CarterBlock setup: block ads without breaking apps

CarterBlock setup starts in Settings: enable blocking, exclude anti-cheat games, and use the allowlist when a needed domain gets blocked. Our free tweak covers apps, games, in-app browsers, and Safari, with separate controls that help you narrow down problems without turning everything off.

CarterBlock setup in five steps

Install CarterBlock from the CarterWare source, https://tweaks.carterware.net/, through Sileo or Zebra. The package is com.carterware.carterblock, and its listed requirements are Dopamine rootless, ElleKit, and iOS 15.0 or later.

We verified hosts-list downloads, live in-game ad counters, and the Enabled toggle on iOS 17 in version 1.2.8. Version 1.2.9 added verification on iOS 17 for Safari blocking, app exclusions, background downloads, and AVPlayer request handling. Those checks do not establish verification for every supported iOS version.

Once installed:

1. Open Settings → CarterBlock.
2. Leave Enabled on.
3. Open Excluded Apps and select online games that use anti-cheat.
4. Optionally tap Download Hosts List.
5. Use an app or site with ads, then return to CarterBlock to inspect Blocked and Last Blocked.

Settings changes reach open apps within seconds. If an ad was already loaded before you changed a setting, relaunch the app before judging the result.

The optional hosts list supplements the built-in blocking patterns. Start with a small, repeatable check in one app so you can understand the effect of each change before adjusting more controls.

Use Excluded Apps for anti-cheat games

Excluded Apps and the Allowlist solve different problems.

Excluded Apps keeps CarterBlock completely out of the selected app. That is the control to use for online games whose anti-cheat may treat hooking as tampering. Open Settings → CarterBlock → Excluded Apps, then choose the relevant games.

An exclusion is not a promise that a game will accept every other part of your jailbreak setup. It controls CarterBlock's involvement in that app.

The Allowlist works at the domain level instead. Use it when you want blocking to remain active but need a particular host to load. Adding a domain there also covers its subdomains.

For example, if one necessary service stops loading while the rest of an app works, investigate the blocked host and consider an allowlist entry. If your goal is to keep CarterBlock out of an anti-cheat game altogether, use Excluded Apps.

Avoid treating those two controls as interchangeable. Allowing a host does not provide the same exclusion as keeping the tweak out of the app.

Check Safari and the blocking counters

CarterBlock 1.2.9 added Block in Safari, applying the same rules to Safari and the Safari views that apps open. This includes in-app browser and sign-in views that use that component.

Open Settings → CarterBlock → Block in Safari to control this coverage. A blocked page can show Safari's content-blocker error, so record which page failed when troubleshooting.

The counters give you several ways to inspect activity:

• Blocked shows blocking activity.
• Game Ads and Trackers separate those categories.
• Hosts Hits and Custom Hits help distinguish list-based and custom-rule matches.
• Web View Blocks counts blocking inside supported web views and Safari.
• Last Blocked helps you identify a recent blocked host.

Use Reset Stats for a clean check, repeat the same action in your test app, and inspect the counters again. That makes the result easier to interpret than looking at totals accumulated across unrelated browsing.

Web-page blocks are counted when the web view has a navigation delegate, as Safari and most apps do. Counters are a signal, not a guarantee that every ad was removed.

Fix a broken page before disabling everything

If a page or app stops working after you enable blocking, change one setting at a time. Otherwise, you lose track of which adjustment restored it.

A useful sequence is:

1. Repeat the action that failed.
2. Return to Settings → CarterBlock and inspect Last Blocked.
3. If you identify a needed domain, add it to the Allowlist and try again.
4. Test Game Ad Patterns and Analytics & Trackers separately to narrow down the matching category.
5. Record the working configuration before making another change.

A recently blocked host is a clue, not proof that it caused the failure. Compare the behavior before and after your change.

We reduced false blocks in 1.2.10 by matching tracker hosts using whole name parts such as metrics., analytics., and telemetry.. Sites that merely contain those letters, including catalog or pixel-art sites, should no longer match for that reason. Safari uses the same rules.

If the problem is an actual app crash, Mountaineer provides a separate crash diary with Timeline and Copy Report. It helps investigate crashes; it does not turn a blocked request into a confirmed crash diagnosis.

Know what can still get through

CarterBlock handles blocked hosts in background downloads and AVPlayer video requests, alongside ordinary app traffic. It also catches some ad SDKs that perform their own networking through DNS lookups.

It is not system-wide DNS blocking. Apps using hard-coded IP addresses or their own encrypted DNS can get through. Hosts listed inside a video playlist can also slip through.

For an unresolved problem, open Settings → CarterBlock → Report a Bug, added in 1.2.11. Your tweak version, iOS version, and iPhone model are filled in. Explain the action that failed, the relevant settings, and whether an exclusion or allowlist entry changed the result.

You can also report a bug through the website. A repeatable sequence is more useful than a report that only says blocking failed.

FAQ

Is CarterBlock free?

Yes. CarterBlock is free from the CarterWare source, and our free packages install without an account.

Does CarterBlock work in Safari?

Yes, Block in Safari was added in 1.2.9. It applies the same rules to Safari and the Safari views opened by apps.

Should I allowlist or exclude an anti-cheat game?

Use Excluded Apps to keep CarterBlock completely out of that game. The Allowlist permits domains and serves a different purpose.

Start with Settings → CarterBlock, set your app exclusions, and test one repeatable action before changing more options. Keep the configuration that works, allowlist specific needed domains, and send us the reproduction steps when a problem remains.