Top all-time · #5613
Magic Lasso Adblock
Company blog · magiclasso.co/insights · on HN as happybuysecurityhardware
Magic Lasso Adblock is the company blog at magiclasso.co, writing about security and hardware. Since 2017, 13 different Hacker News readers have linked it 97 times, most often “The Tragedy of Safari (2021)”. No feed was found, so read it on the site itself.
Too few sampled comments (12) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Magic Lasso's writing on Apple developer tooling and platform hostility, ad-blocker and browser extension changes, and how a side project grew into a seven-figure solo business.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 12 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Effortlessly block ads, trackers and annoyances on your iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV. Block YouTube ads, double browsing speed and extend battery life with Magic Lasso Adblock. Free to download on the App Store.
Most-linked posts?
- The Tragedy of Safari (2021)4 people · 6 mentions · first linked 2021-12-14
- The Triumph of Safari – how 2022 was a transformative year for Apple's browser4 people · 6 mentions · first linked 2023-01-09
- Why Developers Are Struggling on Apple's Increasingly Hostile Platforms3 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2025-03-31
- /2 people · 19 mentions · first linked 2018-05-05
- Apple should end their Google search partnership (2023)2 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2023-03-28
- Safari's Dangerous Defaults2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2023-03-15
- Google’s attempts to undermine adblockers2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2019-03-18
- Show HN: Magic Lasso, a high performance ad blocker for the iPhone, iPad and Mac2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2018-03-19
- Is Advertising Immoral?2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2019-09-30
- Digital advertising may be causing almost 2% of global carbon emissions2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2024-02-12
What Hacker News says?
To defend Google a bit, it looks like the change is being put in place so that users would have more privacy – by stopping extensions accessing all active URLs. In essence they are copying what Apple did with Safari and their content blocking APIs. In this model, content blockers provide the browser with a set of blocking rules and the browser executes them against pages during render & load. Ad blocking can occur a…
Comment linking /
on “Google proposes changes to Chromium which would disable uBlock Origin”Submitted Is Chrome the New IE? (2023) as a story · 284 points
HN discussionAs a developer of an ad blocker[1] our stats would seem to back up what Plausible has found: - Despite having equivalent desktop (macOS) and mobile (iOS) apps, most of our users (> 75%) use the app primarily on desktop - Most users say the key reason for use is for privacy protection; even with Safari providing some inbuilt privacy tracking protection - Our app is focused on providing a simple 'set and forget' ad bl…
Comment linking /insights/difference-adblocking/
on “Tech-savvy audiences block Google Analytics”Submitted Dear Safari, Things I Hate About You as a story · 49 points
HN discussionIt's not a lot of articles in total - only 35, with the first being published over 7 years ago. You can see the full list here: https://www.magiclasso.co/insights/ Perhaps the age of the content helps, though I haven't done a deep dive into SEO practices myself. In the last year, when search traffic increased, I've increased the output to almost 1 article per month.
Comment linking /insights/
on “Bootstrapping a side project into a profitable seven-figure business”Submitted “Hey Google, stop tracking me” as a story · 41 points
HN discussion> You mentioned SEO finally kicking in. Do you attribute that to anything in particular? Any strategic changes you made? I attribute the search traffic growth to: 1. A critical mass of content, after a number of years of writing - without a lot of search traffic for the first few years 2. Re-wrote and polished some of my earlier articles so that they were improved 3. Wrote more guides related to my app which were he…
Comment linking /insights/best-web-browser-2025/
on “Bootstrapping a side project into a profitable seven-figure business”Submitted Why Developers Are Struggling on Apple's Increasingly Hostile Platforms as a story · 25 points
HN discussionGreat post and congratulations. Similar approach and story to myself, in that I started a side project for my own use and interest, and then released it to great feedback as a side hustle, went part-time and over the last 2.5 years managed to go full time. I've yet to reach your $1M ARR though.. but hopefully getting there one day! Recently wrote up a Year in Review which touches on similar learnings as you've writt…
Comment linking /insights/ad-blocker-year-in-review-2025/
on “Bootstrapping a side project into a profitable seven-figure business”Submitted Apple should end their Google search partnership (2023) as a story · 22 points
HN discussionFor iOS and Mac users, may I also suggest people consider using an adblock product we develop – Magic Lasso ( https://www.magiclasso.co/ ). We agree with the sentiment of the post and are working to create a great alternative to misleading adblockers like Adblock Plus. Magic Lasso is an efficient and high performance ad blocker with native Safari integration and we don't take kick-backs from advertisers or follow an…
Comment linking /
on “Please Stop Using Adblock (But Not Why You Think)”Submitted Google’s attempts to undermine adblockers as a story · 20 points
HN discussionAm in a similar situation running a 1 person SaaS B2C product. Recently wrote up a similar review post about the fears, failures and successes I experienced over the past year: https://www.magiclasso.co/insights/ad-blocker-year-in-review...
Comment linking /insights/ad-blocker-year-in-review-2024/
on “One-man SaaS, 9 Years In”Submitted Digital advertising may be causing almost 2% of global carbon emissions as a story · 17 points
HN discussionI make a Safari ad blocker app for iOS and macOS - Magic Lasso Adblock - https://www.magiclasso.co/ It's free to use and download with an optional Pro subscription that includes additional features and makes > $500/month. Key things that have helped the revenue in 2021: - Released a major new version 3.0 which blocks all YouTube ads and has kicked along sales and improved the conversion rate considerably - Apple's s…
Comment linking /
on “Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2021 – Show and tell”Submitted The Tragedy of Safari (2021) as a story · 13 points
HN discussionThe website is pretty transparent about what is paid. The features page has some features listed as part of the "pro" subscription. It seems that the only paid additions are automated rule updates, a whitelist, and early access to new features. https://www.magiclasso.co/#features
Comment linking /
on “Explanation of the state of uBlock Origin and other blockers for Safari”Submitted Why use an adblocker? as a story · 12 points
HN discussionThere are plenty of good ad blocker alternatives available for Safari on macOS and iOS. I’ve created one that is updated regularly, has a free option, respects your privacy and doesn’t take any $ from advertisers to let ads through the ad block rules [1]. Simply search on the App Store for a variety of alternatives. uBlock Origin is good but it’s not the be all and end all of ad blocking especially on Apple platform…
Comment linking /
on “Explanation of the state of uBlock Origin and other blockers for Safari”Submitted The Dark Side of Apple Development: Developers Struggling on Hostile Platforms as a story · 9 points
HN discussionI'm about to release Magic Lasso – a free ad blocker for the iPhone, iPad and macOS simply because I think advertising on the web has gone too far. http://magiclasso.co/ Won't make money but hopefully will help make the web better.
Comment linking /
on “Ask HN: Projects that don't make you money but you're doing it out of sheer joy?”Submitted Is Advertising Immoral? as a story · 9 points
HN discussionI am really not breaking new ground when I say that the "modern API" is entirely neutered. It has been discussed here at length. It is so neutered, that literally no one uses it except where it is mandatory. And here is the real banger: YOU DON'T EVEN USE IT when you try to block ads on youtube. Let's recap: You are worse at blocking ads, because you can not block dynamically and the user can not add rules to sites…
Comment linking /insights/youtube-adblocking/
on “Google sets burial date for legacy Chrome Extensions, fears for ad-blockers grow”Submitted Google's attempts to undermine ad blockers (2019) as a story · 6 points
HN discussionThat’s not true re the Safari ad blocker ecosystem. We develop a Safari ad blocker [1] that works on iOS and macOS which provides performant and private ad blocking. Unlike previous ad blockers using other extension mechanisms, it also can’t see which web pages you visit. We recently released best in class YouTube ad blocking features too. The mechanisms for doing this is different, but the ad blocking results are a…
Comment linking /
on “Google sets burial date for legacy Chrome Extensions, fears for ad-blockers grow”Submitted Apple Should End Their Google Search Partnership as a story · 6 points
HN discussionApp Store blockers can be and in some cases are as efficient as uBlock Origin. Many are likely more efficient as the blocking is implemented directly by Safari using optimised content blocking rules that are executed by native code (as opposed to Javascript execution as per UBlock Origin). When compiling the content blocking rules, Safari also ensures the rules fit within reasonable execution limits to ensure there…
Comment linking /insights/difference-adblocking/
on “UBlock Origin 1.17.4 released”Submitted How to Block YouTube Ads in 2025 as a story · 5 points
HN discussionThe reason these APIs are being removed are to improve the privacy of users. Apple recommends all adblock extensions now use the content blocking API which is superior from a user privacy perspective. When using the content blocker apis, the extension cannot view or read which web pages are visited. Prior extension APIs had full access to browsing history (which obviously can be easily abused). The content blocker A…
Comment linking /
on “UBlock Origin 1.17.4 released”Submitted Safari's Dangerous Defaults as a story · 5 points
HN discussion
