this post was submitted on 22 Aug 2025
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Privacy

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ublock lite is now on IOS, Should people switch to that instead of using Adguard or should they stick with Adguard? (lemmy.ml)
submitted 4 days ago by Ste41th@lemmy.ml to c/privacy@lemmy.ml
35 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

This is a question that for some is easy to answer and for others may not be as easy to answer. So all input could help other people find and make a more knowledgeable choice and one that helps them towards their privacy goals.

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[–] ragebutt@lemmy.dbzer0.com 14 points 4 days ago (2 children)

I tested this out on my partners phone

UBlock on iphone works well and is free but is limited to safari, does not appear to even work with safari used as an in-app browser (eg using a mobile lemmy app and clicking a link that opens but stays in the app, not switching to a safari and opening a new tab). In some cases it is more effective at blocking ads

AdGuard is more intrusive. Instead of just an extension for safari it also installs a vpn profile. The advantage is that this allows it to act as a dns filter for the phone. This means it works in all apps to some degree, though several work around it. Costs $5/yr

Depends on your use case I suppose

[–] RmDebArc_5@piefed.zip 14 points 4 days ago

If you want DNS filters you can use Mullvad DNS which is free, privat, doesn’t require a app and can be used together with uBlock lite

[–] GnuLinuxDude@lemmy.ml 12 points 4 days ago (1 children)

UBlock on iphone works well and is free but is limited to safari, does not appear to even work with safari used as an in-app browser

This is the most annoying part about "content blockers" on iOS. Works fine in this one narrow context. Otherwise you need DNS filtering. I use PiHole, and I have it set up to VPN back home when I'm away to keep myself covered.

[–] AtariDump@lemmy.world 4 points 4 days ago

I use PiHole, and I have it set up to VPN back home when I'm away to keep myself covered.

I don’t remember posting this, but it sounds like me.

[–] Vignesh@lemmy.ml 6 points 3 days ago (1 children)

For now ublock lite doesn't have the feature parity with Adguard.

Wipr 2's developer is planning to use Apple's introduction of URL filtering with their OS 26 releases, which will extend Wipr’s blocking to all apps on our device. It acts at the network level, but it can access none of our data. https://kaylees.site/wipr-filtr.html

Pretty sure other content blocker developers will jump on it too.

[–] const_void@lemmy.ml 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Nice! Wipr is so good.

[–] Aetherion@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

yeah, it deserves more appreciation

[–] plz1@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago

Some surveillance tools use DNS queries for tracking. Until this can block that, too, having a DNS-based blocker will be crucial for privacy protection.

[–] artyom@piefed.social 7 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Why "lite"?

[–] TranquilTurbulence@lemmy.zip 9 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

On Chrome, UBO relies heavily a particular feature that is no longer available in the latest version. Google didn't manage to get rid of UBO completely, because UBO lite was developed in response.

Regardless, you can still run full UBO in a desktop Firefox. That didn't change at all when Google started messing around with Manifest V3. Since UBOL exists now, the devs probably thought it might be light enough to run on iOS too.

[–] artyom@piefed.social 13 points 4 days ago (3 children)

Ok but this isn't Chrome or Firefox, this is Safari. Hence the question.

[–] porcupine@lemmygrad.ml 4 points 4 days ago

It’s not named a certain way just based on the browser it’s on, it’s named to reflect the features it has. The “lite” version isn’t as flexible because it was built to work on browsers that restrict the features of the full version. Given how restrictive mobile browsers are generally, on iOS in particular, I’m surprised the developer even got the lite version working.

[–] TranquilTurbulence@lemmy.zip 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

UBO lite has fewer features, and is therefore "lighter" than the normal UBO – hence the name.

[–] artyom@piefed.social 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Yes but the question is why?

[–] TranquilTurbulence@lemmy.zip 1 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Can you specify? Like, lite comes from “light“. What else is there to say. I think I’ve covered pretty much every angle already.

[–] artyom@piefed.social 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

I mean the lite version was created specifically because of Manifest V3, which iOS does not have.

[–] TranquilTurbulence@lemmy.zip 1 points 3 days ago

However, iOS does have a ridiculous degree of sandboxing and restrictions, which sounds familiar to those who have looked into Manifest V3. An iPhone isn’t really a pocket computer any more, because there’s hardly anything you can do with it. Like, browse Xitter, have ads shoved down your throat, and pay Apple for the opportunity to suffer maximum enshittification.

If you can come up with an application so gutted that it actually runs in spite of Manifest V3 shenanigans, there’s a chance that it might also run on iOS. Turns out, UBOL does, which is really impressive considering how hostile this software environment is.

Why go through all this trouble? The people at UBO really want to block ads everywhere, even on platforms that are actively fighting against ad blocking.

[–] chaos@beehaw.org 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Safari on iOS has always had some pretty strict limits on what extensions can do. For example, content blockers don't get to run code on the pages you browse, it's more like they give the browser a list of what type of thing to block when you install and configure it, then when you're browsing, the extension isn't even doing anything, it's just the browser using the list. Obviously that's more limiting, there might be ads that are best dealt with by running a bit of code, so it makes sense that they'd consider it "lite". (The benefit of those limits is that ad blocking extensions can't run amok and kill your phone's battery since the browser's handling it by itself.)

[–] malwieder@feddit.org 1 points 3 days ago

iOS 15 (2021) introduced support for actual extensions, not just blocklists. These extensions can inject scripts on the pages you browse and multiple adblockers on iOS make use of that, including Adguard, uBO Lite and Wipr for example.

They still use the blocklist API for their regular URL blocklists, but can run scripts in addition to that. Never saw a YouTube ad on iOS ever since, for example.

There are even userscripts extensions (think Greasemonkey compatible) available. It's no problem.

[–] ElectronicEnthusiast@lemmy.myserv.one 6 points 4 days ago

Thank you for sharing. Just added it to my browser.

[–] pineapplelover@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Can you get ublock on iphone firefox? Maybe the ddg browser is better

[–] Vignesh@lemmy.ml 2 points 3 days ago

Extensions only work with Safari on iOS/iPadOS. To use a content blocker with Firefox, it’s better to use Firefox Focus. DDG browser is fine too. I do still say use Safari with a content blocker like Wipr/Adgurad/Ublock lite etc.

[–] InfiniteHench@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago

I use 1Blocker. Pretty good

[–] wetbeardhairs@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Is anyone able to *configure* it? I was able to get it enabled in safari but otherwise I can't seem to find any options or the ability to select blocklists or anything.

[–] ashzilla@lemmy.zip 5 points 4 days ago (1 children)

In safari click on the extension and then click on “open the dashboard” it will list all the filter lists you can enable and disable

[–] wetbeardhairs@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 3 days ago

Excellent. Now to figure out which lists are good

[–] poolhelmetinstrument@lemmy.world 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I believe this is an iOS limitation, as Gorhill discovered. Therefore, only the lite version is possible, and lacks custom blocklists.

[–] xnx@slrpnk.net 1 points 3 days ago

It was making my phone super hot so i switched back to adguard

[–] AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space 1 points 4 days ago

I use 1Blocker, which seems to be pretty good at blocking annoyances. Would there be anything to gain from switching to uBlock?

[–] thesohoriots@lemmy.world 1 points 4 days ago

I could be missing something, but I don’t see a way to add Bypass Paywalls Clean into UBL, so I’m using AdGuard for the custom filter.

[–] int32@lemmy.dbzer0.com -1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

aren't both bad? I don't know adguard but already ublock origin didn't have enough options to unbreak websites, it was either on or off, so lite... now I just use uMatrix and adjust the settings for each site.

[–] xthexder@l.sw0.com 7 points 4 days ago (1 children)

What are you talking about? With uBlock Origin you can customize the block lists, change it per site, and easily select your own elements to block...

[–] int32@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

with umatrix you have a table of each domain this site is using and can toggle, for each of them, javascript, xhr, media, images and other stuff. of course, uMatrix is not an ad blocker but tracking blocker, so you can't block html elements.

[–] xthexder@l.sw0.com 1 points 3 days ago

uBlock Origin will also show you a list of all the blocked resources and their domains. It's somewhat effective against tracking (though admittedly I don't know how uMatrix does it, maybe it's a little different)