Ad blocking

How Ascent's Shields decide what to block, and what to do when a site does not work.

What is blocked

Ascent blocks requests to ads and trackers before they are made, using these lists, refreshed about every three days:

EasyList and EasyPrivacy
AdGuard's mobile ads list
EasyList's anti-circumvention list, for sites that fight ad blockers
Peter Lowe's ad and tracking server list

and one of our own, refreshed a few times a day:

Ascent filters: ad networks, pop-ups and redirects the lists above miss on the sites Ascent's readers use. We check those sites regularly and add what gets through, so new ads are blocked without waiting for an app update. The list is rules only — the same kind as the public lists — and you can read it.

It also hides advertising that sites draw into their own pages, stops pages opening a window or sending the tab to an advertisement when you tap them, and removes ads built out of many small pieces of a picture.

Levels, per site

Tap the shield beside the address to see how many ads and trackers were blocked on the page, and to choose a level for that site:

Level	What it does
Aggressive	Blocks everything the lists name, including ads a site serves from its own address.
Standard	Blocks ads and trackers from other sites, and lets the site load its own files, except files the lists single out as that site's own advertising. Fixes most sites that break.
Off	Blocks nothing on that site.

The default for sites you have not changed is set in Settings → Shields and privacy → Shields, where you can also see totals and reset every site.

Hide part of a page

If an ad gets through, open the shield and choose Hide part of this page, then tap the ad and Block. It stays hidden on that site. When an ad is made of several pieces, tapping one selects all of them. To bring something back, go to Settings → Blocked elements and tap it.

When a site does not work

Open the shield and set the site to Standard, then reload.
If it still does not work, set it to Off for that site.
If you hid part of the page, remove that rule in Settings → Blocked elements.

Tell us about sites that break or ads that get through: support@rltools.app.