Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

All Devices Best way to block ads, trackers, etc...

T

Tomovich

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 5, 2007
81
2
Hello

I've been searching on the internet to find the best way to block trackers, ads, social buttons, cookie notices, crypto-miners... on my iPhone. For my home Wifi I've installed a Raspberry Pi with Pi-Hole, it works great.

As far as I've found, there are several ways to do this:

Use a AdBlocker app such as 1Blocker X, AdGuard, Wipr, Better,...

Set up a Pi-Hole in the cloud with DNS-over-TLS: https://github.com/kquinsland/skyhole

Set up Pi-Hole in the cloud with VPN: https://github.com/rajannpatel/Pi-H...-Full-Tunnel-and-Split-Tunnel-OpenVPN-Configs

Change DNS server to something like the AdGuard DNS server: I suppose this is the least "intrusive" one but I've only found out how to do this for Wifi but not for cellular.


What method do you guys use and which is the most effective method. I have no experience with connecting through a VPN but I suppose this slows down the browsing speed? And also, VPN tunnels aren't always "on" I think.

Thanks!
 
I’d say PiHole is the best option because you’re not limited to ad blocking in safari on iOS devices. Should also block all ads and trackers in games etc.
 
Klatti said:
I’d say PiHole is the best option because you’re not limited to ad blocking in safari on iOS devices. Should also block all ads and trackers in games etc.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately it doesn’t seem like you can get pihole on iPad. I looked
 
I use AdBlock by FutureMind. Not sure if it's on the app store anymore but it works on both LTE and wifi. The only problem with it is that you need to add its widget to the widget screen to reactivate it every time you reboot the phone or sometimes when you change from LTE to wifi or vice versa.
 
But you can install it in the cloud and connect to it via VPN. I just don't know it's impact on the speed.

Anyone an idea on how to change the DNS server when using cellular data (no wifi)?
 
Tomovich said:
Hello

I've been searching on the internet to find the best way to block trackers, ads, social buttons, cookie notices, crypto-miners... on my iPhone. For my home Wifi I've installed a Raspberry Pi with Pi-Hole, it works great.

As far as I've found, there are several ways to do this:

Use a AdBlocker app such as 1Blocker X, AdGuard, Wipr, Better,...

Set up a Pi-Hole in the cloud with DNS-over-TLS: https://github.com/kquinsland/skyhole

Set up Pi-Hole in the cloud with VPN: https://github.com/rajannpatel/Pi-H...-Full-Tunnel-and-Split-Tunnel-OpenVPN-Configs

Change DNS server to something like the AdGuard DNS server: I suppose this is the least "intrusive" one but I've only found out how to do this for Wifi but not for cellular.


What method do you guys use and which is the most effective method. I have no experience with connecting through a VPN but I suppose this slows down the browsing speed? And also, VPN tunnels aren't always "on" I think.

Thanks!
Click to expand...
On my iPhone I use AdBlock Plus, it works perfectly. AdGuard breaks some pages for me in both iOS or Safari.

On my MacBook I tried them all:

- AdBlock Plus - Doesn't block all ads
- AdGuard - Breaks some Pages
- 1Blocker - Doesn't block some ads and it has turned to a subscription service rather than a one time fee. No thanks. I have enough subscriptions in my life
- UBlock (Not UBlock Origin but the one in the AppStore) - That's the only one that works for me without breaking some sites.
 
1Blocker X on my phone and iPad works really well, have not seen anything about a subscription. After using it for a while I started seeing Wipr mentioned with very positive reviews. I purchased that for my MacBook Pro, also available in iOS. And for simplicity it cannot be beat, just turn it on and that’s it. 1Blocker X has multiple configuration options that can be confusing. The only small drawback to Wipr is that you cannot whitelist a site, the developer does not believe in doing that. But you can make use of the device’s native mechanism to turn it off site by site.
 
papbot said:
1Blocker X on my phone and iPad works really well, have not seen anything about a subscription. After using it for a while I started seeing Wipr mentioned with very positive reviews. I purchased that for my MacBook Pro, also available in iOS. And for simplicity it cannot be beat, just turn it on and that’s it. 1Blocker X has multiple configuration options that can be confusing. The only small drawback to Wipr is that you cannot whitelist a site, the developer does not believe in doing that. But you can make use of the device’s native mechanism to turn it off site by site.
Click to expand...

They have switched to subscriptions but I think only for more regular rule updates. You‘ll still get them through app updates, just less often. You also get 1 year free if you‘ve already bought it in the past.
 
papbot said:
1Blocker X on my phone and iPad works really well, have not seen anything about a subscription. After using it for a while I started seeing Wipr mentioned with very positive reviews. I purchased that for my MacBook Pro, also available in iOS. And for simplicity it cannot be beat, just turn it on and that’s it. 1Blocker X has multiple configuration options that can be confusing. The only small drawback to Wipr is that you cannot whitelist a site, the developer does not believe in doing that. But you can make use of the device’s native mechanism to turn it off site by site.
Click to expand...
I liked WIPR at first when I used it but there is this one site I use to watch TV Serials which requires you to disable the adblocker and I was shocked not to see a simple whitelisting feature in WIPR. I did get a message saying that I need to temporarily disable it if I wanna view such sites but that's a hassle to disable the entire extension for those few sites that won't work with an Adblocker then having to re-enable it again so I bought it and uninstalled it for 5 mins.
 
Super Spartan said:
I liked WIPR at first when I used it but there is this one site I use to watch TV Serials which requires you to disable the adblocker and I was shocked not to see a simple whitelisting feature in WIPR. I did get a message saying that I need to temporarily disable it if I wanna view such sites but that's a hassle to disable the entire extension for those few sites that won't work with an Adblocker then having to re-enable it again so I bought it and uninstalled it for 5 mins.
Click to expand...
If you’re on iOS 13 you can click on the Aa on the left side of the address bar and you get the option to turn off content blockers. If you do it on that site that choice gets saved for the site and will apply the next time you visit. I use that mechanism with 1Blocker X because it is faster than going into the app itself.
 
  • Like
Reactions: scjr and IowaLynn
I never read or stumbled across one of the best features - new to iOS 13 I assume - that you can control sites behavior.

5225BA81-820F-4624-95E5-E5C6DE63A4E4.jpeg
 
In iOS 12, you can hold down the reload symbol in the address bar to bypass the ad blocker. On my iPhone I use blockbear.
 
I use 1blocker for along time and supported the developer pretty much from day 1 (iphone and mac versions) - I like it specially because it also blocks the EU cookie notices which are very annoying in this part of the world - it blocks stuff on safari on 4G or wifi but not ads inside apps...

I tried the pihole a couple of weeks ago, good stuff and interesting to use - it blocks ads inside apps but you still "see" the empty placeholders inside apps, still showed me search ads in the google results which was weird... it didn't block youtube ads on the smart TV - in the end I decided to uninstall it from my home network for now...

This article came to my attention a while ago, a good overview and interesting points of view

brooksreview.net

Safari Content Blocker Evaluations – 9/26/18 Edition

An update to my content blocker evaluations.
brooksreview.net brooksreview.net
 
Concerning the Lockdown app, what happens exactly? I find it's website poorly documented. Is all traffic routed through the Lockdown VPN? What's the difference in functionality between the Firewall and VPN? If its free, how are they earning money? Is it useful to run an adblocker like 1Blocker aside it?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back