With the roll-out of iOS 9, Apple is giving app developers an easy way to create mobile ad blockers for Safari on iPhones and iPads.
To be clear, Apple never actually uses the term “ad blocking” in its latest developer specs, but instead says that the functionality gives developers’ Safari extensions “a fast and efficient way to block cookies, images, resources, pop-ups, and other content”. So yeah, ads.
The content blockers only apply to Safari at this time. Google is still the default search engine on iOS devices, so the move could have a take a bite out of Google’s mobile advertising revenue, in particular.
After users download an app with a content blocker extension, it shows up in Settings. Users can keep the app installed and disable the content blocker independently in Settings, according to 9to5Mac. At this point it’s not clear if any apps are taking advantage of the new blockers.
A recent report showed that Google may have lost nearly a billion in ad revenue in the U.S. alone in 2014 as a result of roughly 10 percent of U.S. internet users having ad-blocking extensions or plug-ins installed on their browsers. Google reportedly pays millions to be whitelisted by services like AdBlock and have their some ads make it past the filters.
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