What’s Going on With AdBlock for Edge?
Update January 2020: The new Edge browser (and the new AdBlock for Edge) is now here! Find out more.
It’s been seven months, or 215 days if you want to be exact, since we last released a version of AdBlock for Edge. You would be forgiven for thinking we forgot about the many users that still use AdBlock on Edge. But rest assured, AdBlock never forgets!
You may have missed the news, but last December Microsoft announced that it would be hitting the reset button on the Edge browser. Instead of using its own technology to power Edge, Microsoft announced that it would use an open source browser project, called Chromium, to power a new version of Edge. Chromium is the same project that Google’s Chrome browser uses. Since we knew Microsoft would be taking on this massive overhaul, we didn’t want to make a lot of changes to AdBlock for Edge that could end up getting lost in the reboot.
But here’s some great news: since Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome now share the same underlying architecture, that means that we can make most of the changes we’ve made in AdBlock for Chrome this year available for our Edge users. And we’ve rolled out a ton of new stuff in AdBlock this year in the 22 releases we’ve done since January! In other words: even though it’s been seven months since we last pushed out a release, we’ll be able to catch up extremely quickly.
In fact, you can try it out today! In the beta version of Edge, which is now available to the public, it’s super easy to install extensions like AdBlock from other browsers. Microsoft has even turned on the ability to install extensions from other browsers as a default setting.
If you want to give it a spin, here’s what you need to do:
- Download the beta version of Microsoft’s Edge browser. Don’t worry, you can use it alongside your existing version of Edge. You’ll need to visit Microsoft’s “Insider” store.
2. Once you’ve got the beta version of Edge installed, visit the Windows Insiders Store and install AdBlock and click “Get” to install AdBlock.
3. Click “Add Extension” to complete the install of AdBlock.
That’s it! Now you can enjoy all of the latest features and functionality of AdBlock while using the lightning-fast Edge browser. You should be aware that since this is a beta version of Edge, which is tech industry speak for an early version of a product, you may still see some bugs or run into a few quirks. But in our testing, we’ve found that the beta version of Edge works great.
We aren’t sure when Microsoft will remove the “beta” tag from its new version of Edge, but if past experience is any guide, we are anticipating that it will be made available to all Windows users soon. In the meantime, you can use all of the new features we’ve been rolling out in Chrome, right in your Edge browser.
Here are a few of our favorite new additions:
- Dark Mode. We built out our first custom theme for AdBlock, and we have many more on the way.
- Advanced ad blocking. Over the course of several releases we added new technology and custom rules to block the most annoying and intrusive ads on dozens of popular websites, including Twitch.
- A new look and feel. We’ve completely redesigned the look and feel of our pop-up menu and the AdBlock website.
Please take a look and let us know what you think. If you run into any trouble, visit our Help Center or send us a line at help@getadblock.com. We’re always happy to answer any questions you may have about AdBlock for Edge (or anything else)!
PS. Want to stay up-to-date on all the latest AdBlock updates and announcements? Join our mailing list!
