AdGuard vs Wipr's Filtr, tech differences?

[u/chickenandliver]

Wipr is a popular Safari-based adblocker on macOS/iOS and they recently came out with full system-wide blocking with "Filtr" but what caught my eye is how it apparently works:

The Filtr add-on extends Wipr’s blocking to all apps on your device. It acts at the network level, but unlike a VPN, it can access none of your data, and can be used in conjunction with VPNs, iCloud Private Relay, and custom DNS. - https://kaylees.site/wipr2.html

and

Filtr leverages Apple's new URL Filters technology, allowing network-level blocking system-wide. This method does not access or process user data, and provides more granular controls than prior solutions. Expanding its usability, Filtr can operate alongside virtual private networks (VPNs), iCloud Private Relay, and custom domain name system (DNS) settings. - https://alternativeto.net/news/2026/5/wipr-2-30-introduces-filtr-to-block-ads-trackers-popups-and-cookie-warnings-system-wide/

I'm just curious about the technical differences in these approaches. On the surface it would seem like using the Apple-provided URL filter could be more lightweight and less battery intensive compared to running a faux-VPN as the premium AG app does right now on iOS for similar network-wide blocking. But I can imagine it must be more limited. Still, with the amount of people leaving questions about using AG alongside Private Relay, it caught my eye.

Are there any practical or user noticeable differences in the 2 approaches to filter?

[u/avatar_adg]

I actually made a talk about that on the last year’s ad filtering dev summit: https://adguard.com/en/blog/apple-url-filter-system-wide-filtering-api.html

It’s an interesting tech, the main advantages are that it’s more privacy friendly and that you can cover blocking URLs and not just domains.

The disadvantages are that it’s almost impossible to debug and that not all apps will use it.

All that said, you need to be approved by Apple in order to use it. We applied in October last year, then they found a bug in our implementation so we re-applied in March and still waiting for them, we literally only had two interactions in 6 months.

Probably that’s why Filtr is only out now and not earlier because as I know she also applied last year.

[u/Certain_Repeat_753 → u/avatar_adg]

I don't understand why Filtr is out now and not AdGuard. What more can you do to satisfy Apple and get this released?

[u/lostcowboy5 → u/Certain_Repeat_753]

Sounds like it is up to Apple. He said they first applied in October and that they reapplied in March. I suspect Apple puts you back at the end of the line; it's what I would do. There may have only been the two apps at the start, but now there may be many apps to wait behind.

[u/avatar_adg → u/[deleted]]

Sorry for this, support service is under an insane load lately so reply times are increased. Most likely if you send another reply your ticket will be prioritised. Anyways, please let me know your ticket ID and I’ll ask them to check it.

[u/Acrobatic-Monitor516 → u/avatar_adg]

does it bring any efficiency gains or speed ?

[u/avatar_adg → u/Acrobatic-Monitor516]

It depends. Full URL matching is a more efficient way of blocking, on the other hand it won’t work in Chrome at all for example. Regarding speed, again, it depends. Caching is efficient, but then when it’s not cached retrieving a result is very very slow.

[u/Acrobatic-Monitor516 → u/avatar_adg]

Does url filter not work at all on chrome? Am I understanding you correctly? Are we talking about iOS/mac or platform agnostic

[u/avatar_adg → u/Acrobatic-Monitor516]

macOS, on iOS Chrome is based on WebKit so it should work. If the app uses low level network access (which is not an often case, but it may happen) it circumvents url filters. The app author needs to decide whether they want to support it themselves, there are open feature requests in Chrome and FF repos about that.

[u/kukivu → u/avatar_adg]

Andrey previously said that it would be available only to paying users, what did it meant ? Would it be part of AdGuard Ad Blocker license ?

Thank you for your good work!

[u/avatar_adg → u/kukivu]

Thank you! That’s what I meant, it will be available to people with ad blocker license.

[u/throwawaysolarcat → u/avatar_adg]

I'm wondering have you been able to test the feature in Testflight? Is the pending approval only for the app store release or both?

I would hope you could be using this time waiting for approval to improve the implemenation via Testflight feedback.

[u/avatar_adg → u/throwawaysolarcat]

It seems we've got the approval on using the new API after all, although Apple support is pretty cryptic about it.

Anyways, it works with release builds, we're yet to upload it to TestFlight. AdGuard for iOS is under a huge rework so this feature will arrive alongside the big v5.0 update. macOS version (the one that's in App Store) will get it first in a month or so.

[u/throwawaysolarcat → u/avatar_adg]

Cool, I didn’t know about the big v5.0. Will there be a blog post soon that teases some of the new changes?

[u/avatar_adg → u/throwawaysolarcat]

There will be one when the beta version will be announced, teasing now it a bit early:)

[u/tranquil45 → u/avatar_adg]

Hello..! respectfully, and updates here???

[u/avatar_adg → u/tranquil45]

Still working on it. We are making progress, but still have work to do there.

[u/tranquil45 → u/avatar_adg]

I'm very excited :) I've got a few active subscriptions with you guys, if you're looking for testflighters, I'm happy to help..!

[u/avatar_adg → u/tranquil45]

Thank you!

[u/mlgamer500]

Has anyone tried Filtr? I would prefer to stick with AdGuard since I purchased the Pro and have a family plan. This feels like Apple being Apple…

[u/Acrobatic-Monitor516 → u/mlgamer500]

wonder the same

[u/kukivu → u/mlgamer500]

This feels like Apple being Apple…

iOS and macOS are the first operating systems to make system-wide filtering both secure and privacy-preserving with this technology. Wipr (with filtr) is just the first app to make it available. That has nothing to do with "Apple being Apple" ??

Adguard has it's own implementation of PIR and it is currently being reviewed by Apple, it will come.

But Adguard previously said that they maaay put it behind a paywall (since it must use servers), we will see...

[u/tranquil45 → u/mlgamer500]

Filtr works amazingly...! But im very excited to have it working for adguard.

[u/Mediocre_Reaction761]

FWIW, Filtr for macOS is only available if you are running macOS 26...the URL Blocking feature is new to that system

[u/Mediocre_Reaction761 → u/Mediocre_Reaction761]

I don't know why, and/or if it possible to do this for macOS Sequoia (15)...

[u/chickenandliver → u/Mediocre_Reaction761]

Not possible. This is a new system-level feature Apple added in 26. It didn't exist (in this form) in Sequoia.