Apple brings ad-blocker extensions to Safari on iPhones

09.09.2015 04:30

Faster iPhones and a new TV box are likely to dominate Apple's launch event on Wednesday, but a tweak to the firm's mobile web browser will arguably be just as far-reaching.

For the first time, Apple will allow adverts to be blocked by the iPhone and iPad versions of Safari.

The move is likely to please users, but will concern the many companies that depend on advertising.

What is an ad-blocker?

In a nutshell, the term covers a variety of technologies used to prevent adverts appearing on internet-connected devices.

They are already widely used on PCs, where the most common technique is to install a browser plug-in, but are relatively rare on smartphones and tablets.

That's not to say it's impossible to use them on mobile kit.

Apple and Android devices can already run specialised third-party ad-blocking browsers or be made to stop ads appearing by altering their network settings, but the point is that only a small percentage of people do this.

Apple's decision to open up Safari, however, could take the activity mainstream.

What's the benefit to users?

Webpages should be decluttered of distracting content.

Pages should also load more quickly, mobile data allowances should come under less strain and iPhone batteries could also last longer between charges.

So, what exactly is Apple doing?

Apple's iOS 9 operating system will allow content blocking extensions to be added to Safari.

These browser add-ons can be set to block certain cookies, images, pop-ups and other content from being downloaded.

Until now, the only way to do something similar was to "jailbreak" the handsets, which also made them more vulnerable to malware.

Apple will not offer its own ad-blocking software.

Instead, people will be able to download extensions made by others from its App Store in a similar way to how they can already install third-party keyboards.

How will the extensions work?

By detecting and stripping out scripts in the code of web pages meant to make browsers pull content from ad networks' computer servers.

They will also act to prevent scripts from doing things like tracking how long a user has been looking at a webpage and monitoring how far they have scrolled down a page in order to serve up more ads.

(BBC)

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