9 ms·

uBlock Origin review

722 points by miles 5y ago

NowhereMan 5y ago
I've been using the eye dropper a lot lately. It's great for making websites usable. It even works on mobile for disabling hostile ux elements such as "xyz is better with the app" nags.
- w-ll 5y ago
  Are you on Android? I keep hearing FireFox and extensions like uBlock work on mobile, but it doesn't seam to be the case on iOS.
  - hulahoof 5y ago
    I believe that's because all browsers on iOS are essentially safari wrappers
    - zinekeller 5y ago
      So the content blocker that you can use is those which relies on Safari's blocking.
      - commoner 5y ago
        For some reason, Content Blockers on iOS only work on Safari. Other browsers on iOS are not allowed or able to implement them. uBlock Origin is also more fully featured than Content Blockers, which don't have the on-demand whitelisting features and toggles. However, since uBlock Origin is only available as a browser extension, it can only be used with a browser that supports extensions. No browser on iOS is able to support uBlock Origin. Safari 13+ on macOS also no longer supports uBlock Origin due to platform restrictions: https://github.com/el1t/uBlock-Safari/issues/158 https://github.com/el1t/uBlock-Safari/issues/158
        mikehotel 5y ago
        Firefox Focus on iOS blocks 78% with all tracker blocks are enabled, and 62% with the last “Block other content trackers” option disabled. Percentage figures are from test on https://d3ward.github.io/toolz/adblock.html https://d3ward.github.io/toolz/adblock.html.
        commoner 5y ago
        Firefox Focus is a nice browser for certain use cases, but it can't compare to uBlock Origin, which scores 100% on that test for me on a fresh install with default settings (using Firefox on Android and desktop). It's interesting how Firefox Focus on iOS also acts as a Content Blocker for Safari, but I find AdGuard to be more comprehensive on iOS.
        rovr138 5y ago
        Sure you can compare them. It’s 78/100 effective on that test. And unfortunately, on iOS the alternative isn’t ublock origin.
        commoner 5y ago
        Hmm, you're right. AdGuard on Safari also scores 78% on iOS. I guess that's as good as it gets on that platform.
        chrizel 5y ago
        The Brave browser on iOS gets around 90% interestingly.
        chrizel 5y ago
        Vanilla Safari on iOS 15 beta with tracking prevention activated gets 98% - not bad!
        commoner 5y ago
      - toiletaccount 5y ago
        hey what do you know crapple sucks shit and scroogle F's you in the A while you're asleep. PM me when we're wheeling out the corporate guillotine.
  - webmobdev 5y ago
    On ios you have to use Firefox Focus. But it doesn't do as good a job as Firefox + uBlock Origin.
- o10449366 5y ago
  For me it's the element rules. Being able to hide every post that contains "____ liked this" on LinkedIn/FB actually makes them tolerable.
  - toastal 5y ago
    I recently did it to hide the social aspects on the GitHub homepage... no explore sidebar, no reactions in the main feed.
    - maest 5y ago
      Similarly, disabling the social features on SO was very useful. The "Hot network questions" block to the side is needlessly distracting and adds 0 value.
- Macha 5y ago
  Yeah, the new Wikia/Fandom design finally drove me to start taking very liberal usage of custom rules
  - Qi_ 5y ago
    I must’ve purged over 50% of visual elements from Fandom wikis with my uBlock filters. It’s outrageous how much garbage is served. I wonder what their UX design meetings look like.
    - edoceo 5y ago
      I imagine lots of alcohol.
      - ev1 5y ago
        There are no UI, UX, or devs present, just marketing execs.
    - dreamcompiler 5y ago
      I just browsed Memory Alpha with filters off. Wow. I had no idea it had gotten so bad.
      - brnt 5y ago
        I so miss pre-Wikia Memory Alpha...
        mkr-hn 5y ago
        A site:reddit.com/r/DaystromInstitute/ search with a plugin to redirect www. to old. if you're not logged in can replicate a lot of what Memory Alpha has from all the discussion. At least until Reddit finishes alienating everyone interested in weird niche discussion in favor of clickbait.
      - account42 5y ago
        Even for areas where there is a community wiki (e.g. uesp, combineoverwiki), Google seems to prefer the Wikia/Fandom version with all the crap on the pages.
- defaulty 5y ago
  I never realized what this feature did. Thank you! (And thank you to the developers)
  - chrismorgan 5y ago
    Well, the icons are just terrible, utterly insipid and lacking in power. It needs labels rather than icons, and better names for “zapper” and “picker” too (something like “remove elements from this page” versus “block elements from this site”). I’m not sure if browsers apply height limits to these popups, but if not, almost every time there will be oodles of space for full labels and replacing the two single rows of buttons with columns. And even if scrolling is introduced, that’d still be better.
    - sundarurfriend 5y ago
      > It needs labels rather than icons At least they now have tooltips - I remember when choosing "Advanced mode" (which you need for a lot of features) just disabled tooltips in the UI, on the theory that advanced users shouldn't need them! I (and likely many others) argued how crazy an assumption that was, that just because we understood how HTML and JS worked, we should remember a bunch of icons and what the dev decided they meant. Thankfully they were willing to listen and change the decision, and the UI is a lot better for it.
      - MegaDeKay 5y ago
        If you have some pull here, it would be really nice to have popups added to the grid in the middle of the dropdown where the colored boxes are. I use these very rarely and can never remember which column of colored boxes do what.
        sundarurfriend 5y ago
        The top row of those have tooltips too. I can never remember either, and have to check them every time.
- hammock 5y ago
  How do I use it on mobile? I can't find the download link for android.
  - josephcsible 5y ago
    For what browser? If Chrome, then you're out of luck: mobile Chrome doesn't support extensions. If Firefox, then just open the menu and go to Add-ons.
  - webmobdev 5y ago
    Install Firefox from the Play Store. Then open this link in Firefox and install the supported extensions - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/android/search/?promoted=recommended&sort=random&type=extension https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/android/search/?promoted=re...
  - Normille 5y ago
    Yandex Browser on Android [which is based on Chrome] supports Chrome extensions. I'm running it with uBlock Origin, Privacy Badger and a few others. If an extension won't load directly from the Chrome Webstore you can toggle 'Developer Mode' under 'chrome://extensions' and load the downloaded and unpacked CRX directly.
    - kunagi7 5y ago
      Kiwi Browser also allows to install Chrome extensions. I keep it as an alternative browser with uBlock and other useful extensions. Also, Vivaldi has a fairly complete adblocker built-in, with custom filter lists and also scores a solid 100% on that test.
      - Normille 5y ago
        I had high hopes for Kiwi Browser but, unfortunately its text-reflow feature has been broken since forever. Yandex Browser is the only one available on Android that ticks both those 'must have' boxes for me: full support for extensions and a functional text-reflow feature --without which a huge swathe of the web is unreadable for me, due to microscopic text sizes. I know other browsers have their own built-in ad-blockers, but I prefer to use uBlock Origin across all my devices so, when I setup a new one, I can just import my existing rules & settings, built up and tweaked over many years, rather than start from scratch.
- sails 5y ago
  This feature is so good but so confusing to use, really the best thing about ublock beyond the ad-blocking. I use very extensively, I almost wish it was a standalone tool, so that the filtering aspects could be shared more easily.
- lordnacho 5y ago
  This is one of the best hidden features of uBlock. While we're on the topic, how does one effectively block facebook ads? I've got simple rules to chop the ads from LinkedIn, but if you do an inspect on FB, they've been very sneaky about how the elements are set up, eg it doesn't just say "Sponsored" in a string, it's a weird mash that ends up looking like that when rendered but hard to nail down. Then again I'm more of a backend dev, so maybe that's why I don't know what to do.
  - danuker 5y ago
    > weird mash that ends up looking like that when rendered but hard to nail down. It is designed to be very hard to select automatically. It is also why I don't use Facebook more than 5 minutes a week - it is among the only services where ads annoy me.
  - UncleSlacky 5y ago
    FB Purity seems to do a good job: https://www.fbpurity.com https://www.fbpurity.com
    - lordnacho 5y ago
      Doesn't remove sponsored posts for me.
      - UncleSlacky 5y ago
        I found this on their FAQ page: https://www.fbpurity.com/faq.htm https://www.fbpurity.com/faq.htm > *Important News*: 4th September 2021: Sponsored Posts Issue: It seems Facebook have just changed their code for Sponsored Posts, so some people have started seeing Sponsored Posts in their Newsfeed again, I am working on fixing this, please be patient, thanks! *UPDATE* It seems for some people the sponsored posts are only getting through if your Newsfeed is set to "Top Posts", if you switch to "Most Recent", the Sponsored Posts should in theory disappear. The good news is that FBP has an option to keep you permanently on the "Most Recent" feed when you visit the Newsfeed, so that could possibly solve the issue for now, give it a try and let me know if that solves it for you. In the meantime, I will continue working on a more robust fix.
- jmrm 5y ago
  It also blocks the paywall in some webs that aren't too well designed (the content is loaded under a frame that hide it). It's great to have such a good tool.
- efreak 5y ago
  The eye dropper is also quite useful for writing userscripts and userstyles directly on Android; I tap the element, hit preview to see what happens (margins, padding, border collapse, etc), type a note at the end of the element name and sirens it to the clipboard, then move on. Back in the editor, I just paste my notes from the clipboard, and I can quickly write up a stylesheet override for a dynamic webpage without resorting to debugging on my desktop. I don't understand why Firefox mobile can't be used to debug another Firefox mobile, I I'd love it if I could open devtools off to the side and see a live tree view instead of manually prefixing the URL with `view-source:` only to find out the html doesn't actually include any content.
perihelions 5y ago
If that wasn't *everything* you wanted to know about uBlock Origin, check out the (seriously impressive) documentation at https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki
- q-rews 5y ago
  Thanks! The article should have been title “Intro to uBlock”
- bspammer 5y ago
  This just pushed me to try make a donation, as I realised just how much of a headache uBlock saves me every day. They don't accept donations. Gorhill you are a beautiful person.
  - agumonkey 5y ago
    I second the gorhill thanking train. ublock is almost required infrastructure on my machines. os, editor, mpv, browser+ublock i'm so pissed that the courthouse admins didn't include it, our cripled network is filled with stupid ads that could have been avoided
  - 7373737373 5y ago
    His work has saved me gigabytes, if not terabytes of data, and hours, if not days of attention time. Thank you very much gorhill. If you ever need a place to stay or just a coffee, you are very welcome.
    - hansel_der 5y ago
      someone ought to extrapolate the ammount of bytes and (work-)hours saved by ublock
      - galangalalgol 5y ago
        If you count up the hours saved and divide by the average lifespan, he has probably saved more lives than an ER doctor.
andreyf 5y ago
don't usually flex with tech but isn't uMatrix [1] just a little bit harder to learn and a million times more satisfying? at least on my often-used systems, I have a hard time imagining loading a website without being able to control the third party content in a matrix these days. 1. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/umatrix/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/umatrix/
- eric__cartman 5y ago
  uMatrix is great, link for the chromium users: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/umatrix/ogfcmafjalglgifnmanfmnieipoejdcf https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/umatrix/ogfcmafjal...
  - webmobdev 5y ago
    If you want to avoid ads and tracking, the last browser you should use is Google Chrome. Google has been deliberately crippling Chrome so that ad blockers don't work properly.
    - NavinF 5y ago
      Are you talking about the limit on how many rules an ad blocker can use? That didn't have much of an effect on Chrome, but it did on Safari I'm gonna need sources if you're talking about something else
      - webmobdev 5y ago
        - https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/uBlock-Origin-works-best-on-Firefox https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/uBlock-Origin-works-b... - https://github.com/el1t/uBlock-Safari/issues/158 https://github.com/el1t/uBlock-Safari/issues/158 - https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/10/googles_browser_extension_platform_rewrite/ https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/10/googles_browser_exten... - https://9to5google.com/2019/05/29/chrome-ad-blocking-enterprise-manifest-v3/ https://9to5google.com/2019/05/29/chrome-ad-blocking-enterpr...
- 5y ago
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
temp8964 5y ago
I find pi-hole much better than browser extensions. It just works for all devices/ apps.
- missedthecue 5y ago
  I don't want to block ads on every site I go to, and having an extension rather than a DNS sinkhole makes toggling between blocking and not blocking much simpler.
  - NegativeLatency 5y ago
    You can setup a link to disable pihole for a given number of seconds
- downrightmike 5y ago
  I find both are needed. It is nice to see that I block a huge amount of data from getting used up by ads when pihole block it. And just in case it gets through ublock. ublock is usually ahead of the more sophisticated attacks.
- defaulty 5y ago
  How well does Pi-Hole work for people who aren't technical? My family member gets aggravated when ad blocking breaks a site for them
  - temp8964 5y ago
    I never had a legitimate site breaks by pi-hole. Pi-hole should be the easiest for family members, they don’t need to do anything at all. On most sites, it simply leaves a blank space in where ad supposed to be.
  - slivanes 5y ago
    I found the most frustration came from links in emails not working as intended. For some reason many companies, government agencies, and schools use metrics tracking on emails. Pi-hole has a nice temporarily disable blocking feature on its dashboard to help in those cases. Simple click to whitelist is also available.
beebmam 5y ago
uBlock origin doesn't seem to work well for me in Chrome compared to how well it works in Firefox.
- defaulty 5y ago
  Chrome made API changes that broke it
  - beebmam 5y ago
    Man, that's awful. Why would anyone use Chrome then? Ugh.
    - Cipater 5y ago
      Probably for the same reasons you use it.
    - Synaesthesia 5y ago
      Firefox is superior on all platforms except Mac/iOS IMO
- sabellito 5y ago
  It's definitely not your impression, it does work much better in Firefox: https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/uBlock-Origin-works-best-on-Firefox https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/uBlock-Origin-works-b...
- samtheDamned 5y ago
  On chrome (and chromium based browsers afaik), the browser loads the web pages first and then loads extensions compared to firefox which loads extensions first and then the web pages.
downWidOutaFite 5y ago
uBlock Origin is amazing in that it has not succumbed to scammers. Every other blocker including AdBlock and the original uBlock have sold out to scummy companies. It's a problem with every successful browser extension, they all start getting offers from scammers to sell out. We all owe a huge debt of gratitude that gorhill is a principled character and has stayed on to guide uBlock Origin all these years.
- evilos 5y ago
  Absolutely. Ublock origin is probably one of the highest impact products on my life. I would have a measurably worse time if it didn't exist or didn't work as well as it does. And it is free! The developer is a saint, and it just occurred to me that I should donate to their project.
  - netsec_burn 5y ago
    Except they don't accept donations: https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Why-don't-you-accept-donations%3F https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Why-don't-you-accept-...
- poisonborz 5y ago
  Given uBlock's popularity and impact on advertising (money), I'm wondering what kind of scrutiny and attacks the devs and project gets continually.
  - alcover 5y ago
    Oh me too. Despite addons being less dangerous nowadays (no FS access), a supply-chain attack on UBO would be massively bad. That's a reason why I strictly install very few addons.
- SV_BubbleTime 5y ago
  This should be recognized more. I can think of a lot of applications that have like-wise succumbed to the darkness. uTorrent off the top of my head. VLC should get a special award for not sucking after gaining popularity.
ReFruity 5y ago
uBlock Origin is cool, but the reason I stopped using it is that any web page stopped opening on my work PC. Never found out why, used Adblock Plus since. Considering going back now.
mjsir911 5y ago
Ironically, ublock origin does not work on this blog page & allows scripts such as google analytics to run because it is hosted under the umbrella domain addons.mozilla.org I wish the exception for add-ons not working on the addons site would only apply to the actual add-on download portion of the site, and they don't host random non-addon-download content on the same domain.
- GekkePrutser 5y ago
  Or that Mozilla wouldn't serve that crap. They should know better, after all they even make their own blocker.
  - diffeomorphism 5y ago
    They do know better, which is why they don't. https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=697436#c14 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=697436#c14 If there is an "obvious" problem, chances are it has already been addressed and you are not the first person to see it.
    - PoignardAzur 5y ago
      > We now have two check boxes in our GA premium account that allows us to opt-out of additional usage of our data. Because Mozilla pushed Google so hard, those two check boxes are available to every other GA user in the world regardless if they have a premium account like we do. GA also doesn't track IPs or store PII within the tool. I'm very confused. How the hell does Mozilla have enough lobbying power with Google to strong-arm them into providing an option for every user to undercut the very data collection Google provides GA for?
      - Sebb767 5y ago
        Possibly they brought out the GDPR-hammer to force their hand.
      - gilrain 5y ago
hsbauauvhabzb 5y ago
I love unlock, don’t get me wrong, but why the hell isn't adblocking built into my browser? And disabling auto play for that matter. The state of web browsers is absolute and pure insanity.
- josephcsible 5y ago
  > why the hell isn't adblocking built into my browser? Because the maker of your Web browser is funded by advertising money.
  - SV_BubbleTime 5y ago
    Not mine! I use… ah damnit. This a really interesting point I never considered, but Mozilla isn’t being paid by a ton of different advertisers to not implement blocking - are they? How would we know? Side note, I would absolutely pay for a browser that rolled everything in without setting it up myself.
  - iaml 5y ago
    What if I'm using safari?
    - shbooms 5y ago
      Still true. Apple makes money off adversting just like anyone else. they also get paid obsurd amounts of money to from Google to make them the default search engine in Safari.
      - Synaesthesia 5y ago
        Apple's interests are aligned with corporate interests in general including advertising networks.
  - greeklish 5y ago
    Are there open source browser derivatives that bundle such an extension? Any browser beside Chrome or Firefox seems to only be installed by power users, who also know how to install an adblocker.
tuananh 5y ago
i hate that website start serving ads on their content domain. this is where ublock origin shines because pihole or adguard do not cut it anymore.
- foepys 5y ago
  This feature is also only available on Firefox, not Chrome. In general, Firefox is the best platform for uBlock, Chrome does not support all features. https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/uBlock-Origin-works-best-on-Firefox https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/uBlock-Origin-works-b...
  - XzetaU8 5y ago
    Workaround for the lack of CNAME uncloaking on Chrome, is this filter list. https://hostfiles.frogeye.fr/ https://hostfiles.frogeye.fr/
sampling 5y ago
Was worried about running all my web history through this extension for privacy reasons, has anyone gone through the source code to verify uBlock Origin’s privacy policy?
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- throwawaybutwhy 5y ago
  Yes. Google has. It's in the Chrome Store. sloccount gives 34516 LOC for the src/js directory. As the sibling points out, you can also verify the code yourself.
- noptd 5y ago
  See for yourself - https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock
thenoblesunfish 5y ago
I’ve really been enjoying Firefox lately, and this just makes it better. I was historically suspicious of the idea of doing things in the browser, but for many things it now seems the most portable and privacy-preserving way to do most things, and I’ve given up many apps (e.g. I listen to podcasts now from the browser).
SamReidHughes 5y ago
I just run Brave.
asjfj9 5y ago
uBlock has always been the first add on I install on any new computer.
- josephcsible 5y ago
  I really hope you mean uBlock Origin and not just uBlock. The latter should be avoided at all costs.
personjerry 5y ago
God I just wish Safari supported uBlock Origin. I want to use Safari for the performance and battery saving.
- NegativeLatency 5y ago
  Been using 1blocker and it’s ok generally but useless on YouTube.
- webmobdev 5y ago
  Using Firefox + uBlock will also increase battery saving - with uBlock Firefox makes fewer network connections (to the ads / trackers servers), fewer ad images / videos are loaded by the browser saving both processing power, memory and bandwidth, and cpu processing is reduced due to blocking of unwanted (ad / tracker) javascript.
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LadyLovely30 5y ago
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OvenHands 5y ago
hey y'all. what else is out there like uBlock.
OvenHands 5y ago
hey y'all. what else is similar to uBlock.
imbnwa 5y ago
I sorta wish Brave worked with gorhill to port uBO to C++ instead of building their own Shields native module
- matheusmoreira 5y ago
  That would be awesome. Brave's blockers just aren't as good as uBlock Origin.
- arbol 5y ago
  You can use ublock origin with brave in conjunction with shields. It would've made sense to partner though
  - baal80spam 5y ago
    I use both but I wonder does it make sense?
Lanrei 5y ago
I just wish that they'd add a text or symbol in the top of the global and local dynamic filtering boxes. Every single time that I use it I have to look up which one's which, because it isn't obvious and I can't remember.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- asddubs 5y ago
  yeah, whenever I add a rule that ends up messing things up I click the wrong thing first to undo it
ricw 5y ago
I recently discovered that it also acts as a great anti-productivity page blocker. Simply add your top social and news addiction pages to the blacklist and you’re set. I use Firefox only for work, which has helped me immensely to stay focused and not “just quickly check hacker news for the tenth time in an hour” (as much as I like to ;)).
- pvm3 5y ago
  You should try LeechBlock NG [1], it is specifically designed for this. [1]: https://www.proginosko.com/leechblock/install/ https://www.proginosko.com/leechblock/install/
  - Flimm 5y ago
    LeechBlock NG and uBlock Origin work great on Firefox for Android.
- mellosouls 5y ago
  For HN specifically, you can also tweak the noprocrast settings in your HN profile.
  - danuker 5y ago
    Indeed. And block all the other sites. They are inferior anyway!
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- lostlogin 5y ago
  > Simply add your top social and news addiction pages to the blacklist and you’re set. It’ll make finding tips like this much harder.
  - dEnigma 5y ago
    To Hacker News, the cause of, and solution to, all of life's procrastination problems!
eru 5y ago
On Android, Firefox allows extensions. Including uBlock Origin.
- hkt 5y ago
  At present Firefox on android only allows a limited range of extensions from Addons Manager, but you're right, uBlock Origin is one of them. I really look forward to them being opened up so I can build my own without any hassle. ( https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2021/01/20/extensions-in-firefox-for-android-update/ https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2021/01/20/extensions-in-fir... )
  - eru 5y ago
    Oh, interesting! All the extensions I ever tried were just there. But those were just uBlock Origin and NoScript. Shows what I know..
ant6n 5y ago
Firefox mobile wont load the xpi file, is there an alternative way to install?
- input_sh 5y ago
  XPI? Why would you need an XPI? Just click on three dots, add-ons, and then click on the + sign next to uBO.
  - ant6n 5y ago
    Ah I see, on Firefox mobile, one cannot load extensions from their website, only from some extensions manager inside the app.
    - commoner 5y ago
      uBlock Origin is one of the 18 extensions that are pre-approved for use in Firefox for Android. To use any other add-ons from addons.mozilla.org, you'll need to use Firefox Nightly (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.mozilla.fenix https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.mozilla.fe...) and follow these instructions: https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2020/09/29/expanded-extension-support-in-firefox-for-android-nightly/ https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2020/09/29/expanded-extensio... Alternatively, you can use Fennec F-Droid, a fork of Firefox that supports a "Custom Add-on collection" by default: https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.mozilla.fennec_fdroid/ https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.mozilla.fennec_fdroid/ I'm not sure why Mozilla is refusing to allow these extensions on the Beta channel, since the WebExtensions support is definitely stable enough for Firefox Beta.
      - bsdubernerd 5y ago
        I'm not sure why companies think that restricting usage this way improves their product in any way. You need a different build, and an online account to do something that should require neither. Heck, I can only partially understand the "click many times over crap" to enable experimental features, which should have been _enough_ to begin with (and certainly not a requirement in a beta build). How many hoops do I need? After reading this, I was really /hoping/ Fennec would remove the requirement of having a Mozilla account, but no, you still need to create an account and an useless "collection". TBH I use (and ever used) Firefox just due to the available extensions. The value proposition has decreased quite a bit with recent FF versions, and on Android uBlock is pretty much the only reason I stick to it. I wish I had more alternatives, because clearly the browser duopoly isn't working.
Felger 5y ago
From a French tech that deployed UO for quite a long time on hundred of computers, and stopped since a year or two : UO started blocking or makes a lot of widely used french websites, hosters and services unusable since one or two year. Thus generating lots of requests and taking lots of time. Common webmail functions from french ISP and public services are impacted. Had sadly to switch back to ABP.
- lkuty 5y ago
  In case of trouble I use a browser without any extra Ad Blocker (Safari) but most of the time I surf with uBO installed on Firefox and Chrome. No need to switch back to ABP.
- satysin 5y ago
  The blocking is done based on the filter list. Sounds like one of the included (and enabled by default) filter lists in uBO is causing issues. Did you try disabling all uBO filters to see if the issue persists? If you can narrow it down to a specific filter list you can find the rule that is causing the issue and either disable that one rule or, better, raise a bug report so someone can look into what's going on and fix it in the filter list proper.
- Nextgrid 5y ago
  Could you share the list of websites that you remember having problems with?
matheusmoreira 5y ago
uBlock Origin is so incredibly good it should be a standard feature of all browsers. Shame that conflicts of interest prevent that. Thank you so much for your work, Gorhill. I tell everyone I know about uBlock Origin and they love it.
kybernetyk 5y ago
uBlock Origin is the only reason I still use Firefox as my browser
cybert00th 5y ago
My family and I have been using FF and ad-blockers for so many years now that we've forgotten what the 'real' web looks like. And it's all thanks to people like Raymond Hill.
- nicbou 5y ago
  It takes a minute or two to realize you've picked the wrong browser, when every website has a cookie notice and a ton of ads. I also started using the YouTube mobile website instead of the apps after getting 2 ads before a 3 minute video.
  - 3r8Oltr0ziouVDM 5y ago
    >I also started using the YouTube mobile website instead of the apps after getting 2 ads before a 3 minute video. Have you tried NewPipe? https://newpipe.net https://newpipe.net
    - LeonenTheDK 5y ago
      Not the person you responded to, but doing the same thing. Had tried NewPipe for a while and it was great at first, but at the time it would frequently crash and act janky in other ways that I can't quite remember now. The mobile site was just smoother, but it might be time to give it another try.
      - 3r8Oltr0ziouVDM 5y ago
        It can certainly break if YouTube changes something on their side, but I've never had huge issues, so it's probably not something that happens very often. But the mobile site is a good fallback option.
        danShumway 5y ago
        I do experience pretty regular issues, but in really specific areas: listening to long music playlists can get janky if they're left open across multiple days, sometimes videos stop working after that and I need to force quit and restart the app (I assume it's doing something to refresh some cookie or connection). Mostly the benefits outweigh the downsides for me, for a lot of reasons: data export is a big one. The ability to download videos/audio is another. Background listening is another. It's also way more battery efficient than any of Youtube's official apps for video or music. One thing I would recommend, the version in the offical F-Droid repo works, but you can also install the direct source in F-Droid, which will get updates/bugfixes much more quickly.
shadowpawn 5y ago
My ublock origin works overtime on Reddit. Ton of stuff it blocks on that site.
- shbooms 5y ago
  just FYI, old.reddit.com still works (for now) and gives you the original site design including less bloat. you can use the "old" subdomain or enable it automatically in your preferences by un-checking the "enable new site design" setting. visiting a particular page on the new reddit.com yeilded 27 blocked requests visiting the same page on old.reddit.com with the same uBO set up yielded only 4 blocked requests
subpixel 5y ago
Can someone help me understand the possible negative impact of running ublock? Eg do some sites not work unless you disable it, etc? If so how do you go all-in on ublock without undue frustration?
- Synaesthesia 5y ago
  One possible negative impact is being culturally out of touch due to not seeing ads. Otherwise I can't think of a negative. It's never broken a site for me but if it does you can just disable it from the toolbar.
- michaelbuckbee 5y ago
  Most "sites" work entirely fine with uBlock. Sometimes there will be an issue with form filling and web-apps with built in tracking (via mixpanel or something) will break, but it's a seconds worth of effort to disable it on a particular site. If you run into repeated problems you can set permanent rules allowing certain domains. Overall it's a very minor hassle in the scheme of things.
- Sebb767 5y ago
  I browse a lot and I'm an uBlock user for many years now. I'm even using more strict settings than the default. Yet I've only encountered a broken page once. It's really a non-issue.
- AlfeG 5y ago
  Haven't seen any issues for years, with some exceptions. Anecdotally - I've visit only few sites that were totally blocking their work, all of them were piracy related sites.
account42 5y ago
As much as I like uBlock Origin, I wish it had a uMatrix-like interface. I do not look forward to the day that uMatrix breaks.
greyhair 5y ago
Between uBlock Origin and PiHole, my web experience at home is so different from what I see visiting relatives and friends, it is startling. Yet, I cannot get (most) of them to try either one.

722 points by miles 5y ago

I've been using the eye dropper a lot lately. It's great for making websites usable. It even works on mobile for disabling hostile ux elements such as "xyz is better with the app" nags.

w-ll 5y ago
Are you on Android? I keep hearing FireFox and extensions like uBlock work on mobile, but it doesn't seam to be the case on iOS.
- hulahoof 5y ago
  I believe that's because all browsers on iOS are essentially safari wrappers
  - zinekeller 5y ago
    So the content blocker that you can use is those which relies on Safari's blocking.
    - commoner 5y ago
      For some reason, Content Blockers on iOS only work on Safari. Other browsers on iOS are not allowed or able to implement them. uBlock Origin is also more fully featured than Content Blockers, which don't have the on-demand whitelisting features and toggles. However, since uBlock Origin is only available as a browser extension, it can only be used with a browser that supports extensions. No browser on iOS is able to support uBlock Origin. Safari 13+ on macOS also no longer supports uBlock Origin due to platform restrictions: https://github.com/el1t/uBlock-Safari/issues/158 https://github.com/el1t/uBlock-Safari/issues/158
      - mikehotel 5y ago
        Firefox Focus on iOS blocks 78% with all tracker blocks are enabled, and 62% with the last “Block other content trackers” option disabled. Percentage figures are from test on https://d3ward.github.io/toolz/adblock.html https://d3ward.github.io/toolz/adblock.html.
        commoner 5y ago
        Firefox Focus is a nice browser for certain use cases, but it can't compare to uBlock Origin, which scores 100% on that test for me on a fresh install with default settings (using Firefox on Android and desktop). It's interesting how Firefox Focus on iOS also acts as a Content Blocker for Safari, but I find AdGuard to be more comprehensive on iOS.
        rovr138 5y ago
        Sure you can compare them. It’s 78/100 effective on that test. And unfortunately, on iOS the alternative isn’t ublock origin.
        commoner 5y ago
        Hmm, you're right. AdGuard on Safari also scores 78% on iOS. I guess that's as good as it gets on that platform.
        chrizel 5y ago
        The Brave browser on iOS gets around 90% interestingly.
        chrizel 5y ago
        Vanilla Safari on iOS 15 beta with tracking prevention activated gets 98% - not bad!
        commoner 5y ago
    - toiletaccount 5y ago
      hey what do you know crapple sucks shit and scroogle F's you in the A while you're asleep. PM me when we're wheeling out the corporate guillotine.
- webmobdev 5y ago
  On ios you have to use Firefox Focus. But it doesn't do as good a job as Firefox + uBlock Origin.
o10449366 5y ago
For me it's the element rules. Being able to hide every post that contains "____ liked this" on LinkedIn/FB actually makes them tolerable.
- toastal 5y ago
  I recently did it to hide the social aspects on the GitHub homepage... no explore sidebar, no reactions in the main feed.
  - maest 5y ago
    Similarly, disabling the social features on SO was very useful. The "Hot network questions" block to the side is needlessly distracting and adds 0 value.
Macha 5y ago
Yeah, the new Wikia/Fandom design finally drove me to start taking very liberal usage of custom rules
- Qi_ 5y ago
  I must’ve purged over 50% of visual elements from Fandom wikis with my uBlock filters. It’s outrageous how much garbage is served. I wonder what their UX design meetings look like.
  - edoceo 5y ago
    I imagine lots of alcohol.
    - ev1 5y ago
      There are no UI, UX, or devs present, just marketing execs.
  - dreamcompiler 5y ago
    I just browsed Memory Alpha with filters off. Wow. I had no idea it had gotten so bad.
    - brnt 5y ago
      I so miss pre-Wikia Memory Alpha...
      - mkr-hn 5y ago
        A site:reddit.com/r/DaystromInstitute/ search with a plugin to redirect www. to old. if you're not logged in can replicate a lot of what Memory Alpha has from all the discussion. At least until Reddit finishes alienating everyone interested in weird niche discussion in favor of clickbait.
    - account42 5y ago
      Even for areas where there is a community wiki (e.g. uesp, combineoverwiki), Google seems to prefer the Wikia/Fandom version with all the crap on the pages.
defaulty 5y ago
I never realized what this feature did. Thank you! (And thank you to the developers)
- chrismorgan 5y ago
  Well, the icons are just terrible, utterly insipid and lacking in power. It needs labels rather than icons, and better names for “zapper” and “picker” too (something like “remove elements from this page” versus “block elements from this site”). I’m not sure if browsers apply height limits to these popups, but if not, almost every time there will be oodles of space for full labels and replacing the two single rows of buttons with columns. And even if scrolling is introduced, that’d still be better.
  - sundarurfriend 5y ago
    > It needs labels rather than icons At least they now have tooltips - I remember when choosing "Advanced mode" (which you need for a lot of features) just disabled tooltips in the UI, on the theory that advanced users shouldn't need them! I (and likely many others) argued how crazy an assumption that was, that just because we understood how HTML and JS worked, we should remember a bunch of icons and what the dev decided they meant. Thankfully they were willing to listen and change the decision, and the UI is a lot better for it.
    - MegaDeKay 5y ago
      If you have some pull here, it would be really nice to have popups added to the grid in the middle of the dropdown where the colored boxes are. I use these very rarely and can never remember which column of colored boxes do what.
      - sundarurfriend 5y ago
        The top row of those have tooltips too. I can never remember either, and have to check them every time.
hammock 5y ago
How do I use it on mobile? I can't find the download link for android.
- josephcsible 5y ago
  For what browser? If Chrome, then you're out of luck: mobile Chrome doesn't support extensions. If Firefox, then just open the menu and go to Add-ons.
- webmobdev 5y ago
  Install Firefox from the Play Store. Then open this link in Firefox and install the supported extensions - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/android/search/?promoted=recommended&sort=random&type=extension https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/android/search/?promoted=re...
- Normille 5y ago
  Yandex Browser on Android [which is based on Chrome] supports Chrome extensions. I'm running it with uBlock Origin, Privacy Badger and a few others. If an extension won't load directly from the Chrome Webstore you can toggle 'Developer Mode' under 'chrome://extensions' and load the downloaded and unpacked CRX directly.
  - kunagi7 5y ago
    Kiwi Browser also allows to install Chrome extensions. I keep it as an alternative browser with uBlock and other useful extensions. Also, Vivaldi has a fairly complete adblocker built-in, with custom filter lists and also scores a solid 100% on that test.
    - Normille 5y ago
      I had high hopes for Kiwi Browser but, unfortunately its text-reflow feature has been broken since forever. Yandex Browser is the only one available on Android that ticks both those 'must have' boxes for me: full support for extensions and a functional text-reflow feature --without which a huge swathe of the web is unreadable for me, due to microscopic text sizes. I know other browsers have their own built-in ad-blockers, but I prefer to use uBlock Origin across all my devices so, when I setup a new one, I can just import my existing rules & settings, built up and tweaked over many years, rather than start from scratch.
sails 5y ago
This feature is so good but so confusing to use, really the best thing about ublock beyond the ad-blocking. I use very extensively, I almost wish it was a standalone tool, so that the filtering aspects could be shared more easily.
lordnacho 5y ago
This is one of the best hidden features of uBlock. While we're on the topic, how does one effectively block facebook ads? I've got simple rules to chop the ads from LinkedIn, but if you do an inspect on FB, they've been very sneaky about how the elements are set up, eg it doesn't just say "Sponsored" in a string, it's a weird mash that ends up looking like that when rendered but hard to nail down. Then again I'm more of a backend dev, so maybe that's why I don't know what to do.
- danuker 5y ago
  > weird mash that ends up looking like that when rendered but hard to nail down. It is designed to be very hard to select automatically. It is also why I don't use Facebook more than 5 minutes a week - it is among the only services where ads annoy me.
- UncleSlacky 5y ago
  FB Purity seems to do a good job: https://www.fbpurity.com https://www.fbpurity.com
  - lordnacho 5y ago
    Doesn't remove sponsored posts for me.
    - UncleSlacky 5y ago
      I found this on their FAQ page: https://www.fbpurity.com/faq.htm https://www.fbpurity.com/faq.htm > *Important News*: 4th September 2021: Sponsored Posts Issue: It seems Facebook have just changed their code for Sponsored Posts, so some people have started seeing Sponsored Posts in their Newsfeed again, I am working on fixing this, please be patient, thanks! *UPDATE* It seems for some people the sponsored posts are only getting through if your Newsfeed is set to "Top Posts", if you switch to "Most Recent", the Sponsored Posts should in theory disappear. The good news is that FBP has an option to keep you permanently on the "Most Recent" feed when you visit the Newsfeed, so that could possibly solve the issue for now, give it a try and let me know if that solves it for you. In the meantime, I will continue working on a more robust fix.
jmrm 5y ago
It also blocks the paywall in some webs that aren't too well designed (the content is loaded under a frame that hide it). It's great to have such a good tool.
efreak 5y ago
The eye dropper is also quite useful for writing userscripts and userstyles directly on Android; I tap the element, hit preview to see what happens (margins, padding, border collapse, etc), type a note at the end of the element name and sirens it to the clipboard, then move on. Back in the editor, I just paste my notes from the clipboard, and I can quickly write up a stylesheet override for a dynamic webpage without resorting to debugging on my desktop. I don't understand why Firefox mobile can't be used to debug another Firefox mobile, I I'd love it if I could open devtools off to the side and see a live tree view instead of manually prefixing the URL with `view-source:` only to find out the html doesn't actually include any content.

perihelions 5y ago

If that wasn't *everything* you wanted to know about uBlock Origin, check out the (seriously impressive) documentation at https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki

q-rews 5y ago
Thanks! The article should have been title “Intro to uBlock”
bspammer 5y ago
This just pushed me to try make a donation, as I realised just how much of a headache uBlock saves me every day. They don't accept donations. Gorhill you are a beautiful person.
- agumonkey 5y ago
  I second the gorhill thanking train. ublock is almost required infrastructure on my machines. os, editor, mpv, browser+ublock i'm so pissed that the courthouse admins didn't include it, our cripled network is filled with stupid ads that could have been avoided
- 7373737373 5y ago
  His work has saved me gigabytes, if not terabytes of data, and hours, if not days of attention time. Thank you very much gorhill. If you ever need a place to stay or just a coffee, you are very welcome.
  - hansel_der 5y ago
    someone ought to extrapolate the ammount of bytes and (work-)hours saved by ublock
    - galangalalgol 5y ago
      If you count up the hours saved and divide by the average lifespan, he has probably saved more lives than an ER doctor.

andreyf 5y ago

don't usually flex with tech but isn't uMatrix [1] just a little bit harder to learn and a million times more satisfying? at least on my often-used systems, I have a hard time imagining loading a website without being able to control the third party content in a matrix these days. 1. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/umatrix/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/umatrix/

eric__cartman 5y ago
uMatrix is great, link for the chromium users: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/umatrix/ogfcmafjalglgifnmanfmnieipoejdcf https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/umatrix/ogfcmafjal...
- webmobdev 5y ago
  If you want to avoid ads and tracking, the last browser you should use is Google Chrome. Google has been deliberately crippling Chrome so that ad blockers don't work properly.
  - NavinF 5y ago
    Are you talking about the limit on how many rules an ad blocker can use? That didn't have much of an effect on Chrome, but it did on Safari I'm gonna need sources if you're talking about something else
    - webmobdev 5y ago
      - https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/uBlock-Origin-works-best-on-Firefox https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/uBlock-Origin-works-b... - https://github.com/el1t/uBlock-Safari/issues/158 https://github.com/el1t/uBlock-Safari/issues/158 - https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/10/googles_browser_extension_platform_rewrite/ https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/10/googles_browser_exten... - https://9to5google.com/2019/05/29/chrome-ad-blocking-enterprise-manifest-v3/ https://9to5google.com/2019/05/29/chrome-ad-blocking-enterpr...
5y ago

deleted 5y ago

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temp8964 5y ago

I find pi-hole much better than browser extensions. It just works for all devices/ apps.

missedthecue 5y ago
I don't want to block ads on every site I go to, and having an extension rather than a DNS sinkhole makes toggling between blocking and not blocking much simpler.
- NegativeLatency 5y ago
  You can setup a link to disable pihole for a given number of seconds
downrightmike 5y ago
I find both are needed. It is nice to see that I block a huge amount of data from getting used up by ads when pihole block it. And just in case it gets through ublock. ublock is usually ahead of the more sophisticated attacks.
defaulty 5y ago
How well does Pi-Hole work for people who aren't technical? My family member gets aggravated when ad blocking breaks a site for them
- temp8964 5y ago
  I never had a legitimate site breaks by pi-hole. Pi-hole should be the easiest for family members, they don’t need to do anything at all. On most sites, it simply leaves a blank space in where ad supposed to be.
- slivanes 5y ago
  I found the most frustration came from links in emails not working as intended. For some reason many companies, government agencies, and schools use metrics tracking on emails. Pi-hole has a nice temporarily disable blocking feature on its dashboard to help in those cases. Simple click to whitelist is also available.

beebmam 5y ago

uBlock origin doesn't seem to work well for me in Chrome compared to how well it works in Firefox.

defaulty 5y ago
Chrome made API changes that broke it
- beebmam 5y ago
  Man, that's awful. Why would anyone use Chrome then? Ugh.
  - Cipater 5y ago
    Probably for the same reasons you use it.
  - Synaesthesia 5y ago
    Firefox is superior on all platforms except Mac/iOS IMO
sabellito 5y ago
It's definitely not your impression, it does work much better in Firefox: https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/uBlock-Origin-works-best-on-Firefox https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/uBlock-Origin-works-b...
samtheDamned 5y ago
On chrome (and chromium based browsers afaik), the browser loads the web pages first and then loads extensions compared to firefox which loads extensions first and then the web pages.

downWidOutaFite 5y ago

uBlock Origin is amazing in that it has not succumbed to scammers. Every other blocker including AdBlock and the original uBlock have sold out to scummy companies. It's a problem with every successful browser extension, they all start getting offers from scammers to sell out. We all owe a huge debt of gratitude that gorhill is a principled character and has stayed on to guide uBlock Origin all these years.

evilos 5y ago
Absolutely. Ublock origin is probably one of the highest impact products on my life. I would have a measurably worse time if it didn't exist or didn't work as well as it does. And it is free! The developer is a saint, and it just occurred to me that I should donate to their project.
- netsec_burn 5y ago
  Except they don't accept donations: https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Why-don't-you-accept-donations%3F https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Why-don't-you-accept-...
poisonborz 5y ago
Given uBlock's popularity and impact on advertising (money), I'm wondering what kind of scrutiny and attacks the devs and project gets continually.
- alcover 5y ago
  Oh me too. Despite addons being less dangerous nowadays (no FS access), a supply-chain attack on UBO would be massively bad. That's a reason why I strictly install very few addons.
SV_BubbleTime 5y ago
This should be recognized more. I can think of a lot of applications that have like-wise succumbed to the darkness. uTorrent off the top of my head. VLC should get a special award for not sucking after gaining popularity.

ReFruity 5y ago

uBlock Origin is cool, but the reason I stopped using it is that any web page stopped opening on my work PC. Never found out why, used Adblock Plus since. Considering going back now.

mjsir911 5y ago

Ironically, ublock origin does not work on this blog page & allows scripts such as google analytics to run because it is hosted under the umbrella domain addons.mozilla.org I wish the exception for add-ons not working on the addons site would only apply to the actual add-on download portion of the site, and they don't host random non-addon-download content on the same domain.

GekkePrutser 5y ago
Or that Mozilla wouldn't serve that crap. They should know better, after all they even make their own blocker.
- diffeomorphism 5y ago
  They do know better, which is why they don't. https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=697436#c14 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=697436#c14 If there is an "obvious" problem, chances are it has already been addressed and you are not the first person to see it.
  - PoignardAzur 5y ago
    > We now have two check boxes in our GA premium account that allows us to opt-out of additional usage of our data. Because Mozilla pushed Google so hard, those two check boxes are available to every other GA user in the world regardless if they have a premium account like we do. GA also doesn't track IPs or store PII within the tool. I'm very confused. How the hell does Mozilla have enough lobbying power with Google to strong-arm them into providing an option for every user to undercut the very data collection Google provides GA for?
    - Sebb767 5y ago
      Possibly they brought out the GDPR-hammer to force their hand.
    - gilrain 5y ago

hsbauauvhabzb 5y ago

I love unlock, don’t get me wrong, but why the hell isn't adblocking built into my browser? And disabling auto play for that matter. The state of web browsers is absolute and pure insanity.

josephcsible 5y ago
> why the hell isn't adblocking built into my browser? Because the maker of your Web browser is funded by advertising money.
- SV_BubbleTime 5y ago
  Not mine! I use… ah damnit. This a really interesting point I never considered, but Mozilla isn’t being paid by a ton of different advertisers to not implement blocking - are they? How would we know? Side note, I would absolutely pay for a browser that rolled everything in without setting it up myself.
- iaml 5y ago
  What if I'm using safari?
  - shbooms 5y ago
    Still true. Apple makes money off adversting just like anyone else. they also get paid obsurd amounts of money to from Google to make them the default search engine in Safari.
    - Synaesthesia 5y ago
      Apple's interests are aligned with corporate interests in general including advertising networks.
- greeklish 5y ago
  Are there open source browser derivatives that bundle such an extension? Any browser beside Chrome or Firefox seems to only be installed by power users, who also know how to install an adblocker.

tuananh 5y ago

i hate that website start serving ads on their content domain. this is where ublock origin shines because pihole or adguard do not cut it anymore.

foepys 5y ago
This feature is also only available on Firefox, not Chrome. In general, Firefox is the best platform for uBlock, Chrome does not support all features. https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/uBlock-Origin-works-best-on-Firefox https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/uBlock-Origin-works-b...
- XzetaU8 5y ago
  Workaround for the lack of CNAME uncloaking on Chrome, is this filter list. https://hostfiles.frogeye.fr/ https://hostfiles.frogeye.fr/

sampling 5y ago

Was worried about running all my web history through this extension for privacy reasons, has anyone gone through the source code to verify uBlock Origin’s privacy policy?

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
throwawaybutwhy 5y ago
Yes. Google has. It's in the Chrome Store. sloccount gives 34516 LOC for the src/js directory. As the sibling points out, you can also verify the code yourself.
noptd 5y ago
See for yourself - https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock

thenoblesunfish 5y ago

I’ve really been enjoying Firefox lately, and this just makes it better. I was historically suspicious of the idea of doing things in the browser, but for many things it now seems the most portable and privacy-preserving way to do most things, and I’ve given up many apps (e.g. I listen to podcasts now from the browser).

SamReidHughes 5y ago

I just run Brave.

asjfj9 5y ago

uBlock has always been the first add on I install on any new computer.

josephcsible 5y ago
I really hope you mean uBlock Origin and not just uBlock. The latter should be avoided at all costs.

personjerry 5y ago

God I just wish Safari supported uBlock Origin. I want to use Safari for the performance and battery saving.

NegativeLatency 5y ago
Been using 1blocker and it’s ok generally but useless on YouTube.
webmobdev 5y ago
Using Firefox + uBlock will also increase battery saving - with uBlock Firefox makes fewer network connections (to the ads / trackers servers), fewer ad images / videos are loaded by the browser saving both processing power, memory and bandwidth, and cpu processing is reduced due to blocking of unwanted (ad / tracker) javascript.

LadyLovely30 5y ago

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LadyLovely30 5y ago

https://coincircle.com/l/tDgxizG5tx https://coincircle.com/l/tDgxizG5tx sine up under me I won real cash

OvenHands 5y ago

hey y'all. what else is out there like uBlock.

OvenHands 5y ago

hey y'all. what else is similar to uBlock.

imbnwa 5y ago

I sorta wish Brave worked with gorhill to port uBO to C++ instead of building their own Shields native module

matheusmoreira 5y ago
That would be awesome. Brave's blockers just aren't as good as uBlock Origin.
arbol 5y ago
You can use ublock origin with brave in conjunction with shields. It would've made sense to partner though
- baal80spam 5y ago
  I use both but I wonder does it make sense?

Lanrei 5y ago

I just wish that they'd add a text or symbol in the top of the global and local dynamic filtering boxes. Every single time that I use it I have to look up which one's which, because it isn't obvious and I can't remember.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
asddubs 5y ago
yeah, whenever I add a rule that ends up messing things up I click the wrong thing first to undo it

ricw 5y ago

I recently discovered that it also acts as a great anti-productivity page blocker. Simply add your top social and news addiction pages to the blacklist and you’re set. I use Firefox only for work, which has helped me immensely to stay focused and not “just quickly check hacker news for the tenth time in an hour” (as much as I like to ;)).

pvm3 5y ago
You should try LeechBlock NG [1], it is specifically designed for this. [1]: https://www.proginosko.com/leechblock/install/ https://www.proginosko.com/leechblock/install/
- Flimm 5y ago
  LeechBlock NG and uBlock Origin work great on Firefox for Android.
mellosouls 5y ago
For HN specifically, you can also tweak the noprocrast settings in your HN profile.
- danuker 5y ago
  Indeed. And block all the other sites. They are inferior anyway!
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
lostlogin 5y ago
> Simply add your top social and news addiction pages to the blacklist and you’re set. It’ll make finding tips like this much harder.
- dEnigma 5y ago
  To Hacker News, the cause of, and solution to, all of life's procrastination problems!

eru 5y ago

On Android, Firefox allows extensions. Including uBlock Origin.

hkt 5y ago
At present Firefox on android only allows a limited range of extensions from Addons Manager, but you're right, uBlock Origin is one of them. I really look forward to them being opened up so I can build my own without any hassle. ( https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2021/01/20/extensions-in-firefox-for-android-update/ https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2021/01/20/extensions-in-fir... )
- eru 5y ago
  Oh, interesting! All the extensions I ever tried were just there. But those were just uBlock Origin and NoScript. Shows what I know..

ant6n 5y ago

Firefox mobile wont load the xpi file, is there an alternative way to install?

input_sh 5y ago
XPI? Why would you need an XPI? Just click on three dots, add-ons, and then click on the + sign next to uBO.
- ant6n 5y ago
  Ah I see, on Firefox mobile, one cannot load extensions from their website, only from some extensions manager inside the app.
  - commoner 5y ago
    uBlock Origin is one of the 18 extensions that are pre-approved for use in Firefox for Android. To use any other add-ons from addons.mozilla.org, you'll need to use Firefox Nightly (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.mozilla.fenix https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.mozilla.fe...) and follow these instructions: https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2020/09/29/expanded-extension-support-in-firefox-for-android-nightly/ https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2020/09/29/expanded-extensio... Alternatively, you can use Fennec F-Droid, a fork of Firefox that supports a "Custom Add-on collection" by default: https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.mozilla.fennec_fdroid/ https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.mozilla.fennec_fdroid/ I'm not sure why Mozilla is refusing to allow these extensions on the Beta channel, since the WebExtensions support is definitely stable enough for Firefox Beta.
    - bsdubernerd 5y ago
      I'm not sure why companies think that restricting usage this way improves their product in any way. You need a different build, and an online account to do something that should require neither. Heck, I can only partially understand the "click many times over crap" to enable experimental features, which should have been _enough_ to begin with (and certainly not a requirement in a beta build). How many hoops do I need? After reading this, I was really /hoping/ Fennec would remove the requirement of having a Mozilla account, but no, you still need to create an account and an useless "collection". TBH I use (and ever used) Firefox just due to the available extensions. The value proposition has decreased quite a bit with recent FF versions, and on Android uBlock is pretty much the only reason I stick to it. I wish I had more alternatives, because clearly the browser duopoly isn't working.

Felger 5y ago

From a French tech that deployed UO for quite a long time on hundred of computers, and stopped since a year or two : UO started blocking or makes a lot of widely used french websites, hosters and services unusable since one or two year. Thus generating lots of requests and taking lots of time. Common webmail functions from french ISP and public services are impacted. Had sadly to switch back to ABP.

lkuty 5y ago
In case of trouble I use a browser without any extra Ad Blocker (Safari) but most of the time I surf with uBO installed on Firefox and Chrome. No need to switch back to ABP.
satysin 5y ago
The blocking is done based on the filter list. Sounds like one of the included (and enabled by default) filter lists in uBO is causing issues. Did you try disabling all uBO filters to see if the issue persists? If you can narrow it down to a specific filter list you can find the rule that is causing the issue and either disable that one rule or, better, raise a bug report so someone can look into what's going on and fix it in the filter list proper.
Nextgrid 5y ago
Could you share the list of websites that you remember having problems with?

matheusmoreira 5y ago

uBlock Origin is so incredibly good it should be a standard feature of all browsers. Shame that conflicts of interest prevent that. Thank you so much for your work, Gorhill. I tell everyone I know about uBlock Origin and they love it.

kybernetyk 5y ago

uBlock Origin is the only reason I still use Firefox as my browser

cybert00th 5y ago

My family and I have been using FF and ad-blockers for so many years now that we've forgotten what the 'real' web looks like. And it's all thanks to people like Raymond Hill.

nicbou 5y ago
It takes a minute or two to realize you've picked the wrong browser, when every website has a cookie notice and a ton of ads. I also started using the YouTube mobile website instead of the apps after getting 2 ads before a 3 minute video.
- 3r8Oltr0ziouVDM 5y ago
  >I also started using the YouTube mobile website instead of the apps after getting 2 ads before a 3 minute video. Have you tried NewPipe? https://newpipe.net https://newpipe.net
  - LeonenTheDK 5y ago
    Not the person you responded to, but doing the same thing. Had tried NewPipe for a while and it was great at first, but at the time it would frequently crash and act janky in other ways that I can't quite remember now. The mobile site was just smoother, but it might be time to give it another try.
    - 3r8Oltr0ziouVDM 5y ago
      It can certainly break if YouTube changes something on their side, but I've never had huge issues, so it's probably not something that happens very often. But the mobile site is a good fallback option.
      - danShumway 5y ago
        I do experience pretty regular issues, but in really specific areas: listening to long music playlists can get janky if they're left open across multiple days, sometimes videos stop working after that and I need to force quit and restart the app (I assume it's doing something to refresh some cookie or connection). Mostly the benefits outweigh the downsides for me, for a lot of reasons: data export is a big one. The ability to download videos/audio is another. Background listening is another. It's also way more battery efficient than any of Youtube's official apps for video or music. One thing I would recommend, the version in the offical F-Droid repo works, but you can also install the direct source in F-Droid, which will get updates/bugfixes much more quickly.

shadowpawn 5y ago

My ublock origin works overtime on Reddit. Ton of stuff it blocks on that site.

shbooms 5y ago
just FYI, old.reddit.com still works (for now) and gives you the original site design including less bloat. you can use the "old" subdomain or enable it automatically in your preferences by un-checking the "enable new site design" setting. visiting a particular page on the new reddit.com yeilded 27 blocked requests visiting the same page on old.reddit.com with the same uBO set up yielded only 4 blocked requests

subpixel 5y ago

Can someone help me understand the possible negative impact of running ublock? Eg do some sites not work unless you disable it, etc? If so how do you go all-in on ublock without undue frustration?

Synaesthesia 5y ago
One possible negative impact is being culturally out of touch due to not seeing ads. Otherwise I can't think of a negative. It's never broken a site for me but if it does you can just disable it from the toolbar.
michaelbuckbee 5y ago
Most "sites" work entirely fine with uBlock. Sometimes there will be an issue with form filling and web-apps with built in tracking (via mixpanel or something) will break, but it's a seconds worth of effort to disable it on a particular site. If you run into repeated problems you can set permanent rules allowing certain domains. Overall it's a very minor hassle in the scheme of things.
Sebb767 5y ago
I browse a lot and I'm an uBlock user for many years now. I'm even using more strict settings than the default. Yet I've only encountered a broken page once. It's really a non-issue.
AlfeG 5y ago
Haven't seen any issues for years, with some exceptions. Anecdotally - I've visit only few sites that were totally blocking their work, all of them were piracy related sites.

account42 5y ago

As much as I like uBlock Origin, I wish it had a uMatrix-like interface. I do not look forward to the day that uMatrix breaks.

greyhair 5y ago

Between uBlock Origin and PiHole, my web experience at home is so different from what I see visiting relatives and friends, it is startling. Yet, I cannot get (most) of them to try either one.