The iOS 9 Content Blocker thread

[Rigby]

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.

As I wrote before, the memory footprint of the list is probably small (but only the Safari developers know exactly how much memory it consumes). I'd guess that Safari will on average consume *less* memory when using a content blocker, since ad images aren't loaded.

Then, how is it different from browser extensions?

Not sure what you're asking.

 

[eclipse01]

my biggest pet peeve with my current content blocker (crystal) is, it is blocking videos on sites and when I go to reload without content blocker 9 out of 10 times it will fail to load the video completely and I will have to do all sorts of voodoo to get the site to load without the content blocker and video to load.

Could be just the site, but still a pita...

 

[RadioFr33Europe]

Got Silentium last night. With the exception of messing up formatting on the Gawker sites (io9, Kotaku, Lifehacker), it's been great.

 

[scjr]

Got Silentium last night. With the exception of messing up formatting on the Gawker sites (io9, Kotaku, Lifehacker), it's been great.

Cool! I'm really digging Silentium.

Please report those sites with the Silentium extension in Safari. Thanks!

 

[nutmac]

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 am kinda addicted to content blockers myself, starting with Crystal, Adamant, Peace, Purify, and 1Blockr, to name a few.

For most intent and purpose, I think all of them perform well enough. But I give some edge to Peace and 1Blockr (which Ben Brooks recommend). But the market is still young and in few months, the gap will largely disappear.

I am more interested in finding a direct replacement for now defunct Peace, particularly for its "Open in Peace" share sheet extension that opens the webpage using Safari View Controller. So far, none have emerged.

 

[johannnn]

The Crystal dev replies to mail fast and polite and only takes a day or two until he updates the blocklist, thumbs up!

 

[dearfriendx]

You can really tell the weight Apple users have on some industries. Like this whole ad blocking thing for publishers and the like.
Ad blocking has been around forever. Now that iOS has the feature it's a huge deal. Just interesting.

 

[Mefisto]

For most intent and purpose, I think all of them perform well enough. But I give some edge to Peace and 1Blockr (which Ben Brooks recommend). But the market is still young and in few months, the gap will largely disappear.

Yeah, this has been my experience as well. At this point, and going forward, it will probably be a question of who of the developers will allow the most customization in their app.

Or not. Remains to be seen where all of this goes.

 

[ardchoille50]

You can really tell the weight Apple users have on some industries. Like this whole ad blocking thing for publishers and the like.
Ad blocking has been around forever. Now that iOS has the feature it's a huge deal. Just interesting.

Some folks seem to think the entire world uses nothing but iOS and everyone is using content blockers for the sole purpose of punishing the publishers and ad networks. It seems that Gross Generalization Monthly has a large subscriber base

 

[DotCom2]

delete

 

[zerbfra]

Got Silentium last night. With the exception of messing up formatting on the Gawker sites (io9, Kotaku, Lifehacker), it's been great.

fixed in the upcoming 1.1 thanks!

 

[scjr]

fixed in the upcoming 1.1 thanks!

Thanks for replying to my e-mails. Your support is great!

 

[dearfriendx]

Some folks seem to think the entire world uses nothing but iOS and everyone is using content blockers for the sole purpose of punishing the publishers and ad networks. It seems that Gross Generalization Monthly has a large subscriber base

Yeah, not sure why it's a huge deal now. I guess Android doesn't allow ad blockers unless you are rooted. iOS gets ad blockers and I come across multiple articles from "better known" publications about ad blockers and such. I've used blockers since like 2005 or something. Nothing new.

 

[dearfriendx]

I am more interested in finding a direct replacement for now defunct Peace, particularly for its "Open in Peace" share sheet extension that opens the webpage using Safari View Controller. So far, none have emerged.

Where did this share sheet extension show up? Like, what sort of apps? Sounds interesting. For now, I have Tweetbot open all links to Safari and I open up Apple News articles in Safari. Trying to think of other examples where that extension would help. Sounds nice.

 

[ardchoille50]

Yeah, not sure why it's a huge deal now. I guess Android doesn't allow ad blockers unless you are rooted. iOS gets ad blockers and I come across multiple articles from "better known" publications about ad blockers and such. I've used blockers since like 2005 or something. Nothing new.

One has to wonder how many of those articles are from people who are trying to guilt us into removing our content blockers.

 

[nutmac]

I hope iOS 10 brings content blocker for Phone and Messages apps, extending current "block list" feature.

 

[Ladybug]

One has to wonder how many of those articles are from people who are trying to guilt us into removing our content blockers.

I read somewhere that the line of thought on this is that iOS users are thought to be bigger spenders and more likely to buy something as opposed to Android users. Whether that is true or not I don't know.

Adblockers have been around forever on the PC and not everyone uses them so I think the publishers and advertisers are overreacting a bit personally.

 

[nutmac]

The Crystal dev replies to mail fast and polite and only takes a day or two until he updates the blocklist, thumbs up!

Doh, Crystal just confirmed on WSJ that it will be accepting payment from Eyeo (which owns Adblock Plus) to allow certain ads through.

 

[bandofbrothers]

Doh, Crystal just confirmed on WSJ that it will be accepting payment from Eyeo (which owns Adblock Plus) to allow certain ads through.

but didn't they also say earlier in the thread that they would still be the option to block ads

 

[ardchoille50]

I read somewhere that the line of thought on this is that iOS users are thought to be bigger spenders and more likely to buy something as opposed to Android users. Whether that is true or not I don't know.

Adblockers have been around forever on the PC and not everyone uses them so I think the publishers and advertisers are overreacting a bit personally.

Agreed, on both points. Overreacting is understandable given that some folks stand to lose a lot in the way of user tracking and ad money.

 

[dearfriendx]

I hope iOS 10 brings content blocker for Phone and Messages apps, extending current "block list" feature.

Meaning what exactly? Random spam messages can be marked as junk and you can block phone numbers you want. Would be nice to have the option to block unknown numbers though.

 

[ardchoille50]

Meaning what exactly? Random spam messages can be marked as junk and you can block phone numbers you want. Would be nice to have the option to block unknown numbers though.

Well, in order to block a number you must know the number itself. Those unknown numbers cannot be blocked because the number is unknown.

 

[zemaker]

Very disappointed that Crystal will let companies pay to show ads now, it is very icky and not transprerent at all in regards to what exactly will be shown. I actually feel lied to, and will look for a refund if this actually goes through.

http://www.theverge.com/2015/9/24/9393941/clear-ios-ad-blocker-offering-paid-whitelist

 

[dearfriendx]

Well, in order to block a number you must know the number itself. Those unknown numbers cannot be blocked because the number is unknown.

it would be nice though to block all "unknown" "blocked" and hidden phone numbers in general though. I can do this by asking my carrier, but an iOS option would be nice.

 

[jeremiah256]

Well, in order to block a number you must know the number itself. Those unknown numbers cannot be blocked because the number is unknown.

Get a Google Voice number and give that out when you have to submit a contact phone number on forms or provide your number to anyone other than family and friends. Then if/when they sell your number, you can set the filter (Anonymous Callers) to not ring your phone but they can still leave voice messages. You can also set it up to receive a notification instead with the text of the voice mail (this part works iffy, but it's free).