The Manifest V3 drama proved one thing: You don’t control your browser
Browser extensions are fantastic tools, but they live inside a walled garden. They can only do exactly what Google, Apple, or Microsoft allows them to do. And Big Tech can change the rules of the game whenever they see fit.
We know this firsthand. In February 2025, the strict new Manifest V3 policies forced us to completely remove our custom filters and Quick Fixes from the extension simply because our build failed an opaque Chrome Web Store review.
We fought back, of course. By September 2025, our engineers found a loophole using Chrome's new User Scripts API to successfully bring custom rules back and bypass the red tape.
But it highlighted an uncomfortable truth: it’s an endless game of cat and mouse. Corporations build higher walls, and independent developers have to spend months figuring out how to climb them.
There is a way to stop playing their game altogether. Stop relying on the browser.
If you want real privacy, you need filtering that happens at the system level. AdGuard’s desktop apps for Mac and Windows operate completely outside the browser's sandbox.
Here is why that matters:
🛡️ Immune to browser limits: Desktop apps literally do not care which Manifest version is trending right now or what the Web Store reviewers think. There are no rule caps
⚡ Pre-browser filtering: Ads, trackers, and telemetry get nuked at the network level before that garbage ever reaches Chrome, Firefox, or Brave
💻 System-wide protection: It doesn’t just clean up your web browser, it blocks ads and tracking in your other desktop apps, too
Don't sit around waiting for browsers to decide how many ads you're allowed to block. Take the control back.