The iOS 9 Content Blocker thread

[medipad16]

Anyone knows that - i am still in the 14 return period for apps. What happens if y return purify I bought for 3,99 and buy it again for 0,99 now

I bought purify 2 days ago returned it yesterday and received my refund today i purshased the app again with no problem its a steal for 1 euro

 

[scjr]

Anyone knows that - i am still in the 14 return period for apps. What happens if y return purify I bought for 3,99 and buy it again for 0,99 now

Think of the $3.99 as an investment in the apps development.

 

[KarimLeVallois]

I bought purify 2 days ago returned it yesterday and received my refund today i purshased the app again with no problem its a steal for 1 euro

Have a look in your 'purchased' list in the 'App Store' app... Is it there?

I got a refund for Purify a week ago, got refund and 'purchased' again last night, but it's not showing under my purchases...

 

[hank moody]

lol. you already bought purify 2 times and want to do that another time? shame on you

SHAME
SHAME
SHAME
SHAME
SHAME
...

 

[macaximx]

Will wait for Silentium to go on sale. Using Adblocker now with Purify off.

 

[KarimLeVallois]

lol. you already bought purify 2 times and want to do that another time? shame on you

SHAME
SHAME
SHAME
SHAME
SHAME
...

Who you talking to?

 

[medipad16]

Have a look in your 'purchased' list in the 'App Store' app... Is it there?

I got a refund for Purify a week ago, got refund and 'purchased' again last night, but it's not showing under my purchases...

Yes The app is available under my purshases check the list of your hidden purchases it might be there

 

[KarimLeVallois]

Yes The app is available under my purshases check the list of your hidden purchases it might be there

Nope, not there... Yesterday it didn't even give me the 'warning that I could not return it' and it's like I just re-downloaded a purchased item.

 

[Mefisto]

Just bought Purify. Two things:

1) I really should see a psychiatrist about this growing obsession with content blockers.

2) I'm not really seeing a big difference one way or the other regarding which blocker I use. Granted I've juggled quite a few of them even in the span of one day, and at any given time even I can't tell which one is currently active. Based on the (probably well deserved) praise here I'll stick with Purify for a while and see where that gets me.

 

[KarimLeVallois]

Just bought Purify. Two things:

1) I really should see a psychiatrist about this growing obsession with content blockers.

2) I'm not really seeing a big difference one way or the other regarding which blocker I use. Granted I've juggled quite a few of them even in the span of one day, and at any given time even I can't tell which one is currently active. Based on the (probably well deserved) praise here I'll stick with Purify for a while and see where that gets me.

I've tried so many now, my head hurts!

 

[Rigby]

I'm struggling to work out which is the 'best' blocker for me. I've tried Crystal, and that was fine. I've tried Purify, and that was fine, although I needed to whitelist a site that stopped working (which is either a pain or shows better blocking, depending on your view). On the only site that really bugs me Crystal stopped the ads but not the cookie warning popup, Purify blocked the cookie warning popup but not the ads.

This will always happen as the filter lists used by the blockers are imperfect.

Personally, I don't care about a few ads coming through here and there as long as the bulk of them is blocked. What annoys me more is that there is no way to see if invisible trackers have been blocked. This is not the content blockers' fault since they have no access to that information, but it would be nice if Safari could display a list of objects it has blocked.

I can't tell any noticeable difference in page loading speed or ad removal with either of these.

Same here. I think the differences are overblown. What really counts is whether or not an app continues to be supported in the long run ...

 

[gaanee]

Thanks for the detailed explanation... always good to learn new things, will try it out.

It's called View Source: https://appsto.re/us/hgMS2.i

I just know where to look in the code I guess? I've been doing it since I was 12 and now I'm a web and app UI/UX designer who also does development so I guess I just know it. If you use Chrome, Safari or Firefox on the desktop you can right click on HTML elements and use the web inspector to see what it is. You can match up the holes to where things are on the screen. That would probably be easier. For most people. Alternatively you can search for text in close proximity to the "hole" or other element in the view source on your iOS decide and you should be able to see a div tag or similar wrapped around some ad-looking code. The ads are still there in code just not downloaded and rendered to the page. Grab the class (put a period in front of the name) or the id (but a pound/hash in front of the name) and separate them with commas in the blocker. That part is standard CSS naming and listing for styles that apply to all. The blocker probably applies "display: none;" and "visibility: hidden;" to those elements. Or maybe just removes them from the DOM entirely. I haven't looked into the details.

 

[miknos]

I've been using Purify today. I noticed some websites don't load at all. One of them is duckduckgo. I tried to whitelist it but the problem persisted. I know I could send a feedback to the dev but that's not the only websites I'm having problem with.

Went back to (free) AdBlocker (from MoboTap) and the problem disappeared. I'm doing like the other use, changing content blocker constantly to see which one should I use.

 

[Rigby]

I've been using Purify today. I noticed some websites don't load at all. One of them is duckduckgo. I tried to whitelist it but the problem persisted. I know I could send a feedback to the dev but that's not the only websites I'm having problem with.

Duckduckgo works just fine here with Purify (which is a fair value now at $.99 IMO, although its customization options are a bit lacking).

 

[miknos]

Duckduckgo works just fine here with Purify (which is a fair value now at $.99 IMO, although its customization options are a bit lacking).

Can you open loopinsight.com? Play Wired videos?

 

[dfgddikf]

Same here. I think the differences are overblown. What really counts is whether or not an app continues to be supported in the long run ...

Yes, as most blockers use the Easylist with maybe some customisations, the results are very similiar.

 

[Mefisto]

Can you open loopinsight.com? Play Wired videos?

Loopinsight.com works just fine here with Purify (from what I can tell, not really familiar with the site but looks good), Wired videos, however, do not.

 

[dfgddikf]

I've been using Purify today. I noticed some websites don't load at all. One of them is duckduckgo. I tried to whitelist it but the problem persisted. I know I could send a feedback to the dev but that's not the only websites I'm having problem with.

Went back to (free) AdBlocker (from MoboTap) and the problem disappeared. I'm doing like the other use, changing content blocker constantly to see which one should I use.

The MoboTap one is good but doesn't block trackers atm. Good enough for me though, as I use F-Secure Freedome which filters out trackers before they even reach the device.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Can you open loopinsight.com? Play Wired videos?

loopinsight.com opens as intended with links working with Purify.

 

[jamesdunn72]

I bought purify when it went of sale last night. Of all the adblockers i've tested. Crystal has worked best.

Sites that worked with crystal and not purify - http://texasfishingforum.com/forums/ubbthreads.php
kat.cr (torrent site).

oh how I miss mercury browser pro, it had the best adblocker, blocked ALL ads. the mofo's are charging $24/year for adblocking now and I uninstalled it.

 

[gaanee]

Does the number of rules and size of the list affect memory requirements? Earlier it was mentioned that content blockers work differently from ad blockers on desktop browsers because the list is complied only once so safari doesn't have to load it every time and that saves launch time and memory. But now explanations from some of devs it seems it does affect memory and also Apple has a limit on the size of the list. So which one is it?

 

[Nolander07]

I have been using Crystal from day one and it works great. You just install it and turn it on in Safari. I must be the target audience since I don't want to have to mess with settings in the app. Crystal just does it for me. Ads have been blocked just fine.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I bought purify when it went of sale last night. Of all the adblockers i've tested. Crystal has worked best.

Sites that worked with crystal and not purify - http://texasfishingforum.com/forums/ubbthreads.php
kat.cr (torrent site).

oh how I miss mercury browser pro, it had the best adblocker, blocked ALL ads. the mofo's are charging $24/year for adblocking now and I uninstalled it.

Report site problems to Purify via the following manner listed below, until the next update is released (it is in review).

I didn't have problems with Kat.cr during testing. I tried it just now, and the site is a problem now, with an obnoxious pop up and attempt at redirect.
Purify App ‏@purify_app Sep 21
@Juanky1503 Sure! admin@purify-app.com

 

[Rigby]

Does the number of rules and size of the list affect memory requirements? Earlier it was mentioned that content blockers work differently from ad blockers on desktop browsers because the list is complied only once so safari doesn't have to load it every time and that saves launch time and memory. But now explanations from some of devs it seems it does affect memory and also Apple has a limit on the size of the list. So which one is it?

Obviously the number of rules affects the size of the list, but I don't think memory is the issue. If you look e.g. at the blocklist JSON in the Purify app bundle, it's just about 2.5MB. The regular Easylist (which is a different format though) is currently about 1.5MB. And the compiled bytecode that Safari produces out of the list is likely significantly smaller than the JSON file. Apple probably limits the size mainly to avoid delays and increased power consumption when the compiled list is executed.

 

[gaanee]

Based on what I read on this forum - size of list affects memory and safari tab reloading, that's why devs are working on optimizing the list. Then, how is it different from browser extensions?

Obviously the number of rules affects the size of the list, but I don't think memory is the issue. If you look e.g. at the blocklist JSON in the Purify app bundle, it's just about 2.5MB. The regular Easylist (which is a different format though) is currently about 1.5MB. And the compiled bytecode that Safari produces out of the list is likely significantly smaller than the JSON file. Apple probably limits the size mainly to avoid delays and increased power consumption when the compiled list is executed.