How to block ads in Apple News?

[NollipfSense]

@Gertjan Yes, I know it's the YouTube app...the AppleTV 3 is the only one Apple locked down...wished I didn't buy it and the YouTube app must be doing DNS bypass somehow.

[pfguy2018]

@NollipfSense

Is there a way to create my own custom DNSBL feed? How does one do that?

[NogBadTheBad]

@pfguy2018

Firewall -> pfBlockerNG -> DNSBL -> DNSBL Groups -> + Add

http://127.0.0.1/filename, https://127.0.0.1/filename or /var/db/pfblockerng/filename would be the source

Look at the format of another file and upload your list to pfSense.

[pfguy2018]

@NogBadTheBad

Thank you - will follow these instructions. Appreciate the help

[pfguy2018]

@NogBadTheBad

Trying to follow you instructions, I realized I have no idea how to get my block file into /var/db/pfblockerng/filename. How do I accomplish that?

[pfguy2018]

@NogBadTheBad

I figured out how to upload the list into that directory. However, now I see the following entries when I force a pfBlockerNG update:

[ Adaway ] Reload [ 01/17/20 13:23:53 ] . completed ..
Whitelist: advertising.apple.com|banners.itunes.apple.com|ca.iadsdk.apple.com|cf.iadsdk.apple.com|cs.iadsdk.apple.com|iadmoo.apple.com|iadsdk.apple.com|secure-gl.imrworldwide.com|su.iadsdk.apple.com|tr.iadsdk.apple.com|ut.iadsdk.apple.com|

Orig. Unique # Dups # White # TOP1M Final

12487 12487 215 11 0 12261

[ D_Me_ADs ] Reload . completed ..
Whitelist: advertising.apple.com|iadsdk.apple.com|qwapi.apple.com|

Orig. Unique # Dups # White # TOP1M Final

2703 2703 479 3 0 2221

[ hpHosts_ATS ] Reload . completed ..
Whitelist: ads.sourceforge.net|advertising.apple.com|autolinkmaker.itunes.apple.com|c.apple.com|collector-cdn.github.com|iadsdk.apple.com|images-aud.sourceforge.net|metrics.apple.com|metrics.sourceforge.net|pivotal.github.com|secure-gl.imrworldwide.com|securemetrics.apple.com|

Orig. Unique # Dups # White # TOP1M Final

45736 45733 3510 12 0 42211

[ Cameleon ] Reload [ 01/17/20 13:23:57 ] . completed ..
Whitelist: ads.sourceforge.net|images-aud.sourceforge.net|metrics.apple.com|secure-gl.imrworldwide.com|securemetrics.apple.com|

Orig. Unique # Dups # White # TOP1M Final

20567 20567 6463 5 0 14099

[ SBL_ADs ] Reload [ 01/17/20 13:23:59 ] . completed ..
Whitelist: advertising.apple.com|iadsdk.apple.com|

Orig. Unique # Dups # White # TOP1M Final

4203 4203 2531 2 0 1670

[ Yoyo ] Reload . completed ..

Whitelist: securemetrics.apple.com
Orig. Unique # Dups # White # TOP1M Final

---

3250 3250 2298 1 0 951

[ D_Me_Malv ] Reload [ 01/17/20 13:24:02 ] . completed ..
Whitelist: advertising.apple.com|iadsdk.apple.com|qwapi.apple.com|

Orig. Unique # Dups # White # TOP1M Final

2737 2737 2733 3 0 1

This seems to suggest that various Apple ad sites are being whitelisted as part of the 3rd party lists I am downloading? How do I remove these sites from the whitelists in the individual feeds to block these pesky ads?

[provels]

@pfguy2018 Have you already removed .apple.com from Whitelist?
( Firewall\pfBlockerNG\DNSBL\DNSBL Whitelist ) It was whitelisted on mine by the wizard.

[pfguy2018]

@provels
Yes I did, and then re-ran the update and those entries disappeared. As I noted above, I also uploaded a custom blocklist following the earlier instructions, which contained all the entries in the second posting in this thread (your post). However, ads are still appearing in Apple News. There must be some other site that is delivering them?

[provels]

@pfguy2018 Probably. Can you see the properties of the ad in your browser?

[pfguy2018]

@provels

No - the ads only show up in the dedicated Apple News app (Mac or iOS). When you click on them, some info comes up from Apple describing what information is shared with the advertiser (as it turns out, not much, and not any personal information), but there is no indication as to the source of the ad.

[provels]

@pfguy2018 Nothing else to offer, except maybe try in Safari and see if blocked. Maybe they are just built into the app.

[NogBadTheBad]

@provels

That would be my guess as well.

[pfguy2018]

Popping back in to answer my own question, in case any others run into this issue. It turns out that adding iadcontent.apple.com and news.iadsdk.apple.com to the blocklist, and then rebooting my iDevices, was the trick. Now seem to be blocking ads in the Apple News app (fingers crossed that this lasts...)

Full process was as follows:

1. Following instructions above, created file AppleAdBlockList.txt containing following entries:
   127.0.0.1 localhost
   ::1 localhost

[Apple ads]

127.0.0.1 metrics.apple.com
127.0.0.1 advertising.apple.com
127.0.0.1 banners.itunes.apple.com
127.0.0.1 ca.iadsdk.apple.com
127.0.0.1 cf.iadsdk.apple.com
127.0.0.1 cs.iadsdk.apple.com
127.0.0.1 iadmoo.apple.com
127.0.0.1 iadsdk.apple.com
127.0.0.1 su.iadsdk.apple.com
127.0.0.1 tr.iadsdk.apple.com
127.0.0.1 ut.iadsdk.apple.com
127.0.0.1 securemetrics.apple.com
127.0.0.1 iadcontent.apple.com
127.0.0.1 news.iadsdk.apple.com

2. At Diagnostics -> Command Prompt, used the upload button to upload this file

3. At the same screen, used Execute Command Shell with the following command: mv /tmp/AppleAdBlockList.txt /var/db/pfblockerng/AppleAdBlockList.txt

4. Created new group under pfBlockerNG -> DNSBL -> DNSBL Groups pointing to the file at /var/db/pfblockerng/AppleAdBlockList.txt

5. Ran a Reload under pfBlockerNG -> Update

Hope this will be helpful to the next person who encounters this issue.

[rkbest]

@pfguy2018 Is this still a working solution? I want to bloack ads on my ios devices and apple apps too.

[pfguy2018]

@rkbest
Seems to still be working on my end.

[rkbest]

@pfguy2018 It seems, the last two and few more entries are already on the adaway blocklist.
The following were not and maybe those are working for you.
Adding for reference:
127.0.0.1 metrics.apple.com
127.0.0.1 advertising.apple.com
127.0.0.1 banners.itunes.apple.com
127.0.0.1 cs.iadsdk.apple.com
127.0.0.1 iadmoo.apple.com
127.0.0.1 su.iadsdk.apple.com
127.0.0.1 securemetrics.apple.com

Will update after i am able to use custom list.

[rkbest]

@pfguy2018 that update command throws an error on my end.

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected 'var' (T_VAR) in /tmp/user_code/7qDq0q on line 7ode_text

With this command as suggested

mv /tmp/AppleAdBlockList.txt /var/db/pfblockerng/AppleAdBlockList.txt

[pfguy2018]

@rkbest
Hmm. There have been a few pfSense and pfBlockerNG updates since the instructions were posted. I wonder if something has changed that would affect that command. Unfortunately, I am not knowledgable enough to troubleshoot that - I was basically following a recipe to make this work. Sorry I can't be of more help here.