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

iOS 9 Content Blockers Mini-Reviews

H

Hot12345

macrumors 6502
Mar 1, 2015
368
33
H

Hot12345

macrumors 6502
Mar 1, 2015
368
33
BasicGreatGuy said:
Adblocker is a free content blocker made by the same people (moboTap inc.) that produce the Dolphin web browser. This ad-blocker is minimalist in design and feature. If you are looking for a no thrills, gets the job done, don't care about bells and whistles adblocker for iOS 9, I encourage you to take this app for an internet test drive.

There is no blocking of sponsored ads, social widget blocking or Whitelisting. You do have in app feedback ability, FAQ, tutorial on how to enable, Contact us and About, which tells you the current version, as well as enable you to visit their social media sites.

Once you enable the app, you see a confirmation screen asking you to confirm whether or not it is working in Safari.

According to the Adblocker website, regular updates to blocking rules is forth-coming.

"AdBlocker takes the most recent blocking rules from best-known service providers. You can easily tell and taste the delight of non-ads browsing experience on most visited sites."

Adblocker app design - C

The app isn't ugly. At the same time, it isn't anything to brag about. It gets the job done.

Adblocker blocking power - A

Adblocker’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.

Adblocker did a very good job blocking ads. Unlike other recent content blocker reviews, it handled MacWorld, courier.co.uk and several other sites just fine.

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 message or redirects.

Adblocker speed - A

For a free app, Adblocker sped right along. In my, unofficial testing because I don't need pretty bar charts like some on Twitter opinion, I found Adblocker to be fast in loading page content. That is not to say it is faster than Purify. However, Adblocker is very close.

Adblocker price and developer contact - A

Adblocker is free. I give it two thumbs up (Roger Ebert reference). I did not contact the developer before review.

Adblocker overall rating - A

I was pleasantly surprised by the performance of Adblocker. It blocks ads and it does so it a manner that won't leave you looking at a stopwatch, unless you are obsessed with meaningless speed bar charts, (insert Twitter reference here) because not everyone uses the internet the same nor does everyone have the same internet speed, routers, and all the rest of the variables involved.

It is a shame that several of the paid content blockers couldn't see fit to have in app feedback available from the start, whereas several of the free content blockers were able to get it done.

I recommend Adblocker for those looking for a free, gets the job done, content blocker.
Click to expand...


Does this blocks also the sponsored adds?
 
scjr

scjr

macrumors 68020
Jan 28, 2013
2,196
1,340
Hot12345 said:
I looking for a addblocker that blocks ALL OF THE ADDS not specified adds. Like the most do. I wanna block also the sponsors ads.
Click to expand...

Try AdMop. It's pretty good, free and getting better. It blocks sponsored ads for me.

Not sure you're going to find one that blocks all ads 100% of the time.

AdMop by iPhonso GmbH

https://appsto.re/us/vA9T9.i
 
Apple_Robert

Apple_Robert

Contributor
Original poster
Sep 21, 2012
35,665
52,468
In a van down by the river
Hot12345 said:
So wich app addblocker do you recommend at this moment to block all the sponsored adds?
Click to expand...
I haven't found one that can block all sponsored ads on all websites. The best thing to do, is to find a developer that is responsive to feedback, and alert him or her about problem websites.

I have found that some apps can block sponsored Yahoo ads on my iPhone 6, while not doing so on the iPad Air. I don't know why that is.
 
  • Like
Reactions: scjr
T

tosbsas

macrumors 65816
Nov 22, 2008
1,297
437
Lima, Peru
Guys - if you still doubting - ad block multi is amazing me. Superb support, its fast here and blocks what I wanted to block. Thats 0,99 well spent. Dunno if purify update will beat that
 
  • Like
Reactions: scjr
Apple_Robert

Apple_Robert

Contributor
Original poster
Sep 21, 2012
35,665
52,468
In a van down by the river
icon175x175.jpeg



* Taken from iTunes Preview page.

Description

BLKR will remove the ads and popovers in Safari while reducing loaded data and making your battery last longer. Enjoy faster web and clean content with autoupdating handpicked filters.

* Bloque la publicité sur le web.
* Blockiert werbung auf Safari
* ¡Navegue por la web sin publicidad molesta!
* Blocca le pubblicità su tutto il web.
* Zablokuj reklamy w internecie
* Blokování reklam
* Blokovanie reklám

...More
Blkr Support
Screenshots
iPhone iPad
screen322x572.jpeg



Blkr is a (free) minimalist content blocker. There is no iWhitelisting, ability albeit you do have the ability to report a website (for ads) via the "REMOVE MORE ANNOYING ADS" menu at the bottom of the app page. The "remove more annoying ads" menu is solely for reporting a website url.

Blkr app design - B

The app colors are easy on the eyes and the single app page makes it easy to use the minimalist app. The app filters are not automatically updated. As you can see in the picture, that is manually done by engaging the black update filters button. At the time of testing, the app filters were updated by the developer two days ago.

Blkr blocking power - B

The rating is reflective of another content blocker having the same kind of blocking results as several other content blockers previously reviewed.

It would be nice if the developers made a point to check the ability of the json list. Attention to detail is one of the things that makes a developer and his or her app stand out from the rest, in my opinion.

* Sponsored ads on Yahoo (on the iPhone 6) were not blocked.
* Social widgets were not blocked.

* Your experience may differ from mine, in regards to ad-blocking ability.

Ad block'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, 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

Blker speed - B

I found the speed to be average and in line with many other previously reviewed apps.

Ad Blocker price and developer contact - A

A rating of A was given solely on the basis that the app was free at the time of review. I did not contact the developer prior to review.

Blkr overall rating - B

In my opinion, Blkr does a decent job of blocking ads (as a whole). I think it could do a better job. The same could be said for many other apps already reviewed. I would like to see Whitelisting ability available, as well as the ability for the block list to be automatically updated.

Overall, Blkr may suit the needs of some users looking for a free content blocker that works (as a whole). It might even come in handy being used in conjunction with another app.

In my opinion, some of the content blockers previously reviewed performed a little bit better.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: yanki01, hank moody, wchigo and 2 others
miknos

miknos

Suspended
Mar 14, 2008
940
793
Adblock Plus from Eyeo is available to download now.
Adblock Plus (ABP) by Eyeo
https://appsto.re/us/8A1u9.i

BBG, would you mind doing a review? This is the most known and widespread ad blocker. I guess it will soon be the most downloaded and used in iOS.

I didn't tried but I guess it will block all ads but will consume more cpu due to its massive list. App weighs 30mb. Is that a sign of bloated code?
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: scjr
scjr

scjr

macrumors 68020
Jan 28, 2013
2,196
1,340
miknos said:
Adblock Plus from Eyeo is available to download now.
Adblock Plus (ABP) by Eyeo
https://appsto.re/us/8A1u9.i

BBG, would you mind doing a review? This is the most known and widespread ad blocker. I guess it will soon be the most downloaded and used in iOS.

I didn't tried but I guess it will block all ads but will consume more cpu due to its massive list. App weighs 30mb. Is that a sign of bloated code?
Click to expand...

It seems to do a good job with ads, but it seems slower downloading pages compared to other blockers.
 
  • Like
Reactions: miknos
A

ardchoille50

macrumors 68020
Feb 6, 2014
2,142
1,231
miknos said:
Adblock Plus from Eyeo is available to download now.
Adblock Plus (ABP) by Eyeo
https://appsto.re/us/8A1u9.i

BBG, would you mind doing a review? This is the most known and widespread ad blocker. I guess it will soon be the most downloaded and used in iOS.

I didn't tried but I guess it will block all ads but will consume more cpu due to its massive list. App weighs 30mb. Is that a sign of bloated code?
Click to expand...
Just my opinion, but this company is not worth our time. They created a mess, and we shouldn't get our hands dirty.
 
  • Like
Reactions: hank moody
miknos

miknos

Suspended
Mar 14, 2008
940
793
From ABP staff:
We will definitively look into providing more filtering options, especially language-specific lists. However, we are extremely limited by iOS, since we may not exceed 50,000 filters - the regular Easylist already has more. Also, there is no element collapsing for blocked elements, which leads to the observed white spaces. We could of course add explicit hiding filters for those, but then we get into the max filters issue again. All in all, Apple left us with pretty limited capabilities. Our Adblock Browser in comparison can make full use of our extension and the filter lists. If it's feasible for you to use that instead of Safari, it might be a better shot.
Click to expand...
 
hank moody

hank moody

macrumors 6502a
Jan 18, 2015
722
351
So, adblockers that have 65000++ filters (safari blocker, 1blocker, etc) are just cheating us? lol...
 
A

ardchoille50

macrumors 68020
Feb 6, 2014
2,142
1,231
hank moody said:
So, adblockers that have 65000++ filters (safari blocker, 1blocker, etc) are just cheating us? lol...
Click to expand...
From my count, Safari Blocker only has 42,967 default filters. So we have the ability to add an additional 7,033 custom filters. 1Blocker only has 6,962 default filters, if all preinstalled filters are enabled. If the total for all blockers is limited to 50,000 filters, then we can only add an additional 71 when using those two blockers.

Having too many filters is going to make Safari simply stop parsing them at some point and the remaining filters are just wasting space.
 
Last edited:
R

Rigby

macrumors 603
Aug 5, 2008
6,257
10,215
San Jose, CA
ardchoille50 said:
From my count, Safari Blocker only has 42,967 default filters. So we have the ability to add an additional 7,033 custom filters. 1Blocker only has 6,962 default filters. If the total for all blockers is limited to 50,000 filters, then we can only add an additional 71 when using those two blockers.
Click to expand...
The limit is 50,000 per extension.
Having too many filters is going to make Safari simply stop parsing them at some point and the remaining filters are just wasting space.
Click to expand...
Yes. Also, there is a point of diminishing returns. Huge bloated lists are not required and can slow down the device.
 
  • Like
Reactions: miknos and ardchoille50
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