excerpt": "I use uBlock Origin on my Windows, macOS, and Android versions of Firefox but I also pay for YT Premium. It means I can use the official YouTube client on my Android devices without ads. I get YouTube Music. The creators I watch get a share of my monthly fee.", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft Edge is about to lock out older ad blockers, just like Chrome did"}, {"id": 787572082, "item_id": 49223255, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49223255", "by": "computronus", "date": "2026-08-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I got the warning that UBlock Origin won't work, and I immediately ditched Vivaldi.", "excerpt": "Vivaldi is about to drop support for Manifest V2 as well: https://www.reddit.com/r/vivaldibrowser/comments/1urieed/comment/owi02gg/ I'd been using it solely for GMail / Google Drive / etc. at work, for whatever improved compatibility a Chromium browser might provide over Firefox, which I use for everything else. I got the warning that UBlock Origin won't work, and I immediately ditched Vivaldi. I'm sad about it, I th", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft Edge is about to lock out older ad blockers, just like Chrome did"}, {"id": 786314065, "item_id": 49144629, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49144629", "by": "HenryMulligan", "date": "2026-08-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Firefox on Android with uBlock Origin and it blocks ads just fine.", "excerpt": "Huh? I use Firefox on Android with uBlock Origin and it blocks ads just fine. I concur regarding Chrome though and try to avoid it.", "context": "Android user", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "How Google helped destroy adoption of RSS feeds (2023)"}, {"id": 786229025, "item_id": 49139314, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49139314", "by": "drnick1", "date": "2026-08-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Firefox with uBlock Origin on Linux, and haven't seen an ad in years.", "excerpt": "> everything about the web is fine tuned to deliver ads to our eyeballs, browsers, operating systems and even protocols are being designed with ad delivery in mind. I use Firefox with uBlock Origin on Linux, and haven't seen an ad in years. It's not like ads weren't a thing 20 years ago. Pop-up windows were particularly bad. Javascript, in particular, has been constantly abused against the user ever since it was crea", "context": "Linux user", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "How Google helped destroy adoption of RSS feeds (2023)"}, {"id": 783671456, "item_id": 48979466, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48979466", "by": "pelagicAustral", "date": "2026-07-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "pretty shocking once you come off the protection of stuff like uBlock, which is what I use on FF", "excerpt": "Tangent. Somehow I went into the site using Chrome, which I use for work, and the site is almost unusable, it's ridden with ads, auto-play videos, banners, pop ups, WTF! what a sad state of affairs, I guess this is what most of the web looks like now, pretty shocking once you come off the protection of stuff like uBlock, which is what I use on FF...", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Modder Makes GTA: Vice City Playable Inside GTA 3 Inside GTA: San Andreas"}, {"id": 780963696, "item_id": 48810231, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48810231", "by": "Bender", "date": "2026-07-06", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use uBlock Origin to change the color scheme, remove visibility of my karma and filter out some submissions.", "excerpt": "I use uBlock Origin to change the color scheme, remove visibility of my karma and filter out some submissions. I use FoxReplace in Firefox to replace words. I use the Canonical addon if I am submitting a lot of links though I still end up with dupes. I use Force Reader View for some sites that people submit to HN that require javascript to read as it sometimes gets around that requirement and makes some blogs more re", "context": "", "use_case": "customizing HN", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What browser extensions or front ends do you use for reading HN, if any?"}, {"id": 780914609, "item_id": 48807163, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48807163", "by": "dinkleberg", "date": "2026-07-06", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "since ublock origin got removed from Chrome, the experience is far better on firefox.", "excerpt": "That is weird, I've daily driven firefox for the better part of a decade (aside from when my employers have required chrome) and seldom encounter issues. I'm curious where you're hitting these. In fact, since ublock origin got removed from Chrome, the experience is far better on firefox. Also, if everyone chooses to not use firefox because it has low market share, it'll remain low market share forever.", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google Chrome Installed a 4GB AI Model on Your PC"}]}