When exactly does Manifest V2 stop working?

Chrome already disabled MV2 in Chrome 138 (July 2025) and removes the remaining MV2 extensions from the Chrome Web Store on 31 August 2026. Edge started its phase-out in August 2026, aiming to finish for consumers by the end of 2026 and for managed devices in early 2027. Firefox, Brave and Opera are keeping Manifest V2 for now.

Which browsers still support uBlock Origin?

Firefox, Brave and Opera. Firefox kept the blocking webRequest API that uBlock Origin depends on, and Brave hosts MV2 extensions on its own servers despite being Chromium-based. On Chrome and Edge the full extension is no longer an option — uBlock Origin Lite is the MV3 replacement there, with reduced capabilities.

Do I need to switch browsers because of this?

Only if a specific MV2 extension matters more to you than your browser does. If you want the full uBlock Origin, Firefox or Brave will keep running it. If you'd rather stay on Chrome or Edge, you need a blocker built for Manifest V3 — most widely-used extensions already made that transition.

What is Manifest V3

If you've compared ad blockers recently, you've probably run into "Manifest V3" — Chrome's newer extension platform, and the reason some ad blockers work differently than they used to.

What changed

Manifest V2 let extensions inspect and block every network request directly, with a webRequest API that had no built-in limits. Manifest V3 replaces that for most blocking purposes with declarativeNetRequest — a rule-based system where the browser, not the extension, decides what to block, using rules the extension registers in advance. Chrome enforces platform limits on how many rules can be active at once.

Why it matters for ad blockers

Extensions that leaned entirely on webRequest's flexibility had to be rebuilt around declarativeNetRequest's rule model and its limits. This is also part of why Firefox — which still supports the older, unrestricted blocking webRequest API — tends to give ad blockers more headroom; see Best Ad Blocker for Firefox.

How DNDShield handles it

On Chrome, Edge, and Opera, DNDShield runs on Manifest V3's declarativeNetRequest system, with its rules built from EasyList and EasyPrivacy. Cosmetic filtering (hiding leftover ad containers) and video-platform handling (YouTube, Twitch, Dailymotion, Crunchyroll) run as content-script logic alongside it, since those aren't network-blocking problems in the first place.

FAQ

Does Manifest V3 make ad blockers weaker? It changes how blocking works rather than making it inherently weaker — well-built extensions adapt their rule sets to the new model. Some older, less-maintained extensions never made that transition.

Is Firefox unaffected by this? Firefox supports its own Manifest V3, but kept the fuller blocking webRequest API for content blockers, so the practical impact there is smaller.

The Manifest V2 shutdown timeline

The transition stopped being theoretical in 2026. Where each browser stands:

Browser	Manifest V2 status
Chrome	Shut off in Chrome 138 (July 2025). Remaining MV2 extensions are being removed from the Chrome Web Store on 31 August 2026.
Edge	Phase-out began August 2026, rolling through Canary, Dev and Beta before Stable. Microsoft expects consumers done by the end of 2026, with managed/enterprise devices following in early 2027.
Firefox	Keeping it. Mozilla kept the blocking `webRequest` API, and has said plainly that support for uBlock Origin "is not going anywhere".
Brave	Keeping it, unusually — Brave hosts uBlock Origin and other MV2 extensions on its own servers, so they survive there even though Brave is Chromium-based. Enable them under Settings → Extensions → Manifest V2 extensions.
Opera	Still supporting MV2 for now.

What this actually means for you

If an extension you rely on was still on Manifest V2, the practical effect depends entirely on which browser you're in:

On Chrome or Edge — it stops being available, and eventually stops running. For uBlock Origin specifically, the replacement on these browsers is uBlock Origin Lite, which is built for MV3 and is deliberately more limited: no dynamic filtering, and a reduced rule set.
On Firefox, Brave or Opera — nothing changes for now. If keeping the full uBlock Origin matters more to you than the browser does, moving to Firefox or Brave is a perfectly reasonable answer, and an honest one to give.

Worth being clear about the scale, since the coverage can make it sound like everything breaks at once: by Microsoft's own count only 58 MV2 extensions with meaningful usage were still in the Edge store, and just three of those had no MV3 version available. Most things people use made the transition some time ago.

Where DNDShield sits in this

DNDShield was built on Manifest V3 from the start rather than ported to it, so there's no legacy behaviour to lose in the transition and nothing changes for it on 31 August. That's a statement about timing, not superiority — an extension that was designed around MV3's constraints simply has less to give up than one that was designed around MV2's freedoms. What it does mean in practice is that if you're staying on Chrome or Edge, an MV3-native blocker is the category worth looking at.

One constraint applies to every MV3 blocker, including this one, and it's worth knowing: Chrome guarantees each extension 30,000 static blocking rules, and anything beyond that comes from a pool shared with every other extension you have installed. On a browser loaded with extensions, a large rule set may not fully register. Running one content blocker rather than several is genuinely better on MV3, and not just as generic advice.

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