Excellent blocker that just works
I’ve tried several paid ad blockers since moving to iOS. Some of them have partially worked, others have barely worked. At one point I was using more than one app but the combination still wasn’t satisfactory. None of the apps I tried blocked EU cookie notices, many of which are an intrusive annoyance.
This app blocks the lot and has a very fine-grained degree of control, also an excellent whitelist ability that allows you to fully or partially whitelist domains.
I also found the developer to be very helpful when I had an inquiry. An essential app 👍
This app blocks the lot and has a very fine-grained degree of control, also an excellent whitelist ability that allows you to fully or partially whitelist domains.
I also found the developer to be very helpful when I had an inquiry. An essential app 👍
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Response from developer
Thank you so much for your kind words, it's the greatest compliment ever!
Seems better
Update - a year later and I decided to give this app another try to see if things work any better for me. And they do. Pretty good on my iPhone X running IOS 13 - so far. So I’m updating to 4 stars. We’ll see how things go for a while.
Original review - While I’m sure this app does its job, it also breaks lots of sites unless you toggle off the “block trackers” switch - which is one reason why I got the app in the first place. It too frequently destroys the normal browsing experience. So your choice is either to put up with broken sites or cripple this app’s functionality after paying for it.
Oh, wait - there’s a third option: use something else. That’s what I did and I’m much happier (except for the money I wasted on this app).
Original review - While I’m sure this app does its job, it also breaks lots of sites unless you toggle off the “block trackers” switch - which is one reason why I got the app in the first place. It too frequently destroys the normal browsing experience. So your choice is either to put up with broken sites or cripple this app’s functionality after paying for it.
Oh, wait - there’s a third option: use something else. That’s what I did and I’m much happier (except for the money I wasted on this app).
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Response from developer
Thank you so much for getting back to us and for giving us another chance! We're happy to hear that 1Blocker achieved a better level of performance on your device. The rule sets that we use are getting better with every release! If you notice any issues, you are always welcome to contact us at support@1blocker.com. This will definitely help us improve our app!
Exceptional App
Works perfectly, whitelist and blacklist are very useful features. Haven’t run into any issues after a year of regular use.
Response from developer
Thank you for being with us and for your feedback! Happy that you find 1Blocker useful!
Works quietly in the background
I’ve not noticed any issues with this app running in the background, unlike some other apps I’ve tried. So far I’m satisfied and recommend. Good job Indy developer!
Response from developer
Thank you so much! We’re happy to hear 1Blocker hit the mark for you!
Thank you! 🙌🏼
Bless your soul, you have saved me from the scourge of modern internet!
After downloading, it took me literally 15 seconds to be completely set up ⚡️FAST!
Relaunched safari and loaded the first site I could think of covered in spammy ads (crappy listicle) and it was crystal clear of all ads!!! It was pure bliss being able to read a list without scrolling through copious ads and closing all the pop ups!
Well done, the price was the least I could do for your efforts in making the world a better place! 😇
After downloading, it took me literally 15 seconds to be completely set up ⚡️FAST!
Relaunched safari and loaded the first site I could think of covered in spammy ads (crappy listicle) and it was crystal clear of all ads!!! It was pure bliss being able to read a list without scrolling through copious ads and closing all the pop ups!
Well done, the price was the least I could do for your efforts in making the world a better place! 😇
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Response from developer
Thank you for sharing this story with us! Happy to hear that 1Blocker worked so well for you! If you have any feature requests or questions, please, feel free to reach out anytime via support@1blocker.com! :)
Svelte and works
I’ve been using 1Blocker and now X since its inception. I recently had to setup an iOS device without 1Blocker X and thought it was broken because loading webpages was so slow. And then, I saw all the ads. It was then I realized the problem was not the iPad, not iOS, not my network, but the Internet, where having a webpage with 90% ads and 10% content has become the norm.
I finally was able to convince my wife to delete the Facebook app and instead use a browser with an ad blocker, and she’s now got incredible battery life and no longer says “Why are they showing me this crap?” or worse, “How did they know to give me THAT ad? Are they eavesdropping?”
I finally was able to convince my wife to delete the Facebook app and instead use a browser with an ad blocker, and she’s now got incredible battery life and no longer says “Why are they showing me this crap?” or worse, “How did they know to give me THAT ad? Are they eavesdropping?”
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Worth the upgrade!
I waited a year because I didn’t understand the reason for the upgrade & give them time to ensure a smooth transition.
The new version blocks much more than the old. Legacy still works pretty well, but the X version wipes out ads completely (for me, on the news sites I visit daily). If you’ve been waiting, I assure you that it’s more than ready.
They went from one list of 50K sites to 8 lists with up to 400K sites blocked. I’m willing to re-purchase every couple of years to pay for the ongoing battle with advertisers. Better than a subscription. Kudos to the developers.
The new version blocks much more than the old. Legacy still works pretty well, but the X version wipes out ads completely (for me, on the news sites I visit daily). If you’ve been waiting, I assure you that it’s more than ready.
They went from one list of 50K sites to 8 lists with up to 400K sites blocked. I’m willing to re-purchase every couple of years to pay for the ongoing battle with advertisers. Better than a subscription. Kudos to the developers.
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Perfect for what I need
For those having difficulty enabling the content blocking in Settings, you probably have the native content blocking in iOS enabled under the Screen Time section in Settings. Just go to Settings then Screen Time then Content Restrictions, and disable Content Restrictions *there*, under Screen Time.
THEN go to Settings>Safari>Content Blockers and now, after you disabled Content Restrictions under Screen Time, you should now be able to ENable the Content Restrictions this app (and any other) provides. It’s counterintuitive yes but that’s just how it works now.
Anyway after doing all that, this app works awesome. No more annoying (and arguably pornographic) “Suggested Content” at the bottom of virtually every website! Which is exactly what I was looking to do! Thank you this is such a huge help and now pages load much faster to boot!
THEN go to Settings>Safari>Content Blockers and now, after you disabled Content Restrictions under Screen Time, you should now be able to ENable the Content Restrictions this app (and any other) provides. It’s counterintuitive yes but that’s just how it works now.
Anyway after doing all that, this app works awesome. No more annoying (and arguably pornographic) “Suggested Content” at the bottom of virtually every website! Which is exactly what I was looking to do! Thank you this is such a huge help and now pages load much faster to boot!
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Once great, but categories let it down
This was once one of the best blockers on the market. However, changes to the category groupings have made it unusable. Previously (and still on the desktop version), EU cookie notices, crypto-miners, and other annoyances were in separate categories.
Now they are grouped together under “Annoyances”. The problem with this is that some sites are broken by blocking EU Cookie notices, as it’s a legal requirement. A site breaking because you blocked a crypto miner is fine (that probably isn’t a site you want to use anyway), but almost all sites have cookie notices. Before you could turn off blocking for those categories independently, now you either have to deal with cryptominers and such as well, or have lots of site break.
If they bring back granular categories then it would be 5 stars, as the basic ad-blocking is great. But 1Blocker X is sold and priced as much more than an ad-blocker and design changes have made those features broken.
Now they are grouped together under “Annoyances”. The problem with this is that some sites are broken by blocking EU Cookie notices, as it’s a legal requirement. A site breaking because you blocked a crypto miner is fine (that probably isn’t a site you want to use anyway), but almost all sites have cookie notices. Before you could turn off blocking for those categories independently, now you either have to deal with cryptominers and such as well, or have lots of site break.
If they bring back granular categories then it would be 5 stars, as the basic ad-blocking is great. But 1Blocker X is sold and priced as much more than an ad-blocker and design changes have made those features broken.
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Response from developer
Hello, James! We really appreciate your feedback, your review is very helpful. We just wanted to let you know that we will consider returning EU Cookie notice section back. Please, stay tuned!
Last update broke settings
The latest update seems to have merged the Social and Comments blockers in to a single blocker. And this has broken many websites to me. Before the update I could see the comment sections of the websites I access regularly. But after the update, they were gone, without me changing any settings. I’ve managed to bring back the Disqus widget on one of the websites disabling some of the rules under “Social & Comments,” but for another website I had to turn off (whitelist) the latter blocker completely to have access to the comments again.
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Response from developer
Thank you for this review! Yes, you are right, these sections were merged into a single one in that version, but we decided to divide them again. We agree that they are more useful if they are separated from each other because it allows customers to tune the application better.
