From what I've heard from the devs of Magic, it seems a release date is nigh. I've been in constant contact with [at least] one of the devs through Twitter since I first received a beta code and responses have been quick. Not all fixes were immediate but several of them have gone through since first reported and are working great now. Thusly, I decided to dig up all my old comments about the app as I've been beta testing it and update them:
- sites load quickly, probably on par with some of the faster ones I've used like Purify and Adblock Fast. I've tested the sites I usually go to, along with some of the sites that BasicGreatGuy has used in his reviews, and they have all performed very well.
I would actually say that speed might be somewhat slower than Purify, but not by a significant amount. If Purify and Adblock Fast were rated as A+ in speed, I'd say Magic is somewhere around a B+ to A-. A caveat would be I'm basically always on hotel internet right now, which is never great, so that may be affecting things to an extent. However, one would imagine that should affect things across the board.
- granular controls. You can choose what you want: block ads, block trackers, block social widgets (social buttons and comments), content (images, videos, etc.) There are options for regional settings, whitelisting, EU cookie notices and adult ads.
This hasn't changed yet, but considering it's already fairly feature rich there hasn't really been a need for any change. The dev has told me about a pretty cool feature that's in the works which seems pretty unique. I will say that right now you have to update your blocklist manually, which may be a hassle for some.
- a shortcut is available in Safari so you can whitelist without opening the app again. There is also a report problem link that automatically opens your mail app so you can send them an email with details on what the problem is.
I have been told by the dev that they are working on a way to leave a note when reporting an issue without having to use email.
- blocks ads is enabled by default and I haven't had any ads poke through in my testing thus far. That goes for banner ads as well as video ads that play prior to your video of choice (there may be a couple seconds of black screen before the actual video starts playing though)
This has held true, even the slight wait time before a video will start playing. Occasionally you'll see some blank ad boxes, but every time I've reported one of those they were fixed extremely quickly.
- might not be a fault of the app itself but with block trackers on, it breaks video playing functionality on Giantbomb.com and images/video functionality on nfl.com as seen in the first set of screenshots. If I disable tracker blocking, both work fine as shown in the second set. I reported the issue to the dev on Twitter and got an extremely quick reply that they were going to investigate.
FIXED! Now videos on Giantbomb.com play just fine and NFL.com has full functionality even with block trackers ON. First blocker that seems to leave NFL.com in fully working shape.
- with ads and trackers both blocked, videos worked fine on other sites like The Verge. The site itself loaded pretty quickly without any visible issues. If trackers are not blocked, the main site takes a lot longer to load (bar stays about halfway for probably upwards of 10 seconds; only tested by feel and not actually timed)
Haven't really tested this again since I haven't had the need to turn OFF block trackers.
- some stuttering and lag on Amazon when scrolling through some searches (happened when scrolling through search results for "Sword art online" in Kindle store and "fantasy" in video games) but they are aware and looking into it. This is only present on iPad. I did not have any issues with stuttering or lag when doing the exact same searches on my iPhone. Both devices were on iOS 9.1.
Still present. I sent the dev an email with two videos detailing the stuttering issue, as well another issue I hadn't noticed before where when I click the link to see the item, it loads a blank white page. It requires a refresh for the item to show properly. This doesn't happen without a content blocker but the issue persists even with Purify (Adblock Fast didn't block the ads) but oddly not with Adblocker from Mobotap. They are going to continue to look into it.
- videos aren't playing on IGN or GameSpot but I've been told that the problem has basically been found and will be fixed in a couple days.
IGN videos are playing now, with the exception of some that might be Flash-based? GameSpot videos still don't work but after I reload without content blockers they still don't work. However, they work if I just turn off the blocker in Safari under Settings, which is odd.
- blank ad boxes were found on IGN. Reported it on Twitter and was fixed in just a few minutes. Was super impressed by the turnaround time.
The same happened on Ars Technica. In both cases, a screenshot and link to the page was provided to the dev. The boxes were removed within minutes of the dev's reply, which I couldn't be happier about. I imagine this will continue going forward, so please be sure to report issues if/when you see them.
- occasionally some websites don't finish loading but easily do so after a refresh. Not sure if it's completely on the blocker as hotel wifi isn't exactly the best nor completely reliable.
Haven't come across this issue again recently aside from the Amazon weirdness, so I chalk this one up somewhat to my crappy hotel internet.
A great app with a great dev team behind it. I've spent money on Crystal, Purify and AdBlock Multi already but I will have no qualms about spending money on Magic once it is released. It might not have been the best blocker in town when I first received a beta code, but the timely responses and having sites that were reported actually be fixed have pushed it to the top for me personally. I'm very excited for the full release.
Speed more important?
