Technology @lemmy.world chagall @lemmy.world 7d ago

uBlockOrigin is porting uBOL to iOS and macOS

A beta version of uBO Lite (uBOL) for iOS and macOS is available through TestFlight: https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uBOL-home/issues/327

For details of uBOL, see the project page: https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uBOL-home

39 comments

Great news, been too long since this was a thing

spoiler

(even though I'd never buy an Apple device myself)
- I want to buy a used one just play and learn iOS but I fear getting scammed and the device being locked.
  
  If you buy from a reputable seller with a good free return policy, at worst you'll have to send the device back. If you have access to a credit card or PayPal, it's a good idea to use them, in case the seller becomes unresponsive.
  
  I've used Swappa before and it worked out fine. I sought a private seller instead of the cellphone shops that sell there.
Nice, the number of adblocking apps on iOS is rare. Most demand subscriptions and don't do device wide adblocking, only in Safari. Only the old version of AdGuard Pro still does it, so I haven't updated the app in years.
- Wipr
  
  Wipr 2 is incredible and the dev is EXCELLENT
- Orion browser is a bit better than Safari for adblocking but doesn't solve the issue of other apps
  
  Firefox Focus too!
- Yeah unfortunately this is only a safari extension
Waiting on the day Firefox extensions support the iOS app.
- Will never happen unfortunately
Fantastic! Been waiting for this for a long time.
- Fantastic!
Finally, took them long enough. AdGuard has been good to me but I’ll switch to UBlock in 0.02 nanoseconds once it is available.
- Btw Adguard collects your data. Check their privacy policy. The moment I knew this, I moved to mullvad DNS but nowadays it is not stable. (I use private DNS for system-wide adblocking)
  
  I don’t use their DNS feature, just the adblocking.
Fuck, wish they released that while I was on iPhone during HS. All the other ad blockers were paid and/or Safari only, and I DESPISE Safari, It's so bad. I just used Firefox + NextDNS and prayed.
- What's wrong with Safari on iOS? I prefer Firefox on my computer but on my phone all I want is better adblocking.
  
  I just hated using it, and I already had a FF account that I use everyday and made syncing things better. Safari's UI feels gross and ancient to me, and even my iPhone/MacOS loving mom says the way bookmarks/saved pages works is dumb. Plus, I used FF to have a balance of convenience and privacy, since most other options on iOS aren't privacy friendly.
- It’s going to be safari only. There’s no API on iOS for system wide blocking unless it’s a third party VPN server filtering network requests.
  
  Not surprised, Apple hates devs anyway. Like I said, I used NextDNS to filter internet traffic and used Proton VPN for pirating/hiding my IP/usual shit. I'm on Graphene now so I'm not invested anyway, but maybe I would've forced myself to use Safari if uBlock was available for it.
So I’ma bit confused, would this block ads while I’m using the YouTube app? Or just ads while I’m using safari? Aren’t browsers on iOS just reskins of safari under the hood as well? Meaning this would work with chrome / Firefox?
- No.
  
  The “all browsers are iOS reskin” thing is browsers must use WebKit for JavaScript and rendering, which are the two biggest parts of a browser. WebKit is a library of code distributed as part of the iOS SDK. However, Safari adds more on top of WebKit, including its plugin API. Installing plugins into iOS Safari wont affect anything just using WebKit because they aren’t using the Safari plugins code.
  
  In theory Firefox could implement its own plugins system for iOS, but it would more limited than the normal Firefox plugin system for other devices, and also they might run into policy issues with Apple (this policy about 3rd party browsers is part of a broader policy against side loading, which has in the past prevented things like emulators and programming apps into the App Store. They have recently started loosening up on their anti-side loading policies, however).
- Don't expect to block stuff from Google while using Chrome. Google is [one of] the biggest advertising companies
- The only way this will work as of now (at least in the US, I’m unsure how extensions may work on a third party App Store with the newer EU regulations) is if you use safari only. iOS allows for safari extensions from the App Store which already have things like ad blockers, but they definitely do not run within any third party apps. The code is certainly likely to be open source, but I definitely don’t see chrome/brave integrating it as part of their app bundle. Perhaps Firefox? In any case it’s up to each browser vendor to provide their own ad blocking system. For complete system wide adblocking on iOS you pretty much need a VPN.

39 comments