Firefox for iOS now has a native adblocker

(support.mozilla.org)

68 points | by pentagrama 2 hours ago ago

24 comments

  • jamesforestwest a minute ago

    Well, not bad. But it's not uBlock, and Safari's blocker is already working fine for me. Brave's also been doing this for years. But at least it's something.

  • VCFundedGenYer an hour ago

    Technically, Firefox Focus (a separate browser for iOS) includes an adblocker feature that can be applied system wide via iOS's content blockers subsystem. This was released in the late 2010s.

    Firefox including it is likely just reducing the steps required.

    • adityeah an hour ago

      Yes and not only that, one can enable that as a safari extension and get an ad-free experience on safari too.

    • brightbeige 18 minutes ago

      If you search the App Store and don’t find it, it’s called Firefox Klar in some markets

  • temp0826 an hour ago

    What's the current excuse for not supporting extensions on iOS? Orion on iOS does and it's the reason I dropped FF ages ago.

    • TheDong an hour ago

      Apple themselves do not allow using anything other than WebKit unless you move to the EU or Japan: https://developer.apple.com/support/alternative-browser-engi...

      Firefox addons target gecko, not webkit.

      What Orion's doing is horribly hacky and prone to cause issues with a multitude of addons, and of course Mozilla shouldn't bow to Apple's incredibly anti-competitive behavior.

      You pay apple for a phone that can act more-or-less as a general purpose computer with apps. Apple should let you install the apps you want, and that they don't do so is insulting.

      The fact that the EU and Japan ruled it illegal, and Apple responded by only changing it in those two countries instead of all countries is doubly insulting.

      • yoavm a few seconds ago

        [delayed]

      • wbl 36 minutes ago

        Not all markets or manufacturers will have the same degree of vertical integration and that's ok.

        • Grombobulous a minute ago

          It’s okay if you’re in a healthy market with many competitive choices.

          It’s not okay if you’re a duopoly where over 95% need to buy your product as a prerequisite to functioning in modern society.

        • grepex a few seconds ago

          Read: not all markets and manufacturers will have the same respect for their customers.

    • VCFundedGenYer 26 minutes ago

      As always, it's Apple neutering their own platform. They don't allow a lot of things on iOS. Non-WebKit browsers is one of them (Which is asinine).

      The EU forced them to allow other browser engines in their regions, but it's not global, and therefore fragmented.

    • close04 an hour ago

      Until recently Apple only allowed Webkit on iOS. In the EU and Japan now they allow proprietary engines. But this means Mozilla needs to put in all the extra effort to maintain yet another branch for iOS with all the features, for an even more limited user base in those regions alone.

    • tcfhgj 14 minutes ago

      what's the current excuse for buying a device which doesn't allow you to control what software you use on it?

      • whstl 7 minutes ago

        1. Not wanting to.

        2. Caring about other aspects of the device.

        I don't personally agree with Apple's decisions, but you "vote with wallet" people need to have at least some modicum of empathy before you start demanding people have a lot for you and join your cause.

        • tcfhgj 2 minutes ago

          you are reading a lot into almost nothing

  • Shank 16 minutes ago

    > Ads shown on search engine results pages, including Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo and other search providers

    There are many subpar adblockers available both built into browsers on iOS and as extensions. uBlock Origin Lite for Safari remains the best mobile adblocker on iOS, I suppose.

  • rrgok 28 minutes ago

    It this still only DNS blocking or does cosmetic blocking too?

    • HelloUsername 19 minutes ago

      "Firefox blocks many types of advertising at the network level. It uses a filter list based on EasyList to block many ads before they load."

      I guess still all DNS it seems? For which NextDNS is much more useful.

  • ImJamal an hour ago

    > Firefox does not block:

    > Ads shown on search engine results pages, including Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo and other search providers

    > Sponsored content on the Firefox Home or New Tab page

    So block ads unless it impacts their revenue sources.

    • rvz 2 minutes ago

      Mozilla knows not to bite Google’s hand who is the one that feeds them.

    • pmkary 15 minutes ago

      Ads are bad! Blocking ads on our own homepage? How do you expect us to keep the lights on?

    • eviks 39 minutes ago

      "better than nothing"

    • add-sub-mul-div an hour ago

      It doesn't have those limitations on Windows or Android, so it must be an Apple requirement or limitation.

      • smallerize 31 minutes ago

        Easylist does not block those things on any platforms.

        I'm not aware of any adblockers that can block the ads on the built-in New Tab page. (You can just disable them in settings anyway.)