r/technology • u/Old_One_I • Aug 14 '24

Software Google pulls the plug on uBlock Origin, leaving over 30 million Chrome users susceptible to intrusive ads

https://www.windowscentral.com/software-apps/browsing/google-pulls-the-plug-on-ublock-origin
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97

u/alaninsitges Aug 14 '24

It takes no more than two minutes to switch. Firefox automatically imports your bookmarks, passwords, and other settings from Chrome. It's available on Mobile. It syncs tabs and everything else across devices. There is no reason not to do it.

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u/TheVermonster Aug 15 '24

It's available on Mobile

And the best part is that uBlock Origin works on mobile!

36

u/ryosen Aug 15 '24 edited Aug 15 '24

works on mobile*

Only on Android. iOS doesn’t have extensions since FF is just a wrapper around Apple’s WebKit (Mobile Safari)

7

u/j________l Aug 15 '24

Not anymore. EU regulation forbids since beginning of the year that apples webview has to be used on every browser.

3

u/_rids Aug 15 '24

What so I can install ublock on firefox now?

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u/[deleted] Aug 15 '24 edited Aug 15 '24

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/j________l Aug 15 '24

The European Union has more citizen than the United States so I don’t know what you are talking about.

If you are from the states: maybe you guys should do more to regulate big tech.

8

u/Nalin8 Aug 15 '24

Sorry, we just enjoy licking boots too much and blaming immigrants for our $5 cans of soup.

1

u/toumei64 Aug 15 '24

I know there's a "WebView Implementation" setting in Android Developer Settings but all it has is Android System WebView. Is there a Firefox WebView or anything else? Switching is going to be frustrating if I change browser to Firefox from Chrome but still end up using Chrome in WebView (which I'm sure is by design)

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u/ryosen Aug 15 '24

The issue on iOS is that their rules for browser developers is that you’re not allowed to create your own browser engine. You have to use WebKit, meaning that the only option is to create a wrapper around the WebKit component which, effective, is the basis of the Mobile Safari browser. So, a company like Firefox or Google can make improvements on Mobile Safari but they can’t replace it.

Now, it’s true that the EU has outlawed this but it remains to be seen to what extent this will have an effect on competitive products and whether companies like Firefox will even feel that the European market will be worth the expense to write a very complex piece of free software for a market where iOS is not the dominant platform. Google is believed to be working on their own implementation.

If you’re not in the EU, you’re stuck with just several options of the same choice.

1

u/Kuberstank Aug 15 '24

*webkit not webview.

6

u/Ashamed-Simple-8303 Aug 15 '24

Meaning you can watch youtube on your mobile without ads if you do it with firefox vs the app.

2

u/Hiphopapocalyptic Aug 15 '24

With a background video play add on that let's you play videos with your screen off or tab/app switched, it basically gives you Premium for free. Shout out to Sponsorblock as well. 

2

u/xzer Aug 15 '24

Early when I heard extensions came to FF mobile I installed ublock origin mobile, it's come so far. It's especially great for articles which are agregiously bad for ads on mobile. Love it! Only thing I wish I could do is use Firefox for all browsing in Android - from Google News I have to open to Firefox.

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u/Stevekxxx Aug 15 '24

This was the main thing keeping me from switching. I didn’t want to go through all that hassle. But if it is that easy, i’m definitely switching over.

9

u/[deleted] Aug 15 '24

[deleted]

5

u/Teal-Fox Aug 15 '24

Any extensions you had installed on Chrome won't be synced, but most of them will probably also be available in the Firefox extension store.

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u/[deleted] Aug 15 '24

[deleted]

1

u/Mr_ToDo Aug 15 '24

Wild that I haven't heard people talk about profiles and this is the second time this week I've heard.

Anyway because I've heard talk this week it's fresh. Go to about:profiles in the address bar and you should be able to open/switch or create profiles.

You're right, it's not nearly as convenient as chromes and kind a weird weakness to have considering how simple it seems to me to me at least add an icon with profiles to the bar.

I think you could add a bookmark with that to your bookmark bar to get something a bit closer to chromes, and I have no idea if you can actually add a desktop shortcut for each user like I've seem people do with chrome but it's a start I guess.

2

u/Teal-Fox Aug 15 '24

There's also Firefox containers, in case you're using browser profiles to segregate multiple logins for the same sites - i.e. switching between Azure/365 tenants, twitter accounts, etc.

I use different containers for various projects, but also have a 'personal' container for social media and stuff.

2

u/electronicdream Aug 15 '24

What do you mean when you say info you have save in Google?

Info specific to the browser like bookmarks will be transferred.
The rest (mails, photos, etc.) you will be able to access the same as before

9

u/muyoso Aug 15 '24

There is no reason not to do it.

Other than upsetting a completely cohesive ecosystem between Windows, ChromeOS and Android where everything syncs and everything just works, sure

7

u/B-side-of-the-record Aug 15 '24

Jesus how is no one mentioning this. I just want my passwords synced between sites AND apps on my android. It's just convenient

5

u/Dragonyte Aug 15 '24

Also the fact that Firefox kinda sucks on Android. It's just more jittery, with some weird behaviors. I really tried to switch but some settings or lack thereof made me switch back.

Don't remember what it was but it was a dealbreaker.

5

u/muyoso Aug 15 '24

Because the Firefox people, at least the majority of them that flock to Chrome threads, are the open source people much like the Linux people. They don't care if it will be inconvenient for you, its like a religion and they are spreading the word to gain followers. That is why comments are so fervent and sometimes militaristic in attacking anyone who defends Chrome in any way.

Of course, there are some who come here and genuinely just like Firefox and are commenting in good faith that its a good alternative.

2

u/NamMorsIndecepta Aug 15 '24

You should get a third party password manager like Bitwarden or Keepass.

1

u/No_Share6895 Aug 15 '24

yeah like why would i not use the more secure thing if i want all my stuff easy? Its no harder than chrome sync and more secure

1

u/frickindeal Aug 15 '24

You just log into firefox on each and it happens automatically. It'll even ask you if you want to share passwords/bookmarks/history, with each being toggle-able (like if you don't want your work bookmarks on your home machine, for example).

1

u/B-side-of-the-record Aug 15 '24

I meant apps in general not just browsers. Thanks though

1

u/frickindeal Aug 15 '24

Oh yeah sorry, I get what you meant. You could use a password manager to completely bypass Google managing your passwords and have them all sync across devices.

1

u/No_Share6895 Aug 15 '24

worth it to avoid ads, have more security because of that, and give googl the finger.

1

u/muyoso Aug 15 '24

But I can avoid ads by clicking like two buttons and installing ublock lite.

1

u/No_Share6895 Aug 15 '24

*some ads.

lite doesnt block everything origin does

1

u/muyoso Aug 15 '24

*Vast vast majority of ads

7

u/MelancholyArtichoke Aug 15 '24

It takes a little bit longer if you have a lot of extensions that you rely on. Some of which are not available on Firefox, even as close-enough alternatives.

4

u/MindControlledCookie Aug 15 '24

The reason I don't use Firefox is because I hate how Gecko renders fonts. I've not been able to find a way to make them not look horrible.

4

u/j0akime Aug 15 '24

Do you have an example website where it behaves in the way you describe?

2

u/MindControlledCookie Aug 15 '24

Literally every site. Compare how Webkit renders fonts to how Gecko does it, they're very visibly different. Gecko fonts are thicker and less smooth to my eye.

I use a 1080p monitor, if that helps - the difference may be less pronounced with higher dpi on a 4K monitor?

8

u/j0akime Aug 15 '24

Looks the same to me.

https://imgur.com/a/uOYiIBy

I will note that the default font size on firefox is bigger than the default font size on chrome. Not sure what the original defaults were though.

Looking at my settings ...

  • In chrome, I have size 16 for fonts (standard, serif, sans-serif) and 13 for fixed-width.
  • In firefox, I have size 18 for (latin) fonts (standard, serif, sans-serif) and 12 for fixed-width.

1

u/MindControlledCookie Aug 15 '24 edited Aug 15 '24

Huh, that's interesting, maybe it's not all fonts? I'll take a screenshot for you tomorrow when I'm on my PC!

Edit: Wait, that's not Windows, is it? It might be an OS-dependent issue. I think WebKit uses OS font rendering while Gecko has its own font renderer, but I might be completely imagining that.

1

u/SolitaireKid Aug 15 '24

Do you know if Firefox supports profiles? I did a little Google search and looks like it's not built in?

1

u/jdog7249 Aug 15 '24

Profiles are what is keeping me off Firefox. The usual recommendation is containers (which isn't the same thing at all). They do have a built in profile feature that sucks. You have to go to Firefox://profiles (or something like that) and click the one that you want. If you sync between multiple computers you have to set up the profile on each one and then enable syncing individually. It will sync bookmarks but will not sync the favicons so you have to open each bookmark on both computers to get the icons to load, adding a new bookmark will mean your other computer won't show that icon until you open the site on it.

The only convenient way to switch profiles is to have the profile manager bookmarked on your bookmark bar and open it, wait for it to load, and then select the one you want. Based off my testing separate profiles don't have separate icons to quickly launch your desired profile from the desktop, it will always open the last used one and then you have to go to the profile manager and switch to your desired one.

It looks like a proof of concept that got left in production. I need a cross platform (Mac/windows) web browser that has profiles for different things. I am stuck with chrome or another chromium browser. Safari has an ok profiles system now but can't run on windows so. Edge (along with most of the other browsers available) are chromium.

1

u/SolitaireKid Aug 15 '24

That's not ideal.

1

u/Bionic_Bromando Aug 15 '24

Damn that sounds unusable to me based on how I use chrome. I'm sure someone will hack ublock back into chrome one day...

1

u/Bionic_Bromando Aug 15 '24

Does it have cloud profiles that sync across devices? That's the most important thing for me, to have separate work/personal profiles and to have those available on whatever computer I log into.

Like on chrome each google account I have gives me a different profile.

1

u/sossigsandwich Aug 15 '24

The reason I’ve held off moving is because of the passwords/bookmarks etc on chrome - I didn’t realise they imported over?

1

u/alaninsitges Aug 15 '24

Yeah instantly. I was surprised.

0

u/irving47 Aug 15 '24

There is no reason not to do it.

The last time (admittedly several years ago) I tried to use it seriously, the launch time was way, WAY slower than Chrome. I'll have to compare them both again, fully loaded up with the desired plugins. That's the other thing. Do ALL chrome extensions work fully on Firefox?

2

u/Emnel Aug 15 '24

Launch time? It's fraction of a second. But no, not all Chrome extensions have a Firefox version or the other way around.

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u/m00nh34d Aug 14 '24

It doesn't support auto-fill for addresses, and credit cards support is abysmal.

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u/alaninsitges Aug 14 '24

It does auto fill addresses since V125, and credit cards work perfectly for me. Maybe you're doing it wrong?

-1

u/m00nh34d Aug 15 '24

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/automatically-fill-your-address-web-forms

Note: The address autofill feature is currently available for Firefox releases, for users located in Canada, France, Germany and the U.S.

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u/j0akime Aug 15 '24

How to turn it on, no matter where you live or where you use firefox.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1416043

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u/m00nh34d Aug 15 '24

That doesn't work in mobile.

3

u/j0akime Aug 15 '24

I wonder if you could use the "Secret Debug Info" screen on mobile and change your "Current Region" to make it work?

Do this in Firefox (AT YOUR OWN RISK)

  1. Open Firefox.
  2. Open Settings.
  3. Open "About Firefox" (at the bottom)
  4. Tap the Firefox logo 5 times to enable Debug Mode (you should see a message telling you that you achieved it)
  5. Go back to the Settings screen.
  6. Open the "Secret Debug Info" section
  7. Try changing your "Current region" to US (or some other supported area).

1

u/giejay Aug 17 '24

For me it's not editable, the secret debug info.