I’ve finally picked up an iPhone about a month ago, and have been loving the experience.
However I’m now thrown into an ad-full world again (I used to have a browser blocking many if not most ads on the android), so I’m wondering, what adblockers do you use (may it be safari extension or entirely new browser for my fellow Europeans)?
NextDNS is my latest approach and it’s working well.
NextDNS is the best choice imho.
Don’t know if it’s better, but for free, Firefox Focus includes an ad-blocker for Safari.
AdGuard Pro
Same, very happy with it, blocks everything, and also includes VPN.
Youtube ads are a bit tricky, but can also be blocked by opening videos through the AdGuard app.
AdGuard + Vinegar blocks YouTube ada quite well most of the time.
Does it work for other browsers like Firefox?
Sadly no.
What’s the difference between the pro and non-pro version?
Pi-Hole via VPN and Firefox Focus
AdGuard, and Vinegar for YouTube.
Do Vinegar actually work? I tried it previously and it didn’t do anything for me, tried it again now since it was mentioned and YouTube ads still appear in Safari…
It works for me, it’s a bit janky though because of YouTube’s custom link handler. You have to either open videos in new tabs or reload the page after clicking the video for it to load correctly.
Tbh I don’t actually know if it’s supposed to remove ads, I use it to get the better (Safari built in) video player that can do Picture in Picture and what not.
Could it be localized?
What do you mean?
Could its function be based upon blocklists that are localized as in different for different region
I don’t think YouTube does anything for that to be necessary, but I could be wrong.
Vinegar worked for me but I had issues with YouTube throttling it and the video constantly restarting
1Blocker and Pi-hole.
I use a combination of PiHole via a VPN to my home server and Orion browser.
Its greatly improved my experience.
Blokada - works without VPN.
1Blocker
I like AdGuard Pro. You can use a lot of third-party blocklists with it - many of the same lists you can use with DNS-based blockers like Pi-Hole. AdGuard works as a safari extension, but you can also use it as DNS blocker to block ads in all apps. This can be done using the native iOS DNS management feature or by using a VPN.
i use Ghostery, works on Mac Safari also. Free and does the job
I liked to use a three tiered approach…
Back when we could jailbreak our iPhones I’d use this and overwrite the system’s hosts file. I still use it on my Mac, even if I can’t on iOS anymore.
A VPN is an excellent solution, but when selecting one, you have to read the privacy policy and NOT give the policy the benefit of the doubt. I’ve seen a few that give themselves permission to share your info while making it sound reasonable. I use lockdown personally.
For Safari Extensions, 1Blocker is what ai currently use.
AdGuard DNS is free and super simple to setup, no app required. It’s my favorite no-fuss solution I found when I switched from Android a few years ago.
https://adguard-dns.io/en/public-dns.html
Go to that link, scroll down to method 2, and download an iOS profile. You’ll need to be using Safari for the download to work properly.
You get more customization and features through AdGuard’s app but then you have to pay a subscription for DNS blocking features. While it’s super cheap, I’ve personally been perfectly satisfied with this free solution. It blocks ads system-wide, not just in the browser. For example, in my shopping list app there’s usually a banner ad but it doesn’t load with the adguard DNS enabled. I’m 99% sure it won’t block ads in YouTube though (I sub to premium so I’ve never tried it.)
Eero’s home network ad blocker paired with AdGuard. Works well enough. Although so many people have blockers now that even my favorite sites, which I whitelist, are tough to read because of the amount of ads keeping them in business. ArsTechnica I’m looking at you. Yeah, I could subscribe but I’m a cheap bastard. I’d rather be able to retire than pay for a site.
A DNS ad filter on your home network to black hole the requests to ad servers is the only thing I’ve found to be effective on iOS. I tried the ad guard extension in safari but there were just way too many ads that didn’t get blocked