The news came out as Apple's WWDC 2015 was coming to an end, but the company's decision to allow ad blockers on Safari may have gotten the most developer applause, based on their Twitter comments.
Apple said the features will be baked into both the iOS 9 and the Mac OS X El Capitan versions of its platform and will apply to cookies, images, other resources, pop-ups and other content.
App developers sounded upbeat about the move on social media:
Sweet. Ad blockers coming to iOS Safari: http://t.co/wYLVFEG7Yo
— Donald Allen (@DesignerDon) June 10, 2015
The Spanish word for referee: Apple enables ad blockers in Safari for new iOS and Mac OS versions http://t.co/DlWbhRkSVD via @gsmarena_com
— Matteo Doni (@Todoleo) June 10, 2015
Of course, given its own iAd business, some were taken off-guard:
I really didn't expect this from Apple - iOS 9 lets app developers make ad blockers for Safari | 9to5Mac http://t.co/t6xQyrpVSi
— Luigi Greco (@Luigi_greco) June 10, 2015
To some extent, offering ad blocks could be a way for some developers to get more business, offering an alternative revenue stream:
Guess what mobile advertisers, your time has come. iOS 9 beta opens the door for ad blockers - http://t.co/BXRiwrEkK3
— Matthew Koyak (@mattkoyak) June 10, 2015
Oh man, ad blockers are possible on iOS 9. I can hear the screams of mobile web advertisers. The future is truly native ads in apps.
— Jean-Francois Roy (@jfroy) June 9, 2015
Overall, developers suggested that Apple was working hard to remain the top mobile platform in the industry:
Together with content blocking extensions (ad blockers, tracking blockers), iOS Search is the perfect storm for Google.
— Gernot (@Gernot) June 10, 2015