14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft does plan to bring browser extensions to Windows 10 Mobile devices at some point in the future, but for the moment, the focus is entirely on PCs, so phone users still have to wait a little bit longer until this happens.
Without extension support, Windows 10 Mobile users are basically left with no option to configure an ad blocker for their devices, which once again places them behind Android and iOS users, for whom content blockers are already doing an excellent job of keeping browsing clean.
Until extension support arrives on Windows 10 Mobile, users of the platform might have another way to block ads thanks to a new project that’s currently being considered by the team at Adguard.
Right now, Adguard offers Android and iOS users a VPN-based ad blocking solution that automatically filters all ads just like a similar browser extension.
An Android-like solution
With Microsoft pushing hard for Project Islandwood, a bridge that allows developers to bring their iOS apps to Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile, it was only a matter of time until Adguard started looking into ways to port their ad blocking solution to Microsoft’s smartphone operating system.
It turns out, however, that the team has already encountered several roadblocks that prevented the app from being ported with Project Islandwood, so it’s now looking at the Android version for ways to release a Windows 10 Mobile solution.
“I did some research and it seems to be possible after all. We can do the same thing we do on Android. So, we can create a ‘virtual’ local VPN server which will filter traffic system wide,” a member of the development team is quoted as saying.
Certainly, this would be a welcome solution for Windows 10 Mobile users, at least until the arrival of browser extensions, which could only happen in spring 2017, when Microsoft releases the second wave of the Redstone update. The focus should be more on mobile devices for this 2017 update, and browser extensions are among the features that could be added.