Ad-blocking apps shoot to top of Apple download charts
Ad-blocking apps, now available to iPhone users operating iOS9, have risen to the top of some of Apple’s worldwide download charts, as consumers make their feelings clear about mobile ads.
Ad-blocking apps, now available to iPhone users operating iOS9, have risen to the top of some of Apple’s worldwide download charts, as consumers make their feelings clear about mobile ads.
While there seems little chance of ad-blockers unseating the major players such as Facebook and Instagram in the overall charts, many of the newly available blockers are sitting atop the charts in the paid app lists and the utilities section.
The American dream
The US has seen the greatest take-up of the software with Peace – created by famed developer Marco Arment – topping the paid app list for the entire country and Purify not far behind in fifth.
The apps have proved slightly less popular in the UK but nonetheless enjoyed a significant number of downloads, with Purify and Peace reaching number 11 and number 12 in the paid app chart respectively.
Announcing the launch of Peace on his personal site, Arment – former lead developer at Tumblr and creator of Instapaper – said online advertising is “out of control”, labelling behaviour tracking ads “creepy, bloated, annoying and insecure”.
Protection from ‘today’s web abuses’
Commenting on in his blog, he said: “Publishers won’t solve this problem: they cannot consistently enforce standards of decency and security on the ad networks that they embed in their sites.
“Just as browsers added pop-up blockers to protect us from thatabusive annoyance, new browser-level countermeasures are needed to protect us from today’s web abuses.”
Arment urged users not to feel guilty about blocking ads as people have not been given the opportunity to review the terms of the “implied contract” to view ads in exchange for free content.
He added: “Our data, battery life, time, and privacy are taken by a blank check with no recourse. It’s like ordering from a restaurant menu with no prices, then being forced to pay whatever the restaurant demands at the end of the meal.
“If publishers want to offer free content funded by advertising, the burden is on them to choose ad content and methods that their readers will tolerate and respond to.”
