There are very few pieces of software that I would consider essential, but uBlock is definitely one of them. I’ve been using it for years, and I genuinely love it. For me, browsing the modern web without uBlock feels almost unbearable. Advertisements, trackers, pop-ups, autoplaying videos and countless third-party scripts have become such a normal part of the internet that it’s really easy to forget just how much unnecessary stuff many websites are throwing our way.

uBlock strips a huge amount of that nonsense away. It makes websites cleaner, faster and, most importantly, gives me back some control over what my browser is actually doing. It’s not simply about removing advertisements; it’s about being able to browse the web without constantly feeling like I’m being watched, tracked or bombarded with things I never asked for or wanted.

Firefox is becoming the exception

This is one of the reasons I’m becoming increasingly uneasy about the direction the browser world is heading. Chrome and the wider Chromium ecosystem have been moving towards Manifest V3, which changes how browser extensions are able to operate and places significant restrictions on the technology used by traditional content blockers such as uBlock. Microsoft Edge and many other Chromium-based browsers have followed the same general direction.

For someone who relies heavily on uBlock, this is frustrating. What was once a normal feature of a browser is gradually becoming something that requires a browser willing to give users that freedom.

And that increasingly makes Firefox stand out.

Firefox remains the major browser I’m most comfortable recommending to someone who wants to use the full uBlock experience. While much of the browser industry appears to be moving towards a more restricted extension environment, Firefox continues to give users considerably more freedom over what their extensions can do.

It’s about more than blocking adverts

I think it’s important to point out that uBlock isn’t simply an “ad blocker”. That’s kind of selling it short of sorts.

For me, it is about privacy, performance and having control over my own browsing experience. I don’t particularly want advertising networks following me around the internet, nor do I want every website loading dozens of third-party scripts just so I can read an article. I don’t want videos suddenly playing in the background or huge amounts of unnecessary JavaScript consuming CPU, memory and bandwidth.

uBlock allows me to decide what I actually want my browser to load.

It also has another quality that I really appreciate: it’s lightweight. There are plenty of browser extensions that claim to protect your privacy while simultaneously adding their own layers of complexity and resource usage. uBlock has always felt different. It does its job extremely well without trying to become an entire security suite.

Why I’ll be sticking with Firefox

For me, this is ultimately why I continue to use Firefox. It’s not because I think Firefox is perfect, or because I believe everyone should use the same browser. It’s because I value having a browser that gives me choice and doesn’t get in the way of how I want to use the web. Being able to install extensions like uBlock and decide for myself what I want my browser to block, allow and load is something I don’t want to lose.

I don’t want my browser deciding how much control I’m allowed to have over my own browsing experience.

I don’t want anyone deciding how effective my ad blocker is allowed to be. I don’t want my browser quietly becoming less capable because the business model of the companies behind it depends on advertising and tracking. And I certainly don’t want privacy and content blocking to become something that browsers gradually make harder for users to achieve.

The web I actually want

I’m not claiming Firefox is perfect, and I’m certainly not saying everyone needs to use it. People should use whatever browser works best for them.

For me, however, the combination of Firefox + uBlock represents something I really value: a browser that gives me the freedom to decide how I experience the web.

The modern internet is already full of enough clutter, tracking and advertising. I don’t want my browser adding to that problem.

I want a browser that gets out of the way and lets me browse the web.

That’s why I’m sticking with Firefox, and why I hope uBlock remains a first-class citizen of the Firefox ecosystem for a very long time to come.

One Last Thing: Waterfox

One small clarification before I finish: although I’ve spent this post talking about Firefox, I don’t actually use regular Firefox as my day-to-day browser. I use Waterfox.

Waterfox is a Firefox-based browser that gives me the Firefox extension ecosystem I want while also offering some of its own choices and customisation. For me, it has become my preferred way of browsing the web, and it’s the browser I currently feel most comfortable using alongside uBlock.

Of course, Waterfox isn’t the only Firefox-based alternative out there. There are plenty of other projects worth looking at, including GNU IceCat, Pale Moon, Floorp and Zen, each with their own approaches, priorities and differences from Firefox itself. There are also plenty of other Firefox forks and alternative browsers for people who aren’t particularly happy with the direction mainstream browsers are taking.

I’m not suggesting that everyone should switch to Waterfox, or that it’s somehow the perfect browser. My point is simply that Firefox’s open ecosystem has allowed alternatives like these to exist in the first place. Having that choice matters.

For me, the important thing is having a browser that gives me the freedom to decide how I want to browse the web. and, most importantly, lets me keep using uBlock to make that web a little less cluttered, intrusive and frustrating.