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Firefox for iOS now has a native adblocker

102 points2 hourssupport.mozilla.org
ramijames8 minutes ago

If you haven't been using Firefox, what are you even doing with your life?

internet200029 minutes ago

In case anyone here missed it, there's a native Ublock Origin for Safari. It works great → https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ublock-origin-lite/id674534269...

Shank46 minutes ago

> Ads shown on search engine results pages, including Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo and other search providers

There are many subpar adblockers available both built into browsers on iOS and as extensions. uBlock Origin Lite for Safari remains the best mobile adblocker on iOS, I suppose.

VCFundedGenYer2 hours ago

Technically, Firefox Focus (a separate browser for iOS) includes an adblocker feature that can be applied system wide via iOS's content blockers subsystem. This was released in the late 2010s.

Firefox including it is likely just reducing the steps required.

brightbeige48 minutes ago

If you search the App Store and don’t find it, it’s called Firefox Klar in some markets

adityeah1 hour ago

Yes and not only that, one can enable that as a safari extension and get an ad-free experience on safari too.

temp08262 hours ago

What's the current excuse for not supporting extensions on iOS? Orion on iOS does and it's the reason I dropped FF ages ago.

TheDong1 hour ago

Apple themselves do not allow using anything other than WebKit unless you move to the EU or Japan: https://developer.apple.com/support/alternative-browser-engi...

Firefox addons target gecko, not webkit.

What Orion's doing is horribly hacky and prone to cause issues with a multitude of addons, and of course Mozilla shouldn't bow to Apple's incredibly anti-competitive behavior.

You pay apple for a phone that can act more-or-less as a general purpose computer with apps. Apple should let you install the apps you want, and that they don't do so is insulting.

The fact that the EU and Japan ruled it illegal, and Apple responded by only changing it in those two countries instead of all countries is doubly insulting.

yoavm30 minutes ago

> Firefox addons target gecko, not webkit.

Are they? I've built a few Firefox extension and I cannot recall any part of the API that is Gecko-specific. While parts of the API aren't entirely browser-agnostic, they definitely seem to be engine-agnostic.

Tryk10 minutes ago

*EU is not one country

wbl1 hour ago

Not all markets or manufacturers will have the same degree of vertical integration and that's ok.

Grombobulous31 minutes ago

It’s okay if you’re in a healthy market with many competitive choices.

It’s not okay if you’re a duopoly where over 95% of people buy your product as a prerequisite to functioning in modern society.

grepex30 minutes ago

Read: not all markets and manufacturers will have the same respect for their customers.

tcfhgj44 minutes ago

what's the current excuse for buying a device which doesn't allow you to control what software you use on it?

whstl37 minutes ago

1. Not wanting to.

2. Caring about other aspects of the device.

I don't personally agree with Apple's decisions, but you "vote with wallet" people need to have at least some modicum of empathy before you start demanding that people have a lot for you and join your cause.

tcfhgj32 minutes ago

you are reading a lot into almost nothing

> 1. Not wanting to.

obviously you DO want to if you want to use extensions but cannot use them because you actually cannot control the software on your device

whstl20 minutes ago

I am not talking about myself. That's where the empathy part comes.

VCFundedGenYer56 minutes ago

As always, it's Apple neutering their own platform. They don't allow a lot of things on iOS. Non-WebKit browsers is one of them (Which is asinine).

The EU forced them to allow other browser engines in their regions, but it's not global, and therefore fragmented.

close041 hour ago

Until recently Apple only allowed Webkit on iOS. In the EU and Japan now they allow proprietary engines. But this means Mozilla needs to put in all the extra effort to maintain yet another branch for iOS with all the features, for an even more limited user base in those regions alone.

jamesforestwest31 minutes ago

Well, not bad. But it's not uBlock, and Safari's blocker is already working fine for me. Brave's also been doing this for years. But at least it's something.

michimagdesign24 minutes ago

Paying for Wipr 2 + Filtr is still the gold standard on apple platforms imo. But it’s not open source and there are no custom block lists.

rrgok58 minutes ago

It this still only DNS blocking or does cosmetic blocking too?

HelloUsername49 minutes ago

"Firefox blocks many types of advertising at the network level. It uses a filter list based on EasyList to block many ads before they load."

I guess still all DNS it seems? For which NextDNS is much more useful.

ImJamal2 hours ago

> Firefox does not block:

> Ads shown on search engine results pages, including Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo and other search providers

> Sponsored content on the Firefox Home or New Tab page

So block ads unless it impacts their revenue sources.

pmkary45 minutes ago

Ads are bad! Blocking ads on our own homepage? How do you expect us to keep the lights on?

WarmWash14 minutes ago

The correct way to avoid ads is to not visit pages that use them.

rvz32 minutes ago

Mozilla knows not to bite Google’s hand, who is the one that actually feeds them hundreds of millions of dollars.

charcircuit17 minutes ago

Mozilla is the one who is funneling billions of dollars worth of traffic to Google.

eviks1 hour ago

"better than nothing"

add-sub-mul-div1 hour ago

It doesn't have those limitations on Windows or Android, so it must be an Apple requirement or limitation.

smallerize1 hour ago

Easylist does not block those things on any platforms.

I'm not aware of any adblockers that can block the ads on the built-in New Tab page. (You can just disable them in settings anyway.)