Ask Slashdot: Gaining Control of My Mobile Browser?

An anonymous reader writes: I run Firefox with NoScript and FlashBlock at home. Browsing is easy, and I only have to enable scripts on a few sites. If they have 20+ scripts, I just surf somewhere else. Fast forward to the mobile experience. I had an Android device, but now I have an iPhone. In addition to the popup problem, and the fake "X" on ads, the iPhone browsers (Safari, Chrome, Opera) will start to show a site, then they will lock up for 10-30 seconds before finally becoming responsive. If I switch back to another app and then return to the browser, Safari and Chrome have a little delay, but Opera delays 20+ seconds before becoming responsive again.

Firefox is not available on the iPhone, so I can't simply run NoScript. Chrome does not appear to have a NoScript equivalent for mobile. What solutions are you using to make mobile browsing work?

Comments

It is, sorta

[nospam007]

"Firefox is not available on the iPhone"
There's an app called virtualBrowser, which runs firefox, but you'll better have LTE.
You can try it out for free, but if you want to save installed extensions like noscript and adblock, you'll have to pay a monthly fee, 2 bucks if I remember.

There are also standalone adblocker apps. (weblock etc) I pasted my custom filters copied from adblock into mine and it works OK.

Re:It is, sorta

[arglebargle_xiv]

"Firefox is not available on the iPhone"

Even if it was available, what you're getting (if it's the same as Android) is some crappy third-rate copy of desktop Firefox with a fraction of the functionality and an inability to run most of the extensions you're used to. Tried it on my Android phone and it lasted about 15 minutes before I removed it again. So for all the iDevice users waiting for Firefox, don't bother.

After trying seemingly one of every mobile browser out there, the least sucky one I've found is UC Browser, which is available for iDevices (although the iPhone one hasn't been updated for awhile). It does most things I want, has AdBlock built in, and most importantly is actively supported by the developers. You can actually go to their web site and report a bug or request a feature, and someone will respond and take a look at it, unlike the Firefox developers who are too busy deciding how much rounding to put on their tabs and what random reordering of menu and command options will be most cromulent for this afternoon's release.

Re:It is, sorta

[antdude]

4G LTE? Uh oh. What about 3G like on an old, used iPhone 4S? :(

Re:It is, sorta

[JackieBrown]

I run Firefox on my phone. I don't notice any less of an experience compared to any of the other "big names."

It also worked with noscript and adblock. I don't really use any other extensions (besides side tabs on my desktop but I don't think that would translate well to mobile anyways.)

Re:It is, sorta

[arglebargle_xiv]

I run Firefox on my phone. I don't notice any less of an experience compared to any of the other "big names."

That sounds like you're comparing mobile Firefox to mobile other-browsers, not desktop Firefox. Sure, mobile Firefox sucks about as much as other mobile browsers, it's nothing like desktop Firefox, in which case why bother? I've been using desktop Firefox since it was Phoenix 0.3 and it's a decent browser (modulo its more recent Chromefox incarnations), but if I want a shitty mobile browsing experience I'll use the Android built-in browser, not install Firefox.

Why not just enjoy the experience

[Anonymous Coward]

Instead of dealing with malware in the Play store, you get to deal with no freedom in the App store. You knew the sword cut both ways when you switched, and now you're complaining?

Re: Why not just enjoy the experience

[Anonymous Coward]

Not all switches are "willingly".
I had the choice of free iPhone with support by my employer, or pay for phone and no support if I wanted android.

Re: Why not just enjoy the experience

[corychristison]

If you want to talk about freedom, why are you letting your employer hold your phone over your head like a bully teasing a child?

Go buy your own phone if you want control over it. Otherwise, don't complain.

Re: Why not just enjoy the experience

[Anonymous Coward]

Not all switches are "willingly".
I had the choice of free iPhone with support by my employer, or pay for phone and no support if I wanted android.

Easy answer throw the iPhone junk in the nearest waste bin tell your employer to supply proper phones not over priced under capable apple crap
   

Re:Why not just enjoy the experience

[unixisc]

Instead of dealing with malware in the Play store, you get to deal with no freedom in the App store. You knew the sword cut both ways when you switched, and now you're complaining?

Better yet, use the iPhone for the apps experience, which they do better. Most sites are not mobile friendly, so use it only when I have to, such as refer to a website for address to a place, et al. I never do my normal browsing on my iPhone. Most of it is either on my laptop, and sometimes, on my tablet.

There are apps that work better on phones and tablets. Web browsers ain't one of them.

Re: Why not just enjoy the experience

[unixisc]

He's getting something for free from his employer, and you actually think he's in a position to dictate what his employer ought to give him?

My question to the GP would be - which country is he in? Since in the US, if he selected a carrier, like the big 4, he'd automatically get a choice of a phone w/ a 2 year contract. Good deals on both Galaxies and Moto X. Yeah, if he's abroad, then he pretty much has to take what his employer gives him, or fork out an arm and a let for a good phone.

Re: Why not just enjoy the experience

[Anonymous Coward]

His employer is paying him probably $100,000 per year, and he shouldn't be able to make a suggestion regarding a $700/two year expense?

Re: Why not just enjoy the experience

[Anonymous Coward]

No. Welcome to the corporate world.

Re: Why not just enjoy the experience

[Anonymous Coward]

Fork out an arm and a leg maybe, but probably save in the long run compared with that US contract. Certainly that's our experience of the difference between UK and US contracts, maybe the rest of the world is even worse value than the US though.

Re: Why not just enjoy the experience

[Anonymous Coward]

No, no, no ....
Buy your own phone with Android. Use iPhone at work. Protect employer property and lock iPhone in your desk when you leave office.
I do this with company provided phone except when on-call. Why somebody should be able to track me when I am of work (I know it is so obsolent to be offline)
Why do you want to mix work & private devices? keep separate list of contacts. Why your private contacts should be in company managed phone?
Think about privacy - for example when you conduct negotiations about new job offer :-)

Re:Why not just enjoy the experience

[Anonymous Coward]

Most sites are not mobile friendly, so use it only when I have to, such as refer to a website for address to a place, et al.

I've found that more and more sites are becoming desktop hostile. Example: the latest cnn.com and cnnfn.com sites. HUGE fonts, website is layed out like an iPhone -- looks like total garbage on a desktop.

Whatever happened to the good 'ol days, where you just defined HTML (the content) and let the browser figure out how to render it best. I wouldn't be surprised if 99% of cnnfn.com is stylesheets and javascript, with 1% being actual content / articles.

Re: Why not just enjoy the experience

[Anonymous Coward]

Why would you tie something as essential (and private) as your phone to your employer? If you lose your job, you lose your contacts, you have to scramble to get a phone, work that new expense into your budget, explain to everyone why you have a new number, etc, etc. Screw that.

Re:Why not just enjoy the experience

[Anonymous Coward]

I didn't switch, I was forced.

There is no freedom, I hung on to my Nokia E72 until recently because it could do Live Messenger, Google Talk, Skype, IRC, and all the other things.

Then Microsoft purchased Skype and Nokia, they closed Nokia Chat (a multi chat client for Google Talk, Yahoo Messenger, Live Messenger and Ovi), shut down Live Messenger (the official application) and stopped the official Skype application from working.
Web pages continued to bloat out of control and the phone became mostly useless. The thing that only works on it now is an old IRC client from 2007 (2 years before the E72 was released) and Google Maps (but latitude was shut down/morphed into hangouts).

I'm now using a Galaxy S4, I hate touchscreen phones and the shitty battery life but I don't have much choice.

I would still use my E72 and it would still be very useful if greedy corps didn't shut down things to force us to pay more money to update.

Re:Why not just enjoy the experience

[rogoshen1]

Why not discuss the technical fucking merits of his question, rather than break out the edgelord fedora and go off the rails on why he should or should not have switched? It adds literally zero to the discussion and is not even remotely of interest.

Re: Why not just enjoy the experience

[Wycliffe]

His employer is paying him probably $100,000 per year, and he shouldn't be able to make a suggestion regarding a $700/two year expense?

His empoyer is paying him $100k a year and he can't afford to buy his own phone? See this works both ways.

Re:Why not just enjoy the experience

[Anonymous Coward]

What part of

What solutions are you using to make mobile browsing work?

sounds like a complaint?

Re: Why not just enjoy the experience

[unixisc]

I've never figured out how the US contract costs more. I paid $99 for a iPhone5s, and later, added a Lumia for $99 more. The first time I got the iPhone, Verizon had a deal where I got $100 off any smartphone, plus a free Verizon Ellipsis 7 tablet. Doing the math, over 2 years, the cost of those 2 phones is $100 per year, which amounts to ~$8/month. I picked the minimum data plan of 250MB, since I rarely use it in internet mode unless I'm near a WiFi hotspot. My monthly Verizon bill is ~$100. How would I save by paying, say, $600 for a blank phone?

Yeah, I could have bought such a phone and gone w/ a no-name carrier. How much would I have saved per month to make it worth my while?

Re: Why not just enjoy the experience

[unixisc]

I'd carry both just so that I don't have to share my personal number w/ colleagues, no matter what. And my work phone# - I'd not give my spouse or other family members.

I do something close to what you wrote. I have 2 phones from my plan precisely for that reason. One of the numbers is available only to family members, not to colleagues. The other is available only to colleagues, and not to family. When I'm off hours, I carry the work phone only if I'm expecting a call from somebody. When I'm at work, I keep the home phone usually in the car, unless it's likely that I'll be called from home.

Even if a potential job offer came, I'd use my work phone. If my employer were to provide me a phone, I'd use that and only that for any work related stuff, use my personal work phone for things like calls from other companies, and my personal family phone for FaceTiming w/ relatives.

Re:Why not just enjoy the experience

[unixisc]

Doesn't CNN have apps that one can use, rather than go through the browser? That's what I'd use in such cases. In my case, I use Bing News on my Lumia, rather than go to the browser and then to the news website.

Re: Why not just enjoy the experience

[unrtst]

... My monthly Verizon bill is ~$100. How would I save by paying, say, $600 for a blank phone? ... Yeah, I could have bought such a phone and gone w/ a no-name carrier. How much would I have saved per month to make it worth my while?

I was curious. MetroPCS isn't the cheapest, but it's was popped in my head.
$40/month for unlimitted talk, text, and data (first 4gb is at full 4g LTE speed, rest is rate limitted).
12 months * $60 savings = $720 savings a year.
You'd pay for your $600 phone in 10 months, and then you'd save $840 by the end of 2 years.

Is almost a grand a year worth it?

Since you only have a 250mb/month data plan, I'm guessing (could be wrong) you don't use it much for calls or text either. How about a pay-as-you-go. For example, T-Mobile:
* $3/month for 30min or 30 texts (or any combination)
* $0.10/min after that, or $0.10/message
* $5/day for a day pass of data (up to 500mb, twice what you get monthly), or $10/week (up to 1gb)

And this is all within the US.

Re: Why not just enjoy the experience

[jbolden]

You are getting $400-500 phone subsidy at a cost of about $20 / mo. That's break even. Where you can save money is the prepay plans are about $10 / account / mo cheaper than the postpay accounts for similar quality for multiple accounts. It isn't as big a savings as people claim but it ain't $0 either. Mostly the crazy comparisons come from comparing worst possibly designed postpay to much worse prepay.

So:
1 account: go prepay
2-3 accounts: generally worth the less hassle to go postpay but you are spending more.
4+ accounts: postpay is often cheaper and less hassle.

You're not supposed to ask that

[rrohbeck]

Accept the walled garden. Even if you find a fix now Apple will probably break it with the next release.

Re:You're not supposed to ask that

[AmiMoJo]

Or just switch back to Android after realizing that you fell for all the FUD about Play store malware and paid 2x as much for an Apple phone as a result, while getting a worse experience. Firefox for Android does what you want.

Re:You're not supposed to ask that

[Anonymous Coward]

Serious question: But how do I totally block Google? My objection isn't so much with the advertising as with the tracking. I don't want Google to know much of ANYTHING about me and I don't want them to track ANYTHING about me. I imagine I can jail break the phone, but that seems a bit extreme. Give me a good solution to my problem -- which is far bigger than mere advertising, imo -- and I would probably be interested in your solution. Until then (and aware that this may change) I don't see Apple sharing my private info with tracking companies and, so far, Apple's interest in tracking seems to be pretty Apple oriented..and I avoid all that by avoiding itunes .

Re:You're not supposed to ask that

[oodaloop]

Root the phone, remove Google apps, use alternative apps. Not terribly hard, and pretty much what I've done to my LG Google Nexus 5, but I choose to use a few Google apps. Why you trust Apple to track you appropriately but not Google would be a better question though.

Re:You're not supposed to ask that

[Andy Dodd]

Don't log into a Google account?

Pretty damned easy...

Re: You're not supposed to ask that

[peragrin]

Except that the play store is loaded with malware. And advertisers take advantage of mobile websites and android to do all sorts of crap.

Personally I have tried Adblock for android it is crap that doesn't work right. I shouldn't have to have a daemon tuning a local proxy loop to stop malware(seperate advertising is malware).

Re:You're not supposed to ask that

[Anonymous Coward]

Not so easy. I run a Nexus without any google apps installed. I don't even have a google account and everything is installed via sideloading. Pray tell where in Canada I buy such an android device without any google apps and without needing to root/reflash?

Re: You're not supposed to ask that

[vux984]

Except that the play store is loaded with malware.

Its really not "loaded" with malware.

If you are that worried that what you are about to download is malware, check the ios store first, if its there with the same name, same icon, and same publisher, its not going to be "malware".

If its not on ios (and really the only things that aren't going to be there that a normal person would want would be things that ios actively doesn't allow) -- so a handful of technical utilities, arcade emulators, 3rd party browsers, etc. So do a smattering of research on the developer/publisher for those items to make sure your getting the right ones.

Or just get that stuff from F-droid.

(seperate advertising is malware).

Sure and if we get to define malware the way we like then I could say "Walled gardens that don't allow side loading of apps is malware" and write off the entire ios platform as malware.

Re:You're not supposed to ask that

[gstoddart]

Well, sort of ... you'll never get updates, and good luck confirming that just because you don't log into a Google account you don't hit Google servers.

On a stock Nexus tablet, for instance, Google is pretty much baked into EVERYTHING.

You want to keep an Android device from calling home to Google (or whoever made it), remove its battery. Otherwise, I'd not be so sure it's not.

Re:You're not supposed to ask that

[gstoddart]

Pray tell where in Canada I buy such an android device without any google apps and without needing to root/reflash?

And, more importantly ... if you buy an Android device without Google's crap loaded on it ... just whose crap will be on it?

I doubt anybody is selling you an Android phone which is clean, pristine, rooted, and doesn't have their own crap on it.(*)

Sure, and you can have a sparkly unicorn which shits gold.

(*) If such an animal exists, I'd love to know where to get one.

Re:You're not supposed to ask that

[Russ1642]

You're basically asking "how can I buy and use an iPhone without dealing with any Apple software". It's ridiculous. Android is completely dominated by Google. You can try using Cyanogenmod or some other distribution but you're going to have a VERY hard time avoiding Google completely.

Re:You're not supposed to ask that

[Em Adespoton]

On iOS you've got a few alternatives.
1) Set up a VPN, and run that VPN through privoxy to strip the junk.
2) Jailbreak and install Adblocker 2, Firewall iP, PrivaCy and if you want, Tor.

Re: You're not supposed to ask that

[vux984]

i sideload apps all the time on my ios8

Care to explain how you are misrepresetning ios8 support for side loading apps. Because there are a variety of possibilities... but ALL of them are a misrepresentation.

Re:You're not supposed to ask that

[emj]

you're going to have a VERY hard time avoiding Google completely.

Not really. If it's something that is important to you it can be done in 2 days without expert knowledge. You are not going to get everything that Google has, but enough to be useable.

Re:You're not supposed to ask that

[Parafilmus]

Serious question: But how do I totally block Google?

Using Apple devices is a pretty good solution for that. Another option is Cyanogenmod.

It's an open-source Android fork with better privacy: http://cyanogenmod.org/

Installing it is usually simple, but can be difficult or impossible on certain phones. If you're after a turnkey solution, your best bet is the OnePlus One, which ships with Cyanogen preinstalled. List price is $299, but they're going for about $400 on amazon right now, due to limited availability.

Re:You're not supposed to ask that

[Rob Y.]

Whose crap is on your iPhone or WinPhone? At least Android lets you sideload alternatives. Seriously, if you use a search engine, they're logging your searches. If you use a free email system, they're logging your emails. I guess Firefox private mode might help you when searching - if you don't trust Chrome's incognito...

Re:You're not supposed to ask that

[JohnFen]

Serious question: But how do I totally block Google?

The same way you block Google from desktop computers: install and use a firewall. You'll have to root the phone first, of course.

Re: You're not supposed to ask that

[AmiMoJo]

If you really don't trust the Play store just install F-Droid, or the Amazon store, or don't install any apps at all... You can't have the freedom to use Firefox and a walled garden.

Re: You're not supposed to ask that

[BellyJelly]

You don't need to buy a phone without google's crap on it. You buy an unlocked phone that is well supported on omnirom or cyanogenmod then you walk through the install instructions that are so simple a child could follow them. You don't install gapps, and then you install the f-droid store where you find firefox, k9mail, vlc and various other cool apps. Anything you need that's not on f-droid you sideload. That's what I did on my work-issued galaxy s4. I now have an ultra fast and responsive phone with great battery life. Oh, and startpage as your default search engine...... If you can't be bothered to do all that, then just suck on whatever apple or google feed you.

Re:You're not supposed to ask that

[narcc]

Switch to FireFoxOS, BlackBerry, or Windows Phone. Hundreds of users, myself included (BB10 & FFOS), couldn't be happier.

Re:You're not supposed to ask that

[farble1670]

Serious question: But how do I totally block Google?

don't use google apps or search (on iOS)? what's the confusion here? or are you asking how to take advantage of the incredible web and mobile ecosystem google has created without compensating them?

while you are at it, ask yourself how to drive a BMW without paying, and to enjoy your favorite food without buying it. there are ways to do so right?

Re:You're not supposed to ask that

[unixisc]

Try getting a phone that has Replicant. In fact, start from the Replicant site, and see what phones can you get that ain't tethered. Then you will end up w/ a phone w/o any of the Google baggage

Re:You're not supposed to ask that

[unixisc]

WinPhone comes w/ very little crap when you first get it. You have to download a bulk of things from the store. What you get is Phone, Calendar, IM, My Profile, Photos, Camera, Store, Internet Explorer, Email client, People (your phone book), Calculator, Music, Video, OneNote and Weather. Anything more, you'd have to download.

Re:You're not supposed to ask that

[farble1670]

You want to keep an Android device from calling home to Google (or whoever made it), remove its battery. Otherwise, I'd not be so sure it's not.

on newer versions of android, the google-ness of the device is factored out into the "google services" APK, by design. this allows them to update critical code without requiring a vendor-blessed OTA. if you don't have that installed, your device isn't phoning home.

lots of companies take AOSP and build solutions on top of it that have no connection at all to google.

Re:You're not supposed to ask that

[Anonymous Coward]

Yuck. Subpar Android hardware coupled with a malware laced app store. Forget it.

Subby just feels entitled. He's better off turning script off.

Re:You're not supposed to ask that

[josquin9]

Given a choice between trusting my data to a hipster company motivated by profit, but convinced that it is a still a trendsetter, and a company whose entire business model is based on the collection and distribution of information that it collects by looking over people's shoulders, I actaually feel safer with the deluded hipsters. Even if they are no more trustworthy, their reach is not as great, so I'm willing to bet the fallout will be (marginally) easier to contain.

On some level, to Apple, I'm a customer. To Google, I'm just a product.

Re:You're not supposed to ask that

[Karlt1]

Or just switch back to Android after realizing that you fell for all the FUD about Play store malware

So this is FUD?
http://www.bbc.com/news/techno...

"Android users are being warned that several popular apps that were on the official Google Play store appear to have contained hidden code that made malicious ads pop up.

Security firm Avast said that one of the apps involved - a free version of the card game Durak - had been downloaded up to 10 million times, according to Google Play's own counter."

Re: You're not supposed to ask that

[LocalH]

Jailbreak for packages distributed via Cydia (or .deb packages for APT, which is sideloading as far as Cydia packages go) and install Appsync Unified (not the Chinese "ppsync" crap) for sideloading of .ipa packages, in other words App Store apps.

Say again that sideloading is impossible on iOS without mentioning 8.1.3 and you're not telling the whole story.

Re: You're not supposed to ask that

[Coren22]

There is malware in the Apple garden too, it is just that the reality distortion field prevents people from seeing it.

http://www.cnet.com/news/resea...
http://www.zdnet.com/article/d...

Granted, there has not been much of it, but according to the second link, they don't allow security software either (I stopped supporting Apple 3 years ago, so it could have changed though), so if something gets through the app store, or the browser, or however else, there is nothing out there to protect you.

Re:You're not supposed to ask that

[Coren22]

Perhaps the majority of Android users don't consider advertising as equivalent to malware?

Re: You're not supposed to ask that

[Redbehrend]

It is BS, most common reasons people's androids have problems.
No self control
Downloading crap I dunno how they found.
Customizing things they don't understand
Thankfully Google is listening, changing and hiding stuff better. Fixing Dev options, unknown sources amd the new lollipop has simple settings and advanced which is nice.

Re:You're not supposed to ask that

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh yeah, just root the phone. Simple. Easy.

And you people still get furious when Apple smashes sales records with each iphone release.

Re:You're not supposed to ask that

[Karlt1]

From the article....

"You get re-directed to harmful threats on fake pages, like dubious app stores and apps that attempt to send premium SMS behind your back or to apps that simply collect too much of your data for comfort while offering you no additional value," wrote Avast's malware analyst Filip Chytry."

You don't consider that to be malware?

Re: You're not supposed to ask that

[vux984]

"Jailbreak "... enough said.

Is misrepresenting what IOS "supports"; in that you are exploiting a bug to allow it; it is officially NOT supported at all.

The Developer program is another sideloading method, this time, actually supported by ios8, but it is hardly a general purpose solution to distributing apps outside the app store, and it would be a misrepresentation to say it was.

The enterprise program is yet another sideloading method, and it too is officially sanctioned by ios8, but again is hardly a general purpose solution to distributing apps outside the app store, and it would again be a misrepresentation to say it was.

Say again that sideloading is impossible on iOS [...]

Why? I didn't say it was "impossible".

Merely that there was no sanctioned way of doing it. Jailbreaking, developer program, and enterprise program are all ways of sideloading outside of the app store -- but NONE of them represent a legitimate way for anyone to distribute apps for ios to the general consumer outside of the app store.

Re:You're not supposed to ask that

[Coren22]

I don't consider an advertisement for that crap to be malware. Are we gonna start calling Google Search malware because you might be directed to a malware site?

Who installs apps from advertisements in apps anyways?

Re:You're not supposed to ask that

[frisket]

I have Android, rest of the family have iPhones. No-one seems to have any problem browsing, so WTF kind of websites is the OP visiting? no, wait, don't tell me...pr0n

Re:You're not supposed to ask that

[the_B0fh]

And whatever is bundled by your carrier. You missed that piece.

Re:You're not supposed to ask that

[UnderCoverPenguin]

Root the phone, remove Google apps, use alternative apps.

Is that sufficient? Can you be sure that the vendor's build of Android doesn't phone home?

Unfortunately, installing the alternative, Cyanogen, requires your phone be supported.

Re:You're not supposed to ask that

[Karlt1]

So you really think all of these companies are advertising in other apps (not just the malware apps) and on Facebook if advertising wasn't effective?

Re:You're not supposed to ask that

[Em Adespoton]

The benefit to 1) is that you can connect from any WiFi access point and know that people won't be snooping on your connection -- and you don't have to trust every single App vendor to have implemented https instead of http to transmit your credentials.

The benefit to 2) is that you have full control of your device -- and because Apple requires all web access to use WebKit, putting these restrictions on WebKit means that the rules you set are inherited by every App on your device -- including Tor, if you set it up.

Re:You're not supposed to ask that

[Phil Urich]

As Apple pulls further and further away from the once-cozy relationship they had with Google, what makes you think they'll fail to mirror Google's own business models and ventures? Then all that data they've been collecting will be, retroactively, just as loaded as what Google has on you.

Re:You're not supposed to ask that

[gl4ss]

just buy a nokia X or nokia X2.

but then you'll have microsoft in there. still android though mind you.

(I got an X for now, works ok for the price.. installed google play though for it..)

Re:You're not supposed to ask that

[unixisc]

In my case, Verizon Navigator was bundled, as well as Verizon NFL. I deleted the latter w/ no problems. This was on the Lumia. On the iPhone, there were no apps bundled by Verizon, even though I bought that phone from the Verizon store.

Re:You're not supposed to ask that

[Trax3001BBS]

Serious question: But how do I totally block Google?

The same way you block Google from desktop computers: install and use a firewall. You'll have to root the phone first, of course.

Rooting (Jail breaking in Apple terms) is the best option. You'll not only have access to Cygan, but many other ROMs are available. Just the fact it's rooted allows you to add a HOSTS file and many other options to block ads will be usable.

Re:You're not supposed to ask that

[Trax3001BBS]

Serious question: But how do I totally block Google?

don't use google apps or search (on iOS)? what's the confusion here? or are you asking how to take advantage of the incredible web and mobile ecosystem google has created without compensating them?

Google provides a lot of free services. Flurry.com is how Google collects their due. To explain how would be time consuming, read up on it at that Google site.

while you are at it, ask yourself how to drive a BMW without paying, and to enjoy your favorite food without buying it. there are ways to do so right?

That's just not the same thing, you hot wire the car, and walk out without paying. - both landing u in hot water, Rooting the phone is 180 from your examples. In a way, Apple frowns upon jail breaking their product, while Google used to encourage it, allowing one the ability to block whatever they wanted.

Re:You're not supposed to ask that

[Plumpaquatsch]

As Apple pulls further and further away from the once-cozy relationship they had with Google, what makes you think they'll fail to mirror Google's own business models and ventures? Then all that data they've been collecting will be, retroactively, just as loaded as what Google has on you.

The fact that even if Apple had actually stored all the data they could get on people, it wouldn't be one tenth of what Google has, and that for Apple to make so little money on hardware to feel the need to monetize that information, their sales numbers would have to shrink to less than 5% of what it is now.

Re:You're not supposed to ask that

[oodaloop]

Cyanogenmod is but one alternative, one which I like and currently have (guess I neglected to mention that step). But there are dozens of other ROMs, with the source code freely available, and several of them are very good.

Re:You're not supposed to ask that

[Anonymous Coward]

LMFAO, you think you're not the product as well with APL? Keep your eyes closed.

Remember back when they introduced the i4? One of they headline features was i Ads. You think they're not in the same business as Google just because they say so? There's a reason why the GPS still logs approximately where you are even if it was off.

I've got some swampland in Florida I want to sell... or this perpetual motion machine right here... for cheap.

Google just has the balls to admit what they're doing.

Re:You're not supposed to ask that

[david_thornley]

Follow the money.

Apple makes the bulk of its money from people like me. When I buy an iPhone, Apple makes money. When I buy an album from the iTunes store, or an app from the App Store, Apple gets a cut (and, if it's more expensive than the minimum, more than was necessary to cover the credit card transaction). The money that Apple gets from ad services is much smaller.

I give money to Apple. I'm a customer.

Google makes almost all of its money from advertising. Except when I bought a Nexus 7, I don't think I ever paid money to them directly. Google makes money by learning as much about me as possible to give me advertising for stuff I'm likely to buy,.

I give no money to Google. I'm not a customer. Google makes money from the people who give it money by displaying their ads to me. I'm a product.

This means that Apple has a vested financial interest in keeping me reasonably happy and not screwing me over. Google does not in the same way: if I find their data collection unacceptable, I'm of no use as a product, so there's no point in making me happier about that.

Re:You're not supposed to ask that

[DocSavage64109]

Wouldn't option 2 actually give full control of your device to whoever wrote the code that jailbroke your device? Hopefully they are trustworthy.

Re:You're not supposed to ask that

[Anonymous Coward]

Hahahahahaha @ Coren22 http://slashdot.org/comments.p...

Re: You're not supposed to ask that

[Anonymous Coward]

Hahahahahaha @ Coren22 http://slashdot.org/comments.p...

Re: You're not supposed to ask that

[Plumpaquatsch]

There is malware in the Apple garden too, it is just that the reality distortion field prevents people from seeing it.

And there is a thousand times that in Play Store. Heck, they just found more a few days ago http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/google-removes-adware-app-from-google-play/.

Re: You're not supposed to ask that

[Plumpaquatsch]

Yeah, hiding from the rain between a rock and a hard place ...

Re:You're not supposed to ask that

[AmiMoJo]

Get a phone with an unlocked bootloader (e.g. Nexus 5, or most popular phones can be bootloader unlocked) and install Cyanogen. Then you have no Google apps at all. No Play store, nothing.

Easy solution.

[Anonymous Coward]

Buy an Android phone (or Jolla), run Firefox, be happy.

If you buy closed junk, you get closed junk, deal with it.

Re:Easy solution.

[Anonymous Coward]

Android: everything you hate about your PC in the palm of your hand!

Re:Easy solution.

[Jethro]

One thing I "hate" about my PC is that I can't really carry it around with me. My Android phone fixes that quite well.

I don't know how old you are, Anonymous Coward, and I don't think you (or hardly anyone else) will read this, and I hate to pull a Back In My Day, but when I was a teenager and "computers" were these things only us nerds had, we used to dream about someday having a whole personal computer that would fit in your pocket. Or, or, small pouch or something. We thought it'd be the size of a pocketbook or something, with a chorded keyboard on a wire. Oh and in our most fevered dreams we thought maybe this mythical device would be connected to a Global Network of some kind that contained the sum total of Human Knowledge.

And now WE HAVE IT. Dude, we may not have got flying cars but we sure as hell got our handheld portable computer. I don't think anyone thought it'd grow out of a friggin PHONE, but I am not complaining.

Gain Control of Your iPhone Environment?

[Anonymous Coward]

That's not what the iPhone is about. It's like complaining that the Corvette you just bought isn't good at towing big loads.

If you're a tinkerer, buy a phone for tinkerers.

Re: Gain Control of Your iPhone Environment?

[LocalH]

Or jailbreak (stay off 8.1.3!) and enjoy the style and smoothness of even the current base-level device (currently, iPhone 5c) with the freedom and customization available when you knock down the wall. Hell, my iPad has a command-line multi-system assembler that can, among others, handle 6502 and 68000 code. Can your mobile device assemble Sega Genesis code? Mine can :)

Re:Gain Control of Your iPhone Environment?

[DocSavage64109]

Corvettes have both powerful V8 engines and big brakes. I bet they can tow just as well as anything short of a 1-ton pickup truck.

Buyer's remorse

[Anonymous Coward]

Sounds like someone is just having a case of "buyer's remorse", sucks to be you. Just buy another droid and be done with it.

Ditch iPhone

[Carewolf]

Read subject. You can not get an alternative browser on iPhones, it is not allowed, all the "alternative" browsers on iPhones are just reskinned Safari because Apple does not allow alternative browsers. So if you are wondering how to get control over you phone again: Ditch iPhone!

Re:Ditch iPhone

[MitchDev]

Used all my mod points yesterday, elsewise you'd get them for upvotes

Re:Ditch iPhone

[TheGratefulNet]

perhaps a proxy (outside the phone) would help? yes, its another box and its not going to work for cell data; you'd have to wifi thru that proxy box and that would connect to cellular or some other net connection.

I would like to know how apple people deal with the 'locked browser' stuff and if anyone has figured out a way to get the same level of adblocking as, say, a rooted android with the right apps installed.

(almost funny to think about it: but a cheap old used android that is rooted could be the REAL cellular-to-wifi gateway, it can proxy and block ads and then your phone would only run wifi, at least for browsing. yes, you'd carry 2 phones but you'd USE the iphone and the other android phone would just be in your pocket, hidden).

the 'raw internet' is unusable (for me) unless there are good blockers, so if there is really no good way to do this natively on an iphone, I guess any hopes I had of someday buying an iphone will have disappeared. I refuse to be FORCED into the raw internet. its not worth using if that's the case.

Re:Ditch iPhone

[pastafazou]

That's not true. Google Chrome or Atomic are good alternatives. There's even 360 Browser which offers full flash support. Not all are reskinned Safari browsers.

Re:Ditch iPhone

[halivar]

GP means all browsers on iOS use WebKit, which is correct; even Chrome for iOS does. That being said, there are a number of WebKit-based browsers for iOS that block ads and popups.

Re:Ditch iPhone

[halivar]

You can not get an alternative browser on iPhones, it is not allowed,

Yes, you can.

all the "alternative" browsers on iPhones are just reskinned Safari because Apple does not allow alternative browsers

All iOS browsers use WebKit. That's completely orthogonal to the original question: are there iOS browsers that block ads and pop-ups? The answer is yes, there are.

Re:Ditch iPhone

[mlts]

That is one idea. There is also getting a virtual machine and running one's own VPN with ad blocking functionality (transparant proxy.) The downside of this is that it can get slow if the VPN server is a number of hops away.

If jailbreaking is an option, that is another route. There are adblockers on the Cydia store which are useful, as well as utilities like PMP (Protect My Privacy.) Without jailbreaking, a lot of sites you will go to will let you view the site for 15 seconds... then kick you to the App Store to download some app the advertiser is trying to foist on you, or redirect to a page that is pointless.

Android (especially rooted, XPrivacy installed, a decent host file in place, IP block rules, and adblocking tools installed) is pretty decent. So far the worst I've seen are sites trying to get you to download a "securityupdate.apk" file, assuming the user is dump enough to sideload it.

I'm with the parent -- an adblocking program is a must have. Adblocking utilities do more for malware stopping in my experience than AV programs.

Re:Ditch iPhone

[Anonymous Coward]

You can try to sell the iPhone and get either an Android device...
or ...you can try out Firefox OS from Mozilla.

(See https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/os/ if you'd like to know more.)

Re:Ditch iPhone

[_xeno_]

All iOS browsers use WebKit. That's completely orthogonal to the original question: are there iOS browsers that block ads and pop-ups? The answer is yes, there are.

That's nice and all, but it doesn't solve his performance problems. In fact, since WebKit in non-Apple apps doesn't get to use JIT, it will just make his performance issues worse.

The problem is that WebKit on iOS takes absurd amounts of memory, to the point where launching it is almost guaranteed to out-of-memory kill every other background app running on the phone.

His other issue almost certainly has to do with Apple's well known wonky wi-fi support, where wi-fi connections will just randomly stop working despite the signal strength indicator merrily showing full strength. Going into and out of airplane mode will sometimes restart wi-fi in a working state, but frequently your only option is to reboot the entire phone. I know my mom has to constantly reboot her phone in order to get iMessage to work. (Also the only way I've gotten AirDrop to work: reboot both devices, and it'll work for a couple of minutes, maybe.)

The solution to the submitter's issues is "don't use iOS." That's the correct answer, no matter how much you may wish it weren't.

Re:Ditch iPhone

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, do you feel like sharing which ones there are? Because that'd sort of be, you know, helpful.

Re:Ditch iPhone

[CaptBubba]

Mercury and Atomic Browser are the two big ones, both of which have integrated ad-blocking which is quite effective.

Re:Ditch iPhone

[Anonymous Coward]

That's completely orthogonal to the original question.

As opposed to what? PARTLY right-angled? Leave geometry out of the fucking language.

Side-loading just to block ads is as bad a joke as Apple fanbois chanting about freedom.

Re:Ditch iPhone

[narcc]

This. Even the antique version on my craptastic ZTE Open is like a breath of fresh air.

Hell, even if you don't like it, it's well-worth supporting. If Mozilla can do for the mobile OS landscape what they did for the browser we all win.

Re:Ditch iPhone

[Karlt1]

That's nice and all, but it doesn't solve his performance problems. In fact, since WebKit in non-Apple apps doesn't get to use JIT, it will just make his performance issues worse.

http://9to5mac.com/2014/06/03/...

And unlike Android, if you have any iOS device released since June 2011, you can update to iOS 8.

Re:Ditch iPhone

[halivar]

The word "orthogonal" grew out of its strictly geometric definition 500 years ago. Get with the times, learn the language.

Re:Ditch iPhone

[Demena]

This may be informative but the information appears to be false. I have a number of different browsers on my iPad and they function in very different ways. I seriously doubt they are simply skins. Currently have Safari, Opera, Mercury, Chrome installed.

Re:Ditch iPhone

[Phil Urich]

That's nice and all, but it doesn't solve his performance problems.

And unlike Android, if you have any iOS device released since June 2011, you can update to iOS 8.

Oh yeah, that's sure to solve his performance issues!

Don't even bother asking

[halivar]

All you'll get on Slashdot is "neener-neener" posts from Android fan boys telling you you deserve it for buy the Phone That Shall Not Be Named. What you should have done was ask Google, and it would have taken you to a number of browsers available for iOS that block banner ads. Question answered, no psychopathic schadenfreude.

Re:Don't even bother asking

[halivar]

In an attempt to actually answer the question, try the Mercury browser. Basically Safari + AdBlock. The others are usually crapware/adware. https://itunes.apple.com/us/ap...

Re: Don't even bother asking

[Anonymous Coward]

Faggot.

Re:Don't even bother asking

[_xeno_]

Except you can't do that, because the only browsers available on iOS are reskinned Mobile Safari. The performance problems he's having are caused by Mobile Safari. They're doubled by the fact that only Apple-Blessed Mobile Safari gets to do JIT JavaScript compilation, so any "alternative" browser not only will just be Mobile Safari in another skin, it will also be a slow Mobile Safari!

The correct answer is "if you don't like Mobile Safari, don't use iOS." Whether than means Android or Windows Phone is up to you, but if you want to use a non-Safari browser, you don't use iOS. It's that simple.

Re:Don't even bother asking

[halivar]

He's not asking for a non-WebKit browser. He's asking for a browser that blocks ads and pop-ups, of which there are many for iOS. And yes, they all use WebKit. That has nothing to do with the question asked.

Re:Don't even bother asking

[Anonymous Coward]

All you'll get on Slashdot is "neener-neener" posts from Android fan boys

and pretentious posts by arrogant pricks. Though there is some overlap.

Re:Don't even bother asking

[Anonymous Coward]

This is 100% bullshit.

Re:Don't even bother asking

[Anonymous Coward]

Firefox OS fan boy here. *neener-neener*
The epicaricacy is delicious!

Re:Don't even bother asking

[MagicM]

URL filtering engine to block most ad banners

That's cool.

You can open up to 10 tabs.

That's not.

Re:Don't even bother asking

[swb]

My understanding is that non-Safari browsers as of iOS 8 now get to use JIT for Javascript. Chrome specifically doesn't use this feature still for some reason.

I don't notice a meaningful difference between Safari and Mercury on an iPhone 6+.

My own personal conspiracy theory is the lack of ad blocking in Safari isn't about technology or Apple's walled garden security approach but about making nice with "content providers" and specifically trying to be advertiser friendly, either because there's somehow more money it for Apple or as some kind of gimme to encourage sites to be mobile Safari friendly knowing that an advertising stream will be there to justify the expense.

Re:Don't even bother asking

[Karlt1]

They're doubled by the fact that only Apple-Blessed Mobile Safari gets to do JIT JavaScript compilation, so any "alternative" browser not only will just be Mobile Safari in another skin, it will also be a slow Mobile Safari!

http://9to5mac.com/2014/06/03/...

"As of iOS 8, however, it seems that decision has been reversed. All apps will now be able to use the same improved JavaScript engine that powers Safari. That means Googleâ(TM)s Chrome browser on iOS will now be just as quick as Safari, as will the pop-up browsers embedded in apps like Twitter and Facebook."

Re:Don't even bother asking

[Anonymous Coward]

What do you mean "try"? That implies there are problems with it.

Re:Don't even bother asking

[Anonymous Coward]

Except, more often then not, the Javascript is STILL running because it's from the host site (not the advertisers) and will probably still stall the browser out because the Javascript is still trying to hit the now blocked sites. Might even be worse as the code tries to reconnect to the ad server several times.

Question NOT answered. Try again. He specifically is looking for a script blocker *AND* ad blocker.

to pull a weed, start at the root.

[nimbius]

Root your phone, or buy a phone that can be rooted easily (I recommend the HTC 1.) From there install https://fdroid.org/ as your repository and download adaway. It will amend your hosts file to basically blackhole known advertising servers. Android used to have a package called the naked browser, which is much faster and secure than the default browser. disable all cookies and whitelist the useful sites you want.

Re:to pull a weed, start at the root.

[RJFerret]

AdAway is more convenient, but you can also copy your Hosts file from your Windows box to block ads in Android, you do have to convert appropriate LFs for *nix obviously. I have custom items in my Hosts file, so this is what I did.

A side benefit is it functions in all the browsers on my 'droid, Firefox, and any of the others that I never use.

Re:to pull a weed, start at the root.

[I'm just joshin]

Cue APK hosts file post in 3...2...1...

Re:to pull a weed, start at the root.

[desdinova 216]

be careful mentioning hosts files, you might just summon APK

Re:to pull a weed, start at the root.

[Lumpy]

I DONT reccomend HTC. Get Samsung or better yet, buy a nexus phone.

I have an HTC ONE M8 biggest POS ever. and their damned "S-ON" security bullshit is so bad that never buying HTC anything forever is worth it.

Quit being a poor person and buy a Nexus outright and get a REAL Android phone that does not fight you.

Re:to pull a weed, start at the root.

[farble1670]

From there install https://fdroid.org/ [fdroid.org] as your repository and download adaway

the same fdroid that has a self-signed (or otherwise invalid, i'm not sure) certificate on their https website?
awesome idea.

Re:to pull a weed, start at the root.

[jeffmflanagan]

The HTC One M8 works fine, and is an excellent phone other than a minor issue with Spotify dropping offline, requiring that mobile data be turned off and back on. I've never run into any weird security problem on the device, but I haven't tried to root it.

It looks like this "S-On" can be disabled to allow rooting of the phone.
http://www.android.gs/gain-s-o...

Re:to pull a weed, start at the root.

[pkinetics]

Welp, I don't have the M8. M7 was painless to get S-Off. Heck, 5 seconds on XDA and Vomer's guide to get S-OFF for the M8 has the steps.

Re:to pull a weed, start at the root.

[Anonymous Coward]

Only if you have a fresh unit from last year. If yiu accepted ANY OTA update then it does not work. They plugged that hole.

Re:to pull a weed, start at the root.

[Anonymous Coward]

You understand that a self-signed certificate is valid if you can validate the certificate, right?

This is what SSH does. It presents a self-signed certificate for the most part, and then asks you to verify the fingerprint matches (i.e. you do that validation).

The only thing a non-self signed cert implies is that you trust someone else to say that the certificate in question is valid.

In either case, the connection is still secure *IF* you can validate the cert you got, probably by matching the fingerprint.

Re:to pull a weed, start at the root.

[farble1670]

i understand that with a SSC, there's no way to authenticate the identity to who you are transferring your bits.

if you don't see a problem with a major website sporting a SSC, a website where people are pointing people to find safe, secure apps for their phone, i don't know what else to say. it shows that the website is hosted by 12 year olds that don't have $100 to get signed cert.

Partial answer using hosts.txt

[Anonymous Coward]

Run DD-WRT on router, put hosts.txt on USB drive, add this script to "firewall" commands:

#!/bin/sh

if test -s /tmp/mnt/sda1/hosts.txt
then
        cat /tmp/mnt/sda1/hosts.txt |
        sed 's/[[:space:]]*#.*$//g;' |
        grep -v localhost | tr ' ' '\t' |
        tr -s '\t' | tr -d '\015' | sort -u >/tmp/hosts0
        grep addn-hosts /tmp/dnsmasq.conf ||
        echo "addn-hosts=/tmp/hosts0" >>/tmp/dnsmasq.conf
        killall dnsmasq
        dnsmasq -u root -g root --conf-file=/tmp/dnsmasq.conf
fi

This blocks almost all ads in mobile Safari, but only works at home of course. The hosts.txt can be updated by sharing the USB or ssh to router, then reboot. This script is a bit different from the one on dd-wrt site that downloads hosts.txt on boot, but that script doesn't actually work.

Re:Partial answer using hosts.txt

[Anonymous Coward]

I thought you were... him.

Re:Partial answer using hosts.txt

[Anonymous Coward]

Too coherent and not enough random formatting to be apk.

Re:Partial answer using hosts.txt

[Anonymous Coward]

Also lacked the "profound" misunderstanding of "when" it's "appropriate" to "put" words in "scare" "quotes".

Re:Partial answer using hosts.txt

[Anonymous Coward]

Do you mean APK (who you ac trolls never prove wrong on hosts)?

Re:Partial answer using hosts.txt

[unixisc]

Well, he posts way below in this page, down here - http://ask.slashdot.org/commen...

Re:Partial answer using hosts.txt

[Anonymous Coward]

You do realize that a phone is mobile, right? The OP is absolutely, 100%, guaranteed to use his iPhone in lots of places that aren't his home network and OP will have no control whatsoever over the WAPs?

Your solution is a study in lots of work for little return. I wouldn't recommend it. Why are you doing so?

Re:Partial answer using hosts.txt

[Anonymous Coward]

You do realize what "partial" means, right?

It blocks ads when you are sitting on the toilet reading your tablet, it even blocks some ads in apps, and it works automatically for guests and for any phone OS and without any hacking, rooting, or sketchy apps. It's a great 90% solution for ad-blocking at home.

If you really do a lot of browsing on cell you can set up a VPN back to your router. It'll be a little slower is all.

What device are you using?

[mveloso]

Your iPhone can't lock up for 10-30 seconds, as that would activate the watchdog and kill the app. What's really happening?

Re:What device are you using?

[Anonymous Coward]

Crappy web sites that take forever to render. For instance the new weather.com takes several seconds to render the forecast on a desktop computer, and 10+ on iPhone 5s (which is still plenty fast). I guess they want to make you use their app, but I just switched to accuweather instead.

Re: What device are you using?

[Anonymous Coward]

Um weather.com just took about 2s to render on my iPhone 5c. Mobile site, though.

Re:What device are you using?

[BasilBrush]

The watchdog only fires if a single runloop takes that long. The poster is talking about the delay whilst a web-page is being loaded, during which time he can't interact with the web-app. But the browser is performing runloops properly.

Re: What device are you using?

[Anonymous Coward]

Mobile site is fine, desktop site takes forever to render the actual forcast page. But mobile site hides a lot of information.

Re:What device are you using?

[Anonymous Coward]

Use weatherunderground instead. It has a few ads, but you can purchase a membership for 2$/year to get rid of them.

Try the iCab browser

[Anonymous Coward]

I sympathize, as I had the same concerns - but now I use the iCab browser on my iphone. It still uses the webkit rendering engine, of course, but it does have built-in advert/script-blocking capabilities. It's nowhere near as complete as the Firefox+NoScript+AdblockEdge combo, but still waaaay better than Safari.
Unfortunately that leaves all the other apps on my phone un-sanitized - if I click through to full articles from my Newsify RSS reader, it displays them complete with banner ads, fake close buttons, "Insurance Companies In (my location) Don't Want You To Know This One Trick" dross, and - worst of all - embedded itunes app store links that just automatically open, so that I get a sudden "Do you want to switch to the app store?" prompt. Grr.

Tl;DR: Try iCab as a first step to restoring your sanity.
Captcha: "discover". How appropriate.
 

There is no hope.

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

"Mobile" is basically a trailer for the cryptographically sealed dystopia after the demise of the general purpose computer. Your options are basically 'consume that content, just the way its creator intended you to' or 'walk away'.

Android is slightly better, in that (while it is peddled by a massive surveillance-and-advertising vendor) it is fairly easy to buy a handset that will accept substantial modification without the blessing of the creator. iOS starts from an incrementally less user-hostile place; but Apple's dedication to lockdown is very, very, thorough and relatively competent. Short of using the phone as a VNC/RDP/ICA client and connecting to a real computer, you are mostly SOL.

Re:There is no hope.

[rudy_wayne]

"Mobile" is basically a trailer for the cryptographically sealed dystopia after the demise of the general purpose computer. Your options are basically 'consume that content, just the way its creator intended you to' or 'walk away'..

Yes, that is correct. And 'walk away' is exactly what people need to do. .The ADD/OCD stare-at-your-phone-every-minute-of-the-day crowd doesn't want to hear it, but if you're having problems surfing the web on your phone, it's because you're doing it wrong.

Browsing the Internet on a phone is a perfect example of the old saying: "Just because you *CAN* do something, doesn't mean you *SHOULD*." Other than the occasional "I need to look up directions to somewhere" I leave my Internet use to comfortably browsing on a real computer where I am in complete control of what software is installed and how it is configured.

If people would 'walk away', a huge drop in mobile ad revenue just might get the message across that websites need to clean up their act. Until then, you're just part of the problem.

Re:There is no hope.

[Anonymous Coward]

Are you implying that Apple is not a massive surveillance-and-advertising vendor?

Do you really think that apple isn't watching everything you do and selling any relevant data to anybody who can throw down some cash? Go read your transparency report again, its only the stuff they want you to see.

Re:There is no hope.

[IAMBatman]

I am just filled with joy to find that I am not alone in this.

Re:There is no hope.

[Sir_Eptishous]

You just wrote one of the best descriptions of "smart phones" I've yet to read on /.
Well done.

On a side note I've read that many people here don't browse on their devices, whether Android or iPhone.
I thought I was only one.

I rooted my Galaxy a while back, etc; to gain a little control over it, but to be honest, the "browsing of websites" is utter dreck on any smart phone. Just annoying as hell, and not just because of ads. Also because of how the sites look in the different browsers is just really bad and not worth the hassle. Apps are alright, but really the only reason I have a "smart phone" with data is because of my work, not because I'm another screen zombie who looks at their phone all day.

Re:There is no hope.

[Anonymous Coward]

To the GF post: So very well said, and thank you for saying it.

I personally decided to boycott 'Smart' Phones in 2006 when it became clear to me that the industry was headed full-speed into Planned Obsolescence and Spyware/Tracking/Monitoring... The problem has only become far worse in the last 9 years...

I still have 2 'Clam Shell' phones I use from 2006 with Tower Tracking disabled. Yeah they still work fine, and they both have battery life that generally lasts close to a week. I can't stand the primitive form of communication known as 'Texting'. My friends are fully aware of this and don't bother to text me anymore, which I really appreciate. I only text with women I'm dating until I can train them to talk on the phone like a human being...

You do have choices people. You don't have to be another 'Smart' Phone zombie. I 'walked away' from Pay TV 10 years ago. No regrets. I 'walked away' from 'Smart Phones' 9 years ago. No regrets. I 'walked away' from FakeSpook without ever joining in the first place. No regrets. And now that Big Telecom and the Feds own the US Internet I suspect one day soon I will be just 'walking away' from the whole damn Internet. Enjoy what little is left of it while it lasts.

Re:There is no hope.

[Anonymous Coward]

Still don't understand why people think any major tech company isn't into the "massive surveillance-and-advertising" thing.

On Android, it is up to the app developer to choose which ad platform they use - it doesn't have to be google.

On i* devices, the dev MUST go through the Ad system they've set up, or be kicked from the store and you have no recourse to distribute your app.

Tell me with a straight face which one has more information on you, and is selling your identity to the highest advertiser. LOL

Atomic Browser

[aaarrrgggh]

I use Atomic Browser for ad-heavy sites. It has some nice features and could do several things Safari couldn't. You can also download pages if you are going to fly or want a ready reference.

Re:Atomic Browser

[captnjohnny1618]

Seconded. Atomic browser is an OK alternative. Definitely more flexible than Safari but can't do all of the stuff desired.

I feel the OP's pain though. Browsing on iPhone in Safari sucks.

Re:Atomic Browser

[cve]

It's the best option I've used. Unfortunately it hasn't been updated in over 2 years and cookies seem to be getting through now with iOS8.

Re:Atomic Browser

[mlts]

I used to like Atomic, but it no longer is updated (last update was in 2012), and does not work with tap-and-hold gestures since iOS 7, so I have wound up using the Mercury browser for similar functionality.

I wish the author would update it, so it works fully with iOS 8.x.

proxy auto-config (pac)

[lart2150]

You could use a proxy auto-config file on your iphone to block at least some of the junk. it won't be as good as adblock(+) and no script but it would be better then nothing. https://code.google.com/p/adbl...

Effective filter

[rwa2]

Just, like, don't visit sites with intrusive ads on your mobile phone. Otherwise you're just contributing to the arms race.

I only frequent a few sites on my mobile during my commute... fark, arstechnica, classic.slashdot.org, maybe a little ttac.com . facebook.com now works much better than it used to (uninstalled the facebook app once they started uploading my address book).

Rarely visit the linked news articles at sources with terribad ads, can glean enough of the interesting tidbits and analysis through the comments by fine folks like you.

The link is from 2010!

[Anonymous Coward]

Seriously, as its sole example, the summary links to an article from *2010* (which mentions Flash support on "Android phones running the new Froyo mobile OS").

The first step in gaining control of your mobile browser is jumping forward 4-5 years. Welcome to the future.

just root your phone and...

[Anonymous Coward]

just root your phone and install ad-block.

Well...

[Anonymous Coward]

Already tried to search ad block in itunes?

One Simple Trick!

[MorbidBBQ]

The first search hit: "Block Ads on the iPhone, iPad, & iPod touch with a Simple Trick"

Missing Option.

[Anonymous Coward]

Missing Option. Use a HOSTS file.

iCab mobile

[Anonymous Coward]

Try iCab mobile, http://www.icab-mobile.de

Same engine under the hood, but better control of the browsing experience. You'll need to spend some time in the app's settings, especially "filters" under "tools." It makes most sites seem faster, and some sites usable again. We use it on iphones and ipads. Worth it.

Mercury

[Oyjord]

I've had great luck recently trying out the Mercury browser on both my iPhone and iPad. It alone seems capable so far of restricting all the pop-ups and perhaps more importantly the new-found pop-unders.

Stop whining and download the App

[msobkow]

I don't know of a single major website I've visted that doesn't have an iPhone app. So STFU and download your crack.

Re: Stop whining and download the App

[Anonymous Coward]

and those apps are riddled wit ads. funny how that works. for somebody wit a low uid, you sure are dense

Re: Stop whining and download the App

[msobkow]

As someone with a low uid, I don't RUN apps nor have a smartphone. I don't need one, I don't want one, and I *refuse* to pay for one just to have the latest tech gadget. I'd rather buy a new PC that I'll actually *use*.

I quit iOS stuff because of browser issues

[hojo]

I had an iPad 2, enjoyed lots about it, but the whole browser issue killed my enjoyment of the device. "Legitimate" sites like NBC and the New York Times had pop-up tabs and I couldn't control the browser to the degree necessary to stop them.

Although I had rooted the iPad, I could not find a decent way to deal with ad blocking on iOS. I sold the device and have gone to Android stuff for my mobile solutions.

Here's my recipe for, if not happiness, at least much less pop-up and advertisement induced rage:

--rooted Android device
--installed AdAway (from f-droid)
--use Naked Browser, with javascript off, and then I whitelist only the sites that need it

No pop-ups, no worries, no ads.

Re:I quit iOS stuff because of browser issues

[ScentCone]

"Legitimate" sites like NBC and the New York Times

Well there's your problem.

Set up Privoxy on a server somewhere

[ashpool7]

Make sure it requires authentication. Set up your filters. Then set your proxy settings to use that server.

Re:Set up Privoxy on a server somewhere

[Anonymous Coward]

I do this and it works pretty well. The difficulty is adding to the white lists (e.g.: {-handle-as-empty-document} blocks) while you're actually mobile - the web admin pages are somewhat painful on a phone.

You may NOT walk away. Consume Our Content.

[Anonymous Coward]

"Mobile" is basically a trailer for the cryptographically sealed dystopia after the demise of the general purpose computer. Your options are basically 'consume that content, just the way its creator intended you to' or 'walk away'.

Shhhh! Don't let them hear you say that, or they'll start lobbying for a ban on the "off" switch.

Consume our content. Walking away is not an option.
    -- Your friendly Apple representative

1 way to make mobile browsing tollerable

[Anonymous Coward]

mobile wifi hotspot and a real computer of some kind

May I suggest...

[Torp]

... moving your browsing elsewhere if your favourite sites require NoScript to be readable?
This is free, platform independent advice.

android + root + f-droid + adaway FTW

[Anonymous Coward]

Seriously. Android gives you the ability to control *everything*--it just depends on how much effort you want to invest. You can go as far as doing a custom rom with multiple to choose from. There are even permissions apps that will let you selectively mock features so you can still run apps that you would otherwise not want.
So long as you can root the phone, or even better unlock the bootloader, there is little you can't make an android phone do for you or prevent it from doing.

Try that with an i-ve-got-you-by-the-apples-phone.

Re:android + root + f-droid + adaway FTW

[Demena]

Well, if you do all that then you know enough to ue the Apple Development kit and hence your claim becomes moot.

Re:android + root + f-droid + adaway FTW

[Anonymous Coward]

Because installing 4-8 apps has the same complexity and time investment as writing all 4-8 apps.

>.>

Get a BlackBerry

[Anonymous Coward]

Best mobile browser on the planet, bar none. Runs Android apps safely.

Of follow the herd. I really don't care.

iPhone AND user control?

[briancox2]

The concepts of an iPhone and user freedom/control are mutually exclusive.

Jailbreak

[Anonymous Coward]

If you can Jailbreak (or are willing to) install adblock via cydia.

Mercury and Atomic Browser

[RandCraw]

Both browsers are cheap and will block most ads. I've used Atomic for the past several years as my primary browser on my iPhone 4 and 5s, iPad 3, and iPad Mini retina, and it has worked very well on all. The browser is very configurable and makes much better use of small real estate than Safari. It's very rare that Atomic has let me down or that I have to fall back to using Safari or Chrome (maybe twice a year?).

I've used Mercury less than Atomic, but only because Atomic has worked well. The little I have used Mercury, I've had no complaints.

Alas there's precious little company support or user community for Atomic. If Mercury turns out to be better for this, I might be willing to switch.

Re:Mercury and Atomic Browser

[Anonymous Coward]

iCab Mobile for iPhone iPad. Works well, very configurable, slightly slower than Safari. No ads.

Re:Mercury and Atomic Browser

[Anonymous Coward]

Atomic works quite well and has as all sorts of bells and whistles and knobs and features that are useful to geeks.

I use the agent string option quite a lot because some companies feel it's OK to serve a useless non-functional 'mobile' version of their site to smart phone users. (And not give you an option to switch to the regular 'desktop' one)

Re:Mercury and Atomic Browser

[RandCraw]

That's great to know. On my iPads I'd love to suppress the mobile versions of all sites.

And spoofing the agent string to pretend you're a bot can be an efective way to access paywalled sites.

But of course I'd never do that...

Android: Root + hosts Adblocker (i.e. AdAway)

[bemymonkey]

Closest I've come is the above... basically, use an automated app with root privileges to add the main ad-servers to your hosts file.

Other than that, you're pretty much fucked.

cydia

[akume325]

jailbreak your device and change the hosts file to block all ad sites. I copied this hosts file for my mac and my phone http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/ho... Doing this will block many of the ads in all the apps as well. =)

Windows! No Really!

[spire3661]

I have been carrying an 8" windows tablet since they came out (just got a 7" one). ITs the best way to say 'fuck mobile phones and their toy OS.'. Before that i would jsut remote into my desktop at home. Mobile browsers suck, not only performance, but the monetization is so strong they ruin the experience with crap. Mobile OS's are basically shady fucks trying to get your grandma to buy stuff.

Get a newer iPhone

[Powercntrl]

It sounds like you're describing what it's like to browse the Internet on the older iDevices which have 512MB of RAM. If you're dead-set on sticking to iOS, it's time to open your wallet up and make a generous donation to Apple. Or, as suggested by the rest of the peanut gallery, switch to Android.

Disable JS in Safari

[Anonymous Coward]

I've disabled JS in Safari, my main browser on iPhone. I use a secondary browser if I want to access content that requires it. This has made the experience of mobile browsing infinitely better. No more must I suffer through pop-up modal dialogues, requests to download apps via alert, advertisements, and swipe-left/swipe-right article navigation. I'll never turn it back on.

Wow! Many stupid! Wow!

[cerberusss]

The amount of misinformation in this topic is staggering.

There's enough cool stuff in the App Store that take a lot of the hurt away. I'm using iCab Mobile, an alternative to Safari that has many options, ad blocking one amongst them.

As for the comments that all browsers are just reskinned versions of an older Safari version, as far as I know the new WKWebView component makes it possible for alternative browsers to have equal speed compared to Safari.

Re:Wow! Many stupid! Wow!

[brokenin2]

No one said that they were reskinned versions of an older Safari version (at least that I can see).

What they said is that the other browsers are reskinned Safari, which is true. You can play around with the menus and how bookmarks are stored and stuff like that, but if you try to submit code that renders HTML apple will reject it as duplicated core functionality. What you are left with is using the Safari engine to render your the HTML/Javascript then.. Of course it's going to be just as fast.. It will always be just as fast and just as slow because you can never use anything but Safari to render your web page.. I'd love to be able to switch to something with a better rendering engine, but Apple has never allowed them.

Some applications work around the issue by using remote display protocols to run a browser somewhere else and display it on your phone, which Apple will allow, but it's a really crappy way to do things.. I don't think you can even scroll down the page if your internet connection goes away..

Narrow

[xevioso]

I use a Javascript-free browser on my iPhone called "Narrow". I highly recommend it.

This app works for me

[Anonymous Coward]

I am frequently in poor service areas. During such times, the following app has worked well for me:

Instabrowser by Red Mage, LLC
https://appsto.re/us/OtmBF.i

Alternative to NoScript on Chrome

[oneeyed2]

There is only one worth mentioning (the others simply don't block JS all the time) : https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/%C2%B5matrix/ogfcmafjalglgifnmanfmnieipoejdcf?hl=en
I haven't checked it on the mobile version but it's worth checking. It can block everything from plugins, CSS, Images to Javascript or even HTML5 video/audio. Can enforce HTTPS on all sites, and allows the use of pre-defined hosts lists. And it has a much cleaner and easier GUI than NoScript.

Stop visiting those sites?

[AqD]

Why do you want to visit websites poping up ads in front?

Hosts files work (ANDROID "how to")

[Anonymous Coward]

From what I understand, Android KitKat no longer has a hosts file. Google fears it (blocking advertising obviously) apparently. However, IF you have an ANDROID phone that's "rooted" you can pull this off easily enough:

---

1.) Get ahold of the "Android Debugging Bridge" (ADB) & install it

2.) Mount your system mountpoint as READ + WRITE (as powerful of priveleges as you need is this)

3.) Using the PULL command, copy the file over from your PC (or even on your ANDROID if its there already) using PULL & overwrite the etc. folder's copy of HOSTS

---

* DONE! Yes, it's THAT simple... &, it works!

(You *may* have to run a DosToUnix textfile formatting utility over the custom hosts you created if you generated it in Windows (say, via this app I created for it -> http://start64.com/index.php?o... which imports custom hosts file data for added speed, security, reliability, & even anonymity to an extent also from 12++ reputable + reliable sources online for such data))

APK

P.S.=> Block ANYTHING you want that way, AND, also speed up access to your favorite sites too (double-bonus) & also proof yourself vs. DNS flaws (like redirect poisoning since most ISP's are STILL NOT PATCHED vs. the Kaminsky flaw in that capacity) & downed DNS servers too, aiding reliability of access to your 'said favorite sites' as well...

... apk

Re:Hosts files work (ANDROID "how to")

[Anonymous Coward]

did you miss the memo ? the guy has an iphone. you're pathetically off-topic.

Re:Hosts files work (ANDROID "how to")

[Anonymous Coward]

Others mentioned Android so I posted it http://ask.slashdot.org/commen... on how to load a host file into ANDROID minus any prebuilt tools for it (just by using ADB) -> http://ask.slashdot.org/commen... since bemymonkey noted he uses hosts on ANDROID too.

APK

P.S.=> You're just pathetic (& nitpicking) - why don't YOU post something USEFUL instead - ARE YOU ON TOPIC? Hell no, so go away troll... apk

NOT quite (Hosts & KitKat)... apk

[Anonymous Coward]

Correct me *IF* I am wrong here http://ask.slashdot.org/commen...

APK

P.S.=> From what I've heard, Google REMOVED hosts on ANDROID "KitKat" series of their OS onwards (I strongly suspect out of fear of hosts being able to block ads BETTER than anything out there with greater end user level control)... apk

try again

[znrt]

phones are designed and marketed for exactly the opposite of what you are asking for. all of them. also, phones are today the most used devices for browsing, and counting. that should give you a rough idea of where the internet is heading, and why you are asking the wrong question.

Alternatives

[dkman]

Chrome has ScriptSafe. I don't like it as much as NoScript, but it's the closest I've found. AdBlock, Ghostery, and LastPass are on Chrome as well. I'm not sure which ones work with the mobile browser though.

There's also one called ScriptBlock, but I haven't tried it.

scroll down

[Jerry Rivers]

Just use Tumblr for your iPhone porn.

The best I've been able to come up with

[preflex]

All the mobile browsers are absolutely fucking horrible. Firefox mobile is the best, but it also sucks.

On Android, I use XServer-XSDL, an Ubuntu chroot (Debian doesn't build chromium for armhf anymore), and desktop Firefox + Grab-and-Drag, or Chromium+umatrix. This also sucks, but it sucks less than anything native. YMMV.

Why not use a proxy that blocks certain domains?

[azav]

What if you created a WEP that uses a domain blocking proxy or is that too simplistic a solution?

Re:Subby wants a bottle...

[Anonymous Coward]

If you block ads, you're being an entitled jerk

Blocking ads on the web these days is akin to practicing safe sex. "You don't want to get AIDS? You're being an entitled jerk!"
captcha: superior

Elinks as dream mobile browser

[AFCArchvile]

My dream mobile browser would be elinks. What better way to reduce bandwidth for phone-based news reading than to never download any of the images, ever? Also, elinks has no Javascript support, and it does a nice job of controlling layouts (for the most part; some canvas-heavy websites will look "flattened", where you can see canvases for status updates that haven't actually occurred, because some Javascript code segment normally doesn't reveal it until the proper time).

For when you do need to view an image, it would be nice to cross-link an image viewer browser app that also doesn't support Javascript. Most of the time, if I'm looking for a specific image from my phone browser, I'm using Google Image Search, the mobile version of which does a very nice job of presenting smaller thumbnails for the search preview.

ICabMobile on iphone lets you filter out traffic

[Anonymous Coward]

I asked myself this very question about 3 days ago, mercury is ok, but icabMobile you can just full on block all javascript, css, and even images if you really want too.

Yes I use desktop firefox with no css, images or javascript; I only turn them back on as needed. It's much faster to load and leads to a deep state of focus when you are reading :)

switch to Android?

[Anonymous Coward]

Have you thought about switching to an Android Smartphone? Samsung Galaxy S6? Lg Optimus G or F7? HTC One? Install Firefox and Adblock and Toggle JavaScript Enable, Click-to-Play Manager.

That's what you get for being an idiot

[Anonymous Coward]

Go back to android if you want to control your own device.

Re:Subby wants a bottle...

[speedlaw]

Doing tech support for the proverbial relative, I installed adblock in all computers....

You aren't so smart

[Anonymous Coward]

My company "fixed" this issue by banning personal phones inside the cypher locked regions. And then they "fixed" the lock issue by putting them on all of the doors. You can, however, carry your company provided phone wherever, whenever.
 
  You know nothing, Cory Christison

Re:You aren't so smart

[Phil Urich]

Sounds like the problem is your company. Taking it out on random Slashdot commenters may give you a moment of catharsis, and there may be fancy, elaborate and kindof-barely-working solutions to your stated problem, but neither will solve the actual underlying problem.

Re:Subby wants a bottle...

[brantondaveperson]

This is the thing. The economy of the web, in the sense of who is paying for all those 'free' sites, is built upon advertising. Personally, I don't like that very much, and in particular I dislike advertising in general.

This does not change the fact that advertisers are paying for those sites so that you can view them for 'free'. Thus blocking advertising is not an ethical act by a well-known test for ethics (what would happen if everyone did it?).

So - don't install adblock, and if you hate advertising that much, don't visit sites that employ them to pay their bills. This will result in a fairly restricted web browsing experience - but perhaps the time saved can to do something more productive instead? For myself, I just deal with the ads. And sometimes, despite myself, when they seem to be advertising something that I might be interested in, I even click on them. Once, and no-one is more surprised at this than me, I even bought something.

VPN to home then

[xtal]

..and route from there.

Problem solved. We're supposed to be the techies, remember?

Ghostery - the mobile browser for iOS

[Anonymous Coward]

/thread

Search the App Store for adblock

[Anonymous Coward]

There seem to be a number of alternative browsers that at least purport to integrate Adblock. Have you tried any of them?

Re:Ditch

[Anonymous Coward]

You should check out the forums about people bitching hard about performance issues after updating to 8. I also hope that you have an extra GB of storage space for all the features you probably won't use (I've heard people had to clear up to 3GB before they were allowed to update)

One of the main reasons why Android devices aren't updated is because it would impact the user experience too negatively.

iCab Mobile is the browser you are looking for

[weeble]

It has filters, ad-blocking and script filtering. It also does useful things like download files.

Perhaps you got your ass kicked by apk?

[Anonymous Coward]

Hahahahahaha @ Coren22 http://slashdot.org/comments.p...

Get a real phone

[allo]

iphone is just very limited.

Android. Plus root. Plus hosts file (yeah, really) to block 90% and almost everything of in-app ads. Then Firefox + SDC + Adblock Edge (Do not forget the Privacy List).

Problem solved.