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Best Ad Blocker Safari Extension?

HappyDude20

HappyDude20

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jul 13, 2008
3,688
1,479
Los Angeles, Ca
I’m currently browsing in the App Store and the top safari extensions include ad blockers. Figured I’d go for one. Am attaching two photos of the most high recommended. Hoping to get an opinion or two here.

admittedly I hate websites that have a bunch of ads, mainly news sites it seems.

Also I’ll occasionally stream movies from 123Movies or Soap2Day (RIP PutLocker) when I can’t find a movie on one of the major streaming platforms. These sites usually have PopUp Ads that open up a few extra tabs and would love for that to stop.

Am debating between 1. Unicorn or 2. adBlocker
 

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Looking into Wipr now.

what’s up with the in app purchases?

the appeal for me with the 2 ad blocking extensions I mentioned in my original post don’t have in app purchases and was hoping to just buy an extension and forget about it you know?
 
TofSanity said:
I have only had to purchase the Wipr app for iOS. the Mac version is more like a "tip" as far as I've experienced. I have never paid for the Mac version. hope that helps
Click to expand...
Yes it does help thank you for the replies.
Am searching on MR forums now and it seems I’m not the only one in this sub thread asking questions about the better ad blockers.

a lot of ppl do seem to prefer Wipr just like you. The iOS version in the App Store has in app purchases but most of them seem to be tips.

are you saying the MacOS version is pretty much free but can tip the developer as well? Nevertheless today I’m interested in the iOS version.

I hate to bother you with this in regards to Wipr but I’ll include screenshots here: whenever I go to Soap2Day to steam a movie a few pop up ad windows show up and sometimes even send me to iCal and I obviously don’t want that. I’ll see if I can include a video here.

 
I have never used Soap2Day but I just tried it on my iPhone with Wipr installed. there were no issues, no redirects etc. I don't remember what the price was for the iOS version either 1.99 or 4.99 but it has been highly worth it.

Edit: also it's updated more than most.
 
Than
TofSanity said:
I have never used Soap2Day but I just tried it on my iPhone with Wipr installed. there were no issues, no redirects etc. I don't remember what the price was for the iOS version either 1.99 or 4.99 but it has been highly worth it.
Click to expand...
Thank you am highly considering getting out now

unless anyone vouches for the original ones I mentioned in my first post

My concern with Wipr is having to make additional in app purchases for whatever reason
 
TofSanity said:
I have never used Soap2Day but I just tried it on my iPhone with Wipr installed. there were no issues, no redirects etc. I don't remember what the price was for the iOS version either 1.99 or 4.99 but it has been highly worth it.

Edit: also it's updated more than most.
Click to expand...
Oh and 1 more question. In regards to YouTube, does it help there regarding blocking ads? I know that’s the biggie for a lot of people. Whether it’s in the YouTube app itself (although I doubt it) or YouTube.com in the safari web browser.
 
HappyDude20 said:
Than

Thank you am highly considering getting out now

unless anyone vouches for the original ones I mentioned in my first post

My concern with Wipr is having to make additional in app purchases for whatever reason
Click to expand...
been using for maybe ten years with no in app purchases. like I said it's more like a tip jar for the developer. Wipr was originally free on iOS when I first started using. I switched user accounts last year. when I did that I had to pay for wipr then only because it was no longer tied to my original iCloud account.
 
HappyDude20 said:
Oh and 1 more question. In regards to YouTube, does it help there regarding blocking ads? I know that’s the biggie for a lot of people. Whether it’s in the YouTube app itself (although I doubt it) or YouTube.com in the safari web browser.
Click to expand...
no. I haven't been able to find an ad blocker that will block ads within apps. you could use a VPN in some cases but it became too much of a hassle for me. I am not sure if any app will block ads in YouTube.
 
TofSanity said:
no. I haven't been able to find an ad blocker that will block ads within apps. you could use a VPN in some cases but it became too much of a hassle for me. I am not sure if any app will block ads in YouTube.
Click to expand...
Cool thank you so much for taking time to reply on a Saturday morning.
Last question. Any issues/concerns regarding battery life drainage?

I hear many of these ad blockers drain batteries more quickly. Sometimes too quickly.
 
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HappyDude20 said:
Oh and 1 more question. In regards to YouTube, does it help there regarding blocking ads? I know that’s the biggie for a lot of people. Whether it’s in the YouTube app itself (although I doubt it) or YouTube.com in the safari web browser.
Click to expand...

TofSanity said:
no. I haven't been able to find an ad blocker that will block ads within apps. you could use a VPN in some cases but it became too much of a hassle for me. I am not sure if any app will block ads in YouTube.
Click to expand...

Wipr recently updated and now blocks ads on YouTube in Safari only. You need to go into settings -> Safari -> Extensions and turn on Wipr Extra.

I've also been using Wipr for over 5 years and it works great for me. What's also nice is the blocking rules are updated multiple times per week so your always updated with the latest blocking rules. If you find websites that don't work or render properly with Wipr, you can report it and the developer is pretty responsive. No ad blocker is perfect.

I've also used AdGuard and 1Blocker. Both are also really good but I keep coming back to Wipr for its simplicity.

Edit: Wipr is a one time lifetime purchase. He's never asked for an additional purchase since I started using the app. In app purchases is for tips only and I have never experienced any battery drain or heating up from Wipr.
 
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You could look at Lockdown. It works in the VPN settings of iOS and does block ads across the entire device. (they also have a mac version). It's free, doesn't track (everything stays on device) and I've had pretty good success with it. They only time i really deactivate it is on my MBP when i am actually running a VPN.
 
gwang73 said:
Wipr recently updated and now blocks ads on YouTube in Safari only. You need to go into settings -> Safari -> Extensions and turn on Wipr Extra.

I've also been using Wipr for over 5 years and it works great for me. What's also nice is the blocking rules are updated multiple times per week so your always updated with the latest blocking rules. If you find websites that don't work or render properly with Wipr, you can report it and the developer is pretty responsive. No ad blocker is perfect.

I've also used AdGuard and 1Blocker. Both are also really good but I keep coming back to Wipr for its simplicity.

Edit: Wipr is a one time lifetime purchase. He's never asked for an additional purchase since I started using the app. In app purchases is for tips only and I have never experienced any battery drain or heating up from Wipr.
Click to expand...
So close to buying Wipr. Am waiting till the end of the day in case I’m persuaded otherwise. But Wipr is definitely the one it seems.
 
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ecatomb said:
Wipr, Adguard, 1Blocker <= 3 adblocker that I like
Click to expand...
I’ve heard AdGuard is a bit more expensive and more of a battery drainer than the rest. I’ve used 1blocker and am sure it’s easy to use but I feel that extensions and shortcuts on Apple devices confuse me so am looking for a turn key simple solution. Not saying that they are aren’t, just that’s the main reason I was first curious about Unicorn Blocker.
Surprised no one has mentioned Unicorn Blocker yet considering it’s like #1 in the App Store.
 
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Natzoo said:
Note that Wipr doesn’t block ads on YouTube, what I do is use the brave browser for YouTube.
Click to expand...
I’m hearing Wipr does block ads on YouTube.com within Safari but not the YT app.

I’ve been using Brave as well but would prefer to use either th YTapp or YT.com in safari. Especially since YT in Safari allows for PiP
 
HappyDude20 said:
I’m hearing Wipr does block ads on YouTube.com within Safari but not the YT app.

I’ve been using Brave as well but would prefer to use either th YTapp or YT.com in safari. Especially since YT in Safari allows for PiP
Click to expand...
I haven't tried it on mobile but It may work on safari, I just logged onto safari and it showed an ad on my recommended page, did not try a video.

Yea I use YT on my mac so the brave browser is definitely my go-to now. But it would be nice to watch it on the iPhone sometime.
 
HappyDude20 said:
Nice! And Wipr extra is free once you buy Wipr no?
Aren’t there security vulnerabilities involved? (Pictured)
Click to expand...
No, he doesn’t have access to your web content, he also asks people who doesn’t believe him to look through the Inspector the Javascript code of the extension to verify that by themselves. This Extra extension has to be this way because of the nature of Safari Extensions.

If you still don’t fully trust Giorgio, you can just set Wipr Extra ONLY for YouTube, relying on the regular Wipr for other websites.

Also, just to reiterate what others said, NO, Wipr doesn’t require any in app purchase, it’s just a tip jar in case you want to support the developer.
 
1Blocker is the same, it has the "1Blocker Scripts" part which is really nice for YouTube.

It have a Firewall too through VPN. But when I tried it on the iPhone, it was using too much battery...
And the baddest thing, it's than this Firewall doesn't seems to work with YouTube app.
 
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