Why hasn’t Apple created an ad-blocker in the system level for iOS?

Question

I think if Apple created an ad-blocker like the legendary u-blockOrigin for iOS, their brand will be strengthen, and subscription service more in demand. Imagine you use your iPhone and will not ever see any ad regardless of the app you use? Sure, most apps will go away because without ads, no one would pay for them, but are these apps really important for you anyway? I think the $99 they make from app developers will be less compared to thousands of apps that are high quality and subscription-based that will giving Apple a cut every month.So, why hasn&rsquo;t Apple created a system level adblocker that is baked in to the boot loader for the iOS, and make it virtually impossible for any advertising company like Google or FB to circumvent it? Google has Android, but Facebook literally can&rsquo;t survive without selling ads, so if Apple created a system-level ad-blocker where in every video and every text, the OS itself filters out and blocks ads, Facebook would be in big trouble since they don&rsquo;t have their own hardware (hardware that people care about and use, that is).

brunes · Accepted Answer

Because Apple makes a shitton of money selling ads on iOS using its Ad ID.Wait, did you seriously buy into their marketing BS about how they care about your privacy? Apple cares about making money, and that's it. They hamstrung Google and Meta on iOS simply so they would have a monopoly on advertising trackers on the platform.

crazygringo · Answer

Because Apple is not and never had been anti-advertising.
They've been promoting privacy but that's different.
And they run an entire ad platform in iOS. Why would they kill that entire line of business?
And for Apple, it's good to have lots of apps that can monetize themselves through advertising when they can't do it through purchases. Blocking ads would drive away a huge number of useful apps.

lapcat · Answer

Duopoly collusion. Google's search deal with Apple is worth $billions per year.Google gives Apple cut of Chrome iOS search revenue https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/17/google_apple_chrome_i...

dave4420 · Answer

If they wanted to prevent apps from showing ads on iOS, they&rsquo;d change the App Store rules to ban it.There&rsquo;d be an exodus of apps. Followed by an exodus of users who couldn&rsquo;t live without IG/FB/TikTok/Snapchat/Twitter/Reddit/etc.

spondylosaurus · Answer

> Insider Intelligence, a market research firm, estimates that Apple brings in $4 billion a year from ads.https://www.wired.com/story/apple-is-an-ad-company-now/

tebruno99 · Answer

That would be pretty anti-competitive of them given they would have to unblock their own ads to make money

tick_tock_tick · Answer

Apple is becoming an ad company it's why they made moves against Facebook.

tzs · Answer

> so if Apple created a system-level ad-blocker where in every video and every text, the OS itself filters out and blocks adsI don't think this is technically feasible with current technology unless they limited phones to only displaying curated content.

detourdog · Answer

A functioning society should be able to contain Ads and a right to privacy. I don&rsquo;t think Apple wanted the privacy stance it developed. The stance developed as a reaction to what some companies saw as fair behavior to the unsuspecting.

freitzkriesler2 · Answer

They sell their own form of ads IIRC. But if the relationship between Google and apple soured, this would be a good FU apple could implement.Microsoft could do this too but I guess the data is worth more than the customer gratitude.

oneplane · Answer

It's probably legally infeasible, as well as bad for Apple's own advertisement business. They also can't make different rules for the same legal reasons.

Saphyel · Answer

How do you think Apple got the 3 trillion??Spoiler: it's not because privacy or moral that they sell on their marketing. it's because of the lack of those.

jitl · Answer

Apple allows content blockers in Safari but not in apps because in part this encourages developers to build a native app to ensure ad revenue.

klysm · Answer

Apple makes money off ads. An organization this large simply cannot say no to a revenue stream that large

orasis · Answer

Since Apple controls the App Store they would likely be sued into oblivion.

bhaney · Answer

https://www.wired.com/story/apple-is-an-ad-company-now/

Why hasn’t Apple created an ad-blocker in the system level for iOS?

Duopoly collusion. Google's search deal with Apple is worth $billions per year.
Google gives Apple cut of Chrome iOS search revenue https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/17/google_apple_chrome_i...

If they wanted to prevent apps from showing ads on iOS, they’d change the App Store rules to ban it.
There’d be an exodus of apps. Followed by an exodus of users who couldn’t live without IG/FB/TikTok/Snapchat/Twitter/Reddit/etc.

> Insider Intelligence, a market research firm, estimates that Apple brings in $4 billion a year from ads.
https://www.wired.com/story/apple-is-an-ad-company-now/

That would be pretty anti-competitive of them given they would have to unblock their own ads to make money

Apple is becoming an ad company it's why they made moves against Facebook.

> so if Apple created a system-level ad-blocker where in every video and every text, the OS itself filters out and blocks ads
I don't think this is technically feasible with current technology unless they limited phones to only displaying curated content.

A functioning society should be able to contain Ads and a right to privacy. I don’t think Apple wanted the privacy stance it developed. The stance developed as a reaction to what some companies saw as fair behavior to the unsuspecting.

They sell their own form of ads IIRC. But if the relationship between Google and apple soured, this would be a good FU apple could implement.
Microsoft could do this too but I guess the data is worth more than the customer gratitude.

It's probably legally infeasible, as well as bad for Apple's own advertisement business. They also can't make different rules for the same legal reasons.

How do you think Apple got the 3 trillion??
Spoiler: it's not because privacy or moral that they sell on their marketing. it's because of the lack of those.

Apple allows content blockers in Safari but not in apps because in part this encourages developers to build a native app to ensure ad revenue.

Apple makes money off ads. An organization this large simply cannot say no to a revenue stream that large

Since Apple controls the App Store they would likely be sued into oblivion.

https://www.wired.com/story/apple-is-an-ad-company-now/