SAN FRANCISCO: A top iPhone ad-blocking application was pulled from the App Store on Friday by its creator, amid a surge in interest in new programs to thwart marketing messages.
Programmer Marco Arment removed the Peace app after it spent more than a day as the most downloaded paid application at Apple’s online shop.
“Achieving this much success with Peace just doesn’t feel good, which I didn’t anticipate,” Arment said in a post at Marco.org.
Ad blockers come with an important asterisk: while they do benefit a ton of people in major ways, they also hurt some, including many who don’t deserve the hit.”
The $2.99 app jumped to the top of the charts after the Wednesday release of updated iOS 9 Apple mobile operating software that allows the use of programs blocking ads from popping up while visiting websites using Safari web browser.
While blocking ads promised to make surfing the Internet from iPhones or iPads faster and rein in telecom data use, it also sabotages what has long been the main way websites make money while providing free content or services.
“Of course, ads pay for properties on the Web,” said independent analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle Group.
“You are essentially fast-forwarding through the commercials the way people do with TV.”
