Adblock Plus Returns To Android and Arrives On iPhone For First Time

Mickeycaskill writes: Adblock Plus has returned to Android — two and a half years after ad blocking services were removed from Google Play — and has been released on iOS for the first time. Adblock Browser for Android has been in beta since late May, with well over 300,000 people downloading the beta in the browser's first week. Meanwhile the arrival of the app on iPhone means developer Eyeo has beaten Apple to the punch, as the company has confirmed iOS 9 will feature an adblocker built into Safari. "With the popularity of the iOS platform in places like the US, we considered it critical to offer an app in the Apple App Store," said Till Faida, co-founder of Adblock Plus. "We're thankful to Apple for working with us on this project and we look forward to their new iOS 9, which will give web developers additional ad-blocking tools. It's a big step for this industry."

Comments

Awesome

[Anonymous Coward]

I hope that puts the final nail into the coffin of online advertising.

Re:Awesome

[Wycliffe]

I hope that puts the final nail into the coffin of online advertising.

I highly doubt it. It's more likely to put the final nail in the "ad blocking" industry. As soon as ad blocking goes mainstream then ad supported sites will start to actually care and start actively circumventing ad blocking via either embedded content or requiring you to download an app, etc... The vast majority of people have voted and they have voted that they don't want to pay for apps and websites and would rather see ads instead.

Re:Awesome

[Dins]

Just convenience, I'm sure. Certainly doable though. Would be kind of a mess if every web site rolled their own, though....

Re:Awesome

[cyn1c77]

I'm not using an app right now. It's extremely easy for me to just go to a competing site if you don't want donations or paywalls.

There are very few sites that will publish content out of the goodness of their hearts. If they can't get paid through advertising, then it's apps or paywalls or something but not free.

Don't get me wrong; I use adblock and never see ads. So I guess I'm a hyopcrite. But if online advertising can't unltimately make money somehow we're gonna have a very different web on our hands.

Like it would really matter if 90% of the advertisement-supported web disappeared.

Where would we be?

Back to the newsgroups that we had originally... which arguably was better than the highly predatory environment that it's evolved into today.

Re:Awesome

[Ol Olsoc]

I'm not using an app right now. It's extremely easy for me to just go to a competing site if you don't want donations or paywalls.

There are very few sites that will publish content out of the goodness of their hearts. If they can't get paid through advertising, then it's apps or paywalls or something but not free.

Don't get me wrong; I use adblock and never see ads. So I guess I'm a hyopcrite. But if online advertising can't unltimately make money somehow we're gonna have a very different web on our hands.

I actually don't think you are a hypocrite. When a web page takes a minute ot load on a fast service, only because it's ramming a little story, and many megs of ads, it starts to become a real mess. And when a fair amount of that is malware pretending to be an ad, it becomes an arms race.

I think we are reaching a tipping point, when Websites are finding out that there is going to be a choice. Go out of business because people are blocking your ads, or go out of business because no one wants to visit a page with 50 scripts, a bunch of trackers and analytics, and all the malware you'd ever not want. And it isn't even a security thing for some folks. It's so much loading time that an unprotected machine might take so long ot load a page, they assume it's frozen.

I block ads for the same reason I don't invite methods into the house.

I'll remove adblock when sites start acting responsibly. Then I'll see all their ads. What a concept.

Re:Awesome

[Yosho]

There are very few sites that will publish content out of the goodness of their hearts. ... But if online advertising can't unltimately make money somehow we're gonna have a very different web on our hands.

Ahh, that sounds so nice.

But seriously, there was a time, somewhere around two decades ago, when web pages were not covered in advertisements. If a web page had a banner ad, it was because it was part of a circle of related pages who all agreed to display each others' banners; they weren't earning money, they were just sharing places of interest.

Believe it or not, many web sites were published out of the goodness of peoples' hearts -- many of them just wanted to share information or connect with other like-minded people. That kind of thing doesn't really happen any more, though, now that social media has provided people with a way of easily connecting with others and sharing information without needing to write your own web page or host a server... and Facebook will gladly provide you with that service, funded by their corporate overlords.

If online advertising fails to make money and we have to go back to the good old days, then bring it on, I say. If your business model depends on annoying people, you deserve to go out of business.

Re:Awesome

[mjwx]

I actually don't think you are a hypocrite. When a web page takes a minute ot load on a fast service, only because it's ramming a little story, and many megs of ads, it starts to become a real mess. And when a fair amount of that is malware pretending to be an ad, it becomes an arms race.

And when your telco has a small data quota, it literally costs money to see ads.

Re:Awesome

[martin-boundary]

I will never remove adblock. I consider ads to be theft of attentionspan. Who authorised some thirdparty ad peddler to divert the image recognition neurons in my brain on some silly profitseeking mission that doesn't benefit me and actually lowers the quality of the text recognition task they are supposed to be performing in the first place?

Adblock BROWSER

[iONiUM]

This isn't clear from the summary or article, but the adblock offering on the Google play store (which you can find here: https://play.google.com/store/... -- WHY don't they have the link in the summary?!) is a BROWSER, not a plug-in (which I guess doesn't exist on Android Chrome anyways).

I'm not sure I want a full browser.

Always had Adblock

[CimmerianX]

Just because Google play blocked the app didn't mean it wasn't available. F-Droid App store always had the app ready to load. I've been using it nonstop for last few years.

Google Play is just 1 of many app stores.... people don't always realize that.

Firefox for Android + uBlock Origin

[LichtSpektren]

I am just wondering what advantages I get from the Adblock Browser over using Firefox for Android with uBlock Origin (or Adblock Plus/Edge if you prefer)? TFA doesn't seem to enlighten me.

Re:Firefox for Android + uBlock Origin

[CrashNBrn]

Likely None --- or Worse. uBlock is the evolution|forkish of the "AdBlock+". Now if you don't mind some fiddly-bits, uMatrix is even better (less memory, less CPU usage, etc). uMatrix is interesting as it takes the reins from all of these: NoScript, Ghostery, Adblock+|uBlock|RequestPolicy.

Re:Adblock Edge is better

[msimm]

Adblock Edge (ABE) is discontinued. ABE's developer is recommending uBlock Origin which apparently:

outperforms Adblock Edge but is also available on other browsers and, of course, without "Acceptable Ads Whitelist".