Microsoft is testing a video ad blocker in Edge for Android

Microsoft has implemented a new feature in the company’s Edge Canary browser for Android. Called Edge Block Video Ads, its purpose is to block video ads on sites like YouTube. The experimental feature complements the mobile browser’s built-in content blocking.

Microsoft Edge for Android has not risen as much as the desktop version of Edge. In fact, there are not many stats available when it comes to Edge on Android.

Google’s Play Store reveals that Edge has been downloaded more than 10 million times, but the figure pales in comparison to the more than 100 million downloads from Firefox, Brave or Opera, and the more than 10 billion downloads from Chrome. The few companies that keep statistics online also have no information about Edge for Android.

Content blocking in Edge for Android

Edge for Android has a built-in content blocker, but it’s not enabled by default. Users must open Settings > Privacy & Security > Ads Block to enable it. The content blocker is powered by Adblock Plus and allows acceptable ads by default. However, Edge users can disable the functionality.

The blocker blocks most ads, but not necessarily video ads. The new experimental option to block video ads complements this.

Here’s how it’s currently enabled:

Load edge://flags into the address bar of the web browser.
Search for “video”.
Find the “Edge Block Video Ads” experiment on the results page.
Set it to Enabled.
Restart Microsoft Edge for Android.

The new video ad blocking feature works edge-wide. Microsoft makes no mention of the sites it supports. It worked during testing on YouTube, but it may also work on other sites that play video ads.

Experimental features may end up in the final stable version of Edge, but they may also be removed without notice.

Closing words

Ads on YouTube in particular have become a nuisance for many internet users, as Google has significantly increased the number of ads that YouTube users see in recent years. Now users can see ads before, between and after videos on the site.

Since regular ad blocking isn’t enabled by default in Edge for Android, it seems likely that video ad blocking isn’t enabled by default either, should it become a feature of the stable version.

Now you: Have you tried Edge on Android? Which browser is your main driver on mobile? (via Leopeva64-2)

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