uBlock Origin Lite Beta for Safari iOS
It's a shame Firefox on iOS has failed/refused to support third-party content filters [1] since 2019. Just because they can't bring Gecko doesn't mean they shouldn't try to gain mindshare for the Mozilla Firefox brand on one of the biggest platforms, yet they refuse to put in the resources.
1: https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/firefox-ios/issues/5198
Somewhat ironically, you can install and use the Firefox uBO extension on Orion for iOS. Orion/Kagi figured out how to do it before Firefox/Mozilla.
except it doesn't work. but you can install it, yes.
I want to like Orion but I've seen the same bugs for a year now.
I'm using Orion as my daily driver on iOS mainly because of a Safari bug[1]. It used to be very buggy, had frequent app crashes for no reason at all but nowadays (since a year?) works pretty fine, even the UBO plugin works fine.
1: You can long tap and select "Download Linked File" on any link in Safari, including links that are forbidden by Content Restrictions, such as a news.ycombinator.com link from google search. Ping me if a Safari engineer sees this and fixes it!
What is it with said bug, that makes you use another browser because of it? Seems not like a big deal..
I use Orion. I hit some crashes until I told it to autoclose tabs after a few days. I’d rather leave that off, but it’s a minor problem.
I run three firefox plugins. They all work correctly.
Last I tried Orion was a couple of months ago. I wouldn't really say "figured out" per se. Like I see the vision, I like the vision, but I'm waiting.
I mean that they figured out how to support (most) browser extensions on iOS in their browser, unlike Firefox. They haven’t figured everything out, but I do daily drive Orion on iOS. I still prefer Firefox on desktop due to stability (and Orion’s extension advantage in mobile doesn’t extend to desktop).
Not most, they have figured out a few and they don't work very well.
Really all I wanted was uBlock and that works.
That being said, after being my daily driver for almost a year, I went back to safari about a month ago with Wipr. 3x speedup and battery efficiency. Unfortunately, it became buggier instead of less buggy :(
Still use it on mac tho - vertical tabs are a game-changer.
from what i understand orion is overflowing with bugs.
even without the bugs, after everything we’ve been through with crazy shit from closed sourced browser companies, the last thing i’d install would be orion/kagi. lol nuh uh.
not a chance i’d trust an ai company with almost the entirety of my online existence—especially when they close off and hide what they’re doing.
Orion is not made by an AI company, it’s made by Kagi.
If you’re an open source or non-profit diehard then yes, it’s not that, but as far as closed source for-profit businesses go, they’re a lot better than most. They are a public benefit corporation that has rejected VC funding, and their main pitch is aligning user and company benefit, despite the mainstream currently railing against it.
I’m not affiliated, just a user.
> from what i understand orion is overflowing with bugs
I use it as a daily driver on macOS. Not noticing the bugs anymore.
I just started giving it a try again about a week ago, and I second this. A year ago it was nearly unusable for any extension outside their preferred list, now it’s largely a pleasant experience.
I use it on iPhone, it has lots of bugs. But it's worth it for the ad blocking
AI company?
I thought Orion is made by Kagi?
People who install Firefox on iOS is likely a very small number. If I were the project manager of Firefox, and with such limited resources and Google's cash going away any day, I would not put in any work either.
Apple really isn't that important.
On this topic, I have to recommend Hush! It is an excellent free, open-source and well-maintained app for iOS.
I have used Wipr for years, and now Wipr 2. Worth the small amount to keep intrusive ads, and it is cross platform.
Yeah Wiper 2 works really well but it slows down my iPhone 12 considerably. I guess there’s not enough ram for all these filters. Still faster than AdGuard.
One of the better install and forget it content blocker. The cherry on the top of the cake is that the developer is pretty responsive too.
Seconded. Small one-time license fee per major version.
1Blocker has worked tremendously well for me for what feels like a decade now.
https://apps.apple.com/au/app/1blocker-ad-blocker/id13655310...
Look like that costs money though?
It's absolutely bonkers that an adblocker needs to cost $15/year, when the actual filter lists are maintained by volunteers and there's (presumably) very little in the way of code changes needed.
If you don't dont see any additional value, then chose choose one of the free ad blocking options.
One of the nice things for developers working in the Apple ecosystem is that users are willing to support well crafted software.
Although, sometimes you do run into developers as selfless as Gorhill who still craft excellent software.
Serious question: What does gorhill (Raymond Hill) do for a living? Is he independently wealthy? He doesn't even take donations: https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Why-don't-you-accept-... So how has he had the time to work on uBlock Origin for all these years? In all these years, I've never actually seen any biographical details of gorhilll, which is very odd.
It seems that a lot of people take FOSS projects for granted, but development time is a finite, precious resource.
Don't you have to pay money to host your app there in the first place which is why there is so few good, free applications?
Also: what would be "additional value" in an adblocker? Either it works or it doesn't.
I dunno, I’m not a fan of paying for wrappers but I get a lot from 1Blocker and I’m happy to pay for it. As far as I know it’s just one dude who builds the app, and he spends a lot of time keeping it working in the face of YouTube tactics, etc.
>and he spends a lot of time keeping it working in the face of YouTube tactics, etc.
Does he? Is he doing original research, or just copying whatever ublock origin/easylist puts out? After all, all the bypass methods are just javascript snippets that extensions inject into the page, so it's not like you have to spend much time porting to iOS or whatever.
You think that doesn’t require time? Doing user support? Keeping up with API changes, etc?
I'm not claiming it requires 0 time, only that it's nowhere near the amount of time that would justify a $15/year price tag.
You’re assuming that the price for a product should be based on the cost to offer it. In most markets, price is a function of the value perceived by buyers and relative pricing of similar products. Cost doesn’t enter into the equation.
Unless someone else makes an equivalent product and sell it for $14/year, and every user switches to the new product, this statement is moot. A product justifies its price tag as long as people are willing to buy it at that price.
Revenue optimisation is a different concern. Would they sell more if they priced it at $10? Maybe. Would the total revenue ($10 * number of users) be higher than now? Maybe not. There is a local maxima and it appears that they calculated this to be ~$15.
How many developers do you think would work even a single hour for that price tag?
I use 1Blocker and I'm on a grandfathered plan that's $5 per year. It's absolutely worth it (even at $15).
I bought a life-time plan a few years ago.
Feels like a no-brainer investment.
The free functionality works well enough for me that I never saw the need to look further (until now).
You can only enable one filter list, but "Ads" is a single filter list, so I just enabled that. Just means I can't enable the "Trackers" (though safari has some built in tracker blocking) or "Annoyances" lists, or add Custom rules.
Though, it's going to be a deal-breaker for anyone outside of the English speaking world, because the regional filters count as a second list.
Yup and it works on my family plan. No brainer. It’s a set-it and forget-it install. Recommended.
It’s okay, you can afford it.
Project page should be this?!?
It’s by the man himself (gorhill)
I like that I can use uBlock Origin in Orion on iOS but interacting with any addon in it feels finicky, so I keep it at a pretty minimal level (compared to how aggressively I block on desktop, anyways). Anything else is definitely welcome though so looking forward to it.
Is this any better than AdGuard?
I’ve heard it’s best to avoid running both but unsure whether this version of uBlock is worth it.
gorhill has proven his integrity time and time again, and that's hard to beat. He works on uBO because he believes in it and not for profit. It's the one thing that I would value, especially in an ad blocker. This isn't to say that there's anything wrong with AdGuard though.
Yeah honestly unless the developer can demonstrate that they don't allow ads through from who pay them to be allowed, pretty much no adblocker is going to be fully trustworthy. There will always be an incentive, if the adblocker is popular enough, for the dev to take money from an advertiser to bypass the block.
If I did have to trust any adblocker though, it would be gorhill's.
Adguard works better right now, at least for my purposes.
I'm not sure why, but uBO Lite randomly stops working at times. I've had to fire up the test page (https://ublockorigin.github.io/uBOL-home/tests/test-filters....) many times after enabling experimental filters, but it just doesn't seem to "stick."
uBlock is open source. Some people might object AdGuard Russian foundation, but they have distanced themselves from the conflict and employ people in Ukraine.
I have no complaints about AdGuard, but I will switch to this. uBlock is the best ad blocker across platforms, and gorhill is a legend.
It's worse IMO because it doesn't allow for custom rules, which AdGuard does.
> Compatibility: Requires iOS 18.0 or later and visionOS 1.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and Apple Vision. Requires macOS 15.0 or later and a Mac with Apple Silicon chip.
Previous discussion on 13-may-2025:
It’s fast but doesn’t block all ads for me.
arrghh it's full - how to get in?
Works great both on my mac and iphone. Raymond rocks!
It's annoying how this adds a puzzle piece icon next to the url all the time.
Yeah, that happens when you install any extension for Safari iOS. I’ve learned to ignore it.
AdGuard doens't work for me so I'm excited on macOS
Works on MacOS as well. Not just iOS.
Yes, but adblocking options on iOS are way more limited so it is more notable.
Works fine so far! I wish they could add the main settings in the app view but that’s a minor point
Nice, seems to work pretty well
oh happy day
Can we get a link directly to the project instead of this testflight page?
The project page newsworthy isn’t newsworthy in any obvious way on its own, though of course anyone (including OP) could post a link to it as a helpful comment. An iOS beta signup link for it is surprising news, though!
The news is "uBlock Origin Lite Beta for Safari iOS" not "uBlock Origin Lite exists"
Firefox Focus as a content filter has always worked for me on Safari. Nowadays I mostly use Brave, though.