Introducing Ad Blocker for Firefox on iOS(blog.mozilla.org)

82 pointsby HieronymusBosch2 hours ago10 comments

NikxDaan hour ago
I was going to give credit to the direction Mozilla was taking here after their... questionable decisions in the past few year(s).
Only to see that this is neither generally available, nor can you use it without enabling telemetry. I don't know who makes these decisions inside Mozilla, but I just don't get it.
- mossTechnician15 minutes ago
  I think you can use it without enabling telemetry, due to a recent change:
  > Previously, access to these changes required you to share technical and interraction data (telemetry) with Mozilla. However, as of Firefox version 148, you can opt into receiving remote improvements, even if you have opted out of sharing your telemetry or participating in our experimental studies.
  https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/remote-improvements
  - embedding-shape3 minutes ago
    > access to these changes required you to share technical and interraction data (telemetry) with Mozilla
    How did that even happen? I sure hope that was a bug and not a product decision, because that sounds very backwards.
WD-42an hour ago
It's been days (weeks?) and I'm still waiting for the option to appear for me. These "experiments" are super annoying when you are on what I'm assuming is the long tail of a rollout but the marketing/blog posts speak of the feature like it's already launched.
If there's someone at Mozilla reading this: turn it on already! I want to get off Orion, it's so buggy, but the internet is unusable without an ad blocker.
- Melatonic7 minutes ago
  Is it that buggy ? Orion works pretty well for me. Where you have you ran into bugs ?
- embedding-shapean hour ago
  > but the marketing/blog posts speak of the feature like it's already launched.
  Yeah, seemingly tons of companies do this in a very weird way. Either make the switch 100% once you publish the press release, or wait until you reach 100% then publish. Starting the experiment with gradual rollout and then making the press release immediately seems like asking for potential problems and confusion among users.
- temp082633 minutes ago
  I was under the impression that firefox could already use the Safari "content blockers" (as it uses webkit) like Firefox Focus and uBO Lite, but I'm not seeing that option actually. Been using Orion for a while now so not sure if that changed or I'm just misremembering it.
- doublepg23an hour ago
  Safari + the Content Blocker Wipr works well for me.
overflowyan hour ago
FYI: Doesn't block YouTube ads.
- LeoPanthera11 minutes ago
  I'm regularly surprised that people are willing to block YouTube ads. I know that Google gets that advertising money too, but you're also blocking revenue that the channel owner would otherwise get. I suppose it might depend what you're watching, but most YouTubers aren't big business, they're just individuals.
  YouTube Premium is one of the few subscriptions I am completely happy to pay.
  - barbazoo6 minutes ago
    It doesn't have to go through Google. Lots of us support the people they follow through patreon et al, I don't need to make the gigacorp even richer than it is. They have enough.
  - ncr1004 minutes ago
    Youtube decides the thresholds, the payouts, the promotional algorithms.
- quaintdev42 minutes ago
  Google will stop paying them if they tried that.
  - nkozyra15 minutes ago
    A weird line to draw since Google still owns the general ad web space.
    doikor11 minutes ago
    It doesn’t cost cost google money to show that content. (It does cost someone else who google would be giving a cut of the ad revenue)
    YouTube videos actually have some real world disk space, bandwidth, etc costs just to show so if google doesn’t get to show an ad they lose money instead of an opportunity to make money.

Barbing26 minutes ago

Better title suggestions?

  Introducing Ad Blocker for Firefox on iOS [Non-GA]

?

peri-cl30 minutes ago
> "ads shown in search results will still appear"
Is that for a technical reason or a commercial one?
- yapyap27 minutes ago
  commercial
basedpolymer40 minutes ago
UBlock Origin Lite on Safari iOS is still king I guess
- rrgok7 minutes ago
  Does it do cosmetic block of just DNS block?
- busymom014 minutes ago
  Thanks to your comment, I just installed it and set it up. Thanks!
garrettjoecox40 minutes ago
Any reason to use this over uBlock Origin Lite?
- temp082630 minutes ago
  Just mentioned in another comment, but I'm not sure Firefox on iOS can actually use webkit content blockers? (I thought it could but have been using Orion exclusively for a while now)
ChrisArchitectan hour ago
Previously: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49319633
cedwsan hour ago
Can it block YouTube ads? Would be a killer feature.
- overflowyan hour ago
  Nope. Only Browser that can on iOS is Brave.
  - kioleanu44 minutes ago
    I don’t have YouTube ads with Safari and AdGuard
  - ssl-344 minutes ago
    With Safari and the very first free-to-use extension I picked years ago (AdGuard, IIRC), I don't see any YouTube ads on iOS.
  - hmokiguess37 minutes ago
    DuckDuckGo Browser can as well
nonameiguessan hour ago
Didn't see it even after updating, then read https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/block-ads-firefox-ios:
> This feature is experimental and is being introduced to the Firefox user base through a progressive rollout. It may not yet be available to all users. Additionally, remote improvements must be enabled.
Apparently, you can only block ads if you allow Mozilla telemetry. Thanks, dicks.
- ssl-340 minutes ago
  Apparently, remote improvements became separated from telemetry in Firefox version 148: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/remote-improvements#w_w...
- empyrrhicistan hour ago
  There are some options under the debug menu which look relevant, but I wasn't able to get it to enroll.
- drewg123an hour ago
  I HATE it when a company does a staged rollout of something after making a big announcement. If you're going to announce something, then don't stage the rollout. Its off by default after all..