computing Edge Internet Tech Radar

Don’t panic – Microsoft’s Edge browser isn’t about to subject you to a flood of unblocked adverts (not yet, anyway)

February 28, 2025
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  • Microsoft Edge is telling testers their old extensions, like uBlock Origin, are no longer supported
  • However, this appears to be a move accidentally introduced to the earliest test version of Edge
  • Don’t be under any illusions that this won’t happen eventually, but looking at Microsoft’s timeline, it feels like that’s still quite a way off

Microsoft Edge just received a change in testing that makes it look like the browser might soon follow in Chrome’s footsteps in ditching certain extensions – notably including a popular ad blocker, uBlock Origin – but in actual fact, this isn’t the case.

Granted, it’s a somewhat worrying development for some folks – and it does point the way to the future, I won’t argue that. However, as the discoverer of the change for the earliest test version of Edge assures us, it’s likely something that’s been piped through automatically into testing prematurely, rather than an intentional move by Microsoft.

As highlighted by Leopeva64 on X in the below post, the Canary version of Edge recently received a new preview build and it’s producing a message about some extensions (add-ons for the browser) not being supported anymore, instructing users to remove them.

This is happening to uBlock Origin as mentioned, and other extensions which are built using Manifest V2. This is the platform these browser extensions are built on, and it’s been upgraded to Manifest V3 – a change long in the works, and one that has already come into play for Chrome (by which I mean the release version of Google’s browser, not just test builds).

However, what appears to have happened here is because Edge is built on Chromium – the same engine as Google Chrome – the change has been piped through automatically somehow.

In other words, Microsoft didn’t mean to enact this, and the move will (presumably) be corrected soon enough.

It’s worth noting that even in this (seemingly errant) form in testing, only extensions grabbed from the Chrome web store are affected, and not the official add-ons from the Edge store.

Angry woman using a laptop

(Image credit: Butsaya / Shutterstock)

Analysis: A big shift for all Chromium browsers (albeit with some Brave resistance)

All that said, we don’t know for sure if this is what has actually gone on here – Leopeva64 says they ‘think’ this is the case, and that does seem likely.

Mainly because Microsoft has a schedule for migrating from Manifest V2 to V3 extensions with Edge, and currently, as Neowin flagged up, there is no firm date for ditching the older V2 add-ons – the timeframe remains marked as TBD (To Be Determined). That’s both in terms of dumping these V2 extensions for consumers and businesses (the latter will happen later).

But there is a schedule, and this V2 to V3 migration is happening, make no mistake, which will mean that the traditional version of uBlock Origin – which is the extension most folks are bothered about in terms of losing support – will be given the elbow from Edge eventually. It’s just that it probably won’t be for quite some time yet.

Indeed, in its support document on the timeframes involved, Microsoft notes: “The Microsoft Edge team is currently in the process of updating this MV3 migration timeline.” So, we may hear more on the exact schedule soon enough, perhaps.

All web browsers built on Chromium will eventually be affected by the change Google has instigated here, although some developers are going to try and swerve around it as best they can.

For example, the maker of the Brave browser, another from the Chromium stable, has said it will apply patches to try and keep certain popular V2 extensions alive even after support is fully yanked by Google (and that includes uBlock Origin). Although that’s going to be implemented on a ‘best-effort’ basis and there are no guarantees made.

On a final note, it’s also worth remembering that there’s already a V3 version of uBlock Origin in place, but it’s a ‘lite’ take on the ad blocker, because with V3 it simply isn’t possible to offer the same capabilities.

Google’s big switchover to V3 is being made to get what the company argues is better security and performance for browser extensions over V2, but not everyone agrees with this line of thinking, to put it mildly.

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