Menu
EN

AdGuard v1.11 for Safari: Fight for filtering rule limits

Being able to block ads and protect against trackers well sometimes takes a lot of work: this time we argued with Apple about the filtering rule limit — and succeeded! Now let us tell you how it was.

Why 50,000 is not enough

We once wrote that Apple had banned content blockers from using more than 50,000 filtering rules at a time. This was causing an obvious inconvenience. First of all, 50,000 is really not enough: our Base Filter now has about 30,000 rules. If you wanted to turn on another filter, the limit was exceeded. But this restriction can actually be circumvented: an application can use more than one content blocker. We took advantage of it by grouping the filters into 6 content blockers: General, Privacy, Social, Security, Other, and Custom. There are 50,000 rules in each of them — together it makes 300,000.

But even this division couldn't solve all the problems: users were getting notifications that the rules limit had been exceeded. During that, some rules from the filter didn't work and the filtering process failed.

Besides, some filters contain directives to transfer rules to another content blocker. If you had enabled multiple filters at once, some content blockers would get overrun too.

A small but important achievement

But we did actually succeed. We had written repeatedly to Apple on increasing the limit — and they kept saying no, arguing that the performance would degrade. But it seems that we’ve changed their minds: their tests were successful and the rule limit for each content blocker was increased to 150,000 — for our six content blockers, that’s 900,000 in total. This is three times more than before — which means that we’ll be able to apply the rules more flexibly, the filtering will become better, and users will have fewer chances to get into a situation where nothing works because the limit is exceeded.

What else we’ve changed

You might have noticed that our icon has been changed. Apple asked us to remove the Safari icon from our logo — and we appreciate that. But you definitely won’t get confused by our new one: it’s actually not that new.

New icon

Besides, we’ve updated the rules converter, scriptlets, and the Browser Assistant, and fixed some minor bugs. If you want to know more, there's always a full list of changes in our GitHub repository.


We hope you'll enjoy the new version of AdGuard for Safari. We're always happy to hear what you think of us — share your feedback in the blog comments, on social media, and on GitHub.

Liked this post?
By downloading the comments you agree the terms and policies

AdGuard for Windows

AdGuard for Windows is more than an ad blocker. It is a multipurpose tool that blocks ads, controls access to dangerous sites, speeds up page loading, and protects children from inappropriate content.
User Reviews: 12906
4.7 out of 5
By downloading the program you accept the terms of the License agreement
Read more

AdGuard for Mac

AdGuard for Mac is a unique ad blocker designed with macOS in mind. In addition to protecting you from annoying ads in browsers and apps, it shields you from tracking, phishing, and fraud.
User Reviews: 12906
4.7 out of 5
By downloading the program you accept the terms of the License agreement
Read more

AdGuard for Android

AdGuard for Android is a perfect solution for Android devices. Unlike most other ad blockers, AdGuard doesn't require root access and provides a wide range of app management options.
User Reviews: 12906
4.7 out of 5
By downloading the program you accept the terms of the License agreement

AdGuard for iOS

The most advanced ad blocker for Safari: it makes you forget about pop-up ads, speeds up page loading, and protects your personal data. A manual element-blocking tool and highly customizable settings help you tailor the filtering to your exact needs.
User Reviews: 12906
4.7 out of 5
By downloading the program you accept the terms of the License agreement

AdGuard Browser Extension

AdGuard is the fastest and most lightweight ad blocking extension that effectively blocks all types of ads on all web pages! Choose AdGuard for the browser you use and get ad-free, fast and safe browsing.
User Reviews: 12906
4.7 out of 5

AdGuard for Safari

Ad blocking extensions for Safari are having hard time since Apple started to force everyone to use the new SDK. AdGuard extension is supposed to bring back the high quality ad blocking back to Safari.
User Reviews: 12906
4.7 out of 5
App Store
Download
By downloading the program you accept the terms of the License agreement

AdGuard Home

AdGuard Home is a network-wide software for blocking ads & tracking. After you set it up, it’ll cover ALL your home devices, and you don’t need any client-side software for that. With the rise of Internet-Of-Things and connected devices, it becomes more and more important to be able to control your whole network.
User Reviews: 12906
4.7 out of 5

AdGuard Content Blocker

AdGuard Content Blocker will eliminate all kinds of ads in mobile browsers that support content blocker technology — namely, Samsung Internet and Yandex.Browser. While being more limited than AdGuard for Android, it is free, easy to install and still provides high ad blocking quality.
User Reviews: 12906
4.7 out of 5
By downloading the program you accept the terms of the License agreement
Read more

AdGuard Assistant

A companion browser extension for AdGuard desktop apps. It offers an in-browser access to such features as custom element blocking, allowlisting a website or sending a report.
User Reviews: 12906
4.7 out of 5
Assistant for Chrome Is it your current browser?
Install
By downloading the program you accept the terms of the License agreement
Assistant for Firefox Is it your current browser?
Install
By downloading the program you accept the terms of the License agreement
Assistant for Edge Is it your current browser?
Install
By downloading the program you accept the terms of the License agreement
Assistant for Opera Is it your current browser?
Install
By downloading the program you accept the terms of the License agreement
Assistant for Yandex Is it your current browser?
Install
By downloading the program you accept the terms of the License agreement
Assistant for Safari Is it your current browser?
If you can't find your browser, try the old legacy Assistant version, which you can find in AdGuard extension settings.

AdGuard Temp Mail β

A free temporary email address generator that keeps you anonymous and protects your privacy. No spam in your main inbox!
User Reviews: 12906
4.7 out of 5

AdGuard for Android TV

AdGuard for Android TV is the only app that blocks ads, guards your privacy, and acts as a firewall for your Smart TV. Get warnings about web threats, use secure DNS, and benefit from encrypted traffic. Relax and dive into your favorite shows with top-notch security and zero ads!
User Reviews: 12906
4.7 out of 5
Downloading AdGuard To install AdGuard, click the file indicated by the arrow Select "Open" and click "OK", then wait for the file to be downloaded. In the opened window, drag the AdGuard icon to the "Applications" folder. Thank you for choosing AdGuard! Select "Open" and click "OK", then wait for the file to be downloaded. In the opened window, click "Install". Thank you for choosing AdGuard!
Install AdGuard on your mobile device