Intro

I use Firefox Mobile, which tries to install the PWA (Progressive Web App) of sites whenever it finds a manifest file; otherwise it allows installation to just add a Firefox link to the site instead, which is what I want.

This can be done with the Ublock plugin¹. I’m struggling to find the right syntax for this; I believe I want a static filter that applies to any site. An example of the line that brings the manifest from Google Photos is this:

<link rel"manifest” crossorigin="use-credentials” href=”_/PhotosUi/manifest.json">=.

I looked for basic examples but couldn’t find an easy one. How can I make a rule which will block all link rel"manifest"= on any site?

Answer

The following line in your ublock “My Rules” will stop all manifests:

$csp=manifest-src 'none'

Remember, though, that manifests are cached, so you need to view the page fresh to get it. For me the simplest way was to make sure that ublock is enabled in private browsing and to visit the page and make the bookmark there. Then when you visit the bookmark in your public profile, just have it remember your log in.

Resources

https://www.reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/comments/ran1sf/how_can_i_block_manifest_files_on_my_mobile/

Footnotes

¹ ublock, among the most popular of plugins on Firefox, is available on github https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Introduction-to-basic-filtering-syntax or in the firefox add-on listing here: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/