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iOS Ad Blocker "Crystal" Will Let Companies Pay To Show You Ads

Posted by samzenpus on from the anything-for-a-price dept.

pdclarry writes: Apple's iOS 9 now supports ad blockers. The most popular of these, Peace, was withdrawn after only a couple of days because the developer thought "it just doesn't feel good." Crystal then quickly rose to the top of the heap. But the developer of Crystal has announced that it will allow "acceptable ads" — for a fee from the advertiser. Crystal is a paid app; so you can now pay for the privilege of seeing ads.

8 of 229 comments (clear)

  1. Old adage by qbast · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If you are not paying then you are the product. Unfortunately if your are paying, nothing prevents company from selling you anyway

  2. "Supports"? by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Apple's iOS 9 now supports ad blockers.

    I think you mean "deigns to allow you to install".

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
  3. Should Go the Other Way by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If people are paying for an ad-blocker, that means they are willing to PAY for sites without ads. The smart thing to do would be to sell ad-free access to sites through the "ad-blocker" - the site gets paid, the user is happy.

    Just figure out a way to do it that doesn't involve tracking the user in the process because modern ad-blocking is at least as much about tracker-blocking as it is about ad-blocking.

  4. Re: That's just... dishonest by mattventura · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The sad part is that for whatever reason, stuff that you would never dream of paying for on a desktop costs money on iOS. Everything from adblockers to solitaire games either seem to cost money or be ad-riddled.

  5. Re:Dear Crystal author..... by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Insightful

    close page
    search for another page serving same content
    5 seconds of googling later...

    You don't want to give me what I want? Ok. No problem.

    NEXT!

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  6. Didn't they just add a bunch of networking stuff by rsilvergun · · Score: 3, Insightful

    that ad blockers needed to work? Firefox has all that stuff (my firefox plug-in needs it to build youtube links). I've been trying to finish a Chrome port in my spare time but Chrome is missing a lot of that stuff and I haven't found a good way to hack it in (my C/C++-fu is only so-so).

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
  7. Re: That's just... dishonest by pushing-robot · · Score: 2, Insightful

    1. You can buy a new Mac plus iPhone for half that. Replace the iPhone with an iPod Touch or iPad to save a few hundred more. Used devices also work fine.

    2. With minor tweaking you can get OS X running in a VM, use XCode's iOS simulator to do most of your development testing, and invite friend(s) with iOS devices to do on-device beta testing.

    3. Then again, if you have no interest in owning or using an Apple product, it's probably best you don't develop for the platform.

    4. http://www.penny-arcade.com/co...

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    How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
  8. Re:Pay-for-access idea by cfalcon · · Score: 3, Insightful

    How about an ad blocker that blocks ads.