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downloading the global ad blockers from the web (instead of the app store) is a more practical option

by make3 8y ago

scarface74 8y ago
As long as you don't care about your privacy. Everything going through a third party VPN is yet another app that has access to your data. With the built in web and web view ad blocking framework on iOS, the ad blocking app doesn't see your browsing history. It installs a JSON file that Safari uses to know what content to block. It's not a complete system wide solution but it does protect your privacy.
- kitsunesoba 8y ago
  Yes, I’m positive that the security/privacy risk is the reason why Apple banned VPN based ad blockers. There’s no way for Apple to verify that VPN apps aren’t siphoning off data, making the whole thing a gamble and huge PR disaster waiting to happen (“Apple found to have allowed internet siphoning apps on store for years”). Loss of blocking ads in apps is a casualty, not a goal. If it didn’t mean a revolt from countless app devs I’m sure they’d be perfectly happy to implement something similar to Safari’s content blocker system for the entire OS.
  - scarface74 8y ago
    Exactly. What does Apple have to gain from not blocking advertising? It makes no money from adverting. Blocking advertising not only hurts it's major competitor but would also force apps to monetize via actually getting people to pay for apps. They would get a cut from the revenue. Apple makes no money from free advertising supported apps.
s73v3r_ 8y ago
Isn't the more practical and impactful option not patronizing services/apps that rely on advertising to raise revenue?
- scarface74 8y ago
  Are you willing to give up Google, StackOverflow, and almost every website on the Internet? What about Android itself? The entire reason for Android's existence is for Google to make money on advertising.
  - lern_too_spel 8y ago
    And yet on Android, you can easily install a systemwide adblocker, while on iOS you need to jailbreak or reinstall every seven days. iOS is user hostile, and I'm constantly surprised that anybody who is a developer would willingly use it.
    - scarface74 8y ago
      If by "easily" you mean use a third party app store that most people aren't going to use and now you have one central app that has your entire data usage history to sell to the highest bidder....
      - lern_too_spel 8y ago
        > If by "easily" you mean use a third party app store that most people aren't going to use Whether most people will use it or not is not relevant to how easy it is. Just go to https://f-droid.org https://f-droid.org, click the download button, click on the downloaded notification, and follow the prompts. > and now you have one central app that has your entire data usage history to sell to the highest bidder.... The apps on fdroid are open source and use a reproducible build system.
        scarface74 8y ago
        you can easily install a systemwide adblocker So now "easily" has turned into going to a third party App Store and either blindly trusting an app wont surreptitiously store and forward all of your data or either trusting that someone else has audited the code or audit the code yourself and to be doubly sure, build the code yourself.

downloading the global ad blockers from the web (instead of the app store) is a more practical option

by make3 8y ago

downloading the global ad blockers from the web (instead of the app store) is a more practical option

As long as you don't care about your privacy. Everything going through a third party VPN is yet another app that has access to your data. With the built in web and web view ad blocking framework on iOS, the ad blocking app doesn't see your browsing history. It installs a JSON file that Safari uses to know what content to block. It's not a complete system wide solution but it does protect your privacy.

kitsunesoba 8y ago
Yes, I’m positive that the security/privacy risk is the reason why Apple banned VPN based ad blockers. There’s no way for Apple to verify that VPN apps aren’t siphoning off data, making the whole thing a gamble and huge PR disaster waiting to happen (“Apple found to have allowed internet siphoning apps on store for years”). Loss of blocking ads in apps is a casualty, not a goal. If it didn’t mean a revolt from countless app devs I’m sure they’d be perfectly happy to implement something similar to Safari’s content blocker system for the entire OS.
- scarface74 8y ago
  Exactly. What does Apple have to gain from not blocking advertising? It makes no money from adverting. Blocking advertising not only hurts it's major competitor but would also force apps to monetize via actually getting people to pay for apps. They would get a cut from the revenue. Apple makes no money from free advertising supported apps.

s73v3r_ 8y ago

Isn't the more practical and impactful option not patronizing services/apps that rely on advertising to raise revenue?

scarface74 8y ago
Are you willing to give up Google, StackOverflow, and almost every website on the Internet? What about Android itself? The entire reason for Android's existence is for Google to make money on advertising.
- lern_too_spel 8y ago
  And yet on Android, you can easily install a systemwide adblocker, while on iOS you need to jailbreak or reinstall every seven days. iOS is user hostile, and I'm constantly surprised that anybody who is a developer would willingly use it.
  - scarface74 8y ago
    If by "easily" you mean use a third party app store that most people aren't going to use and now you have one central app that has your entire data usage history to sell to the highest bidder....
    - lern_too_spel 8y ago
      > If by "easily" you mean use a third party app store that most people aren't going to use Whether most people will use it or not is not relevant to how easy it is. Just go to https://f-droid.org https://f-droid.org, click the download button, click on the downloaded notification, and follow the prompts. > and now you have one central app that has your entire data usage history to sell to the highest bidder.... The apps on fdroid are open source and use a reproducible build system.
      - scarface74 8y ago
        you can easily install a systemwide adblocker So now "easily" has turned into going to a third party App Store and either blindly trusting an app wont surreptitiously store and forward all of your data or either trusting that someone else has audited the code or audit the code yourself and to be doubly sure, build the code yourself.