Filter Backstop
Release date: 12 February 2026
Filter Backstop extends protection beyond Chrome and Edge browsers to provide whole-device app filtering. The Cloud Filter Extension remains the primary and most powerful layer, with Filter Backstop acting as a safety net to block content for specific domains. See full details and installation instructions: Filter Backstop overview.
Version 3.2.3
Release date: 18 August 2025
Fixed a minor issue introduced in version 3.2.2 where some devices weren’t receiving Blocklist updates.
Version 3.2.2
Release date: 5 August 2025
Fixed an issue where the Extension applied Web Filter policies for a tenant-specific Outside Premises location to all tenants.
Version 3.2.1.2
Release date: 15 July 2025
When a Safeguarding Alert is sent, the Extension now uploads Cloud logs immediately (as well as uploading batches every 5 minutes), so data is aligned between Safeguarding Alerts and Cloud Reporting.
We’ve also fixed excessive Safeguarding Alert generation.
Plus, we’ve made several improvements to how the Extension works with YouTube:
- Improved loading speed and blocking of links and thumbnails in the sidebar.
- Fixed an issue where videos in our Blocklist that were added to a Custom category weren’t blocked, and the category didn’t show on the Block page or Real Time Filtering Log Viewer.
- Fixed an issue where Restricted Mode would still be forced on when the YouTube SafetyMode Cookie Content Modification was turned off.
- Fixed two issues that caused setting overlays (such as Device theme, Language and Restricted Mode) not to show when clicked.
Version 3.2.1.1
Release date: 15 April 2025
Performance improvements
- Minor performance improvements for Content Modifications.
- Improved the performance of YouTube when you use Video filtering.
- We check when the device last communicated with Cloud Filter using the Secret Knock, so we can apply Mode 2 filtering soon after devices are woken up from sleep.
Content Modification
- We fixed an issue where users could press play before BBC iPlayer - Enforce parental guidance lock blocked the video.
- Force SafeSearch now works for ecosia.org.
- The ‘Blocked by Smoothwall’ message for Google Content Modifications works better with other page elements.
Filtering
- Improved how our IWF List lookup checks user activity, including better matching against query parameters and only checking web-accessible URLs in the IWF list.
- Fixed an issue where items added to Domain/URL filtering with capital letters would not be filtered as expected. Domain/URL filtering is no longer case-sensitive, so blocking EXAMPLE.COM will now match example.com.
- Changed how we look up data to better match URLs to the right Category.
Version 3.1.5
Release date: 27 February 2025
Performance improvements
We’ve significantly improved blocklist patching so it doesn’t stall the browser, including speeding up the time taken to download the new blocklist if it fails. This update fixes most instances of slow browsing you may have experienced.
Real Time Filtering Log Viewer
- We fixed an issue for Chromebooks provisioned using Google Admin, which showed empty or out-of-date information for the public IP address and log upload time.
- Fixed the Last Sent Logs field within Diagnostic Information for devices provisioned in Native mode. It now matches the main Diagnostics page and shows the timestamp rather than ‘Never’.
Other updates
- Content Modifications that modify content based on URLs now work with the extension.
- We fixed an issue with non-instant Safeguarding Alerts about themes other than Suicide, which were duplicated within the email.
Version 3.1.4.2
Release date: 10 January 2025
Resolved an issue where access to PDFs was blocked because they were incorrectly classified as IWF violations.
Version 3.1.4
Release date: 9 January 2025
Performance improvements
- Improved browsing performance by optimising IWF List lookup and splitting up blocklist loading so you can load pages quicker during startup.
- We also boosted the speed of content analysis by introducing caching for child phrase lookups and reducing unnecessary tab re-scanning.
Using YouTube with the Extension
- You no longer see a ‘Blocked by Smoothwall’ message and need to refresh to access an allowed video when the rest of YouTube is blocked.
- We’ve fixed the YouTube - Remove Adverts Content Modification, and selecting ‘Skip’ takes you to the start of the video rather than the end.
Version 3.1.3
Release date: 2 December 2024
Enhancements to make browsing faster and smoother.
Version 3.1.2
Release date: 27 November 2024
- Improved handling of blocklist changes.
- YouTube content is now scanned every 500ms instead of instantly, reducing system load and improving page load speed.
- Improved performance for Logs, System and browsers, especially for lower specification devices.
Version 3.1.1
Release date: 14 October 2024
The extension now scans tabs during startup rather than when the policy or blocklist is fully loaded. This ensures sites are blocked as expected, even on slower machines or internet connections.
Version 3.1.0
Release date: 23 September 2024
- You can now manage access to video platform content using Cloud Filter! Add the URLs or IDs of the videos you want to block or allow in the Videos tab of a Custom Category, then use this category in a Web Filter Policy.
- If a blocklist download fails, we now try to download the new blocklist again rather than download the old blocklist from the cache. We’ve also optimised the bandwidth usage.
Version 3.0.2
Release date: 20 July 2024
Made improvements to stability following the Manifest V3 (MV3) release.
Version 3.0.1
Release date: 10 July 2024
Resolved an issue that caused some browsers to stop responding and fail to load pages.
Version 3.0.0
Release date: 29 May 2024
Updated the extension to Manifest V3 (MV3).
Version 2.3.1
Release date: 8 April 2024
Using the YouTube - Remove sidebar Content Modification no longer prevents videos from being played in full-screen or cinema mode.
Version 2.3.0
Release date: 20 March 2024
You can now map Directory Groups to the Banned Users Group like other User Groups.
Version 2.2.1
Release date: 22 January 2024
Fixed an issue with excessive data logging in the backend, which may have impacted device performance and network bandwidth.
Version 2.2.0
Release date: 19 January 2024
- The Realtime Log Viewer in Cloud Portal now works with Edge and runs more quickly.
- The option to disable filtering on unmanaged devices is working correctly.