The iOS 9 Content Blocker thread

[Abazigal]

Am I the only one who downloaded it for free from the Appstore when it went up?

I did too. But at a dollar, I am not popping any champagne. Wanted to donate to the developer as well, but my country doesn't support Paypal apparently. :/

 

[Armen]

I did too. But at a dollar, I am not popping any champagne. Wanted to donate to the developer as well, but my country doesn't support Paypal apparently. :/

It's just weird because I saw an article on it on Appadvice, hit the appstore, it was free so I downloaded it and now a day later people are talking about buying it. Did the developer change his mind or something?

 

[RWil85]

How does Crystal affect websites? Does it affect battery? Does it break any sites?

Can't comment on battery just yet..

However - I know for a fact it breaks yahoo.com. Images wouldn't show and some functionality on the site was broken (read more..etc) - and if it happens there, I'm sure that happens elsewhere.

As I've been told by others. Hopefully some patience and tweaking on the devs part can cure this.

It's just weird because I saw an article on it on Appadvice, hit the appstore, it was free so I downloaded it and now a day later people are talking about buying it. Did the developer change his mind or something?

Got it for free as well

 

[nj1266]

Marco is a coward and a loser.

I couldn't agree more. Pulling the app was an act of cowardice. It just goes to show you how important advertising is to capitalism. Without advertising products will not get sold and the inherent profit in the product will not be realized. That is why capitalism invests tons of money in ads. We are inundated with ads that make us buy products that we do not need but products that we simply want.

 

[Rigby]

At the moment, Blockr is not able to block sponsored ads like Purify. I put Blockr through the same kind of testing as with the previous reviews. With all three toggles enabled, websites are overly stripped and (as a whole) do not load as they should. With the Media toggle turned off, a lot of websites do not load as they should.

Out of curiosity, which web sites did you encounter that are not loaded as they should with the Media filtering turned off? I didn't notice any in my limited testing.

 

[netsped]

I couldn't agree more. Pulling the app was an act of cowardice. It just goes to show you how important advertising is to capitalism. Without advertising products will not get sold and the inherent profit in the product will not be realized. That is why capitalism invests tons of money in ads. We are inundated with ads that make us buy products that we do not need but products that we simply want.

What if... the dudes at Ghostery never imagined how well the app was going to sell and after all the hype of the last couple of days they decided to back off and stop licensing their database. They offered Marco to keep all the earning he made in those couple of days in exchange for the source code.

Marco was so convinced at the beginning that it's really strange he changed his mind two days later.

Maybe they will release an official Ghostery blocker in a few weeks.

I'm more than happy with Crystal, and I got it for free.

 

[Ludatyk]

My first ever App Store refund. Peace to Peace.

I haven't even gotten a word back from Apple.. Just a "We'll be in touch"... I'm starting to think that with many people requesting refunds... some might not be getting theirs granted.

 

[toughnut]

Perhaps macro put a ransom to all the ads firms when submitted Peace but didn't get any $$. Once Apple approved the app, ads revenue significantly dropped and ads firms panicked, they paid him to remove the app. Kachinggggg

Just my logic lol

 

[toughnut]

Free during launch (short period) but it's a paid app in mind.

 

[scjr]

I haven't even gotten a word back from Apple.. Just a "We'll be in touch"... I'm starting to think that with many people requesting refunds... some might not be getting theirs granted.

I received the "We'll be in touch" e-mail at about 1:45 pm and they replied at 8:45 pm.

I'm sure they'll eventually get back to you.

 

[ardchoille50]

I'm sure they'll get back to you. I just received an email confirming my refund.

 

[NightStorm]

I haven't even gotten a word back from Apple.. Just a "We'll be in touch"... I'm starting to think that with many people requesting refunds... some might not be getting theirs granted.

Apple replied to me and told me to work it out with the developer. Of course, no official way to do that via website, and I'm sure Marco isn't reading Twitter mentions for anyone outside his elite circle of tech friends that are telling him how great he is for making such a wise decision.

 

[stanw]

I'm noticing that some pages will not load at all. They show up as completely blank. I'm not sure if there is an easy way to disable it without having to go into settings?

 

[scjr]

Priced at $0.99 (introductory pricing), Blockr is another content blocker geared towards those who want to have a little more control over what is blocked (or not) than Purify and Crystal. It comes with toggled settings for Ad Blocker, Media Blocker, Privacy Blocker and Cookie Warning Blocker. Each one of these toggles is available for Whitelisting. Like Crystal, Blocker has in app feedback ability. It also has a separate option for sending feedback, tutorial and rating.

At the moment, Blockr is not able to block sponsored ads like Purify. I put Blockr through the same kind of testing as with the previous reviews. With all three toggles enabled, websites are overly stripped and (as a whole) do not load as they should. With the Media toggle turned off, a lot of websites do not load as they should. For those who care about speed, website loading is slightly slower than with Crystal and Purify respectively. There doesn’t appear to be much middle of the road with content blocking with Blockr. It tends to overly sanitize the internet with toggles enabled. It is possible, that by testing toggle combinations, one might find a setting that works for most website browsing. Developer response is good.

In my opinion, this content blocker is geared towards those who want more of a sanitized internet, and aren’t as concerned about the looks of every website loaded. If you don’t fit this profile, this app might be used in conjunction with one of the weaker content blockers. Although Blockr boasts several strong user controlled features and has potential to be much stronger, it ends up being weaker out of the box, compared to Crystal and Purify.

This review was made using the latest Blockr beta.

As noted in the other reviews, your usage and experience may differ than mine, depending on websites visited, internet speed, and other variables. My reviews should not be interpreted as one size fits all.

Grade C

Another nice review!

I currently have Crystal and Blockr. I can confirm that Crystal loads sites better. I'm going to purchase Purify soon.

 

[RWil85]

I'm noticing that some pages will not load at all. They show up as completely blank. I'm not sure if there is an easy way to disable it without having to go into settings?

I've read about this with several of the content blockers.

Using Crystal - I was trying to run through and Amazon checkout - had to reload at every step of the process because loading the first around each time was blank. Will be unusable for me if stuff like that continues..

 

[zakarhino]

Purify is the best in my opinion.

If we're also going to look at previous experience surrounding the author, the Purify author made uBlock/uBlock Origin. Great dev.

 

[definitive]

Another blocker has been released called BlockBear

 

[Apple_Robert]

Out of curiosity, which web sites did you encounter that are not loaded as they should with the Media filtering turned off? I didn't notice any in my limited testing.

Newsweek

Fox News

The Verge

New York Times

Mac World

Yahoo

Just to name a few. It has been my experience, that as a whole, websites did not load as they should, compared to Crystal and Purify, even with the Media Blocker turned off.

 

[scjr]

For those who have asked what may be the best out of the box app at this moment in time, I have to be honest and say Purify wins the contest. It has been able to block sponsored ads, as well as handle script and media assignment, without ruining the essence of the webpage or failing to block that which should have been blocked to begin with. I have tested several sites including Macworld, The Verge, CNN, The New York Times, Ebaums World, Kat.cr, The Pirate..., Yahoo, Courier.co.uk, iMore, and several others. The only site thus far that Purify did not have a handle on was the The Pirate... Load times were fast. I did not get the stopwatch out and count and compare to other related apps. I have not noticed any empty white placement boxes. YouTube ads were blocked albeit there was a slight delay with the start of the video because of filtering out ad(s).

If you are looking for an app (at this moment) that you don't have to tweak, is easy to maneuver, are ok with having to hunt down the developer to provide feedback, don't mind paying $3.99, and does a good job of filtering out sponsored ads and the like while offering a few user toggles including Whitelisting, Purify (at this moment) is one that you should look into.

Holy smokes! I just tested Purify and it's the best of the lot that I've used.

I went to many of the pages you listed and thus far, it loads pages faster than all the others and does a better job with the content of the page. I'm super impressed.

I'll keep messing with content blockers, but Purify will most likely be the main one I use.

 

[Solver]

I'm noticing that some pages will not load at all. They show up as completely blank. I'm not sure if there is an easy way to disable it without having to go into settings?

In Safari hold down the refresh arrow at the top and you can reload the webpage without content blockers.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Holy smokes! I just tested Purify and it's the best of the lot that I've used.

I went to many of the pages you listed and thus far, it loads pages faster than all the others and does a better job with the content of the page. I'm super impressed.

I'll keep messing with content blockers, but Purify will most likely be the main one I use.

Glad my mini review was of some help.

Whatever scripting he is using is definitely different than the others I have used thus far. I think the price of the app is way overinflated. That aside, I can't deny it stands out (right now) above the others.

 

[gordon1234]

I've read about this with several of the content blockers.

Using Crystal - I was trying to run through and Amazon checkout - had to reload at every step of the process because loading the first around each time was blank. Will be unusable for me if stuff like that continues..

You might want to check out Purify. Pretty much works like Crystal but has a whitelist so you can permanently unblock problematic sites. Reloading without content blockers in Safari only works on the exact page you load. As soon as you load another page, it gets reset.

In the case of Amazon, just using the native app will give you a better experience than the mobile site in general.

 

[dr34mc4st3r]

Crystal is fantastic. I got it for free but I would pay 99 cents even if it's not. My safari is a heck lot more responsive now. Single best feature of iOS 9 for me

 

[deeznuts]

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?

Yea clearly & hands down

 

[scjr]

Glad my mini review was of some help.

Whatever scripting he is using is definitely different than the others I have used thus far. I think the price of the app is way overinflated. That aside, I can't deny it stands out (right now) above the others.

Your review was extremely helpful! Thanks again!

Crystal is better value at .99 cents. If price isn't a concern, I would go with Purify myself. It's real good.