Chrome Removes Remaining Manifest V2 Workarounds, Further Limiting Support for uBlock Origin and Legacy Extensions

Google Chrome is entering the final stage of its transition from Manifest V2 (MV2) to Manifest V3 (MV3), effectively ending most remaining methods that allowed users to continue running legacy extensions such as uBlock Origin. According to discussions in the Chromium development community, Google has started removing internal flags and code paths that previously enabled MV2 compatibility or delayed its deprecation. Google engineers stated that maintaining MV2 support is no longer practical due to increasing technical debt, implementation complexity, and security concerns, including bugs that specifically affect MV2 extensions. As a result, future Chromium releases will remove several remaining options that users and administrators had relied on to keep MV2 extensions functioning. For example, registry-based workarounds that extended MV2 availability are expected to stop working after Chromium version 151. The changes will affect Chrome directly and may also influence other Chromium-based browsers. Microsoft Edge has already begun disabling uBlock Origin, while Opera’s long-term support plans remain under discussion. Although an earlier report suggested Opera was preparing to abandon MV2 support, the company later clarified that it still intends to support existing MV2 extensions for as long as it remains technically feasible. Opera acknowledged, however, that a gradual transition to MV3 is inevitable and that less-used MV2 extensions may eventually disappear. Browsers such as Brave and possibly Vivaldi currently appear more committed to maintaining MV2 compatibility. For users who wish to stay on Chrome, Google’s recommended path is MV3-compatible alternatives such as uBlock Origin Lite, although some users report that it offers fewer capabilities than the original extension. Mozilla Firefox remains one of the few major browsers supporting both MV2 and MV3 extensions.