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Developer Pulls Top-Selling Ad-Blocking App 'Peace' From Apple Store

The top paid app on the iPhone is kissing it all goodbye.
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The top paid app on the iPhone is kissing it all goodbye.

Marco Arment, a prominent Web developer who previously co-founded Tumblr, has decided to remove his ad-blocking app called Peace from the Apple App Store after almost two days atop the charts.

Peace and other ad blockers like Crystal and Purify climbed the ranks after Apple said it would let consumers download tools for iOS 9 to keep ads off mobile Web pages.

Image: Mobile phone screens of the Peace app
Mobile phone screens of the Peace appMarco.org

While the technology removes annoying ads and promotes faster speeds with greater privacy, it also threatens to undermine the business models of many ad-supported publishers.

"Achieving this much success with Peace just doesn't feel good, which I didn't anticipate, but probably should have," Arment wrote Friday in a blog post titled "Just doesn't feel good."

"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."

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He went on to say that his app doesn't differentiate between good actors and bad, but requires "that all ads be treated the same—all-or-nothing enforcement for decisions that aren't black and white."

Arment is offering refunds for those who purchased Peace, and said consumers who still want to use ad blockers should use Purify or Crystal.

"I know pulling Peace from the store after just two days is going to be an immensely unpopular move, and subject me to a torrent of unpleasantness," Arment wrote. "But that'll end soon enough, and that's better than how I'd feel if I kept going."