Ad Control

Dear readers,

My name is Artur Grigor and I'm writing you on behalf of the Ad Control app team.

As you may know, Apple has introduced with iOS 9 a new app extension called Content Blocking that opens lots of possibilities for us, the app developers, in a way in which we can block the resources that are normally loaded by a website when you are browsing it.

Of course, everyone has realized that this technology is a great opportunity for us, the app developers to launch ad blocking apps and to end one of our greatest pains when it comes to web browsing.

Now, I'm not sure how many of you, our end-users and the app developers, have thought of the side effects of such kind of apps.

Our Concern

We fear that in the near future many websites will start to disappear just because their maintenance will no longer be profitable, and no one wants to give away money from their own pockets in order to sustain their website.

That's the case for many websites that continue to exist by displaying ads because that's their only source of income.

And it’s not just them, this is a serious problem for bigger companies too. Last week Washington Post decided to block the content of the article if you’re using an ad blocking software.

Many of those websites that we love and visit every day will slowly disappear because of apps like these. But we don’t want this to happen, we want everything to stay the same!

Our Solution

This is what drove us into making this app. This is our main focus. By releasing this app not only do we want to offer our users a better web browsing experience, but also we want to protect these websites from taking a hit.

Our solution is to offer our users 2 web browsing options. One is “No Ads” which I’m not going to describe in this letter, and the other one is “1 Ad”. 

The “1 Ad” is simple. It allows the websites to display only 1 ad per web page. The way we decide which one to show, is also simple. We choose the top most visible ad within the page (as long as it does not interfere with your browsing experience), because usually that one will bring the most revenue from all of them.

Our users will be provided with a better web browsing experience using this option, and the website owners, we think and hope, will feel better because they will still get some revenue, thus both parties' needs being met.

Open Source

We intend to release our database to the public so that everyone can experience the same thing no matter which app is using, and also our Mac app, called “The Lab” in which you can create and get ad blocking rules suggestions for the websites that you want. 

A follow up regarding this topic will be posted soon.

One more thing...

Dear reader, please help me promote this letter, so that everyone can see it and take action: the users to make the choice that feels right for them, and the app developers to develop a similar solution or the exact same one.

All, please give us feedback on this matter if possible, because together we can keep the things going, and also enjoy our web browsing experience at a maximum level.

Thank you!