Feature Request: Built-in adblocker

[mauro-balades]

What feature would you like to see?

title

What platform are you seeing the problem on?

Windows

Additional context

No response

~ Created automatically from issue: #162

[SomeDudeBrosky]

Specifically uBlock Origin, as it is the most reliable and accurate

[ahgraber]

I wouldn't mind bundling uBlock Origin, but I don't think it makes sense to try to "build in" an adblocker...

[nghiaxsm]

Is there any significant benefit from buitlt-in adblocker?

[Reapimus]

depending on how a built-in one is designed, it might be way faster and more performant than an extension could ever hope to achieve.

[youwen5]

depending on how a built-in one is designed, it might be way faster and more performant than an extension could ever hope to achieve.

why though? so it can go from imperceptible (ub0) to even more imperceptible by being builtin? you're hitting massive diminishing returns and you take on the overhead of having to maintain your own ad blocker when a gold standard already exists.

plus, client side content blockers can only do so much and ub0 is damn good. really the only substantial improvement is to implement filtering at the resolver level like pi-hole and adguard dns, which is out of scope for a browser.

[JSGRD22]

Perhaps a built-in blocker could add something new by having the default configurations include blocklists that are disabled by default in a newly-installed extension but that most people would want to use (by built-in I am referring to simply bundling uBO, I don't think there's anything else worth doing)

[xe-3]

Perhaps a built-in blocker could add something new by having the default configurations include blocklists that are disabled by default in a newly-installed extension but that most people would want to use (by built-in I am referring to simply bundling uBO, I don't think there's anything else worth doing)

I'm pretty sure (but not 110% certain) that bundling uBO would allow the option of pre-configuring custom lists. But really, the default lists of uBO are probably optimal for most people, and are by far the most tested and quicker to be fixed/updated when there are issues. Diverging from the default lists should be done only when you have specific reasons to do so in most cases.

[SomeDudeBrosky]

Is there any significant benefit from buitlt-in adblocker?

More users would have an ad free experience, as not everyone even knows they exist, eg. giving more users a better experience.

[youwen5]

it's probably more sane to just bundle ublock origin like librewolf does, i dont think zen needs to waste resources on an integrated blocker at this time when ub0 exists and firefox isnt threatened by manifest v3 like chromium

[ShayBox]

I have heard that Brave's AdBlock which is written in Rust is fairly performant, but I have no idea how it really compares to the gold standard uBlock Origin.

If it was based on anything else most people would just disable it and use uBlock Origin instead, so it would probably feel like a waste of time.

EDIT: Side issue, but uBlock Origin doesn't seem to work in the sidebar, so a built-in option would hopefully work with this too.

[xe-3]

I have heard that Brave's AdBlock which is written in Rust is fairly performant, but I have no idea how it really compares to the gold standard uBlock Origin.

According to some of Brave's own developers, their builtin adblocker (which is inspired by and borrows from uBO) is more performant, but at levels that will be imperceptible to humans (think micro-seconds) and won't noticeably impact the browsing experience.

Brave's CEO has also stated in the past that:

"[uBlock Origin is] a really strong model of the kind of mentality and approach the space should bring to user privacy"

and

"uBO does more by default, and has more knobs for its users, than Brave shields has or will likely ever have."

In any case, using an adblocker will generally speed up browsing compared to not using an adblocker because all of the crap it keeps from loading, so it should be a step in the right direction whichever (reputable and well established) option is chosen.

Personally I have a strong preference for uBO.

[artem-nefedov]

I switched to Brave specifically because uBlock was not doing a good job on certain platforms.
(Brave defaults also weren't good enough, but it does provide menu options to solve the problem)

[antikovt]

If there are any potential benefits to be had when bundling uBO, then sure, but I find it a little hard to believe. Otherwise perhaps a "Recommended Extensions" page during onboarding?

[Axenide]

Maybe... But I think it would be better (and easier) to recommend uBlock Origin when setting up the browser, like an option that says "Install uBlock Origin to block ads and tracking?" or even a few recommended extensions, like a multi-selection menu with, for example, DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials, uBlock Origin, etc.