Roger Fingas
Adblock Plus developer Eyeo returned to the mobile fray on Tuesday with the launch of Adblock Browser for iOS and Android, enabling people to cut out most or all ad traffic from the Web.
The iOS app, which is free and runs on any device with iOS 8.0 or later, is said to block both ads and tracking cookies. By default it only blocks intrusive ads, but it can be set to halt everything if necessary. People concerned about technical problems or supporting a webpage financially can choose to whitelist specific sites.
As a consequence of blocking ads, Eyeo claims that the app can stop malware, cut bandwidth use in half, and improve battery life by as much as 23 percent.
The developer is separately promising smoother scrolling than other browsers, and better keyboard and bookmarking functions.
Eyeo first attempted to enter the mobile world in 2013 with an Android app, but Google ultimately pulled it from the Play Store.
Apple is on the verge of releasing iOS 9, which will have native support for content-blocking extensions. The change has caused concern among many content publishers, who are already coping with the impact of desktop ad blockers on their revenue. A recent estimate suggested that publishers might collectively miss out on $21.8 billion in 2015, and $41.4 billion in 2016.
Charles Martin
Malcolm Owen
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
Wesley Hilliard
21 Comments
I despise the bloodsucking advertising companies, not for showing me ads, but for tracking all my personal data. I vote for anything that can hurt them as long as they collect personal information.
This capability should help us blow the last kiss of death to the click-supported revenue model which has been so harmful. Super stoked!
Is this just for the people who can’t update to iOS 9? I don’t get why they’d spend time making this otherwise.
Is this just for the people who can’t update to iOS 9? I don’t get why they’d spend time making this otherwise.
So true - especially with links launching in Safari by default.
Maybe they'll have an extension (for iOS 9) as well, but why waste development effort on something like this...
Is this just for the people who can’t update to iOS 9? I don’t get why they’d spend time making this otherwise.
Maybe trying to get a jump on it? And get some free advertising in the process (as is evident with an article like this)?
More importantly, is this a good company, with a well-known product? I'd love to install something like this -- especially on my iPad -- yesterday.
I heard and read wonderful things about Ghostery, so I installed it on my Mac. Best piece of software ever!