Microsoft Edge Add-Ons Store Begins Showing uBlock Origin Lite as Original Extension Faces Removal

Open Microsoft Edge’s add-ons store and search for uBlock Origin, and you may no longer find what you’re expecting. According to user reports and independent coverage, the store has in some cases redirected or replaced the original uBlock Origin listing with uBlock Origin Lite — a fundamentally different version of the extension that works in a fundamentally different way.

This isn’t a minor update. It’s the visible result of a much larger shift happening across Chromium-based browsers, and it affects anyone who relies on Edge as their daily browser and uBlock Origin as their first line of defence against adverts and trackers.

What’s Actually Changing

The original uBlock Origin runs on something called Manifest V2 — a technical framework that allows extensions to intercept and filter web content using their own built-in rules engine. It’s powerful precisely because it works independently, sitting between your browser and the web and blocking requests before they load. UBlock Origin Lite, by contrast, is built on Manifest V3. That’s the newer framework that both Microsoft and Google are pushing across their Chromium browsers. Under Manifest V3, content blocking is handled by the browser itself using what’s called declarative filtering — the extension submits a list of rules, and the browser decides what to block. The extension no longer runs its own persistent background process.

Critics of the change argue that this hands control back to the browser maker and reduces what a blocker can actually do. Supporters say it improves security and browser stability by limiting what extensions can access.

The original uBlock Origin won’t work under Manifest V3. That’s not a workaround problem — it’s a structural incompatibility. So as Edge moves away from Manifest V2 support, the original extension loses its footing.

Where Things Stand Right Now

The picture is a little messy, which is worth being honest about. Earlier reports indicated that Edge’s Canary channel — the experimental, early-access version of the browser — had already started blocking or disabling the original extension, while the stable release still allowed it. Some later reports then described the original Edge store listing as having been swapped out for the Lite version, though other users reported seeing no change, suggesting the rollout may be uneven or was temporarily reversed.

So it’s not a clean, universal switch. But the direction of travel is clear.

Microsoft hasn’t publicly set a hard deadline for removing Manifest V2 support from Edge’s stable channel, but the company’s position aligns closely with Google’s own timeline for Chrome. Google has been phasing out Manifest V2 across Chrome since 2024, and because Edge is built on the same Chromium engine, the two browsers tend to follow similar paths.

Can You Still Get the Original Version?

Yes — but it takes effort. Community guides and tutorial videos have outlined a manual workaround that involves loading the original uBlock Origin as an unpacked extension, using developer mode in Edge’s extension settings. It’s not a one-click install. You need to download the extension files separately and load them manually, and there’s no guarantee this approach will survive future Edge updates.

Raymond Hill, the developer behind uBlock Origin, has been clear-eyed about the situation for some time. He has previously described uBlock Origin Lite as a “crippled” version compared to the original, saying the Manifest V3 framework doesn’t allow the same depth of filtering. Whether you agree with that assessment or not, it’s a fair summary of the technical trade-off involved.

The Bigger Picture

This isn’t just about one extension or one browser. The move away from Manifest V2 is happening across the entire Chromium ecosystem, which covers Chrome, Edge, Opera, Brave, and most other mainstream browsers outside of Firefox. Mozilla has taken a different approach, maintaining Manifest V2 support in Firefox while also adding Manifest V3 compatibility — which is one reason some users have already moved across.

For anyone who’s relied on the original uBlock Origin as a complete ad blocker, the options are narrowing. You can accept uBlock Origin Lite and its reduced capabilities. You can attempt the manual installation workaround and hope it holds. Or you can switch to a browser that still supports Manifest V2 extensions.

None of those options are as simple as what existed before.

What This Means for Kent Residents

For anyone in Kent who uses Microsoft Edge as their main browser — whether on a home PC, a laptop, or a work machine — this change means the original uBlock Origin extension may become harder or impossible to install through normal means. If you rely on it to block adverts and reduce page-load times, it’s worth checking your browser’s extension settings now and deciding whether to switch to Firefox or set up the manual workaround before Microsoft completes the transition.