Google claims that uBlock Origin is no longer available for Chrome: but that is not true

When you visit the uBlock Origin page on the Chrome Web Store in Google Chrome, you see a notification near the top that states that the extension is no longer available.

Google writes: “This extension is no longer available because it doesn’t follow best practices for Chrome extensions.”

The “add to Chrome” button is not displayed anymore for that extension. If it is installed, Google displays a “remove” button instead.

The message is displayed regardless of Chrome edition. In Chrome Canary, you may also notice that Google is removing uBlock Origin and other extensions automatically on start of the browser.

This is part of Google’s plan to remove extensions that do not use the new extensions manifest willingly or unwillingly.

The only options that Chrome displays are to remove the extension, as it gets disabled only by Google, or to open the extensions manager in Chrome.

Google Chrome may list affected extensions under these extensions may soon no longer be supported or the recent “This extension was turned off because it’s no longer supported” listing.

Tip: Google has added options to Chrome to extend support for a year. You can check out our guide on how to enable these, but note that this is only a temporary option.

uBlock Origin still available in other browsers

Add to Brave

When you visit the uBlock Origin store page in another browser, you will notice that the extension is still available. If you use Brave, Vivaldi, Edge, or Opera, you will get the option to install it in that browser.

Google is preventing this in Chrome, likely by checking for the user agent of the browser. It does to to prevent he installation of the extension, and any other that is using the classic extension manifest, in Chrome.

Closing Words

If you are a Chrome user, you have several options to deal with this. You can enable the policy to extend support for uBlock Origin and other classic extensions until mid-2025.

Another option is to switch the browser. You could switch to a Chromium-based browser, Brave, Vivaldi, Opera, or Edge. You may need to enable the policy for these browsers as well. Only a few Chromium-based browsers will continue to support some or all classic extensions after 2025.

There is also Firefox. The open source browser does not depend on Google or Chromium. Mozilla confirmed that Firefox will support classic and new extensions going forward. Also, Raymond Hill, the developer of uBlock Origin, says that the extension works best in Firefox.

Summary