Almost as soon as Peace — the Safari ad-blocking app that reached the top of the App Store's paid chart the day after its release — was pulled from the store Friday over its creator's ethical concerns, another ad-blocking app jumped in to take its place.
The app, Crystal, is selling for about one-third of Peace's price, and now sits in the top spot in Apple's paid charts — the rank Peace held before it was pulled. Another ad-blocking app, Purify Blocker, is not far behind, coming in at number four.
Apple's iOS 9 operating system is the first to allow for ad-blocking extensions to be built for the iPhone's Safari mobile web browser. The new operating system debuted on Wednesday, and by Thursday, Peace was already topping the charts. After making tens of thousands of dollars via sales of Peace, its creator Marco Arment removed it this morning, writing in a blog post that "Achieving this much success with Peace just doesn't feel good." Arment is offering refunds, but they are not being dispersed automatically.
Now others will fill its place. Peace may be gone, but the significant demand for ad blocking is not.