FOLLOW-UP VER. 1.1 REVIEW.
*Taken from the iTunes Preview page.
Description
LIMITED-TIME 50% DISCOUNT! The easiest native blocker for Safari on iOS gives you ultimate control and downloads pages an average of 4x faster.
No ads, no tracking — Purify is easy to install and works right out of the box.
Here's why you'll love Purify:
• “a 21% battery life increase from using Purify... [when] web browsing”, “the test results spurred me to keep Purify” — The New York Times (Oct. 1, 2015).
• Instantly browse an average of 4x FASTER
• Reduce your web data consumption on Cellular & Wi-Fi by an average of 50%
• Browse the web clutter-free — reclaim precious screen space
• Ultimate privacy: Purify eliminates tracking — and never intercepts or sees any of your traffic
... PLUS best-in-class, high-quality support. It doesn't get any better.
Purify is a content blocker for Safari that blocks ads, tracking, and more. Purify's professionally hand-crafted filter optimizes your browsing experience. With free regular updates, all users receive the best and latest of Purify at frequent intervals.
Purify gives you complete control: whitelisting with Purify is effortless — just a tap from within Safari.
Purify also syncs your preferences and whitelists via iCloud across all your devices.
Unlock powerful blocking options with unprecedented ease — you can easily choose to block:
• social buttons and comments
• scripts
• custom fonts
• images
... and gain even more speed and data-usage benefits.
Take full control of your browsing experience now with Purify.
Some comments from users:
— "I've used every one of the content blockers so far and Purify is by far the best one."
— "Practically instant page loads."
— "Really makes mobile browsing great again."
— "Love the simple experience."
— "Take advantage of the much much better browsing experience."
— "Installation was seamless... all ads are blocked and performance is stellar."
...More
Chris Aljoudi Web SitePurify Blocker: No Ads. No Tracking. Lightning-fast Safari. Support
What's New in Version 1.1
In this update:
• Social/share button and comment blocking — just a simple toggle from Purify's preferences.
• Seamless iCloud sync of your preferences and whitelist across all your devices running Purify!
• Report problematic sites and pages right from Safari — like whitelisting, just a simple tap from the action sheet.
• Fixes to improve performance and the experience on many sites.
Thanks for using Purify! If you're enjoying Purify, please don't forget to leave us a rating here on the App Store — it helps immensely.
Your feedback helps us refine Purify — we appreciate it deeply.
...More
Screenshots
iPhone iPad
As noted in the app description, Purify ver. 1.1 is a paid content blocker for iOS 9. While there are several free content blockers available, I don't believe one should dismiss an app, just because it is paid.
This review of Purify is a follow-up review comparison of Purify's initial release. The original review can be found
here.
Purify app design - A
The app colors are easy on the eyes. The app is designed in such a way, that maneuvering through the different app options is neither confusing nor overwhelming which, can be an important factor for novice users.
Included in the updated version of Purify 1.1. is the welcomed addition of in app reporting of problem websites, social buttons and comment blocking, along with bug fixes and app engine tweaking for better performance.
I noted in my original review, that in my opinion, in app reporting should have been included in the initial release. I believe that paid apps should be held to higher scrutiny. I am glad that Chris was able to get this implemented in a timely manner, even though it was what I consider to be late.
In regards to the in app reporting function, and the inability to leave a comment as to what specific problem was noted with a website, Chris informed readers of the content blocker thread of the
following...
"Purify uses a machine-learning-based engine on the backend to analyze reports and automatically generate a suggested solution.
It is extremely rare for reports to have to be reviewed by hand (it's only done with one-off reports in which the heuristic is unconfident about the issue)."
Out of all the apps I have reviewed thus far, Purify is the first content blocker I know of, that uses A.I. (Artificial intelligence).
Purify blocking power - A
As noted below, some of the test websites had a problem. To be fair, there isn't a content blocker that is able to block and correctly render every single page on the internet.
Purify scored strong in the initial review, because it did not have a lot of the same problems that so many other content blockers were having, due to so many people simply cutting and pasting the JSON file. And while Purify isn't perfect in the blocking power category, (no content blocker is) it has continued to be strong in this area.
* At the time of this follow-up review, Time, Cnet, Courier.co.uk, Kat.cr, The Pirate... and a few other websites were reported via the new in app ability, which I found easy to do, by clicking the Safari share sheet icon, swiping to the Purify icon, and clicking the report website. While some of the sites may have been fixed since the official reports, there had not been time to push the repair to the public prior to this review.
* The new social buttons and comments feature of the app works.
* Many websites tested in this follow-up review had not been used with the initial review.
* MacWorld did not work with the initial release and was fixed in a prior update.
* Your experience may differ from mine, in regards to ad-blocking ability.
Purify's blocking power was tested using the following websites Time Magazine,* CNN, Yahoo, MacRumors, Amazon, Fox News, Huffington Post, iMore, The Verge, National Geographic, Crackle,* Forbes Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Kat.cr, The Pirate...****** MacWorld, MSNBC, Apple, Ebaums World, ImDB, YouTube, Hotels.com, Digiday, Reddit, Craigslist (local), Cult of Mac, blog.buttermouth, ESPN, Welt.de, Ciudad.com.ar,***** ABC.com.py, Times of Israel,*** 9to5toys, Straits Times,* Str.sg, info.singtel.com, Times of India, Indian Express, Cnet,**** Boston.com and Courier.co.uk.****
Unless otherwise noted by the * symbol, all sites loaded correctly without any pop ups or blank advertising boxes.
* Site did not load
** Site loaded correctly but clicking links on main page or subsequent page didn't work.
*** Site loaded correctly but did not block all ad(s) on main page or subsequent site pages.
**** Site did not correctly load all non ad page elements (e.g. pictures, video, text etc.)
***** Site loaded correctly with no ads or pop ups. Empty advertisement blocks were noted.
****** Site loaded correctly but did not stop pop up messages or redirects
Purify speed - A
In my initial review, I noted that Purify was faster in my testing, versus Crystal and some other content blockers. Purify is still fast. As to whether or not it is the fasted content blocker, I don't know. The main point I wish to emphasize, is I did not find myself tapping my foot waiting on Purify to correctly render websites. In my opinion, that means a lot more to me, than how many milliseconds it may have taken.
Purify price and developer contact - A
At the time of the initial review, I thought that Purify's price of $3.99 was a little steep, given it was lacking in app reporting and a few other features that many of the other content blockers (paid and free) were including.
In my initial review, I came down hard on Chris, because I felt he was spending more time promoting his app, posting speed graphs, and retweeting praise tweets about his app, than he was making sure customer service was where it needed to be, especially with the price of the app. At that time, I compared him to a used car salesman saying whatever it took to make the sale. I am happy to report, that Chris has made a point to be more customer service oriented, whether it be on Twitter or the forums. And that effort and time has been noted and appreciated by a lot of people on MacRumors.
Purify overall rating - A
There have been a lot of content blockers (paid and free) released since I posted my initial review of Purify. There are several content blockers that (overall) offer strong block ability, along with more hands on user tweaks than Purify and at a price that is lower than what Purify normally is. However, not all of those other strong content blockers have customer support and attention to detail from the start, that Purify has tried to put forth.
If you want an app that you can load and not have to worry about tweaking the settings on a regular basis, Purify fits the proverbial code bill.
Since the release of ver. 1.1 many people have requested that there be separate toggles for social comments and buttons, along with implementing and streamlining the update process of the app, amongst other things. Chris has made it known, that many of those things (and more) are being addressed and worked on.
At the time of this follow-up review, Purify is on sale for $1.99. If you haven't already gotten a copy of Purify, I recommend that you do, as it is a good price for what it does.
