Firefox for iOS now has a native adblocker
95 points by pentagrama 2 hours ago | 29 comments

internet2000 18 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...
reply
Shank 35 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.

reply
VCFundedGenYer 2 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.

reply
brightbeige 37 minutes ago
If you search the App Store and don’t find it, it’s called Firefox Klar in some markets
reply
adityeah 2 hours ago
Yes and not only that, one can enable that as a safari extension and get an ad-free experience on safari too.
reply
temp0826 2 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.
reply
TheDong 2 hours 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.

reply
yoavm 19 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.

reply
wbl 55 minutes ago
Not all markets or manufacturers will have the same degree of vertical integration and that's ok.
reply
Grombobulous 20 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.

reply
grepex 19 minutes ago
Read: not all markets and manufacturers will have the same respect for their customers.
reply
tcfhgj 32 minutes ago
what's the current excuse for buying a device which doesn't allow you to control what software you use on it?
reply
whstl 26 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.

reply
tcfhgj 21 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

reply
whstl 9 minutes ago
I am not talking about myself. That's where the empathy part comes.
reply
VCFundedGenYer 45 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.

reply
close04 2 hours 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.
reply
jamesforestwest 20 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.
reply
michimagdesign 13 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.
reply
rrgok 47 minutes ago
It this still only DNS blocking or does cosmetic blocking too?
reply
HelloUsername 38 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.

reply
ImJamal 2 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.

reply
WarmWash 3 minutes ago
The correct way to avoid ads is to not visit pages that use them.
reply
pmkary 34 minutes ago
Ads are bad! Blocking ads on our own homepage? How do you expect us to keep the lights on?
reply
rvz 21 minutes ago
Mozilla knows not to bite Google’s hand, who is the one that actually feeds them hundreds of millions of dollars.
reply
charcircuit 6 minutes ago
Mozilla is the one who is funneling billions of dollars worth of traffic to Google.
reply
eviks 58 minutes ago
"better than nothing"
reply
add-sub-mul-div 2 hours ago
It doesn't have those limitations on Windows or Android, so it must be an Apple requirement or limitation.
reply
smallerize 50 minutes 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.)

reply