Unobstruct 4+
Read web pages unobstructed
InfinitApps
Designed for iPad
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- $0.99
Screenshots
Description
You’re already reading web pages on a pretty small screen. Don’t let floating social media sharing toolbars and the like get in your way.
Unobstruct includes a content blocker for Safari that will remove these bars automatically from several web pages. Just go into Safari’s settings and enable it under Content Blockers.
If a page still has floating bars covering it which aren’t removed by Unobstruct’s content blocker, you can hide these on demand. Do so by tapping the Unobstruct Page item in the Action button in Safari’s toolbar (which can be enabled under the More icon). If you need to get these hidden bars back, simply reload the web page (or long-press reload to load the page with content blockers disabled if you want them all).
Auto-blocking is available on many web sites, including:
• Medium
• TechCrunch
• The Verge
• Recode
• Polygon
• Vox and other Vox-run sites
• Wired
• Mashable
• And many others — see the entire list in the in-app settings
Note that on some sites, the top bar remains since removing it would make the site fail to function fully. But you can use the Unobstruct Page action to remove it.
What’s New
Version 1.2
This app has been updated by Apple to display the Apple Watch app icon.
Now supports blocking certain specific floating social sharing bars, go-to-top buttons, open-in-app buttons, and chat icons on any website that uses these somewhat-common signatures.
Added several new site-specific rules for hiding obstructions on websites suggested by users, including The Onion, Cracked, Vanity Fair, Hearst magazine sites (including Car & Driver, Popular Science, Elle, Road & Track, Country Living, and more), Instructables, The Week, and many others including a number of additional non-US sites.
Fixed a bug where turning off blocking for individual websites would often fail to prevent content blocking on those sites.
Ratings and Reviews
Revising my review upward
A few weeks ago I had reviewed Unobstruct unfavorably - but I’m now much happier with it, and am revising my review upwards. This is for two reasons:
(1) The developer provided feedback explaining why Unobstruct doesn’t work fully automatically: it’s an IOS restriction for which there’s no workaround.
(2) I’ve now seen several situations where Unobstruct worked but the Kill Sticky bookmarklet (which I had praised in my earlier review) didn’t. So I’m now convinced that Unobstruct is providing good value.
Developer Response ,
The bookmarklet can't be performed automatically, unfortunately, due to how it is implemented and limitations of Apple's Content Blocker mechanism. Instead, Unobstruct is coded to block specific bars on specific sites that can be hidden "safely" (without breaking the navigation of the page) and hides those. That list is being expanded upon as new updates are released (for example, 1.1 added 70 websites) and requests for others are accepted from users. Also, Unobstruct adds an icon to the Safari share sheet, in the Actions row, that you can enable via the More item. This is implemented in a very similar way to the kill sticky bookmarklet, but you have to trigger it manually on whatever pages you want to use it on (but if you put it as one of the first 4 actions by dragging it in More, it is more convenient to trigger than a bookmarklet). Also, as of 1.1 this action removes sticky elements on some pages that the "kill sticky" bookmarklet misses.
Amazing and ABSOLUTELY worth it
This immensely improves my web browsing experience, and it’s rare that it doesn’t work (and realistically, nothing will work 100% of the time). I would happily pay more for this knowing how it works for me; 99 cents is a steal for what it does.
Thank you, dev, for creating and maintaining it! I will never be without it again.
Wow
This makes mobile sites enjoyable again. Reading articles is infinitely better with this app, which I end up using every day now. I only wish I could have Unobstruct run on *every* page automatically, because it seems like every site has floating bars at the top and/or bottom nowadays.
App Privacy
The developer, InfinitApps, has not provided details about its privacy practices and handling of data to Apple.
No Details Provided
The developer will be required to provide privacy details when they submit their next app update.
Information
- Seller
- InfinitApps
- Size
- 10.1 MB
- Category
- Utilities
- Compatibility
-
- iPhone
- Requires iOS 10.0 or later.
- iPad
- Requires iPadOS 10.0 or later.
- iPod touch
- Requires iOS 10.0 or later.
- Mac
- Requires macOS 11.0 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later.
- Apple Vision
- Requires visionOS 1.0 or later.
- Languages
-
English
- Age Rating
- 4+
- Copyright
- © 2018 InfinitApps LLC
- Price
- $0.99
Supports
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Family Sharing
Up to six family members can use this app with Family Sharing enabled.