# Banish - Block 'Open in App' — user reviews > 209 indexed App Store user reviews of Banish by Big Pineapple LLC, rated 3.80/5 from 260 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/banish-block-open-in-app/id1632848430/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/banish-block-open-in-app/id1632848430.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 165 · 4★ 7 · 3★ 13 · 2★ 12 · 1★ 63 ## What do users think of Banish? Overall sentiment: mixed **Pros** - 👍 Works great - 🚀 Blocks annoying popups - 💡 Useful for blocking 'open in app' prompts - 👍 Simple and effective **Cons** - 🐛 Doesn't work on certain websites - 🐛 Breaks functionality on some sites - 🐛 Inconsistent performance - 🐛 Doesn't block all 'open in app' banners **Commonly reported bugs** - Breaks Twitter functionality - Causes issues with Reddit and other sites - Doesn't work on YouTube, TikTok, LinkedIn **Most requested features** - More granular control/whitelisting - Statistics/logging feature - Improved compatibility with more websites ## Newest reviews (14 of 209) ### 2/5 — Buggy *2026-08-16, version 1.48* it does what it does, I guess, but catches things it shouldn’t like DuckDuckGo’s search box (!) go figure I don’t think it’s good enough ### 4/5 — Good but not perfect *2026-08-14, version 1.48* I realized that Facebook was using a lot of battery in the background so I switched to the web version. On the web, "open in app" was constantly visible and took a good amount of screen real estate. This fixes that, and I'm now using it for Instagram as well. Unfortunately it breaks the Messages page on Instagram. ### 2/5 — Not perfect *2026-06-17* Blocks entire BBC website at the time of writing. Not ideal, having to turn it off. ### 2/5 — Breaks too many websites *2026-05-18, version 1.48* More trouble than it is worth ### 2/5 — Not for me *2025-12-06, version 1.48* I’m sorry I think I misunderstood what this was all about…. Having read some misleading reviews I guess. I hate that some companies; Reddit, Evernote force you to use the app when in IOS. There is no way to open the actual website since you are thrown into the app. Evernote is particular good at this. You try all the tricks, open in background etc… it slams you into the app….. So I had read that Banish could prevent this. But it doesn’t. I enabled everything as stated and still get thrown into the App Store if I try to log into Evernote. Reddit also just opened my app, but I am less bothered about that So I don’t really know what else it is used for, that was my only irritation with safari!! ### 2/5 — More harm than good *2025-12-05* Doesn’t block a lot of popups. On the other hand, blocks Apple Pay buttons on lots of websites from appearing. Very useful! ### 2/5 — Straight up makes pages not work *2025-12-04, version 1.48* It might block ads, but it usually does so by making the page itself break. Things like PayPal doesn’t load and it’s just more trouble than it’s worth. ### 1/5 — Breaks more than it fixes *2025-11-08, version 1.48* Lives up to the tagline of “hide annoying popups in Safari,” only by the virtue that it prevents most sites from loading at all. Nearly impossible to selectively disable the plugin by site, you end up having to disable the entire extension. Stay away. ### 3/5 — works only partially *2025-11-04* The extension reliably blocks banners in the browser on Reddit, but on Duolingo the bottom ‘Open in App’ pop-ups are not removed. Works partially, so I can only give 3 stars. ### 3/5 — Nah *2025-10-29, version 1.48* Doesn't work ### 1/5 — Does Not Work *2025-10-16, version 1.48* Was so excited, and $6 would be totally worth it, but alas… nada. ### 1/5 — Scroll to the bottom… *2025-10-13, version 1.48* From the app description: --- “NOTE: Even with Banish, Smart Banners can still appear at the top of apps you have installed. They can’t be removed because they’re built into Safari.” This is buried as the very *last* entry on the list, and you won’t see it if you don’t open the “more” link and go all the way to the bottom. Don’t overlook it and make the same mistake I did. ### 1/5 — Instagram Tiktok don’t work *2025-09-23, version 1.48* Redirects to App Store ### 1/5 — Ne fonctionne pas ? *2025-07-27* Tout est activé comme demandé par l’application mais je ne vois pas de changements. Intérêt ??? ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Barely works *2026-07-26, version 1.48* This hardly works anymore. Developer seems to have abandoned it. It would require frequent updates to be viable and that just isn’t happening. Useless app now. ### 1/5 — doesn’t work *2026-06-03, version 1.48* doesn’t work in 2026 ### 1/5 — Stopped working *2026-03-18, version 1.48* This app is clearly not being updated anymore, and it started blocking so many erroneous things it shouldn’t. More trouble than it’s worth now ### 1/5 — No longer works *2026-03-10, version 1.48* No longer works. ### 1/5 — Banish *2026-02-25, version 1.48* Waste of money, does not work ### 1/5 — Doesn't work... *2026-02-02, version 1.48* Unfortunately doesn't work on YouTube so the banners keep coming up... ### 1/5 — Doesn’t work *2026-01-18, version 1.48* Open in app banners present everywhere none of them are hidden. Banish is enabled on both toggles with allow on all websites. ### 1/5 — Three dollars down the drain *2025-12-26, version 1.48* Paid for this app to stop annoying “open in mobile safari” messages and I have the required os and followed the directions only to get the same messages. ### 1/5 — Doesn’t banish banners for apps you own *2025-12-02, version 1.48* During the set up, it tells you it can’t banish banners for apps you own. That’s why I bought it! 😭 The developer should mention that here, not after you’ve bought it. Unusable for me. ### 1/5 — Very Misleading *2025-11-28, version 1.48* Once you pay for the app and open it, they reveal the following: “Banners may still appear at the top for apps you have installed. Unfortunately, they can't be removed because they're built into Safari, unless you uninstall those apps”. It’s fine to not be able to solve every problem, but literally having “Block ‘Open in App’” in your app name really suggests that everything can be blocked. Don’t charge people for an app unless you are transparent about its limitations. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Great *2026-05-23, version 1.48* This Banish app makes browsing great, like it’s 2002 again! ### 5/5 — D *2026-05-09* Y ### 5/5 — So good I forgot what it does! *2026-05-02, version 1.48* I’ve had this installed so long I forgot what it was. I looked it up and literally had forgotten that “open in the app” popup banners were a thing. Clearly Banish is doing exactly what it promises. Well done. ### 5/5 — A+ *2026-01-27, version 1.48* Working great ### 5/5 — Works perfectly for what it is designed to do! *2026-01-15, version 1.48* I wonder if some of the reviewers of this app understand what it is supposed to do. It has a limited but very effective and important action. It prevents those annoying pop-ups that ask you if you want to "open the app" instead of the website. It works. That is all. Thank you! ### 5/5 — Awesome *2025-11-12, version 1.48* Does what it says right out of the box. I like google but have great disdain for the “want to sign in using google” pop up. So nice to open a web page and just have web page come up without being forced to attend to pop up before being able to interact with page!!! Thank you 😀 ### 5/5 — Works great, just as it's supposed to *2025-06-06* I really appreciate this developer for making such a simple app that does exactly what it is supposed to do. It blocks the intrusive pop-ups that appear on websites that insist you open a (Safari) webpage in their app. Note it will not get rid of the banner on the top of the Safari page, because that is baked into Apple. ### 5/5 — Great App *2025-03-01, version 1.47* Greatness is within this app. ### 5/5 — Love it! *2024-12-14* A very useful app/extension. ### 5/5 — Unique Outstanding Design App! *2024-11-28, version 1.45* I would like to sit down and take the time to talk about this 5 Star Design app! The Developer has put a great deal of Hard work Time Sweat and yes Love into the Coding of this software! For you myself and our family it’s easy to set up and use! If in your busy schedule you are taking the time to read this I hope you will Download this Unique Outstanding Design App now! Don’t wait or put it off you won’t be sorry! ( really ) well time for me to move on so they say with that thought I want to Thank the Developer for putting this app out here for all of us! I truly truly appreciate and Tip my Hat to you Mr. Developer for a great Idea that you gave with your Heart! Thanks 🎩 . --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-30.*