Last night, I saw this tweet from Federico Viticci:

Two months after the launch of iOS 9, there are no Content Blockers in the Top 150 Paid charts for iPhone (US App Store).

I dug into the paid and free lists on the app store and, sure enough, I couldn’t find an ad blocker in the top paid or top free list. So I dug a bit further.

Searching the top Utilities list, the first paid ad blocker I encountered was Crystal at #36 and, remarkably, no ad blockers breaking the top 100 on the free list.

Searching the Productivity category, the only paid ad blocker I could find was Purify (#10) and, again, no free ad blockers in the top 100.

Why is this? What happened here?

One possible factor is that ad blockers are reasonably easy to create. It’s possible that so many were created, they diluted the market, making it difficult for one to grab enough market share to crack the top 100 overall.

Another (perhaps obvious) factor could be the drop in attention, fewer bloggers writing about ad blockers. While iPhones are still selling like hotcakes, it could be that new buyers are not aware of ad blockers and the difference they make to the browsing experience.

It’d be interesting to see a survey showing the percentage of iOS 9 users with ad blockers installed. I suspect it’s a relatively small percentage. Just like two factor authentication, something that has obvious value does not always guarantee wide adoption.