Last night, I saw this tweet from Federico Viticci:
> Two months after the launch of iOS 9, there are no Content Blockers in the Top 150 Paid charts for iPhone (US App Store).
I dug into the paid and free lists on the app store and, sure enough, I couldn’t find an ad blocker in the top paid or top free list. So I dug a bit further.
Searching the top Utilities list, the first paid ad blocker I encountered was Crystal at #36 and, remarkably, no ad blockers breaking the top 100 on the free list.
Searching the Productivity category, the only paid ad blocker I could find was Purify (#10) and, again, no free ad blockers in the top 100.
Why is this? What happened here?
One possible factor is that ad blockers are reasonably easy to create. It’s possible that so many were created, they diluted the market, making it difficult for one to grab enough market share to crack the top 100 overall.
Another (perhaps obvious) factor could be the drop in attention, fewer bloggers writing about ad blockers. While iPhones are still selling like hotcakes, it could be that new buyers are not aware of ad blockers and the difference they make to the browsing experience.
It’d be interesting to see a survey showing the percentage of iOS 9 users with ad blockers installed. I suspect it’s a relatively small percentage. Just like two factor authentication, something that has obvious value does not always guarantee wide adoption.
I think the sort of people who were aware of content blockers and wanted them have already installed one. And the good ones automatically update their databases so once you pick one it’s unlikely you’d need to get another one. What they need to do is advertise, but I think that much irony would break the internet.
I go to Macworld on my iPhone, can’t click on any stories and get to them with my ad blocker on. I had to whitelist the site. I’m thinking of deactivating the white listing and ignoring Macworld. They can complain about ad blockers, but they’re one of the offenders with their nonsense blocking commenting if you have ad blockers on in the past. And their auto running ads, and their slideshow nonsense to maximize hits.
They’ve made getting my paid-for subscription to Macworld magazine so painful and convoluted I gave up trying. Want to bet I don’t renew? What are the odds?
I’m sick of their insisting they junk up web pages to get ad revenue. Do it like magazines. Put the freaking ads in not based on Google and others’ tracking of your web history and stop blocking us. Their analytics are ridiculous anyway. At Macworld you see as many ads for Surface Pro as for Macs! What good is all that big data? All it shows me is what I looked at already on Amazon and elsewhere and already bought or didn’t. Who’s dumb enough to pay for such services anyway? Advertise what typical Macworld users will be interested in and hope they click on a link. Until then, leave us the heck unanalyzed and unhasseled.
Just an example your story stirred up in me and I’m only half way through my coffee!
You can still open them in new tabs by tab-and-hold, or force-tab in supported devices.
I think the fact that content blockers won’t work at all with the iPhone 4s, 5, and 5c as well as the iPad 2, 3rd-gen iPad, and 4th-gen iPad and 1st-gen iPad mini and lastly the 5th-gen iPod touch, has a lot to do with them not being used as much.
Only iOS devices with 4 bit processors are supported.
Which makes NO sense to me.
After all, the older slower processors are the ones that would have benefited most with content blocking.
I think without 64-bit the Content Blocker has to work so hard you wouldn’t notice any improvement. It might even slow things down.
Is it just me or does it seem like the content blockers don’t work as well as before? I have Crystal and I feel like I’m back in ad hell.
Another problem is that there were a lot of choices and it was hard to tell which one was better. I for one was very interested in purchasing one, but I read a couple of articles, didn’t see a lot to distinguish them, decided to wait until something developed… then forgot about them.
I would be surprised if the processor in the 5 and 5c couldn’t handle it though. But it’s all speculative now.
I do think that with so many older devices still being used, that this does have an impact on content blockers and their availability/downloads.
I installed about five blockers, spent some time with each one and settled on Cheerio. It actually blocks ads, which is kinda important for an ad-blocker.
Personally I’m surprised at all the fuss in the first place. Android has had blockers for awhile and no one seemed to care. But I guess that since iOS is the only money making platform, concerns were only raised when they came into the App Store.
I guess the next big thing will be blockers that can block ads within apps. Now that would cause a stir.