Release Notes

🎁 The popup is free for everyone

Everything in the toolbar popup is free again, wherever you are: block or unblock the site you’re on in one click, run Pomodoro focus sessions and use the ad blocker. No free tries are used up and no plans appear there. Pro is now only about the Settings page — your blocklist with keywords and URL rules, categories, the schedule, Focus Mode sites, tasks, statistics and password protection. What’s free and what needs Pro →

✨ Changes

• Block Site in the popup is free — a new site, or one you had switched off, is blocked right away instead of opening the plans.
• Start Session in the popup is free — the focus timer starts with the times you set there.
• The Ad Block tab and the profile icon work as before. Sign-in, restoring a purchase and managing a subscription stay in Settings → Account.
• The Settings page works the same: after a few free tries, its Pro features open the plans. Where Pro isn’t offered, everything stays free.

🔒 Privacy & security

• The popup no longer loads the billing component or checks your plan status. Only the settings page does.

💚 Website Blocker Pro

Website Blocker gets a Pro plan — the way we keep the extension ad-free, without ever selling your data. Installing and trying it stays free, and so does the ad blocker; Pro unlocks the full extension for $3.37 / month, $1.05 / month billed yearly or $22.49 once for lifetime access, with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Pro is offered only in selected countries; everywhere else, every feature stays free. See the plans →

✨ New

• Pro plan — buy from inside the extension: after a few free tries, using a Pro feature opens the plans on the settings page.
• Pro in the popup — Block Site and Start Session in the toolbar popup are Pro features too. When the plans need to be shown, the popup opens them on the settings page, and the site gets blocked or the focus session starts right after the purchase. The popup’s Ad Block tab stays free.
• Account in the settings sidebar and a profile icon in the popup — sign in to restore a purchase on another computer, manage or cancel a subscription.
• Statistics preview — a short overview of what the Statistics tab tracks, with an “Unlock” button.

🔒 Privacy & security

• No remote code: the billing component ships inside the extension package. No iframes, no scripts loaded from the web.
• New offscreen permission — a hidden extension page that keeps your Pro sign-in state in one place. It never reads web pages.
• No rating request in the countries where Pro is offered. To tell which region you’re in, the extension asks the billing service at most once a week, with no identifier attached.
• Your blocklist, keywords and tasks are still never sent anywhere; your schedule and statistics leave the device only as anonymous totals in the sampled analytics. Card details are entered only on the payment processor's checkout page. Details in the privacy policy →

🛡️ The ad blocker is back

Website Blocker has a built-in ad blocker again. It’s free and off by default: open the popup, go to the new Ad Block tab and turn it on. Blocking websites and Focus Mode work the same as before.

✨ New

• Ad Block tab in the popup with the on/off switch, the number of ads blocked on the page you’re on and a link to the new Ad Blocker tab in Settings.
• Ads and trackers — blocks ad and tracker requests, then hides ad elements that are left on the page.
• This website and This page switches turn ad blocking off for the site you’re on or for one page. Allowed sites are listed on the Ad Blocker tab in Settings, where you can add or remove them.
• Block element — if an ad slips through, click the button in the popup, then click the element on the page to hide it. It stays hidden on later visits, and you can bring it back from Settings.
• Blocked count on the toolbar icon for the current tab. During focus time the icon shows the Focus Mode minutes instead. The Statistics tab adds ad blocker totals for today, this week and all time.

🔒 Privacy & security

• New permissions for the ad blocker: declarativeNetRequestWithHostAccess lets Chrome block ad and tracker requests with rule lists that ship inside the extension, scripting hides or removes leftover ads and runs the element picker, and webRequest is used only to count blocked requests.

🎯 Sharper focus — one job, done well

The Ad Blocker tab is gone — Website Blocker now focuses entirely on blocking distracting websites and Focus Mode.

✨ New

• Focus Mode minutes badge on the extension icon — see remaining time at a glance without opening the popup.

🔒 Privacy & security

• Stronger password protection — passwords and recovery codes are now stored more securely on your device.
• Hardened the blocked page against malicious URLs.

🐛 Bug fixes

• Password unblock dialog now adapts properly to dark theme in popup and settings.
• “Remove password” field is readable in dark theme.
• Session timer color fixed in dark theme on the settings page.
• Overnight schedule intervals (e.g. 22:00 → 06:00) now compute correctly.
• Popup schedule view matches settings page state in all edge cases.

⭐ Rating prompt

• New “Happy with our app?” dialog in popup and settings so you can rate the extension or send us feedback in one click.

📊 Statistics redesign

Statistics

• Reorganized Statistics tab with clearer section headers.
• Cleaner layout for daily, weekly and category breakdowns.

🎨 Design & accessibility

• Fixed font fallback across all pages.
• Added focus outlines for full keyboard navigation.
• Unified error colors and improved button styles.
• Larger favicons (40px) and smooth tab transitions.
• Contrast fixes for WCAG AA compliance.

✨ Popup improvements

• “This website” toggle now works both ways — turn off and back on directly from the popup.
• Fixed stats tracking for blocked counts.

🐛 Bug fixes & UX

• Categories and Schedule can now be disabled without restrictions.
• Whitelist input validates domains before adding.

✨ New features

• Feb 19 — Loading indicators on all action buttons for smoother experience.
• Feb 14 — Task categories with detailed statistics.

✨ Improvements

• Jan 9 — Refreshed design and improved sidebar navigation.
• Jan 10 — Cleaned up default site categories.

🎉 Major update — complete redesign & 6 new features

🕐 Schedule blocking

• Jan 2 — Set specific days and times when blocking is active.
• Multiple time intervals (e.g. Mon–Fri 9:00–18:00 + Sat 10:00–14:00).
• Quick presets: “Workday 9–18”, “Evening 18–23”, “Always”.
• Smart overlap detection with merge dialog.
• Visual badge on the blocked page when a schedule is active.
• Jan 3 — Schedule status displayed in popup with smart text.

🍅 Focus Mode (Pomodoro timer)

• Jan 6 — Built-in Pomodoro timer with Focus / Break / Cycles.
• Customizable Focus Time, Break Time and Cycle count.
• Built-in presets: Pomodoro (25/5/4), Short (15/3/4), Long (50/10/4).
• Separate “Focus Mode Sites” list — blocked only during focus, auto-unblocked on breaks.
• Real-time timer in popup with progress bar and cycle indicator.
• Pause, Resume and Stop controls.
• Chrome notifications when phases change.

✅ Tasks (to-do list)

• Jan 4 — Simple task manager synced across devices.
• Add, complete and delete tasks.
• Filters: All / Active / Completed, plus “Clear completed”.

📁 Categories

• Jan 4 — 5 preset categories: Social Media, Games, News, Video, Shopping.
• One-click enable/disable for an entire category.
• Create, edit and rename your own custom categories.
• “via Category” badges in the Block Sites list.

📊 Statistics dashboard

• Jan 4 — Track blocking progress: daily, weekly, top sites, focus sessions.
• 7-day blocking chart.
• Top 5 blocked sites with favicons.
• Current Status overview — Schedule, Focus Mode, Sites and Categories at a glance.
• Jan 5 — Share your stats on Twitter, Facebook, or download as image.
• Jan 8 — Enhanced statistics screen.

🔗 URL pattern blocking

• Jan 2 — Block specific URLs instead of entire domains.
• Wildcard support: youtube.com/shorts*, reddit.com/r/*/comments*.
• Toggle between Domain and URL mode when adding sites.
• Keep the main site accessible while blocking specific pages.

🔒 Security & password

• Jan 2 — Password recovery with recovery code (format: XXXX-XXXX-XXXX).
• One-click copy of recovery code to clipboard.
• Password required to disable blocking and remove sites or keywords.

🎨 UI/UX improvements

• Jan 7 — Feature tip cards with examples on every settings tab.
• Jan 6 — Blocking reasons, category badges and status overview on the blocked page.
• Jan 9 — Clean 8-tab sidebar, modern color palette, rounded corners and soft shadows.
• Improved blocked sites list with favicons, dates, search and per-site toggles.

🐛 Bug fixes

• Jan 3 — Fixed popup toggle sync with settings page.
• Jan 3 — Fixed Enter key and close buttons in password dialogs.
• Fixed popup freezing when blocking sites.
• Fixed settings page freezing when adding sites, keywords or passwords.
• Fixed URL validation for international domains.
• Dec 31 — Fixed extension hanging when VPN is active.

🚀 Initial release

• Dec 31 — Core site blocking with keyword and domain support.