Hi
here the latest and greatest:
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I’m curious how this compares to AdGuard’s DNS Protection feature, which does a very good job on third-party apps.
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I’m not sure if it’s actually ironic (I can’t keep track), but I like that the first use case I have for this application of an Apple-developed technology is blocking ads in Apple News.
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Is Filtr blocking Apple News ads for you?
I was skeptical if Apple’s framework would extend to first-party apps, but if it does then I might switch over to Filtr from NextDNS. I’m already a big Wipr fan.
I subscribed for a year purely because the dev deserves it. She did an excellent job with the app over many years 
. All OTPs.
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@thickweb I also want to know. When I initially installed NextDNS it blocked Apple News Ads (I pay for Apple News+, I don’t believe I should also have to see ads), but it is no longer blocking the ads.
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I spent the $4.99 to discover for myself, but now face another conundrum:
I have kept my iPhone on iOS 26.4 because I am still making my peace with the fact that 26.5 adds the ability for Apple to insert ads into Maps.
So now in order to see if Filtr blocks ads in News, I need to allow Apple to display ads in Maps! And I think it’s safe to presume those ads will be surfaced in a much more unblockable way?
From what I have seen, it blocks ads in News, except ads from the company giving you the news itself. For example, I still see WSJ ads for WSJ in the news article but I don’t see Apple ads. Now, this is from one 10 minute look in the News app. Looking for others to confirm.
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Seems to be the same for me.
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This seems to be some sort of intermittent thing. I have used NextDNS off and on over the years, and have gone through periods of it working and not working. I don’t think it’s even systemwide as much as per user. For example, NextDNS is currently blocking ads in Apple News for me.
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That is good to know, I think. 
I must not be living right. 
Best $5 I’ve ever spent. After a couple minutes checking a few articles, Apple News actually feels like the premium experience it’s supposed to be.
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I really dislike subscriptions, but based on the experiences shared above and my even greater dislike for intrusive ads when I’m reading, I subscribed. Sometimes you just have to pick your battles.
How does it work? Does it create a local VPN connection? It’s not clear from the website
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Please screenshots because Apple News not available in my country
Probably using this new Apple API:
Detailed look at that API by AdGuard:
PS: Would be great if AdGuard will offer this as well (because I have multiple lifetime licenses via their Family plan).
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This is how we did it back in the day by adding entries to the /etc/hosts file and pointing every ad-server to 127.0.0.1 (localhost). There were a lot of “doubleclick.net” entries, I recall.
For those who are unaware, /etc/hosts is checked BEFORE the DNS query and the IP-address is the standard loopback interface on any IP-based device. Of course, the request for fetching an ad from here will fail, and it does so very quickly.
This practice soon became challenging to maintain with the explosion of ad-based services and users having access to multiple devices, but also why this service is so useful.
Uses a new Apple API: Wipr Help
It’s based on a new iOS/macOS 26 technology called “URL Filters”. It allows Wipr to block network requests system-wide without having access to any network traffic at all, and with more granularity than previous solutions.
Filtr is not a VPN. You can use a VPN and Filtr at the same time. You can use Filtr and iCloud Private Relay at the same time. Same for custom DNS.
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