ad blockers

Hackers and malicious viruses are very much a concern when you’re on the web, but the biggest threats to your productivity and your privacy come from everyday internet hazards. AdGuard — an ad blocker for iOS, Mac, Android and Windows — helps protect your privacy by shielding you from the hidden bots that track your every online move and turn your data into currency for advertisers and bad actors both big and small.

When it comes to these threats, regular antivirus software won’t cut it. AdGuard, on the other hand, is specifically designed to deal with both annoying ads and the data crawlers hidden inside them. And it’s now cheaper than ever, thanks to a deep price cut. Get a lifetime subscription to AdGuard’s family plan for just $18.97 with code FAMPLAN.

Safari’s Hide Distracting Items feature lets you remove ads from your iPhone, along with other elements on the page that irritate you. It doesn’t require an ad blocker or a paid extension — Apple built it right into the browser in iOS 18.

Hide Distracting Items is not an ad blocker per se, but if you are pestered by pop-ups and other items with no obvious close button, Hide Distracting Items can come to the rescue. Here’s how to use it — keep reading or watch our video.

A significant chunk of the internet runs on advertising revenue, so it’s no surprise that you see a lot of ads. But let’s face it: Many sites are simply choked with banner ads, pop-ups and intrusive videos that drag down your speed and the overall experience. Well-reviewed ad blocker AdGuard can help. And it’s priced down to $9.97 for a very limited time.

When. you’re using your Mac, iPhone or iPad, nothing ruins that clean Apple experience quite like runaway ads and obnoxious pop-ups. Luckily, there’s an easy way to block those on all of your Apple devices: Control D, an ad blocker that also shields you from malware and other internet nightmares.

This unique internet service blocks trackers, boosts productivity and gives parents control over their children’s device usage. And you don’t need to download a thing, because Control D connects to any device on your wireless network.

For a limited time, you can get a five-year Control D subscription for the best price on the web — just $34.97 (regularly $120).

No one likes being tracked across the web and bombarded with ads. If you want to restore some privacy, Control D offers complete protection across all your devices — and you can get a five-year subscription today for only $27.99 using coupon code CONTROL.

While Safari offers a small amount of built-in protection, the internet is becoming harder and harder to use without an ad blocker. There are simply too many ads, pop-ups and trackers to navigate easily. No matter what browser you use, Control D can make the web better. Rated a perfect five stars on Product Hunt, this powerful privacy app is packed full of useful features.

If you love YouTube but hate YouTube ads, Vinegar is the best Safari extension you can download. It blocks all ads on YouTube and restores many iOS-native features like playing videos in the background, picture-in-picture, and more on iPhone, iPad and Mac alike.

YouTube ads are freaking insufferable. But if you don’t want to put down the dough for YouTube Premium (currently $13.99 per month), you can pay a one-time fee of just $1.99 to buy Vinegar for all your Apple devices.

If you ever watch YouTube, Vinegar is life-changing. Get it now on the App Store for iOS, iPadOS and macOS.

Aside from a certain high-profile football game, it’s hard to think of a time when anyone is happy to see an ad. Companies like Apple know how much you hate those pop-ups and intrusive banners, but you can’t expect big tech to get proactive about curbing them, especially when they’re the internet’s bread and butter.

Luckily, there are ways you can take matters into your own hands. AdGuard is one of the best ad blockers around, and thanks to our Spring Digital Blowout, you can see how big a difference it makes on your own devices. With code SPRING15, you can get the AdGuard lifetime family plan for only $26.49 through April 3.

There’s a lot to love about the internet, but advertisements probably aren’t on your list. Ads are everywhere, and they might even be responsible for some pages loading slowly. Instead of dealing with the delays, you can stop seeing ads online altogether. AdGuard is an advanced ad blocker that also helps keep your information secure, and it’s on sale for $11 during our Black Friday is Every Friday event.

AdGuard combines a potent ad blocker with the best privacy and security features of a virtual private network and a parental-control app. And right now, you can get a lifetime subscription to the AdGuard Family Plan for only $30. Plus, to make this deal even sweeter, it comes with $20 in store credit to spend on other Cult of Mac Deals!

So, basically, 10 bucks for a lifetime of ad-free web browsing with additional privacy and security benefits (and $20 to spend on something else to make your life more joyful and carefree).

Life can be really complicated — and protecting your internet connection doesn’t seem to be exempt from that. From fiddling around with complex VPN settings to keeping a watchful eye out for scammers, it can be difficult just to focus on your own productivity or watch some of your favorite videos in your downtime.

If you’re looking for a simple but highly effective solution to protect your internet connection and drown out the noise of advertising, look no further than the Winston Privacy Filter.

As more of our life moves online, security and privacy become more valuable. That’s why we’re big fans of virtual private networks, malware blockers and any other tools that make online life more secure. Luckily, you can get all that and more from one app.

Adding a single character to a URL can let you bypass some websites’ metered paywalls and watch YouTube videos without having to endure those annoying ads.

The simple hack — typing a “dot” immediately after the “.com” in a site’s URL — doesn’t work on every single website out there. But it does give you an advertisement-free pass to many of them.

Way back in iOS 9 days, Apple added “content blocking” to the iPhone and iPad. More commonly known as “ad-blockers,” this tech lets you use third-party apps to block ads, malware, trackers, comments, and more, in Mobile Safari. Apple itself doesn’t do any more than make blocking possible. To actual decide what to block, you need a third-party app.

Enabling ad-blocking is easy, once you know how, and you can set-and-forget it once done. Or you can keep on top of things, adding custom rules, and white-listing trusted websites. Here’s how.

You could soon see your Spotify account banned or shutdown completely if you use an ad blocker.

The music streaming service’s updated terms of service, which go into effect on March 1, now specifically state that using tools or modified apps to block ads is prohibited.

Microsoft Edge has been slow to match Safari’s feature set since making its debut on iOS last November. But it’s about to get one big feature that was sorely lacking: a built-in ad blocker.

Adblock Plus integration will be available in an upcoming Edge update, alongside visual search, book reading improvements, and more.

Have you ever visited a website, only to be bombarded with pop-ups, ads and “dickbars“? Purify ad blocker for iOS will kick those annoying JavaScript trackers and ads to the curb, providing you a faster, more private browsing experience.

Ever since iOS 9, you’ve been able to block ads, trackers, and other content in Mobile Safari. But as websites fought back, and the content-blocker apps added yet more rules in return, the war escalated. Blocker apps started to hit Apple’s hard limit of 50,000 rules.

Probably the most popular and comprehensive blocker is 1Blocker, which just got superseded by 1Blocker X. The new app splits off itself into seven “extensions,” each of which have 50,000 rules, bringing the total to 350,000 rules.

This doesn’t just allow 1Blocker X to boast in the app store. It also allows whole new categories of content blocking. The new setup works slightly differently, so let’s see how to get things started.

Google will roll out an awesome Chrome ad blocker Thursday that takes aim at some of the most invasive forms of online advertising.

The new Chrome ad-blocking feature won’t annihilate ads entirely. But users won’t need to worry about full-page ads, ads with auto-playing sound and video, or flashing ads anymore.

Most ad blockers block everything. You download the app, tell Safari to use it, and then no longer need to worry about sites serving bandwidth-burning scripts that leech your personal information.

But for many people, the blanket approach of nuking everything is too much. You may instead prefer to block some bad actors, but let most sites serve ads — the ads pay the writers who write for the sites, after all. That’s where the bluntly named Punish Website app comes in. The new app comes configured to block nothing, letting you add the sites you hate to your own personal blacklist.

Apple has begun purging the App Store of third-party utilities that block ads and provide VPN connections. The company says that they do not comply with its Developer Guidelines due to the way in which they interfere with other iOS apps.

One of the big innovations of iOS 9 was the ability for Safari users to download and take advantage of content blockers.

According to a new report, however, ads may not be the only content that is blocked by apps like Crystal. Online retailers such as Walmart, Sears and Lululemon are also seeing their e-commerce sites negatively affected by adblockers — with some crucial features failing to work as before.

Developer Marco Arment pulled his iOS 9 content blocker from the App Store two days after launching it. He says it “just doesn’t feel good” to be profiting from his app Peace while taking money away from advertisers and publishers. He’s even offering refunds to anyone who already bought Peace expecting updates and support down the line, which they now won’t be getting.

Figuring out which content-blocking apps you want is going to be tough with so many of them vying for your attention. Which one should you choose?

A day after iOS 9 made content blockers possible, we’ve got Purify, Peace, Crystal, Silentium, Blockr, Freedom, Blockr and 1Blocker, just to name a few.

These apps are garnering a ton of attention and reaching the top of the paid app charts. With so many content blockers out there, what’s the difference? Why choose one over the other? It’s so confusing, so we did a little digging. Here’s what we’ve found out.

iOS 9 includes a new feature that desktop users have had for a while: content blocking. More conventionally known as ad blockers, this software cuts out all the advertisements and other cruft from web pages, allowing faster load times and a more streamlined experience.

Of course, most websites you read these days (including Cult of Mac!) rely on advertising to keep the lights on.

Luckily for all of us, most new content blockers let you whitelist specific sites so you can continue to help them pay their bills.

Apple is planning to open up mobile Safari to “Content Blockers,” according to a new features discovered in the iOS 9 beta. The change could pave the way for ad blocking extensions, which prevent images, popups, and other content from loading as you browse the web.