wBlock
Hacker ApprovedRanked 9 of 16 ad blockers by recommenders
Free, open-source ad blocker for Safari that uses native APIs, syncs through iCloud and is fast. One critic says it leaves some ad blocks that AdGuard removes.
Free, open-source ad blocker for Safari that uses native APIs, syncs through iCloud and is fast. One critic says it leaves some ad blocks that AdGuard removes.
18 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 15
- criticize it
- 3
- approval share
- 83%
Recommended in 7 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 15 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 7 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Custom blocklists and rules
“It blocks ads pretty well, supports custom blocklists and userscripts”
Comment from 17 Nov 2025 in “WBlock: A New Ad-Blocker for Safari” “wBlock fixes that by allowing you to have custom rules.”
Comment from 11 Nov 2025 in “wBlock: The next-generation ad blocker for Safari” “could also use wblock for custom filter lists”
Comment from 13 Oct 2026 in “Apple's new 'Switch to Safari' campaign details why you should ditch Chrome” Fast and lightweight
“It's also open source but uses native Safari content blocking APIs. It's faster and works and syncs with iPhones through iCloud.”
Comment from 14 Oct 2026 in “Apple: Switch to Safari (From Chrome)” “Light & fast, especially to update.”
Comment from 16 Aug 2026 in “Firefox for iOS now has a native adblocker” Syncs across devices via iCloud
“It's also open source but uses native Safari content blocking APIs. It's faster and works and syncs with iPhones through iCloud.”
Comment from 14 Oct 2026 in “Apple: Switch to Safari (From Chrome)” “syncs up nicely and seems to perform well”
Comment from 18 May 2026 in “I turned a $80 RK3562 Android tablet into a Debian Linux workstation” Blocks ads effectively
“It blocks ads pretty well, supports custom blocklists and userscripts”
Comment from 17 Nov 2025 in “WBlock: A New Ad-Blocker for Safari” “is more effective, anecdotally and via adblock.turtlecute.org”
Comment from 3 Sep 2026 in “Introducing Ad Blocker for Firefox on iOS”
Other ad blockers people recommend
The four most recommended other ad blockers, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| uBlock Origin | 765 | 71 | 92% | 13 | 2 yrs9 owners | Approved |
| uBlock Origin Lite | 148 | 65 | 69% | 12 | 1 yr5 owners | Approved |
| AdGuard | 78 | 8 | 91% | 12 | — | Approved |
| Wipr 2 | 41 | 7 | 85% | 11 | — | Approved |
| wBlockThis page | 15 | 3 | 83% | 7 | — | Approved |
What people said
16 of the 24 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“It's also open source but uses native Safari content blocking APIs. It's faster and works and syncs with iPhones through iCloud.”
“could also use wblock for custom filter lists”
“something that's free and/or more customizable”
“is more effective, anecdotally and via adblock.turtlecute.org”
“Absolutely amazing, works inside webviews (e.g. netnewswire).”
“I don't trust a college kid the same way I trust the team behind uBlock.”
“Nice, last time I heard about wblock felt like years ago and I'm not sure why I didn't consider it.”
“Light & fast, especially to update.”
“syncs up nicely and seems to perform well”
“It blocks ads pretty well, supports custom blocklists and userscripts”
“Except that it's just another declarative blocker spread across 4+ extensions.”
“it appears it doesn’t remove ad content blocks like AdGuard”
“it seems to be everything I've wanted on an ios safari adblocker”
“It works when you are outside your home network, without the additional rigamarole of setting up a VPN”
“It supports (in general) everything Wipr, AdGuard for Safari/iOS, uBlock Origin Lite can do except for maybe multi-device sync”
“wBlock fixes that by allowing you to have custom rules.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.