With the release of iOS 9, Apple introduced what they call "content blockers". These work primarily as ad blockers, but they can also be used to block the tracking data if you are concerned about privacy. At launch, there are a few different options to choose from, so let's take a look at some of the best that are out there right now.
If you are not familiar, content blockers work similar to ad blockers on your desktop browser. Once installed, they will block ads, follow attempts, and more. This is beneficial for mobile in a number of ways, namely the data consumption. Since these blocks ads, you do not download much, which should reduce your consumption data and improve page load time. Obviously, they also remove ads, which tend to be frustrating on mobile devices. It only work in Safari and only on 64-bit iOS devices (so the 5s and newer, and newer iPad Air and iPad Mini 2 and higher will be supported).
Note: Although many mobile ads are odious, please remember that the ads are how sites like us make enough money to operate. So unless you want to see all your favorite sites go out of business, we humbly remind you to whitelist the sites you love.
How to enable content blockers
Blocking content are not enabled by default, and they take a few steps to set up:
1. Download your content blocker of choice on the iTunes App Store.
2. Head to Settings> Safari> Content Blocking and allow the blocker you have installed.
By enabling content blockers, that is all you have to do. However, in some applications you will have to change individual settings to block or unblock certain content, so better jump into the app to change the settings as well. If you really want to block everything, you can have multiple content blockers running at once, even though it may cause some problems rendering pages. You can always load individual pages without content blockers while pressing the Refresh button in Safari a pop up comes up with the "Reload Without blockers content."
For those who want to control everything: 1Blocker
1Blocker (free / In-App Purchase of $ 2.99) is the perfect application of the tweaker. The free version only blocks ads, so if you want to block everything you'll need to shell out $ 2.99. It comes with 7000 preloaded blockers you can customize to your heart's content. You can change the settings to block ads, trackers, the Twitter widget, Facebook, share widgets Widgets, custom web fonts, Disqus comments, adult sites, entire URL, cookies, specific elements of the page , and more. As they are all switches, this means that you can leave through what you want, which is a nice option. You can even go down to the announcement of specific areas and only block ads that you really hate to see. You can even create your own web editor blockers with the application.
1Blocker is not perfect, however. In fact, with all its parameters and switches it incredibly odd that does not include a whitelist using the sites. This means if you want to support the sites you like, there's no way to do with 1Blocker.
For people who want to change a bunch of settings: Blockr, peace, or Purify
Blockr (99 ¢) is a blocker of content that is in the region of Goldilocks optional parameters. He switches to block individual ads, the media (such as images or videos), biscuits, social buttons, and a more general privacy button. You can also easily add sites to a whitelist. Blockr is powered by its own ad blocking list, so it's hard to say exactly how much it will be useful in the long term.
Similarly, peace ($ 2.99) is a content blocker Instapaper creator Marco made by Arment. You can switch blocking ads and trackers. From here you can also choose to block social widgets, external fonts (which tend to slow down page load time), and hide comments. The blocker is itself powered by Ghostery, which has a huge database, but has its own problems selling data to advertisers, which kind of defeats the purpose of using an ad blocker.
Finally, Purify ($ 3.99) is another option in the same space. It gives alternates for ads, images, scripts, and fonts, while letting you white list of sites you want. You can also easily add any site you're visiting in Safari to your whitelist with an extension of the action, which is a nice advantage if you want to quickly add your favorites. Purify does not list where he gets the Ad Blocking list for, but the list seems quite extensive to date.
For people who want nothing to configure: Crystal or Adamant
Cristal (99 ¢) takes all or nothing approach and have no parameters whatsoever. Just install crystal and it will block the ads and tracking of users on every page you visit. Means all or nothing this approach you can not websites from the white list, but it also means that there are no settings to mess with.
Adamant is supposed to work the same way and be free once it launches in the App Store, but we have not had the chance to test it because it is not yet available.
For Those who are not Satisfied Yet: Make your own
There is a bit of irony to pay for an ad blocker, but you can make your own without knowing coding. Block Party is an open source ad blocker you can build yourself in Xcode. This might sound complicated but it's actually incredibly easy, even if you do not have a coding experience. This way you have complete control over what is blocked and what is not.
We are still only one day after launching iOS 9, so I'm sure we'll see more options pop up in the coming weeks after the goldrush time passes. As DIY entertainment options, these applications are fairly easy to construct simple versions of yourself, so there is a good chance that we will see a flood of them, as we have seen with keyboards. For now, the above options are all you have to choose from and none of them are perfect, so hopefully we'll see better options as time passes.
If you are not familiar, content blockers work similar to ad blockers on your desktop browser. Once installed, they will block ads, follow attempts, and more. This is beneficial for mobile in a number of ways, namely the data consumption. Since these blocks ads, you do not download much, which should reduce your consumption data and improve page load time. Obviously, they also remove ads, which tend to be frustrating on mobile devices. It only work in Safari and only on 64-bit iOS devices (so the 5s and newer, and newer iPad Air and iPad Mini 2 and higher will be supported).
Note: Although many mobile ads are odious, please remember that the ads are how sites like us make enough money to operate. So unless you want to see all your favorite sites go out of business, we humbly remind you to whitelist the sites you love.
How to enable content blockers
Blocking content are not enabled by default, and they take a few steps to set up:
1. Download your content blocker of choice on the iTunes App Store.
2. Head to Settings> Safari> Content Blocking and allow the blocker you have installed.
By enabling content blockers, that is all you have to do. However, in some applications you will have to change individual settings to block or unblock certain content, so better jump into the app to change the settings as well. If you really want to block everything, you can have multiple content blockers running at once, even though it may cause some problems rendering pages. You can always load individual pages without content blockers while pressing the Refresh button in Safari a pop up comes up with the "Reload Without blockers content."
For those who want to control everything: 1Blocker
1Blocker (free / In-App Purchase of $ 2.99) is the perfect application of the tweaker. The free version only blocks ads, so if you want to block everything you'll need to shell out $ 2.99. It comes with 7000 preloaded blockers you can customize to your heart's content. You can change the settings to block ads, trackers, the Twitter widget, Facebook, share widgets Widgets, custom web fonts, Disqus comments, adult sites, entire URL, cookies, specific elements of the page , and more. As they are all switches, this means that you can leave through what you want, which is a nice option. You can even go down to the announcement of specific areas and only block ads that you really hate to see. You can even create your own web editor blockers with the application.
1Blocker is not perfect, however. In fact, with all its parameters and switches it incredibly odd that does not include a whitelist using the sites. This means if you want to support the sites you like, there's no way to do with 1Blocker.
For people who want to change a bunch of settings: Blockr, peace, or Purify
Blockr (99 ¢) is a blocker of content that is in the region of Goldilocks optional parameters. He switches to block individual ads, the media (such as images or videos), biscuits, social buttons, and a more general privacy button. You can also easily add sites to a whitelist. Blockr is powered by its own ad blocking list, so it's hard to say exactly how much it will be useful in the long term.
Similarly, peace ($ 2.99) is a content blocker Instapaper creator Marco made by Arment. You can switch blocking ads and trackers. From here you can also choose to block social widgets, external fonts (which tend to slow down page load time), and hide comments. The blocker is itself powered by Ghostery, which has a huge database, but has its own problems selling data to advertisers, which kind of defeats the purpose of using an ad blocker.
Finally, Purify ($ 3.99) is another option in the same space. It gives alternates for ads, images, scripts, and fonts, while letting you white list of sites you want. You can also easily add any site you're visiting in Safari to your whitelist with an extension of the action, which is a nice advantage if you want to quickly add your favorites. Purify does not list where he gets the Ad Blocking list for, but the list seems quite extensive to date.
For people who want nothing to configure: Crystal or Adamant
Cristal (99 ¢) takes all or nothing approach and have no parameters whatsoever. Just install crystal and it will block the ads and tracking of users on every page you visit. Means all or nothing this approach you can not websites from the white list, but it also means that there are no settings to mess with.
Adamant is supposed to work the same way and be free once it launches in the App Store, but we have not had the chance to test it because it is not yet available.
For Those who are not Satisfied Yet: Make your own
There is a bit of irony to pay for an ad blocker, but you can make your own without knowing coding. Block Party is an open source ad blocker you can build yourself in Xcode. This might sound complicated but it's actually incredibly easy, even if you do not have a coding experience. This way you have complete control over what is blocked and what is not.
We are still only one day after launching iOS 9, so I'm sure we'll see more options pop up in the coming weeks after the goldrush time passes. As DIY entertainment options, these applications are fairly easy to construct simple versions of yourself, so there is a good chance that we will see a flood of them, as we have seen with keyboards. For now, the above options are all you have to choose from and none of them are perfect, so hopefully we'll see better options as time passes.
1 comments:
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