Some iOS 14.5.1 users say Safari browser showing ads with paid content blockers; issue likely affects macOS users too

iOS 14.5 had gone live for everyone late last month and was touted as one of the biggest iterative updates over iOS 14 ever.

The update brought about a bunch of useful new features including the ability to unlock iPhone with Apple Watch, crowdsourcing for Apple Maps, Airtag support, new emojis, app tracking, and more.

Additionally, you even got a fresh purple live wallpaper addition.

Soon after, the iOS 14.5.1 update came into the picture with a fix for an issue with App Tracking Transparency where some users would not receive prompts from apps after enabling it.

But amongst all these cool additions, a couple of new issues have also managed to slip through. We previously highlighted how the iOS 14.5.1 update got stuck on ‘Checking for Update’ page for some users.

And now there are a bunch of users reporting that the iOS 14.5.1 update renders several ad blockers useless. These include apps like 1Blocker, Adblock and AdGuard.

I’m experiencing all the ads on sites like yt where usually content blockers work. Requesting desktop version breaks videos. I’ve seen some posts in the adguard sub regarding this. I use 1Blocker but has up til this update it has worked. Anyone else experiencing this?
Source

As other users have already commented, a good part of the ad removing capabilities of AdGuard Pro are gone since iOS 14.5. I haven’t heard from AdGuard acknowledging the issues nor if there is a fix coming soon for this. Can anyone with knowledge on the matter comment on this?
Source

As it stands, the Safari browser seems to be displaying ads on YouTube as well as several other sites even with paid ad blockers running. The issue is reportedly affecting macOS and iPadOS users as well.

Most of the complaints seem to be limited to YouTube alone indicating that it’s not iOS 14.5 and iOS 14.5.1 to blame with certainty. Rather, it is likely that YouTube changed the way it displays ads by finding a way to bypass ad blockers.

However, there has been an issue opened on the AdGuard GitHub page speculating compatibility issues between the app and the latest versions of iOS. Although, it hasn’t really been assigned to any developer to date.

If compatibility issues are to be truly blamed for this problem, then there’s nothing else to do other than sitting tight and waiting for the respective ad blockers devs to patch their stuff with added support for iOS 14.5.1.

Alternatively, you can also give a try to Brave Browser for YouTube and to Lockdown Privacy to block all sorts of ads.

For now, be sure to keep an eye on our dedicated iOS 14 bug tracker.

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