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uBlock Origin Lite in Apple App Store

apps.apple.com

221–230 of 249 posts

Re: uBlock Origin Lite in Apple App Store

#221
post #71

The lack of proper adblocker on iOS is what convinced me to use the Brave browser instead of Firefox or Safari. An adblocker is included by default. And as a bonus : possibility to keep music videos playing while changing app. (A parameter has to be switched for that though)

iOS Safari has adblock support; I've been using AdGuard for years. It's a little bit of a hack, but you can also get system-level ad-block in every app by using Lockdown. Lockdown works by registering itself as a VPN that works kinda like an on-device PiHole.

Doesn’t AdGuard (pro) have this too? Why use both AdGuard and Lockdown?

Re: uBlock Origin Lite in Apple App Store

#223
post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which model is that? I have a single "Moto" app on mine that is un-removable and that is all bloat I can find.

Moto G Power 5G 2024 It is a cheap phone I think I got it new at $160 and that's the thing it has 8GB of RAM, the pictures are subpar (blurring) but other than that it works for me, multi-app non-game This is on Verizon but yeah it'll just install new games and say "Enjoy these new apps" I'm like wtf I think most recently one of the games it installed is Mahjong edit: apparently it's MotoApps doing it

If MotoApps are doing this, it is impressive they can also do that on Samsung phones:

https://community.verizon.com/t5/Mobile-Network-Archive/Game...

Re: uBlock Origin Lite in Apple App Store

#224
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Safari ads are not blocked when using NextDNS. Is it just me?

Safari does not respect the operating system’s DNS settings, it uses its own. I have seen several reports online that you can disable this behaviour by turning off iCloud Private Relay or disabling Advanced Tracking and Fingerprint Protection, but was never able to do so with various combinations.

How are you setting DNS and on which platform? I've tested this extensively and it does work in my experience.

Re: uBlock Origin Lite in Apple App Store

#225
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Safari does not respect the operating system’s DNS settings, it uses its own. I have seen several reports online that you can disable this behaviour by turning off iCloud Private Relay or disabling Advanced Tracking and Fingerprint Protection, but was never able to do so with various combinations.

> Safari does not respect the operating system’s DNS settings, it uses its own. I have known this for a long time, and still find it shocking. I run Graphene on a Pixel now (with my own DNS server), so I don't really care, but I feel bad for the hundreds of millions of Apple users who think that Apple is a "privacy-respecting" company.

I don't think this behavior is expected. When I've tested it, I was able to get DNS to behave in the expected manner. Apple does make design decisions that can be frustrating, but in most cases I find 1) there's a way to work around it or 2) the decision was the lesser of two evils.

Absolutely love GOS as well. What are you using for your DNS server?

Re: uBlock Origin Lite in Apple App Store

#226
post #162

Scrolling through the comments reading about all the adblockers that folks recommend makes my head spin. Why exactly should I trust any of these to have full access to my browser? Looking through the app store I see so many that are clearly trying to impersonate the well known ones by using similar names. It sounds like uBlock Origin Lite is trusted by many, but watch out for Ublock and 1Block, which are also top App…

> but watch out for Ublock and 1Block, which are also top App Store results. Honestly this is more of an App Store issue than an Adblock one. For all of Apple's purported talents in curation, they really cannot seem to filter out the odd trojan horses: https://blog.lastpass.com/posts/warning-fraudulent-app-imper...

There are dubious results for "uBlock" as well on browser extension stores. If it's not breaking rules (copyright violation, malware) it's precarious for companies to take action. It's obvious to me that uBlock Origin is the "correct" result, but how would a company determine that at scale?

The app was removed a day after your article was posted. The app name, developer, icon, and images are all different. It's absolutely a problem, but it was addressed.

If Apple aggressively took action against this with a high error rate, the headlines would probably be about anti-competition, censorship, and upset developers.

Re: uBlock Origin Lite in Apple App Store

#227
post #71

The lack of proper adblocker on iOS is what convinced me to use the Brave browser instead of Firefox or Safari. An adblocker is included by default. And as a bonus : possibility to keep music videos playing while changing app. (A parameter has to be switched for that though)

Brave has also been great here. It even blocks google/reddit login/gps/ popups. With brave you can uninstall the native Reddit app and just use the webapp instead, without ads and stupid-ass "It's better in the app!" or "instead of taking a screenshot, use the share button!" messages.

What about downloading videos? I think it's the only thing holding me back from switching from the app, since I don't wanna share reddits posts, but the videos themselves.

Off-topic but damn how shitty of them to add their own watermark when you download an image from a post, and then they dare to say "Better to use the share button!" if you take a screenshot of it instead.

Re: uBlock Origin Lite in Apple App Store

#228

In all these years I haven’t found a better solution than DNS blocking with NextDNS on iOS. The only place I get ads is YT (but for that I have an Albanian VPN)

If you're in Europe, there's the newly launched DNS4EU project which is free for personal use, and also includes adblocking at the DNS level like NextDNS. I use it in conjunction with Adguard and secure DNS, but they also publish configuration profiles for iOS. https://www.joindns4.eu/ https://www.joindns4.eu/dns-guidelines

Woah, that looks like an great effort! Never seen before, wonder why they're not making more noise about it and/or use it for more services, probably would have come across it while poking at various EU services DNS configs if so, but haven't so far.

Anyone happen to know exactly what the "Protective" option is for/does? I see there is one "Unfiltered", and lots of "Protective + Something" options, which is kind of clear what they do, but just "Protective", what does that mean in practice? Couldn't find any concrete information except "It protects you".

Re: uBlock Origin Lite in Apple App Store

#229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're in Europe, there's the newly launched DNS4EU project which is free for personal use, and also includes adblocking at the DNS level like NextDNS. I use it in conjunction with Adguard and secure DNS, but they also publish configuration profiles for iOS. https://www.joindns4.eu/ https://www.joindns4.eu/dns-guidelines

If you're in the EU

Tried using it from outside EU (even from outside Europe ooho) and seems to work just fine. Where are you getting the "only in the EU" from?

Re: uBlock Origin Lite in Apple App Store

#230

In all these years I haven’t found a better solution than DNS blocking with NextDNS on iOS. The only place I get ads is YT (but for that I have an Albanian VPN)

Why not just pay for a subscription instead of VPN?

I did use to have an subscription to YouTube, but they kept increasing the pricing, and once they've 4x'd the original price, I felt like it wasn't worth it anymore, and they'll just continue raising the prices indefinitely, and that's not a business strategy I'd like to support by continue subscribing.

People always say "vote with your wallet" and that's pretty much why people go any other way than "Subscribe and pay Google money" today with YouTube.

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