Apple Cracking Down on VPN-Based Ad Blockers That Work in Third-Party Apps

[danskin]

Every person I know who has a PC has 2 virus protectors and malware programs. I think their computers work worse after running those programs than before.

Also, most of those programs are redundant and I'm confused to why people opt to use more than one. They tend to 'fight' each other and also compete for RAM.

Man are you in the wrong thread? What you are saying has nothing to do with the article.

 

[hashholly]

That's not how the good ones work. Adguard Pro, for example.



No, it doesn't. But even if you don't believe me, it's a lot easier to pick on VPN company to research and investigate than having to trust every single app on your phone regarding what analytics info it's collecting and selling about you.



It's not just the ads, it's analytics collection and monetization of users without disclosure. Apps often connect to a dozen or more analytics frameworks with the vaguest of disclosures.



It's the devs who are shooting themselves in the foot by selling out their users for a few cents to analytics warehouses. If an app just want to *show* an ad, I'm fine with that, even if it's a big one. But none of them stop there. Every ad is passing info back about you, your device, location, IP address, browsing habits etc. to the analytics flavor of the month. With all of that data eventually making into a handful of aggregators who know more about us than our own family.

So, yes, devs that are ok with that do need to admit that they really don't give a damn about their users.

Which apps? All the apps? Are these vpn blockers just blocking ads in apps collecting data? How are they differentiating between apps that do the right thing and apps that don't, ensuring makers of apps that are free and doing things the right way to continue to be free through ads?

These types of blockers are a catch all, which frankly isn't fair to developers who are offering their apps for free.

Don't like the idea of ad's or having your data sold, buy a paid app. If the paid app is collecting data stop using the app.

Truth be told plenty of developers do the right thing, offer their apps for free and all you have to do in return is suffer through some advertisements. Glad these type of apps are no longer being approved.

 

[danskin]

And a lot of apps have not. So what about them? What about the hard work that developers put into there apps to make it so you have a good experience with a quality app should they not be paid for there hard work?



Agree 100%.

People don't realize how much work goes into making a quality app and never will. They will always want it for free because to most they think it was easy for you to make it so why should they pay for it?

I love getting the emails every day from people demanding they get ad free on every device they have because they purchased it once for 99 cents. Even tho they do with the same Apple ID.

How about making an app of quality which people are willing to buy/in app purchase for?
[doublepost=1500088955][/doublepost]

Which apps? All the apps? Are these vpn blockers just blocking ads in apps collecting data? How are they differentiating between apps that do the right thing and apps that don't, ensuring makers of apps that are free and doing things the right way to continue to be free through ads?

These types of blockers are a catch all, which frankly isn't fair to developers who are offering their apps for free.

Don't like the idea of ad's or having your data sold, buy a paid app. If the paid app is collecting data stop using the app.

Truth be told plenty of developers do the right thing, offer their apps for free and all you have to do in return is suffer through some advertisements. Glad these type of apps are no longer being approved.

What makes you think a free app with ads is the right thing to do? If you are so concerned about your revenue then perhaps put a price tag on the app or incorporate in app purchase. The so called 'Free app" you are talking about isn't really free. Users still pay, just not with money.
I don't see any in app advertisement on PC or Mac softwares (whether free or paid) that I use. If your argument is valid then there wouldn't be anyone buying PCs/Macs anymore because it's no longer worthwhile for developers to make software for these platforms.

 

[willmtaylor]

Adguard Pro also has the VPN option, I didn't see any people talking about restrictions yet on their forum. Is Adguard Pro going to be affected too?

@avatar-adg, any input here? Have you guys run into this already?

https://forum.adguard.com/index.php...-third-party-apps-what-will-adguard-do.23410/

 

[Polarimetric]

VPN-based adblocking solutions on iOS were never about blocking in-app ads for me—I always bought pro versions/“remove ads” IAPs/etc anyway because those weren’t the ads I was trying to block. The real loss with this is the ability to block ads on webpages loaded through any app that doesn’t use Safari View Controller to serve webpages. Safari’s content blocker won’t touch those, and many extremely popular apps (e.g. Facebook/Messenger, the official reddit app, Narwhal) have not implemented SVC and likely will not for various reasons. Thus without VPNs, the only three options are only using apps with SVC, training yourself to click “Open with Safari” on every link, or tolerating ads on whatever link you might click within any of those apps. All three options are a massive annoyance in one way or another.

 

[LoveToMacRumors]

@avatar-adg, any input here? Have you guys run into this already?

https://forum.adguard.com/index.php...-third-party-apps-what-will-adguard-do.23410/

Thanks I'll follow the thread so see what their developers are planning to do

 

[hydropsyche]

Personally, I like the iPhone SE form factor so probably won't ever buy another Apple phone unless it is the same size. Secondly, I am testing the IOS beta which doesn't seem to allow ad blocking and I can tell you that I would give up my phone and tablet in a second if they didn't have ad blockers in the final product. Life's too short to be inundated with crap.

 

[Totorotarrot]

I have no problem with developers using non-intrusive ads. The ones using ads that are loud or immediately push you to the app store, those are what push me to an ad blocker.

They should push u to uninstall not to steal.

 

[jdillings]

This right here is exactly why it these apps are being pulled. I'm just surprised it took long before Apple started rejecting them.

No, the apps are being pulled because they block ads in Apple's News app

 

[UL2RA]

Well ... this sucks. They should set stricter policies on overly intrusive ads, then we wouldn't need apps like this.

 

[AdonisSMU]

This is crazy. So many apps have gone overboard with annoying, interpreting ads. I hope some vpn service will start offering reliable ad blocking.

Use a different app if you don't like the ads.
[doublepost=1500093518][/doublepost]

I have no problem with developers using non-intrusive ads. The ones using ads that are loud or immediately push you to the app store, those are what push me to an ad blocker.

Or you can use a competing app that doesn't have this behavior.

 

[UL2RA]

Use a different app if you don't like the ads.
[doublepost=1500093518][/doublepost]
Or you can use a competing app that doesn't have this behavior.

Great logic.

 

[AdonisSMU]

That's not how the good ones work. Adguard Pro, for example.

No, it doesn't. But even if you don't believe me, it's a lot easier to pick on VPN company to research and investigate than having to trust every single app on your phone regarding what analytics info it's collecting and selling about you.

It's not just the ads, it's analytics collection and monetization of users without disclosure. Apps often connect to a dozen or more analytics frameworks with the vaguest of disclosures.

It's the devs who are shooting themselves in the foot by selling out their users for a few cents to analytics warehouses. If an app just want to *show* an ad, I'm fine with that, even if it's a big one. But none of them stop there. Every ad is passing info back about you, your device, location, IP address, browsing habits etc. to the analytics flavor of the month. With all of that data eventually making into a handful of aggregators who know more about us than our own family.

So, yes, devs that are ok with that do need to admit that they really don't give a damn about their users.

Umm. Apple forces them to send a notification asking the user for permission to have certain data. The data is how they determine which ads to show you. There is no point in showing certain ads to some types of people.

 

[Howl's Castle]

I disagree with apple on this. While I do agree this can be abused, there are app store testers for a reason. Allowing AdBlock was a great reason why I moved from Android to iOS.

 

[Feenician]

Secondly, I am testing the IOS beta which doesn't seem to allow ad blocking and I can tell you that I would give up my phone and tablet in a second if they didn't have ad blockers in

There was a memory allocation bug related to Safari extensions prior to DP3/PB2. Update to those and if it still isn’t working switch to another adblocker. It works fine.

 

[Rajani Isa]

There's something rather disturbing / unsettling about this.

>> It's not clear why Apple has changed its policy after so many years, but many apps, including native apps like Apple News, feature ads as a way to monetize. <<

Certainly don't want Apple to prioritizing monetizing their users experiences and start viewing advertisers and media companies as customers (advertisers and media companies). Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Comcast etc. would be waiting to welcome them aboard.

Well, if it's hitting them on Apple News, I could see the issue. They don't get the ability to aggregate all those news feeds for free. So we'd either start paying for it, or they'd end it.

 

[johannnn]

Everyone knows that ad blockers are the result of overly aggressive advertisers annoying the hell out of a customer. If we choose to block their ads, there's a damn good reason for it. They need to learn how to appropriately advertise instead of harass, annoy, and trick the user into clicking on their ad. When I can't read web pages, particularly on mobile, because there is an advertisement every inch, it is way out of control. And we passed that red line long ago.

I should have a right to block all those annoyances if I choose to do so. Advertisers: grow up. Learn to advertise so you attract customers, not piss them off. Then maybe we won't block you.

Maybe stop install the free version with ads then? Just get the 99 cent version without ads.

 

[Rajani Isa]

What makes you think a free app with ads is the right thing to do? If you are so concerned about your revenue then perhaps put a price tag on the app or incorporate in app purchase. The so called 'Free app" you are talking about isn't really free. Users still pay, just not with money.

Here's the funny thing. People have gotten to the point where they feel put upon if asked to pay for certain kinds of apps. Or apps that charge more than 99¢ to buy. It's a really weird entitlement issue.

 

[Col4bin]

According to Apple, Future Mind's AdBlock app violates section 4.2 of the App Store Review Guidelines, which dictates that apps must be useful, unique, and "app-like."

In other words, Apple doesn't intend to give up a lucrative advertising revenue stream.
[doublepost=1500099313][/doublepost]

There's something rather disturbing / unsettling about this.

>> It's not clear why Apple has changed its policy after so many years, but many apps, including native apps like Apple News, feature ads as a way to monetize. <<

Certainly don't want Apple to prioritizing monetizing their users experiences and start viewing advertisers and media companies as customers (advertisers and media companies). Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Comcast etc. would be waiting to welcome them aboard.

Precisely.

 

[palmerc]

Disappointed to see this.

If I am not mistaken, Adguard Pro has a VPN option, that allows ones to block ads in third party apps. I have been using it and really like it. I need to make sure to download the app and others like it, so that I will have access to them.

As has been already said, using these type of VPN ad-blockers is opening yourself up to a serious security breach. Unencrypted banking details, email, and other logins are all exposed to the servers. Do yourself a favour and delete this app and use an officially sanctioned ad-blocker.
[doublepost=1500103013][/doublepost]So they're using a VPN to route all traffic to their servers, and a root certificate to act as a man-in-the-middle proxy for encrypted traffic that performs 'ad-blocking'? Woah. I'm actually more concerned that this was allowed to go on for so long. Anyone that has used this service should be changing passwords and enabling strong authentication if they haven't done so already.
[doublepost=1500103653][/doublepost]

Ad blocking using a VPN, and worse, root certificates, sounds like a potential security nightmare waiting to happen, and I can 100% see why Apple would ban them from the store.

With a third party root certificate installed, this app can intercept your banking information or pretty much anything you do online.

I propose a new Apple App Store rejection rule, "Any app that compromises or has by design the potential to compromise the security of the user."

 

[simonmet]

How many apps qualify as being "unique"?

 

[RecentlyConverted]

I see the concern, but I think the larger issue is with third-party developers. If I make an app for iOS and can't make money because so many people are using AdBlock/Weblock to block ads in my app, I'll stop developing for iOS. Apple needs to take steps to protect the revenue streams of their developers, not necessarily for themselves. Annoying, sure, but nobody pays for apps anymore so...

I think the way Apple could encourage app development and support would be to provide a trial of paid for apps.

I have downloaded nearly 1000 apps a huge number are paid for.

In the past if I purchased an app and it didn’t do what was in the description ( or what I hoped it would do from an ambiguous description ( where working contact details where available I checked functionality with developer before purchase ), I would request a refund from Apple. Recently I purchased an app for 6.99, it didn’t function as described, but after 3 attempts no refund. My purchase of apps has now been greatly reduced. I will only consider established, well reviewed apps now.

 

[0098386]

Everyone knows that ad blockers are the result of overly aggressive advertisers annoying the hell out of a customer. If we choose to block their ads, there's a damn good reason for it. They need to learn how to appropriately advertise instead of harass, annoy, and trick the user into clicking on their ad. When I can't read web pages, particularly on mobile, because there is an advertisement every inch, it is way out of control. And we passed that red line long ago.

I should have a right to block all those annoyances if I choose to do so. Advertisers: grow up. Learn to advertise so you attract customers, not piss them off. Then maybe we won't block you.

Perfect. Adverts really need to just be plain text with a link, a clear and easily pressable 'close' button and nothing more. I hope the security issues are addressed and the app makes it through certification.

 

[kiancheong]

The app creates a "dummy" VPN which routes all ad server requests to oblivion, thus no ads appear on those third-party apps that chose not to use Safari view controller.

 

[apolloa]

Hmmm... well it's blindingly obvious for the reason to this.. It seems Apple wants to be the new Google, it's made a lot of noise about advertisements lately and obviously wants the revenue..

I don't think they actually get just how much people utterly hate adverts, the next step will be banning ad blockers from Safari, I can see it now.

I'll have to check Crystal which is what I use..
[doublepost=1500114179][/doublepost]

If you hate ads in an app you can find another app that has no ads (generally paid).

Maybe stop install the free version with ads then? Just get the 99 cent version without ads.

Actually no you cannot! The vast majority of apps these days are all based on the freemium, IAP business model, for the reasons outlined in this review from a developer posted on Mac Rumors sister site:

http://toucharcade.com/2015/09/16/we-own-you-confessions-of-a-free-to-play-producer/