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

The iOS 9 Content Blocker thread

Status
The first post of this thread is a WikiPost and can be edited by anyone with the appropiate permissions. Your edits will be public.
Smith288 said:
Many sites have guilt trips built in now. They detect ads arent being shown through javascript (by checking the DOM and if it's missing, flag it) and will either throw up a guilt banner or in the future, just blank out the page with a "We see you are blocking advertisements... These ads pay our bills..." type of message.
Click to expand...

And then there will be blockers that block these messages. 😵
 
  • Like
Reactions: hank moody, marvz and funkymonkeyboy
Rigby said:
You'll have to find out yourself. 😉 It all depends on the filter lists that they use and the sites you visit. Unfortunately the developers of these apps are not transparent about where they source their lists and it's not possible to view them in the apps, so all we have is anecdotal feedback (which obviously depends a lot on what sites people visit).

The developer of Peace says he uses the Ghostery list, and I think 1Blocker actually let's you see its list in the app.
Click to expand...

OK, so far they seem to block the same content but Blockr is more useful as it has separate media and ad blocking and separate whitelisting for both as well. I can't tell yet which blocker is better for tracking and analytics blocking. That is what I really want.
 
funkymonkeyboy said:
I hope some independent testing is undertaken. It would be nice to see how all these apps compare.
Click to expand...
Even if one blocker is better than the other right now, doesn't mean it can't change next week when the filter lists are updated (or not). I think this is what will separate the wheat from the chaff: Which developer will invest the time to keep the filter list well maintained and updated over the long term? In that sense, the approach of licensing a well-regarded existing list (like the one from Ghostery) is probably not the worst idea (as opposed to a one-man shop trying to maintain a proprietary list) ...
 
  • Like
Reactions: LV426, funkymonkeyboy and hank moody
TheSacredSoul said:
Does Purify or Peace leave a white space after the ad is blocked?
Click to expand...
I haven't tested those two, so I can't comment. However, just now, that sometimes when you see a white box, that may not necessarily be the fault of the content blocker. It could very well be due to how the site was designed etc.
 
deeznuts said:
There's no negative feedback at all lmao, you must be tripping out.
Click to expand...
Where is the in app feedback ability in the app? On his website for Purify, the developer claims to care about user experience. And yet, made a conscious decision not to have feedback ability as part of the app. If someone needs to get in touch with the developer, he or she has to hunt for his email address and explain the app situation without any app logs being provided etc. Seems rather odd to me. Not everyone has Twitter nor should they have to sign up on Twitter to try and get in contact with the developer, who seems more concerned about pimping his product on Twitter, than providing a reasonable and logical manner for users to provide feedback and ask questions. His site doesn't even bother explaining the app in detail or providing a list to possible frequently asked questions. It is mostly shiny decorations with him dangling a carrot before a horse. His site is nothing more than a fancy ad for his Purify app. He isn't coming across as user focused or user friendly. He comes across as a salesman trying to pimp for dollars. If some here are fine with that, so be it. I believe there is a lot more to an app than what it looks like or claims. A person's actions say a lot. And in my opinion, his actions aren't living up to his claimed concern for positive user experience. I don't see much reason to spend $3.99 with that kind of leadership going on.

You misread my post. Read it again without the snide laughing.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: hank moody and KALLT
deeznuts said:
Purify is clearly the best ad blocker. It blocks sponsored & regular ads. Sites like yahoo.com & theverge.com & other sites, it still blocks sponsored compared to Peace & other ad blockers. Its worth the $3.99.
Click to expand...

deeznuts - I've seen you say this in multiple threads. You have some stake in this app I assume. "clearly" and "hands down" the best huh?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ntombi, hank moody and KALLT
So I'm running BlockParty (compiled under XCode) on a iPhone 5. The developer, Krishna Kumar, is very responsive and walked me through the process of compiling it.

It works very well, blocking ads on all the pages mentioned in this thread. I don't have benchmarks but I don't perceive any lag when it's enabled. Makes me very curious as to why Apple is restricting content blockers to 64 bit machines.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ATC and thenewone
hank moody said:
This is the best feature in Crystal. User feedback is the key in this kind of apps.

For me, Crystal may not be the best app today, but it will be the best in a few weeks/months.
Click to expand...
I agree. It is a great feature. I am impressed with Dean's business ethic and app thus far. He makes himself available to people online. He answers questions and provided a mechanism in his app to help facilitate that need. And him reducing the price of the app from what he was projecting says a lot to me.
 
  • Like
Reactions: hank moody
ya1950 said:
So I'm running BlockParty (compiled under XCode) on a iPhone 5. The developer, Krishna Kumar, is very responsive and walked me through the process of compiling it.

It works very well, blocking ads on all the pages mentioned in this thread. I don't have benchmarks but I don't perceive any lag when it's enabled. Makes me very curious as to why Apple is restricting content blockers to 64 bit machines.
Click to expand...
Another good (free) ad blocker in the store is called Freedom. He is still accepting beta testers, if you are interested.
 
TheSacredSoul said:
So, Purify has the above mentioned problem with devs. Peace, on the other hand, uses Ghosterly which has practices I can't support (http://lifehacker.com/ad-blocking-extension-ghostery-actually-sells-data-to-a-514417864).

I think Blockr or Crystal for me. Which is better? I see Crystal being mentioned a lot.
Click to expand...
I have been beta testing Blockr and it does well. I like that it has several options. It still needs to be fine tuned some more. We could say the same for all apps. 1Blocker is also another good ad blocker, in my opinion. It has lots of user toggle options with the ability for the user to easily create rules on the fly (if wanted). Developer response has been prompt as well.

I am currently beta testing Freedom and Blockr. I am using Crystal and 1Blocker together a lot of the time.
 
BasicGreatGuy said:
I have been beta testing Blockr and it does well. I like that it has several options. It still needs to be fine tuned some more. We could say the same for all apps. 1Blocker is also another good ad blocker, in my opinion. It has lots of user toggle options with the ability for the user to easily create rules on the fly (if wanted). Developer response has been prompt as well.

I am currently beta testing Freedom and Blockr. I am using Crystal and 1Blocker together a lot of the time.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. I think I will go Crystal as I don't need the extra functionality of 1Blocker. I like me a simple adblocker.
 
BasicGreatGuy said:
Another good (free) ad blocker in the store is called Freedom. He is still accepting beta testers, if you are interested.
Click to expand...
Are you running it on a iPhone 5? I tried to beta test BlockParty under TestFlight but it didn't allow the app to run on a 32bit phone.
 
ya1950 said:
Are you running it on a iPhone 5? I tried to beta test BlockParty under TestFlight but it didn't allow the app to run on a 32bit phone.
Click to expand...
No, I have an iPhone 6. I didn't realize you had the iPhone 5. It is probably best you stay with what you have right now.
 
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