Microsoft Edge Tests Built-In Adblock Plus On iOS And Android

Microsoft Edge is following in the footsteps of other browsers today. Microsoft is adding native ad blocking to Edge, which is something we've seen from other browsers like Chrome, Firefox, and Opera. The only difference, however, is that Microsoft is adding Adblock Plus to Edge, taking things one step further than other companies have.

For instance, while Chrome blocks ads, it only blocks ones that don't adhere to the standards laid down by the Coalition for Better Ads. While the ads the Coalition is targeting are certainly annoying, they make up only a portion of the ads you see across the internet each day. As a result, you still ads when using Chrome, just not the most annoying ones.

With Adblock Plus, on the other hand, you end up blocking pretty much every ad you'd otherwise encounter. The benefit, of course, is that you don't need to install an extension, as this ad blocking is native and built right into the browser. That's particularly handy for mobile devices, which is why we're seeing this roll out to the iOS and Android versions of Edge first.

As The Verge points out, Adblock Plus is available in the beta build of Edge for Android and iOS today, so it's not available to everyone just yet. Microsoft has closed beta sign-ups for Edge on Android, but if you're already part of the testing program, you can hop into your settings and enable Adblock Plus beginning today.

Perhaps Microsoft is choosing to partner with Adblock Plus as a way of standing out from its mobile browsing competition? Even though Edge recently celebrated five million downloads on Android, it still lags pretty far the others, especially when you consider that Chrome comes pre-installed on every Android device. With this aggressive approach to ad blocking, Microsoft might be hoping to pull some people away from Chrome and the rest. In any case, we'll let you know when Microsoft rolls this functionality out to the live versions of Edge, so stay tuned.