Using ad blockers is good for your security, privacy, and is recommended by the FBI to protect you from online harm. But while ad blockers are great at cleaning up your browsing experience, these tools often do little to prevent widespread tracking by in-app ads.
Now, thanks to new features in iOS 26 and macOS 26, a developer has built the first device-level ad blocker that's not just limited to the browser, but works across all of Apple's major products: iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
Filtr is a new tool created and maintained by Kaylee Serena Calderolla, the developer of the popular Safari browser ad blocker Wipr. Wipr prevents ads from appearing in Safari. That means no ads will load. It also won't load ad tracking codes that advertisers use to track you around the web and spy on the websites you visit. The result is a cleaner browsing experience, free from advertisers monitoring your online activity.
Filtr is an additional paid feature bundled with Wipr that goes a step further than ad blocking in the browser by blocking ads on iPhone, iPad, and Mac apps. Filtr accomplishes this using a new feature built into the latest Apple software called URL filters. This allows developers to block access to specific websites or domains at the network level as well as the browser.
Image credit: TechCrunch
Image credit: TechCrunch
I use ad blockers all the time on my various devices (even when websites like this one ask me to turn them off). I, full disclosure, have been using Wipr as my primary ad blocker on my Apple devices for many years as a paying customer. I also use ad blockers in other browsers on my desktop computer, including the Pi-hole ad blocker. Pi-hole ad blocker is a small server that sits on your home network and prevents ads from reaching devices connected to your home Wi-Fi.
But my device is still exposed to ads when I'm not connected to my home network, and the various apps I use, including web browsers other than Safari, are chock-full of ads.
As you can imagine, I was eager to try out Filterr. Filtr was particularly appealing because, as Calderola states in her privacy policy, her app “does not collect personal data.” Her app doesn't need access to personal information to work, and neither does Apple's URL filtering feature.
For me, it was a no-brainer. Everything was on the positive side and there were no trade-offs. All I had to do was pay a $5 annual subscription and add a URL filter to my iPhone. I felt immediate relief. Every app I opened loaded without the usual ton of ads. Some ad slots had gray placeholder spaces where the ad was supposed to load.
Image credit: TechCrunch
Image credit: TechCrunch
Calderolla told me this week that Filtr is the first app so far to take advantage of URL filtering. However, that may be partly because it was a “nightmare” to make it work, part of which she explained in a blog post in May. Calderolla said Apple's documentation on the URL feature is sparse and there is a lot of work to be done to understand how to implement and use the feature.
The URL filtering feature relies on ad block lists maintained by Calderola. Calderolla explained that Filtr references a “pre-filter” blocklist stored on a user's device, which is kept up-to-date through automatic Wipr app updates. The prefilter list determines that the website is not on the block list, and in most cases the website will load normally. However, if the pre-filter list identifies a website that may be on a block list, it is immediately checked against the list on Calderolla's servers. Calderolla said these requests are routed through Apple's servers as a proxy, so app developers don't know who is querying the block list.
This means that once you set up Filtr, you usually don't need to think about it again. (This is a very high rating for a security or privacy product.)
There are some caveats, but they're not deal breakers. No ad blocker is perfect, but minimizing your exposure to ad networks as much as possible is a huge privacy benefit. Additionally, Filtr does not block ads served by the same network as the website you are visiting. This means you'll still see ads on Facebook, Google, Reddit apps, and other apps that serve ads from their own domains. Blocking these will completely block your domain and will most likely break your domain. (Lifehacker also tested and reviewed Filtr and found that Wipr can block ads even if you use a mobile website instead of an app.)
Wipr is a universal app available for purchase in the Apple App Store for $5 and works on all Apple devices. Filterr has an additional $5 fee each year. A one-time lifetime payment via in-app purchase costs $25.
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