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WebShield – A new wide-spectrum content blocker for Safari

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Re: WebShield – A new wide-spectrum content blocker for Safari

#61

Post by InfiniteVortex »

radicality wrote: post #49
delduca wrote: post #31

I have been using Wipr2, 100/100 on my adblock testing.

I’m using it too for now, but considering stopping. afaik the tool is not open source (even if it is, still happy to pay for the app), and to me feels a bit too magical and makes me uneasy. I have no idea what it’s downloading, what lists it’s fetching, what kind of content it’s blocking, what it’s blocking on a specific site, whether some site is broken because of it, or even if it’s working at all. I do like how in…

For Wipr 2, on macOS you can see the rules here: `~/Library/Group Containers/group.wipr2.rules/Rules/` in the JSON files. Kaylee (Wipr dev) sources the blocker list data from these [0] sources.

[0]: https://kaylees.site/wipr-acknowledgements.html

Re: WebShield – A new wide-spectrum content blocker for Safari

#62

Post by crossroadsguy »

InfiniteVortex wrote: post #44
layer8 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s a very technical description. The Safari extensions I use already do block YouTube ads. So it’s unclear what WebShield brings to the table in practical terms over existing extensions.

Well, WebShield is free & open source, those extensions may or may not. It's also a single app/codebase across macOS/iOS/iPadOS/visionOS. If you're happy with your current ad blocking setup for Safari, continue using it. I'm not trying to conquer the world.

Will it also show up as multiple extensions (like it does for AdGuard) if I want to use more than 1 type of blocking/lists? (I am aware that it is Apple's artificially forced limitation but thought I will still ask and whether you folks have found a way around it)

Re: WebShield – A new wide-spectrum content blocker for Safari

#63

Post by layer8 »

dylan604 wrote: post #48
layer8 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ghostery doesn’t just hide consent banners and blocks tracking cookies, it also automatically opts-out from tracking consent. https://www.ghostery.com/blog/never-consent-by-ghostery#neve...

What trackers actually obey said consent?

In the EU, they are legally obliged to do so.

Re: WebShield – A new wide-spectrum content blocker for Safari

#64

Post by starfezzy »

layer8 wrote: post #14
hknws2023saio wrote: post #9

The only thing that is holding me back from not making safari my primary browser is not having an extension like ublock origin. This seems really promising.

What are you missing specifically? I’ve been pretty happy with Ghostery and AdGuard Pro.

Well, for starters ublock origin is the gold standard, and it's free, and it's open source, and it's been refined over many years, and etc. etc. etc.

Re: WebShield – A new wide-spectrum content blocker for Safari

#65

Post by InfiniteVortex »

crossroadsguy wrote: post #62
InfiniteVortex wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, WebShield is free & open source, those extensions may or may not. It's also a single app/codebase across macOS/iOS/iPadOS/visionOS. If you're happy with your current ad blocking setup for Safari, continue using it. I'm not trying to conquer the world.

Will it also show up as multiple extensions (like it does for AdGuard) if I want to use more than 1 type of blocking/lists? (I am aware that it is Apple's artificially forced limitation but thought I will still ask and whether you folks have found a way around it)

WebShield shows up as multiple extensions, 1 content blocker for each category, and 1 for advanced blocking (a webextension). This is because each content blocker, I believe IIRC, has a limit of 150k rules.

Re: WebShield – A new wide-spectrum content blocker for Safari

#66

Post by jamesy0ung »

InfiniteVortex wrote: post #38

Hey everyone, author of WebShield here! I had no idea this was posted here. Feel free to ask any questions, I'll be more than happy to answer them here (including any that have been posted), if/when I get the time.

Are you using anything new in iOS 17?

It would be nice to be able to run it on my iPhone which is stuck on 16.2 because of TrollStore and Dopamine

Re: WebShield – A new wide-spectrum content blocker for Safari

#67

Post by atonse »

troupo wrote: post #36
atonse wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eh not quite. I switched off Chrome many years ago (on macOS) because it had gotten so bloated and was constantly running my fans. I remember reading that Chrome had worked on fixing a lot of that bloat (so did FF). But Safari was a breath of fresh air in how fast it worked and didn't seem to constantly kill my battery. Yes it has the occasional quirks. But I do like that Apple focuses more on UX than just DevEx by t…

> But at the end of the day, it's just mostly WebKit (and Blink derived from it) and Firefox Blink is a separate engine, as it has significantly diverted from WebKit.

How significantly could it actually change? Maybe the process model, etc but I doubt most of the layout algorithms etc have changed much.

Re: WebShield – A new wide-spectrum content blocker for Safari

#68

Post by InfiniteVortex »

jamesy0ung wrote: post #66
InfiniteVortex wrote: post #38

Hey everyone, author of WebShield here! I had no idea this was posted here. Feel free to ask any questions, I'll be more than happy to answer them here (including any that have been posted), if/when I get the time.

Are you using anything new in iOS 17? It would be nice to be able to run it on my iPhone which is stuck on 16.2 because of TrollStore and Dopamine

I can't use anything below iOS 17 because I use SwiftData, probably some other newer APIs too. Sorry.

Re: WebShield – A new wide-spectrum content blocker for Safari

#70

Post by brylie »

zsolt224 wrote: post #69

Is it possible to disable autoplay next video on YouTube? And disable YouTube shorts? Thank you for developing open source extension.

In case it helps, at least on desktop browsers, there is a toggle switch to disable autoplay.

I agree about shorts. I’ve repeatedly “removed” them by clicking “less like this” under the ellipsis next to the Shorts heading, but they keep coming back. I’ve also submitted UX feedback about this customer hostile (I pay for YouTube premium) pattern. It’s frustrating when features like this are force fed to you.

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