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Pop-Ups in Safari

Long time member of the Apple Family. I am sorry to say that I can no longer use Apple Safari. Never ending annoying pop-ups make safari Unusable. Forced to switch to Firefox. Why can't Safari build a pop-up blocker

into the OS ???? Why should I have to download and expose myself to some Third party extension just to block the pop-ups ?? Could anyone please explain to me why Apple can't or won't include a pop-up blocker

in the OS ??

iMac (M1, 2021)

Posted on Nov 6, 2023 6:32 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Nov 7, 2023 12:27 PM

Thanks, those are advertisements and "news" sites are by far the worst offenders.


Advertisements aren't pop-ups per se. What you really want is a content blocker or "ad-blocker". I prefer Safari too, but Apple takes a hands-off approach to attempting to block them within the app. If Apple were to include them natively it would cause advertisers to complain Apple is taking their business away. In fact certain companies have been complaining loudly about Apple doing exactly that by incorporating certain Safari features that limit tracking and other ways of spying on you. Apple is more concerned about privacy than annoying advertisements.


Ad-blocking Safari extensions are popular but I don't have anything in particular to suggest. None of them are completely effective and all of them have the potential to cause unwanted behavior.


With the understanding that Safari is preferable in many respects, if you want to avoid intrusive advertisements on sites known to be laden with them, consider using Brave: https://brave.com


Brave incorporates a native ad-blocker in addition to other privacy features. I have not compared it to Firefox in that respect, so am not in a position to judge whether one is better than another.

6 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Nov 7, 2023 12:27 PM in response to mylesvk

Thanks, those are advertisements and "news" sites are by far the worst offenders.


Advertisements aren't pop-ups per se. What you really want is a content blocker or "ad-blocker". I prefer Safari too, but Apple takes a hands-off approach to attempting to block them within the app. If Apple were to include them natively it would cause advertisers to complain Apple is taking their business away. In fact certain companies have been complaining loudly about Apple doing exactly that by incorporating certain Safari features that limit tracking and other ways of spying on you. Apple is more concerned about privacy than annoying advertisements.


Ad-blocking Safari extensions are popular but I don't have anything in particular to suggest. None of them are completely effective and all of them have the potential to cause unwanted behavior.


With the understanding that Safari is preferable in many respects, if you want to avoid intrusive advertisements on sites known to be laden with them, consider using Brave: https://brave.com


Brave incorporates a native ad-blocker in addition to other privacy features. I have not compared it to Firefox in that respect, so am not in a position to judge whether one is better than another.

Nov 7, 2023 11:47 AM in response to mylesvk

Why can't Apple build the blocker right into the OS ?


I answered that question. If you are experiencing something other than what Apple describes in that Support document, perhaps something else is going on with Safari. The "more information" I require needs a description of what you are seeing. Can you post a screenshot?


Plenty of websites are clogged with intrusive advertisements and unwanted clutter. Those are not pop-ups; they're just annoyances. If you are not experiencing them in Firefox without any modifications or add-ons though, something else may be at work.


EtreCheck may help identify possible causes: How to use the Add Text Feature When Posting Large Amounts of Text, i.e. an Etrecheck Report - Apple Community. Post its report in a reply.

Nov 7, 2023 12:15 PM in response to John Galt

John this is just a small example of what happens when I open Fox News . This last screen shot is with the ad space blank.

Then every time you click on a news article see the newest ad that pops up in each subsequent article you click on. Nothing ever Pops Up when I use Firefox ? I will supply you with Etrecheck tonight.



Nov 7, 2023 5:54 AM in response to John Galt

Dear John, over the years you have helped answer my questions on several occasions. However, even when I block pop-ups on a particular web page it does not stop the pop-ups. For me Safari is unusable because of this.

The most annoying part is I had to switch to Firefox. It seems Firefox has the blocker built right in. I never get any pop-ups using Firefox. What a pleasure. I really would prefer to use Safari. I tried for over a year fighting the pop-ups in Safari to no avail. Why can't Apple build the blocker right into the OS ?

Nov 7, 2023 3:04 PM in response to John Galt

John Gault is the Best. John thanks so much for your help. At least I know I'm not going out of my mind. Only after experimenting with Firefox, did I realize how annoying my browsing experience was with Safari. Again I would prefer Safari, but I would also prefer not to be downloading " a content blocker " or ad-blocker. I found using Firefox, there are no pop-ups, and none of the worst offenders, advertisements. Firefox is clean as a whistle, a little custimizable, and fast......but that will be our little secret. Thanks again for all your help.


Pop-Ups in Safari

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