uBlock Origin

uBlock Origin was originally named "μBlock". The name was later changed to “uBlock” to avoid confusion about how the Greek letter “μ” (Mu / Micro) is pronounced in “μBlock”. The development began with the code base of the HTTP switch along with another blocking extension called uMatrix intended for advanced users ^[8] . uBlock Origin was designed to use community-supported lock lists ^[9] , adding features and improving code quality for standards ^[8] . The first release of the extension was in June 2014 for Chrome and Opera , in the winter of 2015 the extension was released for other browsers.

In April and May 2015, the uBlock project was forked by Chris Ajudi at github.com/chrisaljoudi/uBlock , while uBlock Origin reflected the ongoing effort of the original developer Raymond Hill at github.com/gorhill/uBlock ^[10] . Since April 2015, uBlock Origin has not been fully associated with the ublock.org website.

As of June 2017, the uBlock repository at github.com/chrisaljoudi/uBlock is not updated and is not supported since August 2015. The uBlock Origin repository github.com/gorhill/uBlock/ is still actively maintained and updated.

Raymond Hill, founder and original author of uBlock, continues to work on an extension called uBlock Origin, sometimes styled as uBlock₀ ^[11] . As of January 2018, the extension for Chrome has more than 10 million active users, and for Firefox - more than 5 million active users ^{[12] [13]} .

A joint study by Sourcepoint and comScore reported an increase of 833% over a ten-month tracking period ending in August 2015, the strongest growth in software ^[14] . It is noted that the growth is due to the desire of users to clean blockers outside the program of "acceptable advertising" ^[15] .

In January 2016, uBlock Origin was added to the Debian 9 and Ubuntu 16.04 repositories. ^{[16] [17] The} extension was awarded the Mozilla Choice of the Month Award for May 2016. ^[18]

Nick Rawls officially released uBlock Origin for Microsoft Edge on December 11, 2016 ^[19] .

Ellis Tsung released the beta version of uBlock Origin for Safari on December 9, 2016. ^[20]

The project specifically refuses donations ^[4] .

Shortly after the project section, Chris Adjudi created ublock.org to host uBlock, promoted the extension, and requested donations. In response, uBlock founder Raymond Hill stated that “donations requested by ublock.org do not benefit anyone who contributed the most to the creation of uBlock Origin” ^[4] .

Prior to this version, support for Safari and Firefox was publicly introduced by versions 0.8.5.4 and 0.8.5.5 by the developer "Deathamns", who has since left the project with the founder Raymond Hill. Firefox extension response was sent to developer Alex Valat at Hill's request. Subsequently, Vallat entered the code into uBlock Origin.

The project is no longer being developed, and the latest project source code was developed in August 2015 ^[21] . The website's security certificate expired in May 2016 and was renewed on June 30, 2016.

Lock and Filter

uBlock Origin and uBlock support most of the Adblock Plus filter syntax. The popular EasyList and EasyPrivacy filter lists are included as default subscriptions. Extensions can import host files, and a number of community-supported lists are available during installation. Among the available host files, the list of Peter Low ad servers and Malware domains are also included by default. Some additional features include dynamic filtering of scripts and frames and a tool for hiding web page elements. Starting with version 0.8.7.0, dynamic filtering in uBlock can act as a complete replacement for RequestPolicy or similar add-ons ^[21] . uBlock Origin includes a growing list of features not available in uBlock, including a new mode that helps those who lack color vision, a new dynamic URL filtering function, new logging functions and interface improvements, including a DOM inspector, new privacy settings for blocking Pre-fetch links, audit hyperlinks and leak IP addresses via WebRTC . The latest releases of uBlock Origin also added switches for working with sites for switching pop-up blockers, strict domain blocking, cosmetic filters and fonts ^[4] . The uBlock Origin version for Firefox has an additional feature that helps avoid websites trying to bypass blockers ^[4] .

Performance

Technology websites and user reviews for uBlock consider the extension less resource intensive compared to extensions that provide similar functionality, such as Adblock Plus ^{[22] [23] [24]} A test in August 2015 with ten lock extensions showed that uBlock Origin is the most resource-efficient among the tested extensions. ^[25] .

uBlock checks which style resources are needed for a single web page, and does not rely on a universal style sheet. The extension takes a snapshot of the filters that the user has enabled. This contributes to faster browser loading compared to extracting filters from the cache each time ^[26] .

uBlock Origin is being actively developed for applications based on 3 main engines. uBlock is no longer being developed for Safari ^{[9] [22] [27]} .

• Blink
  • Google Chrome / Chromium (For PC: uBlock and uBlock Origin)
  • Opera (For PC: uBlock Origin)
• Webkit
  • Safari (For PC: uBlock and uBlock Origin (Beta)) ^[20]
• Gecko / quantum
  • Firefox (For PC: version 29 and above; uBlock and uBlock Origin)
  • Firefox for Android (mobile: uBlock and uBlock Origin)
  • SeaMonkey (For PC: uBlock 0.9.3.5 and higher, uBlock Origin 0.9.9.2 and higher)
  • Pale Moon (For PC: uBlock 0.9.3.5 and higher, uBlock Origin 0.9.9.2 and higher)
  • Thunderbird For PC: uBlock Origin 1.3.0 and higher)
• Edgehtml
  • Microsoft Edge (uBlock Origin is available in the Windows store ) ^[19]

Known Release Phases

uBlock

uBlock Origin

• Adblock plus
• Adguard