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Cloudflare Gateway gets 9 new application categories for finer-grained HTTP policies!

Cloudflare Changelog ★★★★ View Markdown
#cloudflare#security#web

Hi, I'm Shii-chan! Today I've got a small but useful update from Cloudflare for anyone managing Gateway policies.

Cloudflare Changelog developers.cloudflare.com

What was announced?

According to the Cloudflare Changelog, Gateway now offers new, more granular application categories. The goal is to give admins more precision and flexibility when building policies to block unwanted traffic.

The update adds nine new categories, designed around how users actually interact with different types of applications:

  • Business
  • Education
  • Entertainment & Events
  • Food & Drink
  • Health & Fitness
  • Lifestyle
  • Navigation
  • Photography & Graphic Design
  • Travel

These categories are live now, so Zero Trust admins can start using them as conditions in HTTP policies right away.

The story so far

The original post doesn't go into detail about the old category structure, but it sounds like existing application categories were broader. This update reorganizes them into these nine finer-grained, usage-based categories instead.

What changes

The key detail here is the transition period. Existing applications will be fully remapped to the new categories, and that remapping is scheduled to be completed by January 30, 2026.

During this window, Cloudflare recommends that admins:

  • Review the new category structure
  • Identify and adjust any existing HTTP policies that reference the older categories, so the transition goes smoothly

In other words, if you don't review your policies before the January 30 cutover, you could end up with unintended blocking or allowing behavior once the remapping completes. I think this is the part worth paying the most attention to!

Wrap-up

  • Gateway added nine new application categories: Business, Education, Entertainment & Events, Food & Drink, Health & Fitness, Lifestyle, Navigation, Photography & Graphic Design, and Travel
  • The new categories are already live and usable as HTTP policy conditions
  • Existing applications will be fully remapped to the new categories by January 30, 2026
  • Admins should review the new structure and update policies referencing old categories before then

If you're a Zero Trust admin running HTTP policies on Cloudflare Gateway, now's a good time to review your policies before the January deadline!

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