YouTube kept changing how it delivers ads after v1.3.0 — this release catches the new methods, including Shorts feed injections and midroll gaps that slipped through the network filter. Blocking systems now load in parallel so startup is faster and the popup feels snappier. The one-click recovery toast no longer fires on PDFs or standalone media files. Suspended tabs and their metrics survive browser restarts cleanly.
YouTube ad blocking strengthened — Shorts ads, midroll gaps, and new ad delivery methods now caught
Faster startup and a more responsive popup
Smart recovery no longer triggers incorrectly on PDFs, images, and video files
19 bug fixes for tab suspension, whitelisting, and site compatibility
Blocklists refreshed to 186,655 rules from 22 sources
Stronger YouTube Ad Blocking
YouTube keeps changing how it serves ads. This release catches several new methods that appeared since v1.3.0 — ads delivered through different code paths, sponsored content injected into Shorts feeds, and midroll ad breaks that slipped through the network filter. If you noticed the occasional ad creeping back in, this should fix it.
Faster & More Responsive
The extension now starts up faster by loading its blocking systems in parallel instead of one after another. The popup settings panel is snappier too — toggling features no longer causes unnecessary screen redraws. Background work like DNS prefetching and tab management uses fewer system calls.
Smart Recovery Fix
The one-click page recovery toast — which appears when an optimization accidentally breaks a page — was popping up incorrectly on pages that just display a single file, like PDFs opened in Chrome, direct image links, or standalone video and audio files. These pages look “empty” by design, but the recovery system misread them as broken. Fixed.
Site Compatibility
Cookie banner rejection now covers Fides-based consent systems used by sites like the New York Times and Washington Post. A conflict with strict security policies on LinkedIn has been resolved. Whitelisted sites now correctly bypass all optimizations, including on pages with embedded content from other domains.
Bug Fixes
19 fixes across core systems. Tab suspension handles browser restarts more gracefully — your suspended tabs and metrics are no longer lost if Chrome’s background process reloads. The whitelist is more reliable after toggling the extension on and off. Several content script issues on Twitch and YouTube that could cause increased memory use over time have been cleaned up.
Refreshed Blocklists
All 22 upstream sources re-downloaded and recompiled. 186,655 rules across three tiers: 100K ad and tracker domains (Free), 65K privacy and telemetry (Medium), and 22K malware, phishing, and fraud (Pro). Domain rankings updated against the latest traffic data so the highest-reach ad networks are blocked first.
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