With the release of iOS 9, Apple has opened up Safari to content-blocking software, to keep your mobile browser free of ads and other distractions. But which of these new apps is the best? Andy Shaw puts them to the test
Purify Blocker
Unlike many of the other content blockers in this test, Purify isn’t free. However, we think that £1.49 is well worth paying for its handy selection of configuration tools that let you set up the app so it blocks exactly the items you want to block.
There are five basic blocking options, with ‘Ads and Tracking’ selected by default. You can also block ‘Social Buttons and Comments’ if you’re not in the mood for sharing. There are additional options to turn off images, scripts and fonts, so you can strip a website back to its basic elements if you wish.
Purify does a good job of blocking items, catching and removing all the ads on sites that use generic advert-hosting systems such as Google’s, and also filtering out insidious and annoying ads that pop over or surround a site’s content. YouTube ads are blanked out rather than removed, so you still have to wait a few seconds before an adsupported video plays. Similarly, on some sites, there are empty spaces in place of the blocked ads, so screen space is still wasted but at least the site’s intended layout remains intact.
You can whitelist sites directly from Safari by tapping the Share button and selecting to add the whitelist icon to the row of tools. Whenever you want to add a site to the whitelist, you just click the icon or manage the list from the app’s preferences.
The app’s design is basic and functional, which doesn’t make you feel as if you’re getting good value for your money. Also, some of the options are linked, so you can’t block one thing without the other. This makes sense with adverts and tracking, but it would be better to split social buttons and comments into separate options, because you might conceivably want to block one of these while maintaining access to the other.
Purify has a good balance of options. It offers more customisations than the basic ‘stop everything’ apps without getting too complicated. It isn’t free, but we think £1.49 is a small sum to pay for such a useful and configurable app.
Adblock Plus
Adblock Plus has its own content-blocking browser available for iOS but is now also available as a standard iOS blocker for Safari. Like all the other versions of Adblock Plus, it’s free, and makes revenue by charging publishers to join its ‘acceptable ads’ policy rather than making you pay for the app. This policy is implemented via a whitelist that’s switched on by default, though it can be adjusted if you still want to block sites that Adblock deems acceptable.
The blocker is relatively basic, concentrating on adverts and trackers, but nothing else. With the acceptableads filter in operation, you’re still faced with a significant amount of advertising, but we found during our tests that the most invasive ones were successfully blocked. However, it also took out ads on the Guardian website, which appeared no worse than some it removed from other sites.
There aren’t many options to play with, other than letting through advertisers that subscribe to its ‘acceptable ads’ program. It also annoyed us that the app itself tries hard to push you into switching to Adblock Plus’s own iOS browser.
Adblock Plus rules the roost when it comes to blocking ads in browsers and elsewhere, so it’s no surprise to see it win an award. It’s free to download, so it’s a good option if you don’t want to spend any money, but we preferred having the extra blocking options offered by Purify.
1Blocker
1Blockr is free if all you want to do is block adverts, but it also has a huge collection of other tools available. You can choose one of these to use for free, or make an in-app purchase of £2.29 to use any or all of them at the same time. The list is impressive and far longer than any of the other programs we tested, letting you block specific URLs, cookies, CSS page elements, trackers, social media widgets, custom fonts, Disqus comments and more.
The app did a good job of blocking most ads, including Google ads and the more invasive ones we ran it past. It also blocked YouTube ads by adding a few seconds of blank screen to the start of videos. The extra blocks all appeared to work well when we tested them, too.
1Blocker is the most expensive content blocker in this test, but it also has the most extras. If you don’t want to pay, you could run it alongside another ad blocker and just use one of its tools at a time.
This is (potentially) the most expensive app in this group but it also has the most options and, if you pay, you can run them all at the same time. If you want complete control over what you see in your browser, it’s worth the investment.
F-Secure AdBlocker
F-Secure’s AdBlocker has hardly any customisation options, beyond turning it on or off. However, you can tap and hold Safari’s reload button to add sites to its whitelist, which is handy if you want to support a particular site or find one that won’t otherwise load properly. It blocked all the basic ads we tested it against, but it didn’t block adverts on YouTube.
Crystal
Crystal did a good job of removing ads from most of the websites that we tested it on. It also squashes sites up and over the gaps left by ads, so you don’t see ugly empty spaces where adverts have been removed. Its tools are very basic, however, with no extra settings to tweak and no option to whitelist pages that you want to support, which is a bit disappointing in a paid-for app.
Freedom
Freedom is another free ad blocker and, like most free options, it has no settings to tinker with. It also failed to block all ads. When we tested it on the Sky News site, for example, it only blocked one Google AdChoices advert at a time – when one was blocked, another appeared. Reloading the page caused the blocked ads to switch. It’s really not worth the time you spend downloading it.