New Update AdGuard for iOS (iPhone) - Stable and Beta Updates Thread

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

Get from App Store: ‎AdGuard — adblock&privacy

AdGuard v4.0 for iOS: DNS protection jumps to the next level:

Old-timers probably remember those days when AdGuard for iOS was merely an app to block ads in Safari, and AdGuard Pro was for everything else. We've weathered a lot of storms since, mostly thanks to multiple Apple policy changes, and, for better or worse, arrived to where we are today. And let me tell you, this place is nice. AdGuard for iOS is as powerful as it's ever been because the new v4.0 update introduces a bunch of goodies. Some of them might seem familiar to AdGuard Pro users (that's not a coincidence), other are completely new. Let's check them all out together.

Major design changes
DNS activity
DNS protection enhanced
New AdGuard widget
General statistics

Well, hopefully you are impressed! Because we threw at you everything we had. Ok, there's some more, actually: the complete list of all changes, including less exciting ones, is traditionally available on GitHub.

UPD: By the way, AdGuard for iOS is not our only iOS app that's going to get an update! Expect AdGuard Pro to follow in its steps soon!

Next level DNS protection with AdGuard v4.0 for iOS

Once AdGuard for iOS was merely an ad blocker for Safari, and AdGuard Pro was for everything else. Now AdGuard for iOS is as powerful as it's ever been! Let's check its new features together.

adguard.com

Releases · AdguardTeam/AdguardForiOS

The most advanced ad blocker for iOS. Contribute to AdguardTeam/AdguardForiOS development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

 

[scorpionv]

Awesome. Waiting for the next AdGuard for Windows update here, where the Assistant can function through a Chrome extension.

 

[CyberTech]

thats cool thanks for sharing man

 

[silversurfer]

AdGuard v4.0 for iOS running fine here on my old iPhone, that great app got improved for sure!

 

[blackice]

After reading this I’m going to give premium a shot on my iPhone.

 

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

AdGuard v4.0.1 for iOS is already on the virtual shelves of #AppStore! Focus on fixing leftover bugs after v4.0 release:

Our work on the fresh AdGuard version proved to be extremely productive:

We improved the app's performance and stability under zero-gravity conditions
Got rid of the integration with smart fridges
Capital J has been completely removed from the app's texts
Tabs in the code replaced with quadruple spaces
Rewrote the rest of the code in PowerPoint
Added telepathic protection activation
Code is now compliant with Geneva Conventions
Significantly increased the app's closing speed
Binary code upgraded to ternary
App's video version is now available on TikTok
Icon color changed from 'Jungle Diamond' to 'Sunset Jade'

Sadly, fewer bugs to fix in the next version.

‎AdGuard — adblock&privacy

‎AdGuard is an ultra-efficient ad blocker for Safari. It will not only remove annoying ads but also secure your privacy with advanced tracking protection. AdGuard for iOS is an open source app, it’s totally transparent and safe to use. The app is free but offers additional paid Premium features...

apps.apple.com

 

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

Meet AdGuard v4.0.4 for iOS! This release is mainly focused on bug fixes and minor improvements. Yet, it has a feature that one can’t ignore — DNS-over-QUIC support!

DNS-over-QUIC support (AdGuard DNS)

The first thing you should know about DNS-over-QUIC (DoQ) is that it's a new encryption protocol. Not as new as a concept, but very new in terms of practical application. In fact, AdGuard introduced the very first public DNS servers that support DoQ! The feature is still experimental — AdGuard for iOS is one of the first open-source implementations of DNS-over-QUIC — but it's perfectly functioning and we encourage you to try it.

The most common DNS encryption protocols are DNS-over-HTTPS and DNS-over-TLS (DoH and DoT correspondingly). What makes DoQ special? A bunch of things: out-of-the-box encryption, reduced connection times, and better performance in cases of lost data packets. We do encourage you to try it! And if you wish to learn more about DoQ, here is a separate article about it where we sliced and diced everything.

How to use DoQ in AdGuard for iOS

• Open the app, switch to the Protection tab
• Enable DNS protection and open its menu
• Under DNS server choose any of the available AdGuard DNS servers
• Select DNS-over-QUIC (experimental) from among the available protocols

Swift Safari Converter

We got through a big chunk of work doing this task. The bottomline is that we have completely rewritten the code that converts AdGuard filters to a format that Safari can 'read'. Now everything works faster, better, and filter updates require fewer resources. It was well worth it.

---

And there we have it. If you're in the mood to geek out a bit, dive into the complete list of changes on GitHub. And remember that we're always looking forward to your feedback. Share it with us in the comments or on social media, if you'd like

AdGuard v4.0.4 for iOS

This release is mainly focused on bug fixes and minor improvements. Yet, it has a few features that one can’t ignore — DNS-over-QUIC support and Safari Swift Converter.

adguard.com

 

[silversurfer]

Anyone tried to enable "DNS-over-QUIC (experimental)" ?
Here on iOS it works without (noticeable) issues so far

 

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

Anyone tried to enable "DNS-over-QUIC (experimental)" ?
Here on iOS it works without (noticeable) issues so far

Yes, done it on my Android phone and on my iPad.
Also no issues to report

 

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

Native DNS support
Long time ago scientists discovered an interesting phenomenon. While we typically think that what we most want is to actually get what we want, the most intense current of pleasure lies in looking forward to getting what we want. It’s been months since Apple added native DNS encryption support to iOS, and you might’ve thought that we at AdGuard just have been lazy not adding support it? Well, not at all! We’ve just been trying to follow science and provide you with as much pleasure as possible. Finally, the intensification period ends and catharsis begins!

So yeah, the most important thing this release features is native DNS support.

As you may remember, we already wrote that Apple started natively supporting encrypted DNS. Namely, two protocols were supported — DNS-over-TLS and DNS-over-HTTPS (DoT and DoH correspondingly). In that post we added a manual on how to set up and manage DNS profiles in AdGuard. Yet, the solution wasn’t so elegant.

In the new version, there are already three protocols supported (Regular DNS as well) and the method has become native not only to the iOS, but also to AdGuard. We have simplified the scheme: now you don’t need to download and install DNS profiles, it would suffice to enable Native implementation in AdGuard for iOS settings.

1. Open AdGuard Settings > DNS protection > DNS implementation > Switch to Native.
2. Toggle on DNS protection. You’ll see an instruction saying what to do next (Open System settings, go to General > VPN & Network > DNS and select AdGuard there).

The new method of setting up DNS isn't really superior to the one you're already familiar with, but it has one slight advantage: the DNS is handled by the system and not the app. This means that AdGuard doesn't have to create a local VPN. Sadly, this will not help you circumvent system restrictions and use AdGuard alongside other VPN-based applications — if any VPN is enabled, native DNS is ignored. Consequently, you won't be able to filter traffic locally or to use our brand new DNS-over-QUIC protocol (DoQ).

AdGuard 4.1 for iOS: native DNS support and new low-level settings

Less than two months from the previous release, and here we go again. Meet AdGuard 4.1 for iOS! Let’s see what’s good about it.

adguard.com

 

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

Other AdGuard updates:

We've updated AdGuard for Mac, AdGuard for Android and AdGuard Home — and they all are mostly about bugfixes and 'polishing'. In case of AdGuard Home, the socks are even extra soft and have a real nice ornament, but more about it later.

The changelog of AdGuad v2.5.2 for Mac is meat and potatoes. It features the routine CoreLibs update that will move the overall filtering quality just a notch higher, some bugfixes, including dealing with a quite nasty crash. Oh, the Browser Assistant extension will now work in Edge! We also have some good news for our Dutch users: AdGuard is now fully tranlsated into Dutch! Graag gedaan!
Important! Starting with this update, AdGuard will only work on macOS 10.12+. Unfortunately, the older macOS versions do not have capabilities to support the advanced techniques we use in our filtering engine.

With AdGuard v3.6.1 for Android the story is very similar. The most notable thing about this update is that it acts as the first stepping stone towards v4.0 — there will probably be no v3.7.
And the changelog is all the usual suspects: CoreLibs update, a bug fixed here, a bug fixed there. Next!

The most intriguing of the three is the AdGuard Home v0.105.0 update. Prepare to activate your inner nerd if you're going to check out what's new: there's enough IT slang to scare away an average user. But if you're interested in AdGuard Home, presumably you know what you're getting yourself into, and in that case the new version has some goodies in store for you.
Among the major new features are:

• Client ID support for DoH, DoT and DoQ
• New powerful modifiers $dnsrewrite and $dnstype
• An option to set up AdGuard Home as a DNScrypt resolver

While we were preparing this post, a hotfix was released. You can read about changes in v0.105.1 here.

Three releases in one post: Mac, Android, AdGuard Home

We had three not-so-big release back to back, so it made perfect sense to tell about them in one blog post. Find out about what's new with our Mac, Android and Home products.

adguard.com

 

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

It took us nearly four months from the previous release to develop two betas and review everything carefully before releasing v4.2. So, what's new?

Extension for blocking ads on YouTube
If you were attentive enough while reading the latest blog posts, you probably know about the events leading up to this release. Long story short:

1. In March YouTube started to employ a new algorithm for showing ads
2. AdGuard users started seeing ads on YouTube in Safari and complained to us about it.
3. We've come up with a solution — developed a temporary workaround and then created a shortcut which needed to be installed manually.

But we wanted to go one step further and turn the shortcut into a built-in extension to make it as user-friendly as possible. Developing such a solution was incredibly important to us, and we're happy that after all the hassles with YouTube algorithms and the unexpected ads in Safari, we figured out a way to solve this problem in an elegant and simple way.

After you update your app to v4.2, this extension will be installed automatically — unlike with the shortcut, you don't have to follow any complicated instructions. It is enabled by default and starts dealing with ads right away. Other than ads, the extension removes the placeholder remaining after blocking on iPads. Plus, videos are now played automatically again and you don't have to make an extra tap.

To activate the extension and block ads on YouTube, do the following:

1. Open Safari.
2. Open youtube.com.
3. Tap Share.
4. Tap "Block YouTube Ads (by AdGuard)".

N.B. In some cases the AdGuard extension may be not displayed. If you don't see it, try to follow the instruction again or restart your device.

Improved rules converter
Rules converter is a specific thing for iOS. It is required to convert AdGuard filtering rules to the ones of Safari, as its syntax differs from the commonly accepted one. In this version we've improved the performance of our rules converter, added support for new modifiers ($specifichide, noop, and $denyallow) and fixed conversion errors.

The other changes are relatively minor: we've updated DnsLibs and eliminated all the bugs spotted.

As always, looking forward for your feedback on the new version. Share your impressions here in the comments section or on the social networks. See you!

AdGuard v4.2 for iOS — you can blocking ads on YouTube again

With AdGuard v4.2 for iOS it's now again possible to block ads on YouTube! Follow the instruction and watch videos with no ads.

adguard.com

 

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

A minor AdGuard for iOS update: v4.2.2 changes the app's UI slightly to be more in accordance with iOS 15.

But our main focus is on v4.3 where we will introduce Safari Web Extensions: a completely new feature to greatly improve the ad blocking quality.

We intend to release it in the next few weeks. Stay tuned!

Release 4.2.2 · AdguardTeam/AdguardForiOS

A minor update. We changed one line to be consistent with iOS 15. Our current focus is v4.3; it has a cool innovative feature that augments ad blocking quality. We intend to release it in the next ...

github.com

Versions history | AdGuard

Download and learn about AdGuard versions — latest version, release date, version history, patches, features, etc.

adguard.com

 

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

In iOS 15 Apple has added the support for so-called Safari Web Extensions. This is truly a revolutionary change, no need to tone it down. Safari has become the first iOS browser to support browser extensions that we all know and love. Yes, the extensions in Safari are somewhat limited in their capabilities compared to their desktop counterparts, but it should not take away from Apple and the team that worked on this innovation.

What it means for you
Ok, but how will this change impact AdGuard ad blocker? After all, AdGuard uses Content Blocking API to block ads in Safari that — or rather, has been using it up until now. Web Extensions open the door to a completely new world filled with new opportunities.

The thing is, due to their "declarative" nature regular content blocking rules are quite narrow in terms of what you can achieve with them. The obvious example is blocking YouTube ads in Safari: it's a hard and non-trivial task, up to the point that we had had to add a special shortcut that needed to be prompted manually every time you opened YouTube.

Forget about that like it's never happened. We added a new module to AdGuard called "Advanced Protection", and it's called like that for a reason. It takes advantage of, well, advanced filtering rules (like CSS rules, selectors, and scriptlets) and therefore can deal even with the complex ads, like the aforementioned YouTube variety. And it will do so without any manual input. It just works!

This is one of the biggest level-ups in the history of AdGuard for iOS. Web extensions open so many new avenues, we actually felt like a kid in a candy shop. Hopefully, you share our enthusiasm! So what are you waiting for? Go and show them ads who's boss! The update is already available in the app, or you can download AdGuard for iOS anew from the AppStore.

AdGuard v4.3 for iOS: new era of Safari ad blocking

AdGuard v4.3 for iOS features one of the biggest and most impactful changes in the history of the app: AdGuard Web extension. It will allow to block complex ads like YouTube ads in Safari.

adguard.com

 

[toto_10]

Sounds big..

Not available on the Pro version.

 

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

Sounds big..

Not available on the Pro version.

Not yet...

It is at version 4.2.2 and in the changelog is stated:

A minor update. We changed one line to be consistent with iOS 15.

Our current focus is v4.3; it has a cool innovative feature that augments ad blocking quality. We intend to release it in the next few weeks. Stay tuned!

I don't understand the reason for a separate pro version.
I use the "normal" version on my iPad activated with my AdGuard family license.
What is difference with the pro version?

 

[Arequire]

What is difference with the pro version?

AdGuard Pro includes the following features:


- Custom filters. Add your own filters by URL even if they are not on the default list.


- DNS privacy. Blocking regular online trackers is not enough if you want to assure 100% protection of your online privacy. Choose any of the user-favorite DNS providers or configure a custom DNS server.


- Security filters. Protect yourself from dangerous websites riddled with cryptojacking or fraud.

 

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

Thanks @Arequire but I can also do that in the normal version activated with my license.

Found that nowadays there is no difference in the Pro FAQ on AdGuard's website:

What the difference between AdGuard for iOS and AdGuard for iOS Pro?

Long time ago, AdGuard Pro was our only app that offered premium functionality, in contrast to the free AdGuard for iOS app that was only intended to block ads in Safari. Today both apps are basically interchangeable and you can choose whichever you prefer. (and you really don't need both). You can read more about the situation of our iOS apps in this article.

AdGuard Pro — Adblock for iOS | Overview | AdGuard

AdGuard Pro offers a lot on top of ad blocking in Safari. By providing access to custom DNS settings, it can protect children from harmful websites and conserve data usage.

adguard.com

AdGuard Pro for iOS is back to block ads across the system once again!

AdGuard Pro for iOS is back! How come? What will happen next? All these questions are answered in the Blog post.

adguard.com

 

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

And to wrap up the release schedule, AdGuard for iOS + AdGuard Pro v4.3.1

In this update we make an emphasis on fixing the bugs that we let through in the v4.3. Besides that, despite the very little amount of time that had passed since the previous update, we managed to make some changes that tangibly improve the overall quality of the app.

Releases · AdguardTeam/AdguardForiOS

The most advanced ad blocker for iOS. Contribute to AdguardTeam/AdguardForiOS development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

 

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

Not all our updates are flashy and eye-catching, but they all make AdGuard better. So, meet AdGuard v4.3.2 for iOS — right from the oven. In this release we've mainly focused on improving the app’s performance and fixing minor bugs. You'll probably notice that AdGuard now starts faster than before. We hope you’ll enjoy the new version of AdGuard for iOS.

[Fixed] No Internet when using cellular connection (DNS64 network) #1901

Previously, DNS protection didn't work with some cellular operators with IPv6-only networks (e.g., T-Mobile US). A little AdGuard magic and everything works as it should.

[Fixed] Crash on opening an app with a large DNS blocklist #1883

Now you won't have any problems if you actively use DNS protection and your custom rules.

Release 4.3.2 · AdguardTeam/AdguardForiOS

Not all our updates are flashy and eye-catching, but they all make AdGuard better. So, meet AdGuard v4.3.2 for iOS — right from the oven. In this release we've mainly focused on improving the app’s...

github.com

- The app now loads up to x10 faster - Some DNS protection-related bugs fixed - Crash when loading the app with a large DNS blocklist fixed