So I tapped the link on my iPhone and was taken to the App Store.
The download button is available. Great! Finally I can block ads in mobile too.
It installs, opening it is a simple message saying I need to enable it in Safari settings. Strange, but ok.
I go to Settings -> Safari -> Extensions -> uBlock Origin Lite.
> “uBO Lite” is not available for this version of Safari.
This feels like a series of failures, why is it available for download on iPhone if it doesn’t work at all? Is iOS Safari really that different to Mac Safari?
pdpi · 29m ago
I've used Firefox Focus as an ad blocker for Safari on iOS for several years now. I don't actually use it as my browser, I just use Safari as normal, but it integrates with Safari, and seems to work well enough.
cm2187 · 31m ago
Update your iphone and it will work
isodev · 12m ago
The whole point of going iPhone is not to have to deal with these kinds of situations.
antihero · 7m ago
The whole point of using an iPhone is that you don't have to update it?
idle_zealot · 8m ago
Bad news: these kinds of situations are inevitable. You've abdicated control of your digital life for a comforting lie
ErneX · 23m ago
Extensions for Safari on iOS and iPadOS have been available since 2021, I’ve been using ad blockers on those systems, but it’s nice the have uBlock now.
lapcat · 4m ago
This is a bit misleading. Safari content blockers have been available on iOS since 2015. In 2021, JavaScript-based Safari web extensions were added.
bspammer · 23m ago
It seems to require iOS 18.6, it’s working for me after updating.
tomalpha · 1h ago
I just searched within the (edit: iOS App Store) App Store app for
ublock origin lite
“ublock origin lite”
For the unquoted search, there are twelve different apps/items returned above it - you really have to scroll down to find it at number 13.
Even for the quoted search, it’s returned in fourth place.
More interestingly the second time I searched with quoted it’s in third place, and the third time of searching the sponsored items at the top is getting even more random.
whstl · 52m ago
Apple is really bad at search, and on purpose. Welp, money before quality!
e40 · 41m ago
I don’t even see uBO Lite in the iOS App Store. I scrolled pretty far, too.
Meekro · 57m ago
Working fine for me-- when I search under Mac Apps for "ublock origin lite" (no quotes), it appears in 1st place.
tomalpha · 52m ago
Sorry, I should have been clearer. I too get the same for Mac apps, but for iOS apps still see the same competitor results returned first.
For me, that's the same whether I use the App Store from my phone, or laptop.
Thank you for the link. Can some moderator please update the link? Thanks in advance.
forgotoldacc · 46m ago
I've been using Adguard for a couple years and have had no problems. I think I've only seen ads slip through a couple times. If there's anyone who's able to compare, is there any real difference between these ad blockers?
nottorp · 17m ago
Commercial offerings can always slip towards allowing some ads for pay.
Maybe not today, but there's no guarantee the company won't get sold tomorrow.
Not to mention that your AdGuard seems to be one of the 10 billion apps that competes for my subscriptions budget.
saw-lau · 24m ago
Just adding another alternative that I've been using for years for people to consider - 1Blocker.
Thanks for asking this. I have always had Adguard on iOS with no issues wondering if there is any extra benefit to switching to uBlock Origin Lite on Safari.
encom · 27m ago
It's been a few years since I've used an Iphone, but back then I used AdGuard. It wasn't terrible, but I encountered frequent breakage, and updating it (rules) was miserable and slow.
The generally awful and sad state of web browing on IOS was a big reason why I switched to Android.
JoeriBe · 1h ago
This app is currently not available in your country or region.
eliseumds · 8m ago
Same, not available in Spain.
kumekay · 1h ago
Not available in Czechia/EU
comrade1234 · 1h ago
I'm in CH and it's available to me but I can never remember if I'm set to the Swiss store or the USA store...
Ok, just looked and I think I'm on the Swiss store. Well, at least you guys get the option of adding non-apple app stores while we do not.
Squarex · 1h ago
Can confirm. I hope that they enable it before the Testflight build expires.
morphle · 1h ago
Not available in the Netherlands/Europe.
donohoe · 1h ago
… and you are in what country/region?
whstl · 1h ago
Germany/Europe, not available for me.
mobilio · 1h ago
Bulgaria/Europe - also not available
Philpax · 1h ago
Sweden/Europe, same
owenmcfadzen · 1h ago
For me as well
yapyap · 1h ago
For me as well
frou_dh · 1h ago
I've been puzzled reading previous discussions about Safari where people acted as if it doesn't have good ad-blocking, just because the brand name extension they're familiar with wasn't available. There has been very good ad-blocking available on Safari for a long time (both macOS and iOS) using for example AdGuard.
shawnz · 55m ago
Ad blockers on Safari effectively have the same weaknesses as ad blockers on Chrome now have since the deprecation of the blocking webRequest API (which Safari never supported).
> the blocking webRequest API (which Safari never supported)
This is inaccurate. Safari (Mac) supported it until 2019, and indeed there was a version of uBlock Origin for Safari back then.
frou_dh · 47m ago
As I understand it, AdGuard uses (in addition to a browser extension) a system-level local network proxy so can do anything to requests and responses?
Confusingly, there are 3 offerings: "AdGuard for Mac", "AdGuard for iOS" and "AdGuard for Safari" and I think it's the first 2 that are the good stuff, even for Safari.
Squarex · 1h ago
For privacy aware people it can be important that an open source and well trusted extension is available.
broeng · 34m ago
It's been possible for about a decade to use Firefox Focus as a Content Blocker for Safari. I assume it's open source, "well trusted" is of course subjective.
skydhash · 1h ago
Adblocking as links bloking can be sufficient, but sometimes you need to bring the big guns and alter the page content itself. Safari has even "Hide distracting elements" now, which can not be an extension. That cements the idea that most uBlock Origin features should be part of the browser to make it a wonderful user agent.
broeng · 31m ago
It's been possible to use Content Blockers for Safari for a long time, which alters the page content. Firefox Focus came out about a decade ago, and can be used as one.
Gave it a try; works better than expected. Has the custom filter tool (similar to element picker in main Origin), so I can block out the Linkedin Feed and other pestilence that Wipr couldn't tackle.
Thanks a million to gorhill!
tux · 1h ago
Requires iOS 18.0+ sadly older iOS not supported :-(
TheSilva · 1h ago
I have been using the version published in Testflight for quite a while now and I must say I haven't seen much difference from my previous setup (Firefox Focus configured as the ad blocking provider in Safari settings)
But, given their record on providing excellent software and features, I am so happy to switch to them and to see what they are capable of in the future!
fhd2 · 59m ago
Content blockers on iOS are severely limited compared to what's possible with powerful extension mechanisms (Firefox, Chrome before Manifest V3) or built-in ad blockers (Brave). So there's not really differentiation on a technical level, which is where uBlock Origin was always strong. On these other platforms, there was a lot of innovation going on when I was in the space (2020), especially against sites that actively try to circumvent ad blockers. On iOS, there's not much that can be done. At least unless I missed some major developments.
As for the lists of resources to block and DOM elements to hide - which is by and large all an iOS ad blocker is - most just use the popular ones like EasyList with a few additions. uBlock Origin has a good track record of maintaining additional filters, so I think there's reason to believe it'll work better than most.
But all in all, for these two reasons, you probably won't notice much of a difference between different ad blockers on iOS.
rckt · 56m ago
I'm a long-time user of Wipr. Does the job perfectly.
thijsvandien · 49m ago
Generally it works well, but what's particularly annoying is that it hides cookie walls, resulting in non-functional websites until I disable content blockers, close the dialog and re-enable them. Not sure if uBlock does any better, though.
layer8 · 36m ago
Ghostery does the same, but has more fine-grained per-website controls. You can for example turn off just the consent-popup-blocker function for a website while keeping the anti-tracking ad-blocking functions.
ron_k · 41m ago
This is my only complaint. Most of the websites work fine, but others get stuck. I don’t know if Wipr 2 solved the issue.
v7engine · 47m ago
I don't know if it is working, because sometimes, I see Google Adsense ads on Wordle site.
kovariantenkak · 1h ago
From the permissions in Safari:
> Web Page Contents and Browsing History - Can read and alter sensitive information on web pages, including passwords, phone numbers and credit cards, and see your browsing history on the current tab's web page when you use the extension.
What does it mean for me to use the extension? Am I using it if it is installed?
dialup_sounds · 1h ago
Reading and altering content on web pages is the purpose of the extension.
kovariantenkak · 1h ago
That does not answer the question in any way. Especially, since it claims to use zero CPU when active and because iOS ad blocking works differently.
donohoe · 1h ago
Installation is the first step, then you must enable it.
If you go to safari settings and enable it there, then you are using it.
kovariantenkak · 1h ago
And then am I using it if I'm loading the extension by interacting with it?
Because simply enabling it will not give it access to the webpage.
throawayonthe · 1h ago
loading a page will
comrade1234 · 1h ago
iOS 18.5 safari can't use it. I swear I was successfully using the beta. Guess I'll try upgrading to iOS 18.6.
comrade1234 · 52m ago
Ok, updated and can be activated on iOS 18.6 safari.
SanjayMehta · 58m ago
Installs, but trying to enable in Safari throws an error: “Unable to load uBlock Origin Lite.”
The download button is available. Great! Finally I can block ads in mobile too.
It installs, opening it is a simple message saying I need to enable it in Safari settings. Strange, but ok.
I go to Settings -> Safari -> Extensions -> uBlock Origin Lite.
> “uBO Lite” is not available for this version of Safari.
This feels like a series of failures, why is it available for download on iPhone if it doesn’t work at all? Is iOS Safari really that different to Mac Safari?
Even for the quoted search, it’s returned in fourth place.
More interestingly the second time I searched with quoted it’s in third place, and the third time of searching the sponsored items at the top is getting even more random.
Maybe not today, but there's no guarantee the company won't get sold tomorrow.
Not to mention that your AdGuard seems to be one of the 10 billion apps that competes for my subscriptions budget.
https://1blocker.com/
The generally awful and sad state of web browing on IOS was a big reason why I switched to Android.
Ok, just looked and I think I'm on the Swiss store. Well, at least you guys get the option of adding non-apple app stores while we do not.
See https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/uBlock-Origin-works-b... for some examples of things you can't do without those APIs.
This is inaccurate. Safari (Mac) supported it until 2019, and indeed there was a version of uBlock Origin for Safari back then.
Confusingly, there are 3 offerings: "AdGuard for Mac", "AdGuard for iOS" and "AdGuard for Safari" and I think it's the first 2 that are the good stuff, even for Safari.
Thanks a million to gorhill!
But, given their record on providing excellent software and features, I am so happy to switch to them and to see what they are capable of in the future!
As for the lists of resources to block and DOM elements to hide - which is by and large all an iOS ad blocker is - most just use the popular ones like EasyList with a few additions. uBlock Origin has a good track record of maintaining additional filters, so I think there's reason to believe it'll work better than most.
But all in all, for these two reasons, you probably won't notice much of a difference between different ad blockers on iOS.
> Web Page Contents and Browsing History - Can read and alter sensitive information on web pages, including passwords, phone numbers and credit cards, and see your browsing history on the current tab's web page when you use the extension.
What does it mean for me to use the extension? Am I using it if it is installed?
If you go to safari settings and enable it there, then you are using it.