A new app called Filtr promises to block ads and trackers across virtually every app on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac, not just Safari.
Most ad blockers on Apple devices stop at the browser. Safari's Content Blocker API, available since 2015, works well inside that lane, but open the ESPN app, your weather app, or any ad-supported game and the trackers flow freely. Filtr uses Apple's own built-in filtering systems to intercept ads and trackers at the system level, extending coverage to third-party apps. Because the filtering runs through Apple's own framework rather than an external server, it sidesteps the performance and trust trade-offs that come with VPN-based blockers.
That distinction matters. VPN-style blockers, a common workaround for achieving system-wide filtering on iOS, route traffic through a server outside your device, adding latency and introducing a new party that can see your traffic. A filtering solution that stays on-device is a meaningfully different privacy posture, not just a marketing claim. It also arrives as ad-supported apps lean harder into surveillance-style data collection.
Whether Filtr can actually deliver on "nearly every app" is the real test. Apple's filtering APIs have architectural limits, and app developers have historically found ways to route around blockers when ad revenue is at stake.