In 2025, Google pulled the plug on a bunch of popular Chrome extensions. I didn't expect it, and I bet you didn't either. If some of your go-to tools vanished overnight, this is why—and the best Chrome extensions we're saying goodbye to.

In March 2025, Google forcefully removed older extensions from Chrome, upgrading its extensions framework from Manifest v2 to v3. The new version is designed to be safer and more secure, but some extensions couldn't update to the newer version. Extensions that couldn't update to the new version have been removed.

uBlockOrigin was one of the many Manifest v2 plugins that disappeared from Chrome, though Google has been clamping down on ad-blockers for a while. The main purpose of this tool is to stop users from seeing ads on websites they visit, whether on YouTube or news sites (although YouTube has been restricting ad blockers).

uBlock Origin is open-source and free. However, Google removed it because the webRequest API forms a key part of the extension. This API was responsible for blocking certain web elements and was one of the main features blocked with the Manifest v3 update.

Many people are leaving Google Chrome because of these changes, and you may want to consider doing the same if uBlockOrigin was an important part of your web browsing experience. You can, fortunately, still use the tool on Firefox, Microsoft Edge, and Opera. Edge has some cool features that Chrome doesn't!