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Comment by coldpie | Hacker News Reader

Same, though I try Reader Mode first. If that fails, close tab.

On desktop and mobile Android with Firefox, NoScript eliminates a lot of this bullshit. I switched to iPhone last year and I desperately miss Firefox for Android :(

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The problem is that, while using NoScript, you're still giving the website traffic. The longer term solution is to stop visiting these sites.

Reader Mode is nice, but has two problems. Addons don't work with it and it is not possible to automatically enable Reader Mode without loading the website first.

Firefox Focus has been a true revelation for me. I use it primarily as a content blocker in Firefox and Safari, but it's also a nifty way to have a quick private session with only one tab.

It doesn't do all the things, but still helps immensely.

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/browsers/mobile/focus/

Likewise! It has fewer features and is less convenient to use than a regular browser due to constantly having to log in to sites, which is 100% also a feature to me. The extra steps to access Facebook have allowed me to kick my Facebook habit for good. I waste less time refreshing the same websites waiting for new clickbait, while productive use of the internet for reference is mostly unaffected.

Hm, thanks, I'll give it a look. I have "regular" Firefox, but it didn't seem to play nicely with the ad blocker Safari extension I have installed, so I stopped using it.

> I switched to iPhone last year and I desperately miss Firefox for Android :(

Self-promotion: I wrote a JavaScript blocking extension for Mobile Safari https://underpassapp.com/StopTheScript/

Oh awesome! Are you aiming for NoScript-like experience? Being able to easily whitelist domains, permanently and temporarily, is crucial. It's not clear from the page you linked if it has a whitelist feature.

Not easily, unfortunately. The extension relies on Safari's built-in permissions model, for technical reasons. It's possible to whitelist domains permanently, but not temporarily. https://underpassapp.com/StopTheScript/advanced.html

Looks like that whitelist is also only per top-level domain. E.g. it will allow all on Youtube.com or allow none, instead of allowing to block per script origin domain.

That sucks :( I'm really looking forward to switching back to Android.

Safari content blockers can do fine-grained blocking of external .js file loads, so you might want to look into one of those.

My extension differs from Safari content blockers in that it can block inline JS.

I use Trail of Bit's Algo to run a VPN with adblock; it works quite well to block ads and tracking on iPhone, though it's pretty crude so will miss a bunch of stuff.

thats one hell of a cathedral to perform the same as tiny browser plugin that can even manage to remove all youtube ads... but anything is better than non-filtered web of 2022 thats for sure

This is my number one reason for not wanting to switch when people ask me why I don't have an iPhone.

Honestly, you're right to feel that way. I am planning to switch back to Android when this phone dies. Firefox is a major component of that, but iOS feels miles behind Android in many other aspects as well. I switched because of Apple's privacy stance (if you're making Facebook throw a temper tantrum, you're doing something right) and the fact that they are the only manufacturer to make a phone that fits in the human hand. But iOS is really not a great experience overall.

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