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Content blockers not as effective in iOS 12

M

maclaw21

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 26, 2009
263
220
Since at least iOS 9 (I think), I have been using Purify, which has been a wonderful ad blocker. With the upgrade to iOS, Purify doesn't seem to be as effective at blocking ads, especially some of the more dynamic ones. This is a problem I'm also seeing on my Mac with Safari 12.

This seems very unlike Apple--to make content blockers less effective, but that seems to be the result (perhaps inadvertent) of upgrading to iOS 12.

Anyone else experiencing similar issues?
 
maclaw21 said:
Since at least iOS 9 (I think), I have been using Purify, which has been a wonderful ad blocker. With the upgrade to iOS, Purify doesn't seem to be as effective at blocking ads, especially some of the more dynamic ones. This is a problem I'm also seeing on my Mac with Safari 12.

This seems very unlike Apple--to make content blockers less effective, but that seems to be the result (perhaps inadvertent) of upgrading to iOS 12.

Anyone else experiencing similar issues?
Click to expand...
I believe with Safari 12 on macOS the blocking approach has been changed and that's why various blockers might not be as good there at this point (at least not until they are updated). There haven't really been changes on that level in iOS 12 from what I recall.

Might be worth trying a different content blocker though, like Firefox Focus, Adguard, or one of many other ones.
 
AdBlock Plus is working the same for me in iOS 12 as it did in 10 and 11. No idea if it’s the best, but I don’t see ads in Safari, so I’m content.
 
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Because of the changes in Safari in macOS regarding ad blockers I uninstalled the extension I was using and downloaded an ad blocker from the Mac App Store, Wipr. It is a pay for app, $1.99. But very simple to use, just launch it and enable it. No other setting except for auto update. It has very good reviews and has an iOS version as well. I use 1Blocker on my iOS devices which works quite well but is pricey for the Mac and the reviews are not so good.
 
C DM said:
Has something been changed in iOS in relation to that too recently (I was under impression that it was just macOS with Safari 12)?
Click to expand...
Not too much in iOS but the adlist in iOS is limited to 50k so in the safari settings you enable 7 adblockers for the 1 app to add more blocking lists. They describe it in the article I posted.
 
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I too dropped Purify a while ago... and am using Blocker+ now instead.

That being said - at home, what you really need is Pi-Hole. https://pi-hole.net/

Kills ads on all devices on the network in one elegant swoop!
 
Wipr on both iOS and MacOS works well, supports the native content blocking and is unobtrusive.
 
I use Adblock and it's VPN based blocking. It's blocking all ads in Safari and in applications. Love it. Just have to make sure you enable it in Safari and install the trust certificate and it's good to go.
 
i remember Safari in iOS had a "Content Blocker" setting but now i cant seem to see it... Was it removed by Apple? I think it was introduced in iOS10?
 
I use 1Blocker X on my iOS devices as it works really well (maybe a bit too well as I have to turn off a rule here and there).

At home I also run Pi-hole on my network.
 
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