AdGuard for Mac 1.5.0

Did you know the fact that a mere 5 days ago it was a semi-anniversary since we’ve released the previous AdGuard for Mac version? Just wow. So, we decided that it would be a great moment to, you know, do it again :) So, welcome the new AdGuard for Mac! It has a thing or two that will surely appeal to you, I promise.

But before we get to the update itself, let’s deal with some of the less exciting news. Starting with this version, AdGuard will only work on macOS 10.10 and higher. We tried to postpone this moment as long as possible, but having to support older OSs really ties our hands when we want to implement new cool stuff.

Don’t be too worried if you use an older OS though. In that case AdGuard simply won’t start the update so you will be able to continue using it. However, we recommend to get a newer macOS version to be able to run the latest AdGuard (that concerns a lot of other apps too, frankly).

Key changes

Enough of the side-talk, what’s actually new in AdGuard 1.5.0?

[Improved] Filter editor has been reworked #56

We’ve already changed the Filter editor tool in almost every other AdGuard product to be more fluent and convenient in use. It would be almost a crime to keep it the old way for Mac.

Now it has become possible to enter the so-called ’advanced editing mode’. Basically, it means that the User filter turns into a single text area which you can work with as in any familair text editor: copy/paste several lines simultaneously and apply all changes at once and not line by line. The search tool will help you find or replace anything you need. All in all, it should be a welcome change for all the aspiring filter developers.

[Added] An option to exclude websites with EV certificates from filtering #170

What are those «EV certificates» exactly, again? Well, EV stands for Extended Validation. Some websites feature these special EV certificates. Compared to regular SSL certificates, they require a very strict verification process and offer a stronger guarantee that the website is plausible and can be trusted. Usually, these are bank websites, online payment systems etc. They noramlly do not have that many ads, if any at all, but due to their nature can be very sensitive to filtering.

[Improved] AdGuard can now be launched from an external drive #210

A quite niche but useful improvement. In case you prefer to store your data on an external drive and switch between different desktops a lot, this change is just for you. No more need to update your User filter and other settings on every Mac separately anymore, just have AdGuard installed on an external drive.

[Fixed] AdGuard doesn’t filter apps from the WebCatalog app #165

Previously, AdGuard wasn’t able to filter apps installed via WebCatalog, and they couldn’t even be added to the list of filtered apps manually. Here we fix this nuisance.

Anything else?

Oh yes. As always, the full changelog is available on GitHub. You will see that there is a decent amount of fixes and improvements that concern ad blocking process, for example. And if you don’t want to bother checking it out — just trust us, ads stand an even lesser chance now (which is zero, by the way).

So, see you in March 2018! Just kidding, we’ll try our best to come up with new Mac versions a bit more often than this time. And you can help us by leaving your comments and suggestions here or anywhere else.