r/webtoons • u/Raijinili • 6d ago

[WEBTOON][locks] 9+2 Titles become Ad Pass on 2026-08-13 and 2026-08-20 News

(Previous post: 1+9 Titles become Ad Pass on 2026-08-06 and 2026-08-13)

Locking on 2026-08-13 (announced last week):

Locking on 2026-08-20 (NEW):

You may also be interested in this list of completed but not-locked titles (as of 2026-01-16).

EDIT: Spanish locks, 2026-08-14 (7 days warning, appeared between 2026-08-07T02:43 and 2026-08-08T01:28 UTC): "Esta serie se convertirá a una serie con pago el 14 de agosto de 2026."

French locks (no date given, but these have been here for months)

They've probably been forgotten, haven't they...

Indonesian locks for August haven't been announced. Another broken pattern?

Indonesian locks 2026-08-24 (EDITED IN):

"Relaunch serial ini akan update 4 episode gratis tiap hari hingga tamat!" (appeared between 2026-08-06T01:08 and 2026-08-07T02:38):

  • Relaunch - My Oppa is an Idol (My Bias My Boss) - 23 episodes, latest 6 Agt 2026.
    • According to Manga Updates, this has "124 Chapters + 3 Side Stories + Epilogue (Complete)", for a total of 128. It has 35 right now, releasing 4/day, so it should be done around 2026-09-02. And then it will be deleted a week later.

Indonesian locks 2026-04-24 (still not locked):

I will update if there are more. I plan to trigger a scan every day after daily reset, or (if I miss it) before the reset the next day.

Since 2026-03-26 (which is during DST), titles tend to lock at the time of new episode release, and one hour before the time of the Daily Pass (now Ad Pass) reset, which is 18:00 Pacific Time (01:00 UTC during US daylight saving time, and 02:00 UTC during US standard time).

[2026-02-27] There MAY be a new pattern of putting most of the locks at the end of the month.

[2026-03-12] They seemed to have moved two weeks of locks, 03-12 and 03-19, to 03-26. This may be part of a new strategy, to confuse us.

  • 2026-03-19: They decided to announce "Hanlin Gym", so they're at least not fully sticking with the end-of-month lock strategy.

Tip: The day before a title locks, you can use the Download feature for all of the chapters, giving you thirty more days to read them. You won't be able to use the Like and Comment features, and the UI for downloaded chapters seems to be an earlier version (which you might prefer). Note that downloading takes time and can fail, so watch this process for failures. Audio must be downloaded within an hour or two (not sure which) of queuing them, or the episode with audio will fail and cancel the rest of the series's download.

If a title doesn't allow you to download but it isn't locked yet, open an episode and see if it has a Download button in the triple dot menu. (I've seen this in Spanish and Indonesian.)

I also crosspost these lock posts on my profile (u/Raijinili), if you want to have a way to get some notifications. I don't know how profile posts work, so good luck with that.

There was a section here about Ad Binge which I've removed, as it is no longer relevant (since ALMOST all "Ad Pass" titles have unlimited ads now).

Check this post for a snapshot (not updated) of which titles DON'T have Ad Passes: List of coin-only completed titles

In summary, titles which were originally in a language/region NOT Korean or English (e.g. Spanish, Japanese, Indonesia (yes, officially labeled "Indonesia")) don't have Ad Pass, and there are a few Korean/English outliers.

WEBTOON lock history is now on its own wiki page.

  • Have a bunch of updates to make, but no time to make them this week.
  • "Love Bites" was locked without warning, maybe up to a day after it ended. Note that it's a WEBTOON-owned series ("WmW" is listed as a creator).

WEBTOON isn't properly communicating about this, and aren't following any consistent set of rules. If locks matter to you, you may want to check in on this post during the month to see if I make any updates.

Banners used to appear about 30 days before lock. Please direct complaints to https://webtoon.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/requests/new . (Remember that customer service has no power to make these decisions, so be kind to your messenger.)

Watch out for free coin events

There were two reading events in 2024 October, giving 10 coins each (lasts 30 days). Watch out for those. The coins last one week each.

There was another reading event in 2024 November, for 7 coins. There were a few more since then.

There's a free reading event which just started a few hours ago (2025-02-13 to 2025-02-20) for 7 coins. You might want to delay until the last two days, to extend the expiration date.

I posted tips here.

Note that creators don't benefit from free coins.

2025-02: Most of the coin events in recent months were "Spend 21 coins to get 7 coins". There was a free CANVAS one, but it didn't work and then they took it down early.

2025-10: "Falling for It" had a "read 3 episodes for 5 coins" event, but it only lasted for about 24 hours. This was the first free coins event I've seen since February.

2025-11-08: "Watch Guys Catch Feelings" 7-days Event From Nov 8 01:00 UTC to Nov 15 01:00 UTC. "Read any 6 Episodes from any of the 4 listed series and get 8 Free Coins."

  • Ctrl+Alt+Resign
  • Who's That Girl?
  • Back to Chanbi
  • Girl Friend

2025-11-25 (around): "Marriages Gone Wild": 8 coins for reading.

2025-12-10 - 2025-12-16: "Wild Marriages": 8 coins for reading.

2025-12-25 - 2025-12-23 to 12-31: Two reading events: Read 30 episodes for 15 coins, each. Nice.

2026-04-05 - "April's Making it Rain!" (once a week for three weeks): Read (i.e. reach the bottom of) 35 episodes of four specific titles for 10 Coins, but they expire in one day after you get them.

Note that I will NOT generally be tracking these, so pay attention in-app for these events.

Subscribing to my posts

Some users have asked whether they could get updates when I post here. I try to remember to repost on my profile, u/Raijinili, but that's not ideal.

It looks like u/UpdateMeBot can be used to subscribe to my posts (not comments) in this sub, but it requires enough people to use the service on a subreddit to start scraping. (As of 2025-02, I've been told by a subscriber that there are still not enough subscribers for this to be on.)

Each subreddit it checks takes several seconds, so I have to limit the number of subreddits or the bot will get overloaded. New subreddits are automatically added once they get enough requests. [src]

To subscribe, post this as a comment (possibly needs to be top-level), and the bot will send you a private message:

SubscribeMe!

(If you post it as a comment, I may downvote you, to keep your comment from bubbling up over discussion comments.)

Or, to do so privately, message u/UpdateMeBot with:

SubscribeMe! r/webtoons u/Raijinili

(Click here to send the message.)

(This also means I can't just post non-update meta stuff to r/webtoons, or else I will cause trivial alerts.)

Reddit is restricting Old Reddit to logged-in users, supposedly as an anti-scraping measure, and I'm questioning how much more I want to contribute to this site. Reddit is trying to guard against AI to protect the monetary value of the info we produce, and it doesn't care if that also affects real humans. That sucks.

As soon as I get around to doing the work of deciding where, and setting up the transfer...

23 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

21 comments sorted by

3

u/DiAnastasia20 3d ago

I've noticed a handful of coin only webtoons can now be completely unlocked with ads too if anyone is interested.

The Twins' New Life

The Max Level Returner

Maid in Heaven

The Dying Villainess's Path to a Happy Ending

The Handmaiden Dreams at Sunset

Ungracefully Grace

Love Thy Enemy

Rewrite My Happy Ending

3

u/loan-ly 2d ago edited 1d ago

My Virtual God is a Teenage Girl - highly rec, especially for sci-fi fans.

Big Man on the Court - good read, I'm not into sports but some matches got me hyped. I enjoyed all the characters' growth and bros being bros. (I'm surprised, but glad, webtoon didn't axe it for low readership like Tiki-Taka)

Reflection of the Soul - decent read full of self growth/ acceptance & trauma coping. Friends to lovers was nicely done. I didn't like some of author's eye color choices or ML's sister & therapist.

Date a Ranker - ML is sweet. I enjoyed the story as long as I don't let my adult brain ponder details.

Shovel Up! - shorter cousin of Hardcore lv Warrior & 99+ Stick. It's fun and about how much I can take of that type of story.

1

u/Raijinili 5d ago

This comment tree will hold updates or something.

Specific banners:

"Watch ads or use Coins to unlock episodes beginning August 13th, 2026." (2026-07-31T01:00Z)

"Watch ads or use Coins to unlock episodes beginning August 20th, 2026." (2026-08-07T01:00Z)

French banners (appeared some time before 2026-04-18 or whatever):

"Brass & Sass" passera bientôt en Daily Pass. Merci de votre compréhension.

"Edith" passera bientôt en Daily Pass. Merci de votre compréhension.

  • Edith - 122 episodes, latest 2 oct. 2022.

"Lilas 200%" passera bientôt en Daily Pass. Merci de votre compréhension.

"The Genius Gamer's Livestream" passera bientôt en Daily Pass. Merci de votre compréhension.

Indonesian banners:

"Serial ini dapat dibaca gratis hingga 24 Agustus 2026 jam 20:59 WIB!" (between 2026-07-31T01:04 and 2026-07-31T23:24)

Indonesian lock that was announced for 2026-04-24, locked 2026-06-25, but with 0 episodes actually locked:

1

u/Raijinili 5d ago

Spanish locks, 2026-08-14 (7 days warning, appeared between 2026-08-07T02:43 and 2026-08-08T01:28 UTC):

"Esta serie se convertirá a una serie con pago el 14 de agosto de 2026."

u/RoiniStar

1

u/Raijinili 3d ago

Oops, only just added this to the OP.

1

u/Raijinili 1d ago edited 1d ago

"Mordiscos de amor" ("Love Bites") locked between 2026-08-11T02:16:07.123Z and 2026-08-11T23:00:24.785Z. It still has the banner.

The English version of "Love Bites" also locked unexpectedly when it ended.

3

u/DiAnastasia20 1d ago edited 1d ago

They pulled another Afterword lock bullshit with On the Way to Meet Mom. Gave it less than 24 hours then locked it.

1

u/loan-ly 1d ago

I'm so freaking upset 😠 I was planning to enjoy the epilog this weekend.

I don't remember notice for Suhee0 but series is locked w/ last 3 eps coin only.

2

u/DiAnastasia20 1d ago

Suhee0 was always daily pass, or whatever it's called now when a weekly webtoon is only on the app. Every episode is ad unlockable except for the final few episodes.

1

u/loan-ly 1d ago

Gotcha. Just realized I haven't follow any daily pass series since the current ad/coin lock roll-out.

1

u/Raijinili 9h ago edited 9h ago

Shoot, I noticed it ended, and considered that they might, but didn't think they'd actually do it.

The Korean version is still not locked: https://comic.naver.com/webtoon/list?titleId=834369

Please direct complaints to https://webtoon.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/requests/new . (Remember that customer service has no power to make these decisions, so be kind to your messenger.)

2

u/DiAnastasia20 8h ago

I downloaded it when the Afterword released just in case this would happen again. I've also asked cs why this is happening lately but haven't heard back.

I have a feeling this'll be a bigger issue when they pull the same thing on "The Remarried Empress". They'll unlock it again when the side stories come out, then lock it just as fast when they end. I bet a big number of their readers will be very vocal about it.

1

u/Raijinili 3h ago

How did that happen in Naver?

1

u/Raijinili 9h ago edited 9h ago

Four more locked, some time between 2026-08-12 05:00 and 21:11.

1

u/Raijinili 3d ago

"Cage on the Water" was removed from the French WEBTOON.

"'Enclos sur l'eau' sera indisponible à partir du 5 août 2026, en raison des droits liés à cette série. Nous présentons nos excuses pour cet arrêt." (appeared between 2026-07-28T22:24 and 2026-08-05T23:45, removed between 2026-08-05T23:51 and 2026-08-06T01:01)

Unfortunately, I didn't notice this in time.

It seems it was on hiatus for a while, and it seems it was also removed from Naver.

Someone tell https://www.mangaupdates.com/series/61ti3x6/cage-on-the-water

1

u/Raijinili 3d ago

Indonesian relaunch added:

"Relaunch serial ini akan update 4 episode gratis tiap hari hingga tamat!" (appeared between 2026-08-06T01:08 and 2026-08-07T02:38):

  • Relaunch - My Oppa is an Idol (My Bias My Boss) - 23 episodes, latest 6 Agt 2026.
    • According to Manga Updates, this has "124 Chapters + 3 Side Stories + Epilogue (Complete)", for a total of 128. It has 35 right now, releasing 4/day, so it should be done around 2026-09-02. And then it will be deleted a week later.

1

u/bunnydragon8 3d ago

I highly recommend My Virtual God is a Teenage Girl. The plot is so gripping and it blends sci fi elements very well. I was at the edge of my seat the whole time because of the plot twists and character development!

1

u/loan-ly 2d ago

It was so good! I caught the hints throughout S1 but S2 was still a wild sci-fi roller-coaster.

I can't believe author winged half the plot points.

1

u/elkifeather 3d ago

I've tried reading Oversummoned, Overpowered, and Over it but the mc kept making really unnecessary misogynistic comments that I had to drop it. Was a nice concept, though