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The iOS 9 Content Blocker thread
- Thread starter thatJohann
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You don't need to wait for an updated version, Ad Block Multi auto-updates filter lists on launch. Also, BTW, I think I fixed all the sponsored ads on yahoo. Please report if any new would appear via the extension.
Just for the curious; here's a quick explanation of what's going on with the problems people are seeing.
Pages load blank:
This is most often caused by "Visual Website Optimizer" (VWO). It tracks your clicks and behavior on websites, so Purify blocks it. The problem is, sites that use VWO have an inline script (embedded in the page) that literally hides the page (the body element to be more specific), expecting VWO to load and unhide it. VWO gets blocked, the page never gets unhidden.
Purify could stop blocking VWO. This would expose users to tracking.
I've been in touch with the engineers at Apple about this issue, and we've been able to come up with a great solution that ensures pages are always visible. It's in the pipeline.
Meanwhile, I've reached out to VWO to see if they can modify their include script slightly to fix this issue.
bild.de detecting a blocker:
I've reverse-engineered bild.de's JavaScript thoroughly, and I can confidently tell you: if some blocker is not being detected by bild.de, it's not blocking the ads there from being loaded, just hiding them. Purify won't do that.
I proposed an augmentation to the Content Blocker API to the team at Apple that would make it much more difficult for bild.de (and other sites) to do such things.
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I understand it's frustrating to have sites not work, and it's completely justified to prefer blockers that don't appear to break those sites as easily. I just wanted to give people a peek into what's going on under the hood.
Overall, please know that any problems you see with Purify are never neglected. We care about privacy and want to do things right — and that's often more challenging than quicker, less solid solutions.
Pages load blank:
This is most often caused by "Visual Website Optimizer" (VWO). It tracks your clicks and behavior on websites, so Purify blocks it. The problem is, sites that use VWO have an inline script (embedded in the page) that literally hides the page (the body element to be more specific), expecting VWO to load and unhide it. VWO gets blocked, the page never gets unhidden.
Purify could stop blocking VWO. This would expose users to tracking.
I've been in touch with the engineers at Apple about this issue, and we've been able to come up with a great solution that ensures pages are always visible. It's in the pipeline.
Meanwhile, I've reached out to VWO to see if they can modify their include script slightly to fix this issue.
bild.de detecting a blocker:
I've reverse-engineered bild.de's JavaScript thoroughly, and I can confidently tell you: if some blocker is not being detected by bild.de, it's not blocking the ads there from being loaded, just hiding them. Purify won't do that.
I proposed an augmentation to the Content Blocker API to the team at Apple that would make it much more difficult for bild.de (and other sites) to do such things.
---
I understand it's frustrating to have sites not work, and it's completely justified to prefer blockers that don't appear to break those sites as easily. I just wanted to give people a peek into what's going on under the hood.
Overall, please know that any problems you see with Purify are never neglected. We care about privacy and want to do things right — and that's often more challenging than quicker, less solid solutions.
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AWESOME explanation!
Thanks for this Chris. And thanks for keeping privacy and user interests always in first place.
Whats in store for your next update? And great read on whats happening on sites!
With all the content blockers available, it shouldn't be necessary to use two blocker at once. Often times, using two at once can lead to negative results.
Find a content blocker that works the best for your needs, and one that also has a developer who is responsive to email and social media.
No content blocker is capable of properly handling every page on the internet.
- A lot of work is being done testing out Purify's new auto-update mechanism. It's designed to be really fast and effortless — you don't have to do anything differently at all.
It just automatically happens in the background, and it's very battery-efficient.
- A common request was to add a comment box in the reporting mechanism. Even though that doesn't necessarily make sense since the analysis is done by a machine learning algorithm and it's just based on the page itself, we'll include that to help users feel more supported.
- Originally, a visual rule creation tool was slated for the next version (this is where you can just tap on an undesired element in a page you're viewing, and Purify automatically creates a rule for you). That said, we're thinking about pushing that to the next version — in order to get the new update mechanism out sooner, so people can start getting fixes for sites they report near instantly.
- Much-improved VoiceOver support for users with special vision needs.
- Other things you'll see in the changelog.
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The rule creation tool sounds awesome but you might need to wait to get the rest running fine
Interesting, does this imply that Purify does currently update the filter-list when the app is opened? I thought i had read otherwise - perhaps some sort of visual indication of it updating would be a good addition?
Ok, now i am almost changing again to Purify...
Pitchforks and brooms not included.
I received a reply from the developer of Blockit. He is working on getting an update (version 2.0) ready. And as soon as it is released, he will supply me with a code so that I can do a review.
Edited to add: I will post a review of Adblocker for Safari! later this week.
Edited to add: I will post a review of Adblocker for Safari! later this week.
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That tells me that a certain content blocker is not really blocking ads, just hiding them. That would explain why the ads aren't visible but the areas taken up by the ads appear as blank spaces. If the ads aren't being blocked, just hidden, that means they are still being loaded.. and that could be bad news for those of us in a limited data plan.
Thank you for blocking ads instead of just hiding them.
Trying to decide between Ad Block Multi and Purify as my 24/7 blocker. Both are very well done. Had no issue buying both to support the devs
Weird.. Just tested Ad Block Multi on the Verge on my iPad mini. When I follow a link, it adds about 3 or 4 entries to the "back" history (when I long press the back button in Safari). AdMop correctly adds only one entry.
But on other sites I've tried with Ad Block Multi so far doesn't show this problem.
But on other sites I've tried with Ad Block Multi so far doesn't show this problem.
Perhaps I should post this here too as I read a lot "enabled the blocker but it's not working, still showing ads":
What I always do and works everytime:
- deactivate blocker x
- clear safari cache
- close safari
- enable blocker y
Never had an issue with ads showing or blocker not working.
What I always do and works everytime:
- deactivate blocker x
- clear safari cache
- close safari
- enable blocker y
Never had an issue with ads showing or blocker not working.
@rshev Does Adblock Multi actually block ads or does it allow them to load and then hide them?
from my experience bild.de doesn't detect ABM and block the user for using a content blocker, so the user sees that site without the ads.
chrismatic has stated:
"I've reverse-engineered bild.de's JavaScript thoroughly, and I can confidently tell you: if some blocker is not being detected by bild.de, it's not blocking the ads there from being loaded, just hiding them."
If a content blocker is loading and hiding ads, then the user isn't benefitting from the reduced traffic.
I'm not a developer, I'm just trying to learn more about Adblock Multi so I can make the best choice.
from my experience bild.de doesn't detect ABM and block the user for using a content blocker, so the user sees that site without the ads.
chrismatic has stated:
"I've reverse-engineered bild.de's JavaScript thoroughly, and I can confidently tell you: if some blocker is not being detected by bild.de, it's not blocking the ads there from being loaded, just hiding them."
If a content blocker is loading and hiding ads, then the user isn't benefitting from the reduced traffic.
I'm not a developer, I'm just trying to learn more about Adblock Multi so I can make the best choice.
I'm not a developer but I sure have learned a lot from following this thread and the other on content blockers. I'm currently using Purify on my iPad Air 2 and looking forward to these updates especially the comment box when reporting. I'm also glad Purify is not just hiding the ads but blocking them entirely, this is very important.
I think you should give the dev an opportunity to respond to another devs accusations before jumping to conclusions. E.g. it could simply be that the bild.de doesn't detect the blocker because the blocklist misses the objects that the scripts are testing for.
Depending on how the page is programmed, blocking ads (i.e. preventing them from loading) can leave behind blank spaces. That's why some of the blocklists use both block and css-display-none actions to block ads and additionally remove blank spaces that are left behind.
I tried doing a Google search but couldn't find the answer. It's the iOS Purify dev from the current ublock or ublock origin? Yes they are different lol.