{"slug": "wblock", "name": "wBlock", "category": "browsers", "category_name": "Browsers and extensions", "description": "Open-source ad blocker for Safari on macOS and iOS using native content blocking.", "recommenders": 5, "commenters": 5, "warners": 0, "score": 4.454, "rising": 1.02, "first": "2025-11-11", "latest": "2026-10-14", "why": "Liked as a fast, open-source Safari content blocker that syncs between Mac and iPhone through iCloud and supports custom rules and userscripts.", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": true, "sentiment": {"recommend": 5, "neutral": 0, "compare": 0, "warn": 0}, "spark": [2, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1], "listed": true, "loved": ["Performance", "iCloud sync"], "caveat": "No cosmetic filtering", "short_quote": "Absolutely amazing, works inside webviews (e.g. netnewswire).", "icon": true, "domain": null, "github_repo": "github.com/0xcub3/wblock", "official_url": "https://github.com/0xCUB3/wBlock", "pricing": "open source", "aliases": ["wBlock"], "verdict": [{"text": "Liked as a fast, open-source Safari content blocker", "cites": [{"id": 801370128, "item_id": 50085633, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50085633", "by": "rwaksmunski", "date": "2026-10-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It's faster and works and syncs with iPhones through iCloud.", "excerpt": "For those needing uBlock Origin please give wBlock a try. It's also open source but uses native Safari content blocking APIs. It's faster and works and syncs with iPhones through iCloud.", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking in Safari", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple: Switch to Safari (From Chrome)"}, {"id": 770830576, "item_id": 48176911, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48176911", "by": "epiecs", "date": "2026-05-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I have been using it on my mac and my mobile devices and it syncs up nicely and seems to perform well", "excerpt": "A free option worth checking out: https://github.com/0xCUB3/wBlock . I have been using it on my mac and my mobile devices and it syncs up nicely and seems to perform well :)", "context": "", "use_case": "Safari ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "I turned a $80 RK3562 Android tablet into a Debian Linux workstation"}]}, {"text": " that syncs between Mac and iPhone through iCloud", "cites": [{"id": 801370128, "item_id": 50085633, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50085633", "by": "rwaksmunski", "date": "2026-10-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It's faster and works and syncs with iPhones through iCloud.", "excerpt": "For those needing uBlock Origin please give wBlock a try. It's also open source but uses native Safari content blocking APIs. It's faster and works and syncs with iPhones through iCloud.", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking in Safari", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple: Switch to Safari (From Chrome)"}, {"id": 770830576, "item_id": 48176911, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48176911", "by": "epiecs", "date": "2026-05-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I have been using it on my mac and my mobile devices and it syncs up nicely and seems to perform well", "excerpt": "A free option worth checking out: https://github.com/0xCUB3/wBlock . I have been using it on my mac and my mobile devices and it syncs up nicely and seems to perform well :)", "context": "", "use_case": "Safari ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "I turned a $80 RK3562 Android tablet into a Debian Linux workstation"}]}, {"text": " and supports custom rules and userscripts.", "cites": [{"id": 735314976, "item_id": 45957186, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45957186", "by": "microflash", "date": "2025-11-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Been using wBlock for a while. It blocks ads pretty well, supports custom blocklists and userscripts", "excerpt": "Been using wBlock for a while. It blocks ads pretty well, supports custom blocklists and userscripts and does get rid of entire DOM nodes containing ad elements instead of leaving annoying empty elements. Compared to Adguard, you do lose cosmetic filtering but gain better battery life.", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking in Safari", "switched_from": "", "story": "WBlock: A New Ad-Blocker for Safari"}, {"id": 734296208, "item_id": 45893513, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45893513", "by": "nsagent", "date": "2025-11-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "wBlock fixes that by allowing you to have custom rules. It also includes the ability to run userscripts", "excerpt": "I was previously using Wipr 2, but got tired of the fact that it would block things I didn't want and there was no recourse except disabling it wholesale (for example, I noticed it blocks any element with an id of 'privacy_policy' or 'privacypolicy,' which I ran into when actually trying to read the privacy policy for a service I use). wBlock fixes that by allowing you to have custom rules. It also includes the abili", "context": "", "use_case": "Safari ad blocking", "switched_from": "Wipr 2", "story": "wBlock: The next-generation ad blocker for Safari"}]}, {"text": " The one caveat raised is that, compared with AdGuard, it loses cosmetic filtering.", "cites": [{"id": 735314976, "item_id": 45957186, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45957186", "by": "microflash", "date": "2025-11-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Been using wBlock for a while. It blocks ads pretty well, supports custom blocklists and userscripts", "excerpt": "Been using wBlock for a while. It blocks ads pretty well, supports custom blocklists and userscripts and does get rid of entire DOM nodes containing ad elements instead of leaving annoying empty elements. Compared to Adguard, you do lose cosmetic filtering but gain better battery life.", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking in Safari", "switched_from": "", "story": "WBlock: A New Ad-Blocker for Safari"}]}], "praise": [{"label": "Performance", "summary": "Commenters say it feels fast and performs well, with better battery life than AdGuard.", "quotes": [{"id": 801370128, "item_id": 50085633, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50085633", "by": "rwaksmunski", "date": "2026-10-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It's faster and works and syncs with iPhones through iCloud.", "excerpt": "For those needing uBlock Origin please give wBlock a try. It's also open source but uses native Safari content blocking APIs. It's faster and works and syncs with iPhones through iCloud.", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking in Safari", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple: Switch to Safari (From Chrome)"}, {"id": 770830576, "item_id": 48176911, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48176911", "by": "epiecs", "date": "2026-05-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I have been using it on my mac and my mobile devices and it syncs up nicely and seems to perform well", "excerpt": "A free option worth checking out: https://github.com/0xCUB3/wBlock . I have been using it on my mac and my mobile devices and it syncs up nicely and seems to perform well :)", "context": "", "use_case": "Safari ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "I turned a $80 RK3562 Android tablet into a Debian Linux workstation"}, {"id": 735314976, "item_id": 45957186, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45957186", "by": "microflash", "date": "2025-11-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Been using wBlock for a while. It blocks ads pretty well, supports custom blocklists and userscripts", "excerpt": "Been using wBlock for a while. It blocks ads pretty well, supports custom blocklists and userscripts and does get rid of entire DOM nodes containing ad elements instead of leaving annoying empty elements. Compared to Adguard, you do lose cosmetic filtering but gain better battery life.", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking in Safari", "switched_from": "", "story": "WBlock: A New Ad-Blocker for Safari"}]}, {"label": "iCloud sync", "summary": "Settings sync across Mac and mobile devices through iCloud.", "quotes": [{"id": 801370128, "item_id": 50085633, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50085633", "by": "rwaksmunski", "date": "2026-10-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It's faster and works and syncs with iPhones through iCloud.", "excerpt": "For those needing uBlock Origin please give wBlock a try. It's also open source but uses native Safari content blocking APIs. It's faster and works and syncs with iPhones through iCloud.", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking in Safari", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple: Switch to Safari (From Chrome)"}, {"id": 770830576, "item_id": 48176911, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48176911", "by": "epiecs", "date": "2026-05-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I have been using it on my mac and my mobile devices and it syncs up nicely and seems to perform well", "excerpt": "A free option worth checking out: https://github.com/0xCUB3/wBlock . I have been using it on my mac and my mobile devices and it syncs up nicely and seems to perform well :)", "context": "", "use_case": "Safari ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "I turned a $80 RK3562 Android tablet into a Debian Linux workstation"}]}, {"label": "Custom rules", "summary": "Supports custom rules and blocklists, which fixes over-blocking seen in Wipr 2.", "quotes": [{"id": 734296208, "item_id": 45893513, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45893513", "by": "nsagent", "date": "2025-11-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "wBlock fixes that by allowing you to have custom rules. It also includes the ability to run userscripts", "excerpt": "I was previously using Wipr 2, but got tired of the fact that it would block things I didn't want and there was no recourse except disabling it wholesale (for example, I noticed it blocks any element with an id of 'privacy_policy' or 'privacypolicy,' which I ran into when actually trying to read the privacy policy for a service I use). wBlock fixes that by allowing you to have custom rules. It also includes the abili", "context": "", "use_case": "Safari ad blocking", "switched_from": "Wipr 2", "story": "wBlock: The next-generation ad blocker for Safari"}, {"id": 735314976, "item_id": 45957186, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45957186", "by": "microflash", "date": "2025-11-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Been using wBlock for a while. It blocks ads pretty well, supports custom blocklists and userscripts", "excerpt": "Been using wBlock for a while. It blocks ads pretty well, supports custom blocklists and userscripts and does get rid of entire DOM nodes containing ad elements instead of leaving annoying empty elements. Compared to Adguard, you do lose cosmetic filtering but gain better battery life.", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking in Safari", "switched_from": "", "story": "WBlock: A New Ad-Blocker for Safari"}]}, {"label": "Userscripts", "summary": "Can run userscripts, so a separate extension is not needed.", "quotes": [{"id": 734296208, "item_id": 45893513, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45893513", "by": "nsagent", "date": "2025-11-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "wBlock fixes that by allowing you to have custom rules. It also includes the ability to run userscripts", "excerpt": "I was previously using Wipr 2, but got tired of the fact that it would block things I didn't want and there was no recourse except disabling it wholesale (for example, I noticed it blocks any element with an id of 'privacy_policy' or 'privacypolicy,' which I ran into when actually trying to read the privacy policy for a service I use). wBlock fixes that by allowing you to have custom rules. It also includes the abili", "context": "", "use_case": "Safari ad blocking", "switched_from": "Wipr 2", "story": "wBlock: The next-generation ad blocker for Safari"}, {"id": 735314976, "item_id": 45957186, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45957186", "by": "microflash", "date": "2025-11-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Been using wBlock for a while. It blocks ads pretty well, supports custom blocklists and userscripts", "excerpt": "Been using wBlock for a while. It blocks ads pretty well, supports custom blocklists and userscripts and does get rid of entire DOM nodes containing ad elements instead of leaving annoying empty elements. Compared to Adguard, you do lose cosmetic filtering but gain better battery life.", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking in Safari", "switched_from": "", "story": "WBlock: A New Ad-Blocker for Safari"}]}, {"label": "Webview support", "summary": "Blocking works inside app webviews such as NetNewsWire.", "quotes": [{"id": 792475744, "item_id": 49529734, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49529734", "by": "nntwozz", "date": "2026-09-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Absolutely amazing, works inside webviews (e.g. netnewswire).", "excerpt": "I was using ublock origin lite but now I've converted to wblock. Absolutely amazing, works inside webviews (e.g. netnewswire). v3 just released. https://github.com/0xCUB3/wBlock", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking on iOS", "switched_from": "uBlock Origin Lite", "story": "Introducing Ad Blocker for Firefox on iOS"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "No cosmetic filtering", "summary": "Compared with AdGuard, it lacks cosmetic filtering.", "quotes": [{"id": 735314976, "item_id": 45957186, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45957186", "by": "microflash", "date": "2025-11-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Been using wBlock for a while. It blocks ads pretty well, supports custom blocklists and userscripts", "excerpt": "Been using wBlock for a while. It blocks ads pretty well, supports custom blocklists and userscripts and does get rid of entire DOM nodes containing ad elements instead of leaving annoying empty elements. Compared to Adguard, you do lose cosmetic filtering but gain better battery life.", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking in Safari", "switched_from": "", "story": "WBlock: A New Ad-Blocker for Safari"}]}], "who": [], "tags": ["for Safari users", "for Mac and iPhone users", "uBlock Origin alternative", "open source"], "use_cases": ["ad blocking in safari", "safari ad blocking", "ad blocking on ios"], "compared": [{"slug": "ublock-origin-lite", "name": "uBlock Origin Lite", "co": 2, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "wipr-2", "name": "Wipr 2", "co": 1, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "adguard", "name": "AdGuard", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50085112", "title": "Apple: Switch to Safari (From Chrome)", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49521973", "title": "Introducing Ad Blocker for Firefox on iOS", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48168668", "title": "I turned a $80 RK3562 Android tablet into a Debian Linux workstation", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45954626", "title": "WBlock: A New Ad-Blocker for Safari", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45893452", "title": "wBlock: The next-generation ad blocker for Safari", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"recommend": 2}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-10": {"recommend": 1}}, "quotes": [{"id": 801370128, "item_id": 50085633, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50085633", "by": "rwaksmunski", "date": "2026-10-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It's faster and works and syncs with iPhones through iCloud.", "excerpt": "For those needing uBlock Origin please give wBlock a try. It's also open source but uses native Safari content blocking APIs. It's faster and works and syncs with iPhones through iCloud.", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking in Safari", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple: Switch to Safari (From Chrome)"}, {"id": 792475744, "item_id": 49529734, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49529734", "by": "nntwozz", "date": "2026-09-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Absolutely amazing, works inside webviews (e.g. netnewswire).", "excerpt": "I was using ublock origin lite but now I've converted to wblock. Absolutely amazing, works inside webviews (e.g. netnewswire). v3 just released. https://github.com/0xCUB3/wBlock", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking on iOS", "switched_from": "uBlock Origin Lite", "story": "Introducing Ad Blocker for Firefox on iOS"}, {"id": 770830576, "item_id": 48176911, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48176911", "by": "epiecs", "date": "2026-05-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I have been using it on my mac and my mobile devices and it syncs up nicely and seems to perform well", "excerpt": "A free option worth checking out: https://github.com/0xCUB3/wBlock . I have been using it on my mac and my mobile devices and it syncs up nicely and seems to perform well :)", "context": "", "use_case": "Safari ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "I turned a $80 RK3562 Android tablet into a Debian Linux workstation"}, {"id": 735314976, "item_id": 45957186, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45957186", "by": "microflash", "date": "2025-11-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Been using wBlock for a while. It blocks ads pretty well, supports custom blocklists and userscripts", "excerpt": "Been using wBlock for a while. It blocks ads pretty well, supports custom blocklists and userscripts and does get rid of entire DOM nodes containing ad elements instead of leaving annoying empty elements. Compared to Adguard, you do lose cosmetic filtering but gain better battery life.", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking in Safari", "switched_from": "", "story": "WBlock: A New Ad-Blocker for Safari"}, {"id": 734296208, "item_id": 45893513, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45893513", "by": "nsagent", "date": "2025-11-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "wBlock fixes that by allowing you to have custom rules. It also includes the ability to run userscripts", "excerpt": "I was previously using Wipr 2, but got tired of the fact that it would block things I didn't want and there was no recourse except disabling it wholesale (for example, I noticed it blocks any element with an id of 'privacy_policy' or 'privacypolicy,' which I ran into when actually trying to read the privacy policy for a service I use). wBlock fixes that by allowing you to have custom rules. It also includes the abili", "context": "", "use_case": "Safari ad blocking", "switched_from": "Wipr 2", "story": "wBlock: The next-generation ad blocker for Safari"}]}