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Any solutions for iOS?

Open Proaxel opened this issue 2 years ago • 51 comments

I just want to start with giving a ton of thanks for this list, it has saved me a lot of sanity since they started their anti-Adblock efforts last year.

However I also watch a lot of Twitch on my jailbroken iOS device. Twitch has also implemented their Adblock bypass on iOS, which defeated the TwitchNoAds jailbreak tweak, the only working solution at the time. I also tried downgrading the app to a version way before then but even that didn’t work. The developer pushed one update for the tweak that attempted to fix the issue but it didn’t work, and they seem to have abandoned it afterwards. No one has came forward with a new Adblock solution ever since.

Does anyone here know of any working solutions for iOS? Or is it there a possibility that one can perhaps port one of the solutions on this list to work on iOS?

Edit 5/5/22: After what felt like ages, we finally have solutions. TwitchAdBlock by level3tjg or TwitchToolbox by HearseDev

Proaxel avatar Oct 03 '21 22:10 Proaxel

I'm using NextDNS with their default AdBlock Filter. I never see ads in the Twitch iOS App.

revunix avatar Oct 04 '21 14:10 revunix

I'm using NextDNS with their default AdBlock Filter. I never see ads in the Twitch iOS App.

I took a look at it… and I have no idea how to set it up… I followed what it said here but nothing on the internet loads when I have the NextDNS selected in the DNS settings. https://www.reddit.com/r/nextdns/comments/j4y72o/nextdns_setup_on_ios_14/

Could you provide steps on how you set it up for adblocking?

Proaxel avatar Oct 04 '21 20:10 Proaxel

If you're using a web browser userscript solutions might work. AdGuard for iOS might also work (but I'm not sure if it bundles AdGuard Extra which is the thing which blocks Twitch ads).

pixeltris avatar Oct 06 '21 16:10 pixeltris

If you're using a web browser userscript solutions might work. AdGuard for iOS might also work (but I'm not sure if it bundles AdGuard Extra which is the thing which blocks Twitch ads).

I didn't know that userscripts work on iOS, how does one set them up? My devices are jailbroken on iOS 14 if that helps anything

Proaxel avatar Oct 06 '21 16:10 Proaxel

Okay, i'm also getting ads again.

revunix avatar Oct 06 '21 16:10 revunix

It depends on the browser you're on. You'd need a browser which supports Tampermonkey or Greasemonkey. If these aren't supported on any iOS browsers then you could use uBlock Origin and use one of the scripts in the README. Though I've never actually tested this so maybe some modifications would be required to the scripts.

pixeltris avatar Oct 06 '21 16:10 pixeltris

It depends on the browser you're on. You'd need a browser which supports Tampermonkey or Greasemonkey. If these aren't supported on any iOS browsers then you could use uBlock Origin and use one of the scripts in the README. Though I've never actually tested this so maybe some modifications would be required to the scripts.

I don't think ANY sort of userscripts can work on iOS, at least not easily... I did a bit of looking around and it seems theoretically possible, but it seems like a ton of hoops will need to be jumped through, and even then there's still some nasty trade off for each. https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/31562/is-there-something-similar-to-the-greasemonkey-script-system-for-a-browser-in-io/408352#408352

I presume you're not familiar with how iOS works; While Firefox and Chrome do exist on iOS, extensions are not supported on them. That means that you can't just go to Tampermonkey or Greasemonkey's respective extension store pages and tap install and they work, it just simply doesn't let you.

Only Safari supports extensions, and it literally just got it with iOS 15. Could it be possible to put together an Twitch adblock extension for it?

I have no clue, but besides all this, Twitch on mobile web browsers has become somewhat unintuitive to say the least... I would prefer sticking to the app itself whenever possible.

(I forgot to mention, someone is actively working on getting userscripts working here: https://github.com/quoid/userscripts/issues/135)

Proaxel avatar Oct 06 '21 19:10 Proaxel

If you want to avoid ads on the native app you'll need to mod it somehow, or modify the network traffic and do something similar to notify-strip. Probably modifying traffic would be the easier of the two. But I'm not familiar with iOS so I'm not much help.

pixeltris avatar Oct 06 '21 20:10 pixeltris

In my case the solution was to use SteamLink app to RDP to a PC.

  1. setup a PC with decent specs
  2. start Steam in Big Picture mode (important, otherwise low framerate)
  3. minimise Big Picture
  4. use SteamLink on your iPad to connect to it
  5. open your browser configured with notify-strip

SteamLink is clunky, especially for things such as mouse scrolling. But you do get somewhat used to it. I prefer Moonlight iOS, but it suffers from a bug that causes stuttering.

b5mith avatar Oct 06 '21 21:10 b5mith

I don't think ANY sort of userscripts can work on iOS, at least not easily... I did a bit of looking around and it seems theoretically possible, but it seems like a ton of hoops will need to be jumped through, and even then there's still some nasty trade off for each. https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/31562/is-there-something-similar-to-the-greasemonkey-script-system-for-a-browser-in-io/408352#408352

There's Hyperweb which allows you to use custom userscripts with Safari.

chowder avatar Oct 07 '21 08:10 chowder

It's a shame no one here has found anything that works on the app itself but I'll be keeping an eye out.

If anyone out there has found any solution for the iOS Twitch app, whether you found this issue through Google or whatnot, please don't hesitate to share it here, it doesn't matter how old this issue is. I'll still have reply notifications for this enabled.

Proaxel avatar Oct 14 '21 21:10 Proaxel

Orion browser : https://testflight.apple.com/join/DeC8ZDnu
This browser allows you to install Firefox or chrome extensions on IOS. You can install either video ad block for twitch or AdGuard extra through the browser, then restart the browser after you install the extension.

JmStyx avatar Dec 05 '21 21:12 JmStyx

Orion browser : https://testflight.apple.com/join/DeC8ZDnu This browser allows you to install Firefox or chrome extensions on IOS. You can install either video ad block for twitch or AdGuard extra through the browser, then restart the browser after you install the extension.

I don’t seem to be getting prerolls anymore, but if I do something that pauses the stream, like go to the Home Screen or a different app without putting the stream in Picture and Picture first, I get served an ad that doesn’t go away until it plays out in full.

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I’m guessing that this may be because of the mobile site and thus the mobile player being forced. I imagine the extension doesn’t work very well on the mobile player. Is there a way to force the desktop version of the site? “Request Desktop Site” doesn’t seem to work

Proaxel avatar Dec 05 '21 22:12 Proaxel

No, I don't think there's any other way to request the desktop version. I can't reproduce the issue you're having with ads when you go to another app, it might be because I'm using an iPad. Are you using video ad block? Give AdGuard extra a try and pair it with uBlock Origin to see if that fixes your problem.

JmStyx avatar Dec 05 '21 22:12 JmStyx

I installed uBlock Origin and Adguard Extra and it still happens... in fact I still need to do some testing to see if any of these ads are affected at all. So far I only seem to get an ad if the stream is stopped and started again, I don't seem to get prerolls unless an ad was spawned in the aformentioned way and interrupted. I still need to check automatic and manually triggered midrolls. It doesn't 100% work but in the meantime I guess this will do for now. I just hope someone at some point develops a new app or some modified version of the Twitch app that implements one of the solutions used in this list... I'm jailbroken so it doesn't need to be approved for the appstore.

Side note, this is the first time I'm using the mobile site in a while and they seemed to have removed the ability to login and chat, was it always like this or did they do this to encourage you to use the app? Not to mention you can't change the quality at all, it seems to be locked on automatic.

Another side note how did you first find out about this Orion browser? This seems like the iOS browser I've always wanted, and yet it flew completely under my radar...

Proaxel avatar Dec 06 '21 00:12 Proaxel

I found this browser on r/freemediaheckyeah just randomly and gave it a try.

JmStyx avatar Dec 06 '21 01:12 JmStyx

Maybe try this app here: https://apps.apple.com/de/app/macaque/id1595306197?l=en

revunix avatar Dec 07 '21 14:12 revunix

Maybe try this app here: https://apps.apple.com/de/app/macaque/id1595306197?l=en

That’s a paid app, so I’d like actual confirmation that it works on an iPhone before considering it. A “Maybe” isn’t sufficient.

Proaxel avatar Dec 07 '21 17:12 Proaxel

That’s a paid app, so I’d like actual confirmation that it works on an iPhone before considering it. A “Maybe” isn’t sufficient.

You can refund if not working.

revunix avatar Dec 07 '21 17:12 revunix

I sideloaded a twitch ipa through AltStore and I was seeing ads ever since I downloaded it , but yesterday I stopped seeing ads for some reason. This ipa also enables low latency player and freemote.

https://mega.nz/file/42x0RTyb#eQGn1ZDnzr90TPbkuqvTihMFdYPSZo3jW9iSmgr0oik

JmStyx avatar Dec 08 '21 18:12 JmStyx

Sooo yeah, my lazy ass never got around to reporting back until now. The short answer is, Orion does not work at all, even with the extensions. Back to square one, iOS still has no working solution as of this comment.

If you think you’re not getting ads, double check by pulling up a stream that you know for certain you do not have a subscription for and does ad breaks and/or runs ads manually. Saltybet manually runs ads during “Changing game mode” breaks, and iirc TwitchPlaysPokémon does an hourly ad break whenever they’re playing Battle Revolution. XPlay takes a lot of ad breaks when they’re live, that one day they were doing ad breaks every 10 minutes.

You must go through the entire break without an ad, if you get served an ad during those breaks then you haven’t blocked ads, something else is making you think otherwise. Maybe you were gifted a subscription for the streamer you watch and you failed to notice. Or maybe you live in a country where the ad system isn’t as prominent.

Proaxel avatar Mar 14 '22 11:03 Proaxel

I just recently found out about this user scripts app and it seems to be working well so far. You just have to download the app and as well as the notify strip userscript of this GitHub. Anyway here is the app https://apps.apple.com/us/app/userscripts/id1463298887. One last thing To run Userscripts on iOS you should be on iOS 15.1 or higher.

JmStyx avatar Mar 15 '22 21:03 JmStyx

I just recently found out about this user scripts app and it seems to be working well so far. You just have to download the app and as well as the notify strip userscript of this GitHub. Anyway here is the app https://apps.apple.com/us/app/userscripts/id1463298887. One last thing To run Userscripts on iOS you should be on iOS 15.1 or higher.

Well that’s a bummer for me, because as of this writing iOS 15.x does not have any jailbreak right now. I’m on iOS 14.5 and I’d rather keep my jailbreak as long as possible. Do you by any chance know of a way to get this to work on iOS 14.x?

In the meantime can someone else with an iOS 15 device try this and see if it works?

Proaxel avatar Mar 16 '22 17:03 Proaxel

Sorry, I don't know a workaround to get this to work on IOS 14. You can try asking the developer to see if he can help you with a solution. https://github.com/quoid/userscripts

JmStyx avatar Mar 16 '22 20:03 JmStyx

I've updated and open-sourced my solution for the iOS app, It should work on version 11.2 up to the latest (12.8.1 as of now.) Sideloading should also work if you're on iOS 15

https://github.com/level3tjg/TwitchAdBlock

level3tjg avatar Apr 28 '22 17:04 level3tjg

I've updated and open-sourced my solution for the iOS app, It should work on version 11.2 up to the latest (12.8.1 as of now.) Sideloading should also work if you're on iOS 15

https://github.com/level3tjg/TwitchAdBlock

I presume this is where a jailbroken user is supposed to download it right?

What about sideloading it, where does one find the download for that?

Proaxel avatar Apr 28 '22 18:04 Proaxel

I presume this is where a jailbroken user is supposed to download it right?

Correct

What about sideloading it, where does one find the download for that?

You can download the deb or compile it yourself and inject it with a tool like Sideloadly or Azule. I'll try to add IPAs to the github releases later so you can just download and install it without any tools (other than whatever you're using to install it ofc)

level3tjg avatar Apr 28 '22 18:04 level3tjg

Thank you!!! Finally, after... however long it took, something that actually 100% works! At least as far as I can tell.

I tested rapidly switching between different channels, that, at least in my experience, tends to trigger a preroll ad the most often. Not a single ad no matter how many times I switched. I also tested manual rolls by watching Saltybet during gamemode change intermissions, the channel always seems to manually run an ad during those. Didn't get an ad there either.

Now the question is how long it takes until it gets broken again. By either Twitch, or an iOS update, or whatever...

Just one question, @level3tjg does the method you use similar at all to the latest version of TwitchToolbox which also just got an update to block ads? Is it okay to install both? I would like the features that tweak adds.

(Also someone mentioned your tweak doesn't work in one of the comments, you may want to go set that straight yourself)

Proaxel avatar May 02 '22 22:05 Proaxel

is method you use similar at all to the latest version of TwitchToolbox which also just got an update to block ads?

Looks like TwitchToolbox switched to my method at some point. If you want to use it instead that's fine, it should work exactly the same

level3tjg avatar May 03 '22 19:05 level3tjg

I think Adblock Luna helped block ads in the Twitch app however there were some concerns shared about privacy and it...

ghost avatar May 28 '22 14:05 ghost