Blokada for iOS is paid now?

Yeah majority of blokada users had no problems at all as you can see in this forum BUT the evil and bad apple is the reason you have to make it payware :joy:

Yeah it’s Apples new Framework fault and you could do absolutely nothing .

I wonder how the other ablock apps keep working with the new apple framework and none has implanted any pay services .

Wow so the new framework is implemented in iOS 14.5 and we are now in iOS 15.1 so the so months the App was working perfectly for us but suddenly it does not ?!?

If you implemented the payware right with iOS 14.5 we might believe the story but now it sounds like a fairytale .

Tbh i had decreased ad blocking reliability after 14.6 and i’ve had many bugs in the app, but i don’t understand why there can’t be a v5 option built into the app

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It took us months to come up with Blokada Cloud and make it stable enough to be put inside the app. Hence there were no updates since the apple framework changes

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101% agree, it was’t knightly and civilized, I smoothy said now. I even was pushed in B-plus mode when I asked only for help bcs Blokada was “frozen, craahed, hucked…), it was my eeadon to call for explanation and help…Huh…Decent bot 1st wait for me and more decent live man on chat directly just saod Welcome to Blokada, like I am first time here and 2-3 years behind don’t count nobody, erased like smoked cigarette and sqeezed by boot…Ah…,and this morning I figure out what is it btw.

However, all the best to all, God bless & Cheers

I’ve… No clue what you’re trying to express. Could you please try rephrasing that?
The inapp blokada helpdesk is different to this forum. There’s no direct connection between the two

A post was merged into an existing topic: Blokada no longer block twitch ads

A post was merged into an existing topic: Please tell me where to pay?

I’m on iOS, and have been having this since last week. I have the free plan enabled, but when I did read the on button, it opens up a payment options menu. Help.

The iOS app is not free anymore. The devs faced an issue with the new iOS ad framework and had to address it by introducing Blokada Cloud, which is a more expensive solution but ensures ad blocking efficiency.

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How such a comment can emerge from a user of the libre version is quite astonishing.

Blokada team devs put a lot of hard work and time towards finding the best solution in response to Apple’s own policy and the response from these freely choosing users of these closed systems is to balk at the devs through incorrect assumptions like “intentionally” turning freeware into payware? On an AD BLOCKING app? Are these users adults? I apologize for my tone but it was such a disappointing reading of comment after comment from people who not only feel absolutely entitled to command and demand software directives they are both lacking knowledge of and have little to no merit in doing so considering how many of them are purely using Libre version, but the very fact this is an open community driven project, whereby a simple extra few steps in wetting their toes into ANY Blokada forum or development hub would have been sufficient to clearly understand the issue that was to be unveiled.

They live under rocks by choice, use restrictive software/hardware by choice, update their software by choice, and somehow they place the onus is on Blokada for having modified their iOS application pretty much in its entirety to circumvent Apple’s growing software freedom restrictions. Bah!

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Alright. I’ve never participated in this forum, but do have a degree of relevant expertise (a master’s in psychology and several years of working media-based advocacy) and a stake in this (as a Blokada user). Given the clusterfuck that is this mess, I created this account to stick my fingers in. Please feel free to ignore what I’m saying here – although I advise strongly that you do otherwise.

The core of the problem here isn’t Apple’s changes. It isn’t that ads got through your protection. It’s that you handled the issue in a manner that’s objectively terrible.

You are a community-driven, trust-based project that provides an admittedly important service for your consumers, most of whom are nowhere near as familiar with the technical side of things as you are. You took a free application, and updated it to remove all non-paid functionality without announcing that you were doing so.

This is terrible optics, and a breach of the community’s trust, regardless of why you did it.

You note that Apple’s changes meant that ads were sneaking through the basic, free level of protection (“libre”) and that you removed it because of complaints… but the fact that ads were getting through doesn’t change the fact that some ads weren’t. It was, in other words, still viable (if imperfect) functionality.

And, again, it was removed without announcement, in a manner that at least looks like a bait-and-switch of the sort used by particularly sleazy for-profit productions. The optics were terrible.

So this begs two questions: One, how should this have been handled? And two, what should you do now?

For the first, the answer is quite simple: Without deliberately sabotaging the app for the people who rely on it. The ideal answer would have been a message regarding Apple’s sabotage of the ad-blocking method you were using and explaining why you needed to charge for Blokada Cloud – ideally pushed when the the new version of the app was opened for the first time.

I could probably write one, but it’s a bit much for a hypothetical in a message that’s already as long as this is.

For the second… you aren’t a corporation, so don’t act like one. Apologize and fix the problem. Restore the Libre functionality (as imperfect as it is), and include some variant of the aforementioned notification – one that includes the aforementioned apology – with the next version.

And release said version as soon as possible.

At a minimum, the apology should directly address the optics issue above, and contain a further promise to never again sabotage the app.

The standard advice, I know, is to never admit fault… but, again, this isn’t the usual situation – there isn’t a liability risk involved, and long-term trust and maintaining a sense of community, trust, and accountability is more important than nearly anything else. Saying “We were wrong” goes a long way there.

And it does a heck of a lot to distance you from the usual sleazy corporate types.

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@Freedom Please stop saying nonsense.
NextDNS has a monthly limited number of free DNS queries. When you reach the limit, you have to pay. And believe me, if you’re using it on all of your devices, 30k queries are consumed really, really fast.
Besides, it’s the same price than Blokada Cloud so what the hell are you talking about?

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You’re off by an order of magnitude, @pastfuturism. The free limit is 300k queries per month, not 30k. It’s still annoying, but not nearly as bad as you’re making it out to be.

And while Freedom is admittedly being obnoxious, he’s legitimately aggrieved over a bait-and-switch and remarkably cogent for a random poster on the Internet.

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Blokada 5 Libre 100% worked on iOS before I updated Blokada to the latest version in the Apple App Store. Please give users a choice, like you did on Android by keeping Blokada 4 active, and allow the option to install Blokada 5 on iOS. Not everyone can or will update to iOS15. That’s fine if you won’t want to release updates on Blokada 5 on iOS — but it at least needs to be offered. No apps can be sideloaded on iOS, so there’s no other option. We need Blokada 5 avail in the App Store.

When I chose to update Blokada 1 hour ago — the description of the update stated: “stability fixes.” Absolutely nothing else was stated — not even an announcement that the app was being updated to v6. Now my iOS Blokada account has been “deactivated,” after a solid year of building my white & black lists on this app. I’m shocked by the paywall that forces me out of the app after I select the “activate” button. The way this has been implemented has been very unnecessary. Why wait to introduce the paywall until years-long LOYAL users are confused by the app being “disabled,” and clicking the “enable” button? There’s no description on the paywall page about WHY there’s a paywall — and Blokada 6 doesn’t even check the iOS version the device is running before forcing the paywall, which shows this change has nothing to do with changes to iOS 15.1+.

PLEASE RELEASE BLOKADA 5 WITH LIBRE ON APPLE APP STORE FOR USERS ON OLDER IOS — you can obviously make a disclaimer about not leaving low ratings because user is agreeing to use an older version that can’t guarantee ad-blocking on newer iOS versions. I literally do not care if you ever release an update to Blokada 5 — just please please give users a choice by simply offering it in the App Store.

PLEASE release a separate Blokada 5 version in Apple App Store

Due to Blokada 5’s reduced controls on Android, you offered to support and continue Blokada 4 on Android. The issue is compounded on iOS because you cannot sideload ANY apps on this OS. We’re completely dependent on the App Store. So pls consider, at least in the interim while you’re scaling-up to being fully functional and living-up to the monthly price you’re now asking for, releasing a version of Blokada 5 in the Apple App Store. I’m not running iOS 15, I don’t plan to. Plenty of other iOS users don’t and aren’t using iOS 15 — but several who are said Blokada 5 still worked fine.

At least allow users the option between v5 & v6 on iOS, and that’s fine if you want to offer it with the disclaimer that it’s no longer going to receive updates. This is really the best option at this point for all involved.

Had the update on iOS stated more than just “stability updates” — and stated BLOKADA 6 UPDATE — I wouldn’t have updated and I’d still have Libre ad blocking as we speak. Because its iOS, you know we can’t uninstall version updates, and I don’t want to assume this is being used against iOS users, but it certainly feels that way being on Blokada for 3 years on Android, and 1 year simultaneously on both. You already get donations from Android users to support your project, and use FOSS ad-blocking lists that are core to Blokada’s functionality. On Reddit, Devs always promised Blokada would never force users onto the paid VPN option. That promise is not being kept, and I’m extremely concerned this will be coming to Android as well. The difference is Android users can actually side-load, mirror, and install forked versions of your app — and Android users will be de-incentivized to financially support development or upgrade to the VPN or the new VPN/DNS service if you force it on them like you are on iOS. You’re aware of this. This is a massive misstep for the countless users like myself who’ve donated to your project, and use Android phones + iPad Pro.

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Will the Blokada be free again when the cloud is released

Blokada Cloud is already out, @Galaxy.

I’ll link the announcement again if someone missed it somehow. Also, anyone who ever donated to the project - please reach out to me on PM or hello@blokada.org, and I’ll activate your account.

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OK I found a free alternative to Blokada in case some of you are interested.

First download the DNS Changer app by Surfshark, or any app that allows you to reconfigure DNS on your phone, from the IOS app store. Then in the app, just change the DNS to the one that supports adblocking. I use the one from adhole.org and it worked for me.

If Blokada team had customers do a one time payment for the app that was affordable just because they wanted money I think most current users would fork over because we love the app so much and would weigh the benefits after all this use. But to do a $5/month sitch is a bit of an eye roll. Good luck losing all your users everyone will migrate.

I don’t mind the subscription service. I mind the bait-and-switch with the update, especially given the promises which were broken in the move.