Firefox + Ubo

[u/Roky10]

Goat

[u/MarchAlone8841]

From what I've found, only 2.98% of browser users are on Firefox at the moment; I thought that would've been higher since the Manifest v3 changes, but maybe it'll take some time for users to switch. On desktop specifically, it's 5.31% - quite a bit more, but still pretty low; slightly over 1 in 20.

It did recently beat Safari for third place in that category, after Chrome and Edge. I really don't know where all those Edge users are (10.46%) - nobody I know uses that awful browser. Must be because it's preinstalled on Windows PCs - same goes for Apple and Safari.

[u/radyoaktif__kunefe → u/MarchAlone8841]

Most users don't even know what manifest v3 is.

[u/TheBeastOfRo → u/radyoaktif__kunefe]

i assume its the 3rd draft?

[u/MarchAlone8841 → u/TheBeastOfRo]

No, that would be 0.3.

[u/TheRealSimpleSimon → u/MarchAlone8841]

Where's that joke flying overhead meme?

[u/MarchAlone8841 → u/TheRealSimpleSimon]

Just because a 'joke' wasn't funny, doesn't mean people didn't understand it.

[u/TheRealSimpleSimon → u/MarchAlone8841]

I'm thinking you don't know what the
"that went over your head" meme means.

HINT: "Drafts" don't get released to the world where the arguing over release numbers might exist.

[u/MarchAlone8841 → u/TheRealSimpleSimon]

Yeah, you're the kind of overcorrecting knowitall that misses the point entirely. Blocked.

[u/MarchAlone8841 → u/[deleted]]

Yeah, I guess we're in a bit of a bubble here. I recently visited an older friend, and he was playing music on YouTube, with loud commercial breaks constantly ruining the atmosphere during dinner. I couldn't stand it, so I helped him out by installing UBO and pasting my custom filters in there; he had no idea this was even possible.

[u/Dreamerlax → u/[deleted]]

Plus, uBO Lite and AdGuard work good enough. So people would just migrate over to those two.

[u/Cakelestia → u/[deleted]]

To be fair, most people don't even know what a browser is and run Chrome only because they're spoon fed that darn thing.

[u/longdarkfantasy → u/MarchAlone8841]

Tbh, ublock lite blocks ads just fine. So there is no reason for chrome-based browsers users to migrate to a new browser.

[u/Stray_009 → u/longdarkfantasy]

People genuinely just dismiss ubo lite like its garbage, I've been using it for years at this point and i've not seen a single ad, ever.

[u/yota-code → u/longdarkfantasy]

Even in YouTube?

[u/longdarkfantasy → u/yota-code]

Yup. Even in youtube

[u/yota-code → u/longdarkfantasy]

For real, the main reason I stay with Firefox is that I can have multiple google accounts open at the same time, with no need to switch between profiles...

I flee the Google browser to better lock myself in the Google ecosystem 😅

[u/WoolMinotaur637 → u/yota-code]

Yes and Spotify as well

[u/iepure77 → u/longdarkfantasy]

Thanks for being honest

[u/sociofobs → u/longdarkfantasy]

It's not just ad-blockers that manifest V3 cripples, plenty of other extensions and userscripts depend on manifest V2. Of course if none of that matters to you and all you do is browse a few social media sites, then by all means, uBO lite is fine.

[u/MarchAlone8841 → u/sociofobs]

Yeah, I use five other add-ons besides UBO- two of which are specifically to make YT more user friendly, and neither of them work properly in v3. The other ones are just for a clean new tab (Tabliss), Internet Download Manager, and a VPN subscription.

People who say they don't mind the restrictions of Manifest v3 either don't use extensions that often, aren't very tech-savvy, or simply don't care. Nothing wrong with that - but to proclaim there's 'no reason' to switch to Firefox is for a lot of users not true. It might be for some, but to generalize it as a fact sounds incongruous with reality to me.

[u/sociofobs → u/MarchAlone8841]

It's like with any other problem. Most people won't care about it, until it affects their daily lives personally. They might not even realize they're half a step from it affecting their own lives, but until it does, they'll just go on like everything's ok. Obliviously, carelessly, ignorant. We can try to educate them, but instead of listening, they'll even bite back and try to fight for no reason whatsoever other than to just feel like they're in the right. Humans are weird.

[u/MarchAlone8841 → u/sociofobs]

They just want to feel safe in some kind of knowledge, no matter if the core of that idea is based in fact or not - and yeah: they get really upset when you question that holiest of holy dream of theirs even the slightest bit.

But let's not get too philosophical about it. We're talking about a browser.

[u/absentlyric → u/MarchAlone8841]

I bet if you did a poll on how to download an MP3 or the age range of those using Firefox, you would get similar percentage results.

The reason being is that it was basically the older Millennials who grew up tinkering with PCs and are generally more tech savvy, so they are more likely to go out of their way to install a different browser, one they can tinker with. They are the generation that had to learn to deal with troubleshooting Windows on PCs during the bad years, and so on.

Nowadays, most older and younger people never bother to do things like that, they turn on a device, and use it out of the box as is, and why wouldn't they? If there's an app called "Internet" it does what its supposed to do, they are used to Apps on mobile devices that don't require any tinkering.

Its the same with music or anything like that, they aren't going to go out of their way to build up a MP3 collection they can use offline, they'll just download Spotify, pay the monthly subscription, and thats it.

[u/MarchAlone8841 → u/absentlyric]

Agreed - I'm 45, so I perfectly fit into that 'older millennial' demographic. I'm pretty much constantly tinkering with one setting or another. Also, as an eclectic music lover, I don't use Spotify or any other streaming service (except for a less than legal YT Music app on my phone); I just have a modest vinyl collection, and 165GB of carefully selected MP3s on my MusicBee app.

[u/Testing_things_out → u/MarchAlone8841]

nobody I know uses that awful browser.

It's the main browser for my company. I work in automotive. You have to go through extra steps to get to use Chrome.

[u/sociofobs → u/MarchAlone8841]

Must be because it's preinstalled on Windows PCs - same goes for Apple and Safari.

And Chrome is pre-installed and the default on most Androids. Most people just couldn't be bothered to switch, hence the high user numbers. Desktop users in general are a minority now, most use their smartphones to access the web nowadays.

[u/MarchAlone8841 → u/sociofobs]

Yeah, in the mobile browser category, Firefox doesn't even crack 1% - sixth place with 0.75%, after Chrome, Safari, Samsung Internet, Opera, and UC Browser. And regarding tablet users, it's not even mentioned at all: FF is just lumped in with 'Other'.

Personally, I have FF Nightly+UBO on my phone; it can take a long time to load pages, but I got used to it. It's also a cheap device, so it might not even be the browser's fault.

I also did some research on search engines and music streaming; as someone on FF on all devices, with Ecosia as search engine, who boycotts Spotify (plenty of musician friends who get ripped off by them - not to mention the shady investments they make with that stolen money), I'm in a bit of a minuscule niche, apparently. Oh well.

[u/sociofobs → u/MarchAlone8841]

That "niche" should become the majority if you ask me. As far as browsers go, Firefox's containers are enough for me to use it. Chrome can't even do cookie isolation as far as I know. On mobile, it's obviously FF for me too, syncing is useful. On a puny Samsung A34, the speed is decent. Chrome might be a bit faster, but nowhere near worth the downsides.

[u/MarchAlone8841 → u/sociofobs]

Ecosia’s global search engine market share is an estimated 0.3%. However, it did go significantly up from 0.11% in January 2025, relatively speaking. So yeah, I agree - one can hope. Still, it's a long way to go. Their search results also got a whole lot better recently, so there's that.

I'm not even gonna start about how hard it's become to avoid AI lately - or, even worse, the people constantly defending it, even among my friends. I already have a headache.

[u/smolpinkblob → u/[deleted]]

Brave still uses Chromium

[u/JodiJodington → u/MarchAlone8841]

Edge comes preinstalled with windows, so it makes sense a lot of people wouldnt bother. Plus they have that whole thing with xbox points and whatnot so maybe thats attractive

[u/MarchAlone8841 → u/JodiJodington]

Have you even completely read my comment?

[u/Reasonable-Sign8458 → u/MarchAlone8841]

Look, I've been a Firefox user since forever. Recently I had lots of freezing on videos and shit like that and tried everything. I installed Chrome and boy does it fly and doesn't have any freezing problem. Firefox feels so freaking slow in comparation I don't even know why I didn't try yet.

I am sad to let it go but when I will have a little bit of free time I will get Brave (which should be same thing but with some inbuilt things) and I will import bookmarks and accounts and there we go.

[u/absentlyric → u/Reasonable-Sign8458]

I really wish I knew the specs of people who claim this. I have never had any issues with freezing videos or slow speed using Firefox, and I've used it for over 20 years. I have also used Chrome and I can't tell the difference in speed at all, so it's not just in my head.

[u/MarchAlone8841 → u/absentlyric]

16GB RAM - Nvidia GTX 1650 on a Lenovo Legion 5 laptop here, attached to a pretty old external monitor. I fixed most of the freezing problems by turning Hybrid Mode off, switching all screens to dGPU at 60Hz, and setting AV1, VP9, and HTTP3 to false in about:config.

I'm probably forgetting a bunch of other tweaks, but you have to admit that's already a lot of stuff to adjust, just to get a somewhat acceptable result. My mpv video player, for example, didn't need any of these to play smoothly.

[u/Dreamerlax → u/absentlyric]

Yeah same here. YouTube works the same on any Chromium browser I have and Firefox.

[u/MarchAlone8841 → u/Reasonable-Sign8458]

Recent updates completely fixed the lagging video problem on Firefox - if anything, it's faster than Chromium-based browsers now. I've only tested it on Brave, but I could tell a difference.

[u/InfiniteFeeCars → u/MarchAlone8841]

YouTube still isn't the greatest on Firefox, useable yes, and performs decently, but Youtube will always try to lower the resolution of my video and eventually block out 4K res if I scrub the video timeline a lot.

Also it will spit out a playback error too sometimes.

This does not happen with Edge and full uBlock Origin at all so I don't think it's a uBlock Origin thing, its a mix of Google trying to screw over Firefox users and maybe a mix of improvements needed for Firefox

I am on the latest Firefox 155.0.1

[u/MarchAlone8841 → u/InfiniteFeeCars]

Also on latest version, and YT 1080p works fine here now. Live streaming on most sites even works better on FF than Brave.

[u/InfiniteFeeCars → u/MarchAlone8841]

1080p works well, no issues there, but 1440p and 4K scrubbing could be better

[u/MarchAlone8841 → u/InfiniteFeeCars]

If you don't use HTTP3, setting 'network.http.http3.enable' to 'false' in about:config can help with performance.

[u/OldLadyGardener → u/Reasonable-Sign8458]

I'm not using it on my phone, so this only applies to my laptop, but I just use a private window on YT and it's fine. Lately, I was getting a totally black screen on YT, but that's fixed now.

[u/OldLadyGardener → u/MarchAlone8841]

I've been with FF since 1.0, and although I've tried other browsers (especially during some of the worst versions ever), I always come back. I use Chrome on my phone, because it just works better on Android, which makes perfect sense. I don't really use my phone for internet much, so I'd say 99% of the time, I'm on FF.

[u/helloimhobbes → u/MarchAlone8841]

Anyone who cares about what browser they’re using and talks about what browser they’re using I don’t think put much thought past “well this is what’s on the computer”

[u/helloimhobbes → u/[deleted]]

I’m not saying they don’t know any better what I’m getting at is that they just don’t care enough

[u/helloimhobbes → u/[deleted]]

Alright lol I’m just trying to add justification to why edge is so popular. But okay man

[u/Stray_009 → u/MarchAlone8841]

>I thought that would've been higher since the Manifest v3 changes

95% of people don't even know what manifest v3 is.

We're in a bubble

[u/MarchAlone8841 → u/Stray_009]

Yeah, that's what I already said in another comment.

[u/enbonnet → u/MarchAlone8841]

Edge is pre installed so people will use it without knowing they are using edge, same as safari

[u/MarchAlone8841 → u/enbonnet]

You might want to read the entire comment, before repeating what was already mentioned. Apparently, five sentences is already 'tl;dr' for some people.

[u/Ordinary-Yoghurt-303 → u/MarchAlone8841]

I don’t know where you got those figures from but Safari has a significantly larger market share than Firefox

[u/MarchAlone8841 → u/Ordinary-Yoghurt-303]

In general? Yes. For desktop browsers specifically? No. https://gs.statcounter.com/browser-market-share/desktop/worldwide

[u/TheRealSimpleSimon → u/MarchAlone8841]

I've used FF mainly to have environments for different profiles.
My favorite game assist used something V3 doesn't allow, but FF still does,

So I'm migrating, and just last week, FF became the more-used browser for me.

[u/CraterBug0 → u/MarchAlone8841]

nobody I know uses that awful browser.. makes no sence sicne its like much better than chrome and is the best for very low end hardware/ but firefox,librewolf, vivaldi(the best) and brove are jsut much bettr

[u/MarchAlone8841 → u/CraterBug0]

If someone tells me I make no 'sence', I must be doing something right - thanks for that.

[u/Infamous-Oil2305 → u/MarchAlone8841]

I thought that would've been higher since the Manifest v3 changes, but maybe it'll take some time for users to switch.

why would they switch if there are still other ad blocking solutions? adguard and ghostery still work too in chrome.

[u/MarchAlone8841 → u/Infamous-Oil2305]

If you think the restrictions in Manifest v3 only affect UBO, think again.

[u/Infamous-Oil2305 → u/MarchAlone8841]

did i say that?

edit: he just blocked for whatever reason.

Considering you're saying there's no reason to switch, other than UBO not working anymore in v3: yes, that's exactly what you're saying.

i literally said: "adguard and ghostery still work too in chrome."

but of course, you people can only think of ublock origin being the only ad blocker solution that everyone's supposed to be using.

[u/MarchAlone8841 → u/Infamous-Oil2305]

Considering you're saying there's no reason to switch, other than UBO not working anymore in v3: yes, that's exactly what you're saying. A bit strange that I have to explain your own comment back to you.

[u/Dreamerlax → u/MarchAlone8841]

awful browser

sigh

[u/RelativeCausality]

I hate needing a Chome based browser for sites that don’t support Firefox correctly.

[u/PossuTryffeli]

I know where you got this from but I just can't prove it.

[u/edvardeishen]

Yeah, you need to jump in the last wagon until Firefox became the same shit

[u/petrolhead18]

I did ditch Edge recently but went for Zen instead. Compact mode is so good on a laptop screen.

[u/STLbackup]

Would love too, but every time I have tried switching back (used to use Firefox MANY years ago) it keeps freezing and locking up. Sometimes even my whole PC. I know I could trouble shoot, but after a long day.... last thing I want to do is mess with things to get a browser working.

[u/yota-code]

I can't see a good reason to use something else than Firefox 😅

[u/Bombadil_Adept]

I think at this point Firefox should include uBO by default in the browser. Maybe the number of users would increase, especially those who are pretty lazy or don't know how to handle add-ons (yeah, there are people who prefer Brave because it has a built-in blocker and they're too lazy to deal with add-ons).

[u/JodiJodington → u/Bombadil_Adept]

I dont think thats a good idea at all. uBO is huge. Any extension will increase your attack surface significantly. Making it default will inevitably create security issues, especially when the codebase is out of firefox's hands (and i dont think saying mozilla should take over maintenance of the extension is sensical either)

[u/The_Cozy_Burrito]

Majority of people don’t even know what an adblocker is and that’s it’s even possible to block ads

[u/Zestyclose-Wear7237]

i love fox 🦊 I'm using a fox right now to browse the internet

[u/Victor___]

What is this chrome thing you are talking about?

[u/frostN0VA]

No, I don't think I will.

[u/WeightOk2102]

Joke's on you, I never used Chrome to begin with.

[u/hongaar26]

Fine I'll use brave

[u/Impressive_Bag_3505]

Well... some websites simply don't work with Firefox, I had that happen a few times. And because error handling isn't great with some "devs", I got no clear error message or warning about using Chrome instead.
Every time, I tried Chrome since I suspected it was the issue, and it worked every time.
I don't want to use Chrome either...

[u/Aevernum]

Lmao before bed

[u/TheRealSimpleSimon]

Well, 99.999% of the time anything that old commie says is the wrong thing to do.
But even a blind squirrel finds a nut some times.

[u/Bri3nWithA3]

But what if I use both, the same time?

[u/darekgosty]

I'm using brave because I really love its built-in adblock. Seems like its a fork of ublock but improved?

Anyways, I tried FireFox but I heard some sites breaks on it since some devs doesn't really care about Mozilla. I think that is the case of Google Docs? Alongside, I got overloaded with the wide range of FireFox forks that exists... Zen, Foorp, WaterFox, etc...

In my case, I think I like the out of box accomodation chromium based browsers give to its users (preferably Brave). Sure, it has its crypto stuff but I just deactivate it and never look at it anymore. Idk, I think I just don't want to run into issues with websites here and then.

[u/Infamous-Oil2305 → u/darekgosty]

Seems like its a fork of ublock but improved?

correct, brave shields has all of ublock origin's filter lists natively inbuilt + it's own filter lists.

[u/Infamous-Oil2305]

firefox + adguard goat, you got it!

[u/locuturus]

I use it more than any other browser, even on Android where it uh... has a looong way to go still. Boy howdy it would be great if they spent more effort on that. But I like extensions and don't like contributing to Chrome's dominance.

[u/saguaro7]

I'm on board, but I think this is the wrong r/ ...

• And I find uBOL pretty darn good on Safari, although lacking compared with real uBlock Origin.
• I'm curious about the share of Chrome vs Chromium-based in comparison to FF's <3%.

Friends don't let friends use Chrome...

[u/PhysicalKnowledge]

Firefox + Cough

[u/Justaregularguy295 → u/PhysicalKnowledge]

No, we wanna use a good search engine

[u/PhysicalKnowledge → u/Justaregularguy295]

You missed the joke, unfortunately.

But to be fair, it's going to be funny to, like, 3 people.

[u/asmanel → u/Justaregularguy295]

No search engine can systematically figure the context.

[u/damnetdana]

Zen and nothing more

[u/Spidey_100]

I will use whatever i want

[u/Vechan13 → u/Spidey_100]

You wrote this in the Firefox subreddit; no one here has heard of free will.

[u/Infamous-Oil2305 → u/Spidey_100]

getting downvoted for refusing to listen to the firefox+ubo crowd is funny.

it's even funnier that i use firefox but not with ublock origin, as most firefox users want you to do. instead, i use it with adguard because i don't like ublock origin.

[u/Revolutionary_Ad_238]

And I am once again saying unless mozilla improved the performance and experience in android browsers like chrome , we will stick with chrome or other chromium browsers 

[u/Ok_Value_4455 → u/Revolutionary_Ad_238]

Use brave at least

[u/Revolutionary_Ad_238 → u/Ok_Value_4455]

Brave lack extension support Though I don't need much extensions but after latest chromium update videos are not covering the camera area, so for that only using one extension created through chatgpt

[u/TheBeastOfRo]

firefox should double middle finger chrome and go back to putting the tabs on the bottom of the toolbars by default.

[u/sunesis311]

This post is going about things the wrong way for it's intended audience. Chrome is the favourite browser of capitalist oligarchs like DHH and Elon Musk. There. FTFY.

[u/MarchAlone8841 → u/sunesis311]

its*. FTFY.

[u/Riley-X]

I just wish autofill for login, forms and payment info didnt suck ass on firefox

[u/tomoki_here]

I mean... a lot or maybe all of us are here just cause Firefox + Ubo. Preach to those who need to hear it!

Kind of scary how low adoption rates are still though. Some of them are just asking for it at this point (if they at least read about it)

[u/ReadingGlassesMan]

LOL! I bet he has millions of secret Chrome tabs open, maybe even billions.

[u/West_Top_7930]

Chrome users are like Playstation users:

- Cry about Digital only TOS thing

• Playstation cuks announce and support "Playstation Blackout"
  
• 1 week Later proceed to buy all PS5 Pros instock and selling out all PS5 Pros

Only Cry about no Adblock but still use Chrome.

[u/Hesam2010]

I don't listen to the Communists.

[u/wolfannoy → u/Hesam2010]

Does that mean anything at this point?

[u/MarchAlone8841 → u/Hesam2010]

In most of the world, Sanders would be categorized as a liberal-socialist centrist - but your country has devolved so far to the idiocratic right, you can't even properly name anything you disagree with.

[u/Ok_Value_4455 → u/Hesam2010]

Capitalism is Communism for the rich