Today we have released the latest version 3 of eBlockerOS. The update is a major milestone in the nine-year history of eBlocker. We are very proud that we have “finally” reached this milestone with extensive volunteer work. But development is not yet complete and we are very much looking forward to feedback and suggestions from our community.
Even if it looks like a minor update in terms of features, we have been working on the update for over a year. In addition to many internal improvements and bug fixes, the IPv6 implementation in particular took a lot of time. Find out why this was so time-consuming here.
IPv6 is the next generation of the Internet Protocol (IP), which will replace the former version 4 (IPv4) in the future. With this release, eBlockerOS 3 also supports IPv6 in a first beta version, so that it is no longer necessary to disable IPv6 on the router.
Important: All previous users of eBlockerOS who have already disabled IPv6 on the router/client should not make any changes. There is no advantage to switching to IPv6, but rather probably only new problems 😉
Update to eBlockerOS 3
In case your eBlocker is activated for daily automatic updates, it has already been updated automatically in the night of December 20, 2023. We recommend all other users to update manually as soon as possible.
Attention for manual updates: Depending on the hardware, the update may take 30 minutes or longer. The Internet connection will be interrupted during this time. Please wait for the update to complete! An interrupted update can destroy the eBlocker.
Most important new features and restrictions
We have listed all the major changes in the technical release notes. Here we explain only the most important new features in more detail.
IPv6 Support (beta)
The support of IPv6 is the most important new feature, which we are initially releasing as a beta version. IPv6 support is enabled by default on every eBlockerOS and can be disabled at any time under Settings> Network> IPv6 tab.
Even though IPv6 support works properly in our tests, we would like to use the beta version to gain practical experience with a variety of routers and other devices. We therefore recommend deactivating the function only in the event of an error.
Restrictions with IPv6
There are currently still the following known restrictions and particularities:
- Device Cloaking has a known bug under IPv6. This causes some devices to not always be cloaked. We are already working on a solution. Until the bug is fixed, you should refrain from using device cloaking in IPv6 networks for the time being.
- For IP anonymization via VPN, the VPN provider must also support IPv6. If your VPN provider does not yet support IPv6, it can happen that Windows computers in particular use the real IP address of the router and ignore the IPv4 route of the VPN provider. As a result, your IP address will not be anonymized.
- IP anonymization via Tor does not work consistently stable in IPv6-based networks. Similar to the previous point, Windows computers in particular may send the IPv6 data packets via the router so that the real IP address will be visible. Until a complete revision of the Tor feature (planned for Q1 2024), we therefore advise against the use of Tor in combination with IPv6. To anonymize IP addresses, only use VPN providers that fully support IPv6.
- The so-called IPv6 Privacy Extensions are not initially activated, as they can cause the eBlocker DNS server to fail. Privacy Extensions have the advantage that individual home network devices are not visible from the outside, but this has no effect in eBlocker-protected networks anyway. This is because all devices in the home network are always visible with the IPv6 address of the eBlocker (but cannot be individually identified, just as with activated Privacy Extensions). As part of the beta phase, we hope to analyze the problem in more detail with more testers and fix it.
- In very rare cases, it can happen that (especially Windows) computers temporarily bypass the eBlocker and route the traffic directly to the router. As a result, these data packets are not protected by the eBlocker. The faulty data redirection only lasts for a very short time and the situation usually resolves itself.
- eBlocker Mobile continues to use IPv4 to connect your mobile device to your home network. For this connection to work, your Internet provider must also assign a (dynamic) IPv4 address to your router. As this is the case with all providers known to us, we are not planning any changes to eBlocker Mobile for the time being.
If you find any other problems or bugs in connection with IPv6, please report them exclusively here in the forum. We can only investigate and fix bugs reported there.
Tip: Check for IPv6 in your home network
To check whether IPv6 is active on your device, simply visit the following URL: ipv6.eBlocker.org
This URL can only be accessed via IPv6. If you do not receive a response or an error, IPv6 is not activated.
Otherwise, your visible IPv6 address will be shown. This should be the IPv6 address of your eBlocker if everything has been configured correctly (see IPv6 address under Dashboard> tile Settings> click on “+ x addresses” or under Settings> Network> IPv6 tab). If you have also activated eBlocker HTTPS for your device, the eBlocker icon will also be displayed on the test page, as in the example on the right.
By the way: The test works in the same way for IPv4 if you use the following URL: ipv4.eBlocker.org
Device last seen
For a better overview of the devices currently active in the home network, you can use the new “Last Online” function. A new “Last Online” column is now displayed under Settings> Devices, which shows when the device was last active in the network.
For devices that have not been active again since the update to eBlockerOS 3 (such as the Amazon device in the example below), no time is shown.
Many more bug fixes and improvements
In addition to the visible new features, we have made many improvements “under the hood”. One noticeable improvement, for example, is the display of the eBlocker icon when eBlocker HTTPS has been activated for the device. Although eBlocker works perfectly and blocks everything on the network correctly, in the past the icon was not always displayed on all websites, which some users misinterpreted as “eBlocker is not working”. Now the icon is displayed on practically every website unless it is covered by a special layout or the website has been marked as trustworthy (under Settings> HTTPS).
Furthermore, we have optimized the interpretation of pattern-matching blocking lists in particular, so that even less over-blocking occurs and websites and apps work even more smoothly.
To improve security and stability, we have also upgraded all packages of the underlying Linux system to the latest versions. This means you are optimally protected again and your eBlocker is secure.
Background: Why IPv6 development was so time-consuming
You can think of the IPv6 implementation like installing new power lines in an existing high-rise building: New distribution and fuse boxes have to be installed everywhere in the building, all the walls have to be slit open and all the sockets, light switches and electrical fixtures have to be rewired. In the same way, we had to modify practically all the software components in eBlockerOS, because as a network device, the Internet Protocol is the basis for all eBlocker functions.
When eBlocker was conceived by the same name start-up in 2014, IPv6 was not yet widespread in home networks. The team of 20 people therefore initially relied on the familiar IPv4 protocol. Following the insolvency of the start-up, we took over the software at the end of 2019 and published it as open source in 2020. Since then, we have been developing eBlockerOS on a part-time basis together with a great team of volunteer supporters.
Despite a high level of commitment, nobody is available full-time for the further development of eBlockerOS. All activities are carried out “part-time” and in our free time. A very ambitious project, considering that eBlockerOS consists of around 300,000 lines of code.
By the way: We are very happy about any further support – especially from software developers who are familiar with Java, AngularJS, Ruby and/or Linux. If you would like to join us in fighting for a free Internet, please send us an e-mail.
Many technical challenges
Unlike with IPv4, we hardly had any practical experience with IPv6 and therefore stumbled across many pitfalls. We had to learn that the IPv6 implementation of the operating system vendors is very different. What works smoothly under macOS suddenly causes problems under Windows and yet Android or iOS often behave differently. This has led to a lot of research work and steep learning curves for us.
We assume we have still not fully understood all the differences and eliminated all the resulting problems. Therefore, we are releasing the IPv6 implementation as a beta in order to gain more practical experience together with our community.
Please report problems or bugs in connection with IPv6 exclusively here in the forum.
Note: This text was written entirely by humans. The graphics (except the screenshots) were generated with the artificial intelligence “Stable Diffusion”. We would like to thank StabilityAI for the great open-source AI.
