iOS Ad Blocker - Experiment

[andyf]

Hi everyone,

We’re starting to test an Ad Blocker in Firefox for iOS.

If you’re included in the test, you’ll see a new Ad Blocker option in Settings (Browsing) that you can turn on. This is off by default.

We’re testing this with a limited group first so we can understand what works, what breaks and what needs to improve. 

If you try it, we’d like your feedback. In particular:

• Does it block what you expect?
• Do any sites break? (broken sites can we reported using the site reported) 
• Are there cases where you would want more control?

This is something people have asked us for in Mozilla Connect, app reviews and other feedback channels. We’re starting small, listening closely and improving from there.

Thanks for helping us test it.

[Kvin]

Hi, are there any plans to release a built-in ad blocker for the Android and PC versions?

[lackey]

Mozilla almost certainly won't answer this so I will try instead: They easily could, but they probably won't. 

They easily could: Recently Mozilla integrated Brave's popular ad-blocking engine directly into Firefox. The code ships in the browser. If you're brave yourself, you can tweak a few settings and actually enable it. There is no user interface, but the popular Waterfox fork is integrating it. 

They probably won't: Firefox development is funded almost completely by Google. Ads are Google's business. Firefox has an incentive to not encourage people to block ads. 

[andyf]

Hey! Thanks for your interest. We're starting with iOS because of the lack of extensions there and want to test offering a native blocking product to see how people respond and what feedback they have. We're looking forward to using the insights from user feedback and community reception to inform future direction across all platforms.

[jehad]

If you don't mind, I'd like to know something. When I found out that they get most of their money from Google to develop Firefox, I was wondering what would happen if Google stopped paying? Can you please tell me about this? 

[Jackbravoo]

This is a great feature to test. If some ads still appear, try updating to the latest Firefox for iOS version and make sure the Ad Blocker is enabled in Settings. If a website doesn't work properly, reporting it through the built-in site reporting tool will help improve the feature. It would also be useful to have an option to whitelist trusted websites while keeping ad blocking enabled everywhere else.

[hi_bye]

Thanks, this is a feature I'm really looking forward to. But I'm not seeing the option in settings now, is there another way to try it out? 

[andyf]

if you don’t see Ad Blocker yet, here’s how to enable the experiment first:

1. Update to the latest App Store version of Firefox, 153.3

2. Open Firefox and tap the … button on the toolbar

3. Tap Settings

4. Scroll down to About

5. Tap Firefox 153.3 five times

6. Tap Experiments

7. Tap iOS - Ad Blocker Experiment

8. Select treatment-a

9. Go back to Settings

10. Open Browsing

11. Turn on Ad Blocker

[supermurs]

Hello!

I have enabled the ad blocker but unfortunately I have noticed that on Reddit the promoted post are not getting blocked and also on YouTube the video ads are not getting blocked.

[andyf]

Hi! Thanks for testing it and sharing the feedback! We use EasyList and mainly block third-party ads and ad-related trackers. Some ads, like Reddit promoted posts or YouTube video ads, may still show up because they’re served as first-party ads. You can find a bit more info on what’s blocked here: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/block-ads-firefox-ios.

Thanks again for giving it a try!

[supermurs]

Hi, thank you for the clarification!

Would it be possible to have a feature where user could subscribe to additional filter lists on top of the default Easylist?

[Moxuz]

Hello, so far Reddit sponsored posts (ads) in the web feed for Reddit still show up while Brave for iOS and Safari + uBlock Lite both block them. 

[Jon]

@andyf shared this in a comment in this thread, but I'm posting here for others interested in enabling the experiment to try it out: 

If you don’t see Ad Blocker yet, here’s how to enable the experiment first:

1. Update to the latest App Store version of Firefox, 153.3

2. Open Firefox and tap the … button on the toolbar

3. Tap Settings

4. Scroll down to About

5. Tap Firefox 153.3 five times

6. Tap Experiments

7. Tap iOS - Ad Blocker Experiment

8. Select treatment-a

9. Go back to Settings

10. Open Browsing

11. Turn on Ad Blocker