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Focus by Firefox, a Content Blocker for iOS

blog.mozilla.org

41–50 of 272 posts

Re: Focus by Firefox, a Content Blocker for iOS

#42
post #4

Sounds neat. Would really enjoy installing and trying this out. However, I can't for the life of me find it. Here's what I tried: -Searching for "focus" in the app store. Unsurprisingly, a thousand things came up that were not this. -Searching for "focus firefox". No results. -Searching for "focus by firefox". No results. -In hopes that the article might have a link to the app in the app store, going to that in my ph…

We literally just clicked the "release" button in the last five minutes. The blog post went out a bit early.

Re: Focus by Firefox, a Content Blocker for iOS

#43
post #30
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, I would be incredibly surprised if creating a built-in Android content blocker is something Google would even consider, let alone implement. It is disappointing that they aren't making that API public, but just having that be a core feature of their operating system is pretty huge. Hopefully they have plans to make it public or Firefox will just implement their own ad-blocker into IOS firefox.

To be fair, Firefox can and does ship their own browser engine on Android, something that is forbidden on IOS.

Complete with full extension support, including good ol' uBlock.

Re: Focus by Firefox, a Content Blocker for iOS

#44
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...and yet if the content blockers ran in all apps, people would definitely be complaining that Apple was abusing its power. They can't win!

Yes they can: by allowing app developers to opt-in.

If the app uses a 'Safari View Controller' then it works just fine... That is something app developers can opt-in to, and it also provides the fastest browsing experience for users.

Re: Focus by Firefox, a Content Blocker for iOS

#45
post #41

> This was not our choice — Apple has chosen to make content blocking unavailable to third party browsers on iOS Like, the Firefox authors can't block content in their browser because Apple?

"We tested Firefox for iOS very briefly, and it worked just fine. Pages loaded quickly—or rather, they seemed to load just as quickly as Chrome and Safari. Given that Firefox for iOS shares much of the same underlying code as Safari or Chrome for iOS, that isn't surprising."

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/11/firefo...

I'm not sure if this is the reason why, but it may be.

Re: Focus by Firefox, a Content Blocker for iOS

#46
post #35

Pardon me as I don't understand this blocking analytics or ads thing yet. Wouldn't a small web business which relies on Ad money be killed with this move ? Wouldn't someone who wants to provide content for ad money eventually have to pay Apple some cut for displaying ads on app. Wouldn't it drive the prices of ad as a result which would hurt small business who looks at internet advertising for their growth strategy ?

Ads are a stupid payment method anyway. It only pays up to a few cents per view at most. What if you want to be paid a little bit more? Overhaul your complete monetizing scheme?

Sorry but ads are a very effective and proven way for a web business to generate revenue. That is all together a different discussion on what is an effective way to monetize your web business. But my question is for small business or startups which already have a revenue and relying on that ad revenue. How will they be affected ?

Re: Focus by Firefox, a Content Blocker for iOS

#47
Why is it Focus by Firefox and not Focus by Mozilla? Mozilla is the name of the company, Firefox is the name of one of Mozilla's products. So a software program was created by another software program?

This type of illogical branding is becoming typical of Mozilla these days. It's a shame because the web really needs browser leadership from an organization that isn't a multinational corporation.

Re: Focus by Firefox, a Content Blocker for iOS

#48
post #24

I'm so confused here - I thought Apple added the ability to create content blockers to reduce revenue on the web so that more content providers resort to ADs and they get a bigger slice of the pie. Why would Mozilla help them in their goal? Wouldn't it mean less reliance on the web and less Firefox in the long run? What am I missing here?

User will avoid the web if it provide poor user experience. What user want major battery drains, unwanted traffic cost, and all the drawbacks of malware-behavior that spies, steals, and acts hostile?

The current system is unsustainable and advertisement through the web is slowly turning into the same fate as advertisement through email, and people and companies did not stop using email when spam started to get universally blocked.

Re: Focus by Firefox, a Content Blocker for iOS

#49
post #14

"Apple doesn't abuse its power" only allows a Firefox content blocker in safari

And try changing the default browser on your iPad - not possible. I don't know why Apple gets away with anti-competitive behavior that MS was hauled over the coals for two decades ago.

Because Apple is very far from being a monopoly.
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