Ad-blocking on your computer is as easy as downloading an extension on your web browser and now, with the launch of a mobile ad-blocker, your mobile platform can have the same experience.
After many months of speculation, a closed invite-only beta testing, and a former product pulled from the Google Play stores in 2013, along with many other similar programs, Adblock Plus now comes to the Android and iOS operating systems for mobile phones.
In an article from PC Mag, the program is now available for downloading on both platforms.
Ahead of the curve from Apple’s iOS platform, which releases an update to their iOS 9 software later this month that introduces an ad-blocking extension for its Safari browser, Adblock Plus has gone through some iterations to get to the point it is at now.
Based on Firefox’s browser, lead programmer Felix Dahlke describes why the choice was made to develop their extension on Mozilla’s platform instead of others.
“Mozilla’s openness is what made Adblock Plus possible in the first place. And since we have to bet on one platform, we decided to bet on Firefox,” Dahlke said in May.
For many users who watch videos online, stream content from YouTube, or watch shows online, ad-blocking software helps to relieve the constant headache of having to wait through the sometimes 1 minute ads that pop up before the start of the video, during it, and right before the video ends. On much longer videos, such as a 20 minute video, ads will pop interrupt the content almost 4 times throughout.
While some do not mind the interruption, most users are quick to find a way to avoid the hassle. According to the statistics available from Firefox on the extension for their web browser, more than 21.8 million users are actively employing the services of the extension as of September 7th of this year.
With ad-blocking expected to grow over the years, this move to the mobile platform will provide a much needed reliever to mobile users.
“We’re definitely happy with what we’ve built here, but still quite eager to get more user feedback now,” said Felix Dahlke.
