The El Capitan/Safari 9 Content Blocker Thread

[Bbeelzebub]

Here is a new one that is supposedly coming soon. It sounds interesting as I frequently log into both MS sites and Google sites through out the day for various things and am always going back in and clearing cookies afterwards. While Wipr seems to block google analytics, I still get the tracking cookie from google itself after logging into my junk gmail account or using Google Music.


It allows you to log in on MS or Google sites, but only use the services you need to and effectively blocks any outside tracking. Sounds interesting.


http://roopc.net/hideandseek/

 

[rnbwd]

Youtube center works pretty well if configured properly.. but you need to install the beta version with tampermonkey and the lead dev might have stopped working on it so it's only a temporary fix for now. There's just no consistency at all with any of these extensions in modern safari - old extensions are breaking (including youtube center randomly) - new extensions work.. and then they don't.. and then they do again. I should just build my own extension for this mess that combines ublock-origin with the new content-blocker api

 

[retroneo]

I still can't get the Safari Extension Gallery to show the install now button. Keeps showing the message "Extensions in this gallery run in Safari 9.0 on OS X El Capitan and Yosemite" in the top right corner. Was thinking 10.11.1 might fix it.

El Cap 10.11.1
Safari 9.0.1 (11601.2.7.2)
No Avast or any antivirus
User agent shows correctly
Tried private browsing, reset cookies, all Safari Extensions off - all no go.

 

[Queen6]

I still can't get the Safari Extension Gallery to show the install now button. Keeps showing the message "Extensions in this gallery run in Safari 9.0 on OS X El Capitan and Yosemite" in the top right corner. Was thinking 10.11.1 might fix it.

El Cap 10.11.1
Safari 9.0.1 (11601.2.7.2)
No Avast or any antivirus
User agent shows correctly
Tried private browsing, reset cookies, all Safari Extensions off - all no go.

I had the same issue on Safari 9.01 on 10.11.1 nor could I resolve no matter what I tried, so between that and other issues related to 10.11 I rolled the Mac back to 10.10.5, problem(s) solved.

I looked at the extension gallery page with the Web Browser; the install aspects are simply not served same as you would expect to see if the browser was not Safari 9. Forcing the User Agent to 9.01, deleting caches, history, cookies etc no extensions installed, no third party applications installed. Going to Safari 8`s extension gallery all installation aspects were served to the browser, equally on Safari 9`s extension gallery the same issue persisted.

It has to be related to 10.11 as my Mac`s on 10.10.5 with Safari 9.01 do not exhibit this issue. Initially the extension gallery worked on 10.11 then for reasons unknown "it just broke"

Q-6

 

[Steven Jackson]

I'm currently running:

• Safari 9.0.1 on a clean install of El Capitan 10.11.1.
• Adblock and Ghostery extensions, both downloaded from the Safari Extensions Gallery.
• Option selected in Safari to "Allow from current website only".

I'm getting way more cookies than I ever saw in Yosemite/Safari 8. I don't know whether there's a bug in Safari or whether it's just reporting things differently...

What should I run to block all ads, all trackers and block all cookies other than those required for the sites I wish to use (such as my MacRumors login credentials, for example)? The above combination used to work fine, but that no longer seems to be the case.

Update: If I option-click "Clear history..." all the cookies I don't want are removed and all those I don't mind stay, but I'm reluctant to do this after every use of the browser as having a browser history is a useful feature...

 

[Bbeelzebub]

I'm currently running:

• Safari 9.0.1 on a clean install of El Capitan 10.11.1.
• Adblock and Ghostery extensions, both downloaded from the Safari Extensions Gallery.
• Option selected in Safari to "Allow from current website only".

I'm getting way more cookies than I ever saw in Yosemite/Safari 8. I don't know whether there's a bug in Safari or whether it's just reporting things differently...

What should I run to block all ads, all trackers and block all cookies other than those required for the sites I wish to use (such as my MacRumors login credentials, for example)? The above combination used to work fine, but that no longer seems to be the case.

Update: If I option-click "Clear history..." all the cookies I don't want are removed and all those I don't mind stay, but I'm reluctant to do this after every use of the browser as having a browser history is a useful feature...

I noticed with uBlock that I was still getting a crap load of cookies, even when I checked "only from the site I visit" in Safari prefs. I did a scan on the EFF site and tons of tracking cookies were getting in too. Once I switched to Wipr, I only get the ones from pages that I visit and log into, no other cookies. If you can live with a content blocker instead of ABP, it may work out better for you. Wipr has been the best from all the ones I tried. (Which is basically all of them in the extensions gallery.)

 

[Steven Jackson]

If you can live with a content blocker instead of ABP, it may work out better for you.

Thanks for taking the time to reply. What is the difference, then, between a content blocker and something like Adblock? My aim is to block ads and trackers, both to speed up the web and protect my privacy.

I'd be very grateful for any clarification you are able to provide, or even links to where I can read in more detail about such matters. As I said, I'm currently using a combination of Adblock and Ghostery, but I have no idea whether this is an effective or even sensible solution. It certainly doesn't seem to be working as far as cookies are concerned, but neither do the privacy options in Safari for that matter...

 

[Steven Jackson]

Well, I've tested Wipr and it doesn't seem to do anything at all!

- Uninstalled Adblock and Ghostery.
- Installed Wipr.
- Selected Safari > Clear History... > Clear all history.
- Visited MacRumors, from a bookmark.
- Checked Safari Preferences > Privacy and there are 10 sites listed.

So what exactly is Wipr blocking? There are loads of Google caches, plus Twitter, YouTube and some others. The only one I was expecting to see (and the only one I did see with Safari 8) is MacRumors which stores "cache, cookies".

What's going on here?

 

[rnbwd]

Well, I've tested Wipr and it doesn't seem to do anything at all!

- Uninstalled Adblock and Ghostery.
- Installed Wipr.
- Selected Safari > Clear History... > Clear all history.
- Visited MacRumors, from a bookmark.
- Checked Safari Preferences > Privacy and there are 10 sites listed.

So what exactly is Wipr blocking? There are loads of Google caches, plus Twitter, YouTube and some others. The only one I was expecting to see (and the only one I did see with Safari 8) is MacRumors which stores "cache, cookies".

What's going on here?

Who knows? It's unpredictable and random so I run like 2/3 at the same time and always get different results.

The old adblockers not using the new content blocker API are becoming less effective too. Safari depreciated many of the methods those extensions relied upon in previous versions so they're naturally less effective and will probably become worse as new versions of safari are introduced. Basically, we don't have a choice when it comes to migrating to the new content blocking extension, which isn't that bad considering how simple and powerful it is. Extensions like Ghostery that are run by advertisement companies to gather metrics on user data just.. don't benefit from the new model because the content blocker extensions have much less access to what's happening inside the browser. And that's also a problem for overriding ads so we're kinda stuck in some middle ground at the moment.

 

[Bbeelzebub]

Well, I've tested Wipr and it doesn't seem to do anything at all!

- Uninstalled Adblock and Ghostery.
- Installed Wipr.
- Selected Safari > Clear History... > Clear all history.
- Visited MacRumors, from a bookmark.
- Checked Safari Preferences > Privacy and there are 10 sites listed.

So what exactly is Wipr blocking? There are loads of Google caches, plus Twitter, YouTube and some others. The only one I was expecting to see (and the only one I did see with Safari 8) is MacRumors which stores "cache, cookies".

What's going on here?

Is it showing "cache" or "cookies"??? Remember, cache is just a saved copy of the page or data. . You'll even get a "cache" for things embedded, but the cookie won't be there. For example, If I go to a page that has a FB like icon, usually I'll get a cookie so they can track me. With Wipr, I get a "cache" shown for FB, but no tracking cookie. (This is provided I never go to the actual fb site.) This is with Safari's cookie settings set to not accept third party cookies as well.


Lots of things show up in the website data list, but you should see a HUGE reduction in things being stored as "local data" and "cookies". Cache is normal, the other two are the invasive ones.

After a few hours, I may have 150 items in the list, only a handful are cookies all are for sites I visited and the rest is just cached items.

 

[smoking monkey]

clicktoflash, clicktoplugin or Youtube Center... where do I nab these extensions? They don't seem to be under the extensions site for me when I search for them.

Thanks.

 

[Bbeelzebub]

clicktoflash, clicktoplugin or Youtube Center... where do I nab these extensions? They don't seem to be under the extensions site for me when I search for them.

Thanks.

You'll have to go to the other extension site for CtF and CtP, Youtube Center is on Github.

 

[bsmr]

any news about a good adblocker for safari?

i wish ublock origin would work

 

[flowsy]

any news about a good adblocker for safari?

i wish ublock origin would work

There's nothing wrong with ublock (non-origin). Just pick the right lists an go.

(I prefer using Wipr right now until the Purify App developer comes of his ass and releases the "promised" OS X content blocker. But it doesn't generate any revenue so, it could understandably take him a bit.)

 

[bsmr]

Sadly Wipr doesn't block really much

Maybe it's because I'm from germany?

 

[flowsy]

Sadly Wipr doesn't block really much

Maybe it's because I'm from germany?

This and the lack of a whitelist in any current content blocker makes me go back to ublock all of the time. I'm also from Germany, but most sites I visit are US or international ones.

 

[KALLT]

any news about a good adblocker for safari?

i wish ublock origin would work

Adguard.

 

[Bbeelzebub]

I noticed some annoying ads making their way in with Wipr over the last few days. I did some tests on a few sites as well to see which tracking cookies were getting through and have switched over to AdGuard. Pages don't load as quick (the difference is not really noticeable), but the ad and tracker blocking is best so far. (I added in the filter lists that uBlock Origin uses.)

 

[bsmr]

actually I'm using uBlock (for safari). Everything ok so far.

 

[DJTaurus]

My safari 3 to 4 times a day doesnt load topics i open as new tabs after a g search or links from twitter.... also it freezes occasionally. I uninstalled ublock and checking Wipr.... i also dont have adobe installed on my Mac.

 

[Bbeelzebub]

My safari 3 to 4 times a day doesnt load topics i open as new tabs after a g search or links from twitter.... also it freezes occasionally. I uninstalled ublock and checking Wipr.... i also dont have adobe installed on my Mac.

I had a lot of issues with Safari and uBlock after the El Capitan upgrade. I thought it was El Capitan being buggy and some of it was, however, uBlock was causing a lot of freezes and websites acting wonky. It never did that under Yosemite.

It doesn't block as well as it used to as well because the guy who inherited the project abandoned it in favor of monetizing (although he has no qualms still asking for donations for a program he hasn't updated in months and last month said he will not be continuing.)

 

[DJTaurus]

It doesn't block as well as it used to as well because the guy who inherited the project abandoned it in favor of monetizing (although he has no qualms still asking for donations for a program he hasn't updated in months and last month said he will not be continuing.)

You are refering to Wipr or uBlock?

 

[Bbeelzebub]

You are refering to Wipr or uBlock?

uBlock. There is a lot of drama surrounding that project that I won't bother to post here. The original developer of uBlock basically ended up forking his own project and it became uBlock Origin because he was not happy with what happened to uBlock. Unfortunately, he doesn't develop for Safari. Chris who inherited uBlock hasn't done any updates to it since May has stated there will be no updates as he's moved on to concentrating on his Purify content blocker for IOS. (yet his site still actively takes donations for the development of the project even though he has said it's dead. Go figure.)

Wipr is still developed and the guy who does it still sends out updates even if it hasn't received as much popularity as some of the other blockers. Unfortunately, content blockers for OS X don't get much attention in general due to the popularity of ABP, uBlock, etc. Not to mention developers who want to be paid for their work do not have a venue to do so with the official method of distribution that Apple offers.

I hope this changes soon, as the new content blocker format is a much smoother process and consumes less ram. They currently are limited by a "one size fits all" approach though and until we see custom filters, whitelisting, etc., ad blockers such as ABP and AdGuard offer better options.

 

[DJTaurus]

uBlock. There is a lot of drama surrounding that project that I won't bother to post here. The original developer of uBlock basically ended up forking his own project and it became uBlock Origin because he was not happy with what happened to uBlock. Unfortunately, he doesn't develop for Safari. Chris who inherited uBlock hasn't done any updates to it since May has stated there will be no updates as he's moved on to concentrating on his Purify content blocker for IOS. (yet his site still actively takes donations for the development of the project even though he has said it's dead. Go figure.)

Wipr is still developed and the guy who does it still sends out updates even if it hasn't received as much popularity as some of the other blockers. Unfortunately, content blockers for OS X don't get much attention in general due to the popularity of ABP, uBlock, etc. Not to mention developers who want to be paid for their work do not have a venue to do so with the official method of distribution that Apple offers.

I hope this changes soon, as the new content blocker format is a much smoother process and consumes less ram. They currently are limited by a "one size fits all" approach though and until we see custom filters, whitelisting, etc., ad blockers such as ABP and AdGuard offer better options.

Any workaround how to add origin filters (i have installed it on chrome but i want to use its filters on safari with adguard) on Adguard...?

 

[clee290]

Does AdGuard use Apple's new Content Blocking API (like Wipr)? Or is it like uBlock or ABP?