Sorry if this may not be the best place, but I have yet to find a general anti-ad subreddit.
So on iOS, anything that views a web page must use the built-in Safari. That is a given. So therefore, if you successfully implement ad-blocking on Safari or the OS on which it runs, you also do so with every other web page that is retrieved from an in-app Safari.
I have gone full nuclear on ads for some time now, and have utilized encrypted DNS-over-TLS configuration profiles - that also include ad-blocking - to ensure ad-blocking at the system level instead at a higher level that apps can bypass. But some of these have started blocking legit sites (archive.today, for example) due to political pressure, and others have been shutting down (mullvad, as of 2026-11-02).
The current service du jour for me happens to be NextDNS. If you have only one device or router you block through, then you can run account-free, but if you exceed the 300,000 requests/mo limit (and imma gonna hit that within 6 days or so), you need an account to pay for more. And really, it’s a completely trivial amount of money, amounting to about $30USD/yr. Plus, through that account you can load community blocklists and even built your own denylist. Great if you want a single point of control over multiple devices, from your router (if running OpenWRT) to mobile devices.
My problem is that I am getting a massive disconnect between FlipBoard loading websites, and those websites within any other browser on iOS.
On FlipBoard, I get ads from AdChoices - and ONLY AdChoices - strewn throughout most to nearly all articles I open.
When I open those articles in a normal web browser on iOS, those ads don’t exist, or are blocked successfully.
Plus, I have also gone to the desktop and opened specific articles up on a naked web browser, one without any anti-adware, anti-malware, or anti-spyware protections, and some articles have no ads in the first place. Like, because it’s on desktop I am able to trivially view the source, and there are no HTML placeholders for ads where those ads are on iOS. And yes, as a web developer I know what to look for. Plus, I know the difference between ads locked to the bottom of the window - likely brought up as a part of the FlipBoard frame, within which would be the website - and ads embedded in the site content - which would be injected.
So my only conclusion - as of this point - is that FlipBoard is intentionally injecting ads into the articles that are brought up within the app.
This is somewhat sad, because my primary attraction to Flipboard is the random nature of what it brings up. I don’t have to hunt down RSS feeds, I just need to select a few subjects and it brings that content together.
But it has also been doing an 18+ age check with every launch, which as an information-MUST-be-free person, is deeply heretical. That alone will likely cause me to drop it as soon as I find something decent to replace it with.
I just want to first figure out what is happening, here, in case it also starts happening with another app.
For context:
I was there, in the mid to late 90s, when visiting the wrong website - or even the right website on the wrong day! - spawned so many pop-ups and pop-unders that it was like trying to play whack-a-mole. And trying to close one pop-under or pop-over spawned a half-dozen more, to the point where not only was the browser locked up six ways to Sunday, but even the OS as a whole ground to a halt, requiring a hard restart and the loss of all your active work.
It’s also why I jumped eagerly on the world’s first browser ad-blocker when it was released for Firefox (then Phoenix) back in 2002.
I feel for those companies who rely on advertising to drive revenue, but man, that well was permanently poisoned for me three decades ago. I will not suffer another ad if I can absolutely do so. Hell, it’s why I gave up broadcast TV back in 2001, and will instantly drop any streaming service that does not have a 100% ad-free tier.
If I need a product or service, I do research. But I go so far as to have a “never patronize” list for billboards I see IRL.
![[link]](https://i.redd.it/8txguhs5pswh1.jpeg){kind=link}
![[link]](https://i.redd.it/hm4uaqyo4hwh1.png){kind=link}