[Update: It was a mistake by the dev] uBlock Origin for Microsoft Edge update changes the extension to uBlock Origin Lite

[UPDATE] Apparently, this add-on update was not intentional. Gorhill uploaded the extension to the wrong extension ID.

Here's a comment Gorhill posted on GitHub (thanks to Saampei Nihira for the tip).

The original story follows....have a laugh at my expense! (and Gorhill's)

Did you have uBlock Origin installed in Microsoft Edge? Has it been replaced by uBlock Origin Lite?

The Microsoft Edge extension has been updated, the new version doesn't bring new features, instead, the add-on automatically downgrades itself to uBlock Origin Lite.

The update was spotted by multiple users on reddit, one of whom shared a screenshot of the add-ons result page on Edge's store. The screenshot looked odd, because it showed 2 versions of the add-on. I decided to check it myself, and indeed, there are 2 versions of uBlock Origin Lite on the Edge add-ons store. That's a little weird.

If you look closely at their icons, it's easy to tell the difference. The add-on that has a - symbol in its icon, is uBlock Origin Lite (Version 2025.818.1918), whereas the extension that has the uBO icon is the original add-on (Version 2025.824.1755). But both extensions are now named uBlock Origin Lite.

As for why the add-on was downgraded to uBlock Origin Lite, it's fairly obvious. Chrome has deprecated support for Manifest V2 APIs, which in turn spelled the end for many extensions. This included uBlock Origin too, and the only options for users were to use some flags to extend Manifest V2 support (more on this in a bit), or to switch to uBlock Origin Lite.

While the Chrome web store "removed" the uBlock Origin extension because it was unsupported, the Microsoft Edge add-ons store still had the extension. Not anymore, apparently. It is being replaced by uBlock Origin Lite.

Okay, but why do this now? Up until now, Chrome and Chromium based browsers, have allowed users to extend support for Manifest V2 by enabling some flags in the browser. These flags are being removed from Chrome 140, and the shortcut workaround may not available for long. There is a way to load an unpacked extension in Chrome, but it will not work after Chrome 142. Its flag expires in Chrome 139. More details about this method are available at the official uBlock Origin subreddit.

Raymond Hill (aka Gorhill), the developer of uBlock Origin had stated in November 2024 that,

"Manifest v2 uBO will not be automatically replaced by Manifest v3 uBOL. uBOL is too different from uBO for it to silently replace uBO -- you will have to explicitly make a choice as to which extension should replace uBO according to your own prerogatives.

Ultimately whether uBOL is an acceptable alternative to uBO is up to you, it's not a choice that will be made for you."

But it has now. Perhaps things have changed since? This is pure speculation, but it makes sense to replace the original extension with uBlock Origin Lite, because otherwise users would be left without an ad-blocker, and exposed to trackers, advertisements, etc. By switching to the Lite version via an automatic update, they will be protected without manual intervention. It's a little unusual, but I think this is a good move for the privacy and security of users.

Still, an official announcement couldn't have hurt, given the confusion among users. Consider this article a PSA, uBlock Origin for Microsoft Edge didn't disappear or get removed, it's uBlock Origin Lite now.  I can confirm that this is the case, my Edge browser had uBlock Origin 1.65.0 installed.

But after forcing an update via Developer mode, it got replaced by uBlock Origin Lite 2025.824.1755, which was released on August 25, 2025. Neowin also reported this today! It's unclear when Microsoft Edge will stop supporting Manifest V2, the official support page doesn't mention an EOL date.

uBO Lite is pretty good, and should suffice for most users. It was recently released for Safari on iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. On a side note, uBlock Origin is still available on Opera's add-ons store, though I'm not sure how long it would be supported. It should be obvious, but I'll say it anyway, the Firefox version of the ad blocker is not affected by this change. Ironically, Microsoft Edge began recommending uBlock Origin a while back. Edge really is the new Internet Explorer!

Source

Hope you enjoyed this news post. Feedback welcome.

Posted Tuesday 26 August 2025 at 5:37 am AEST (my time).

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