We've all experienced this annoyance with Safari. Someone sends you a TikTok and, despite not having TikTok downloaded, you click on the link to watch it in Safari. Instead of being taken to the video right away, you're prompted to "HEY. Open this in the app!" You say no, go away, and decline the prompt, finally being able to watch the video that your friend sent you.
This happens all over the place. Anytime you are sent a link for an app you do not have downloaded and attempt to just use Safari instead, you get prompted to "Open in App." Thankfully, it appears that someone has come up with a Safari extension that removes all of them.
Banish is a new app for Safari that aims to remove all of those "annoying" 'Open in App' banners:
Banish is an ultra-efficient Safari Extension that removes annoying 'Open in App' banners and other dark patterns on the web. Block annoying pop-ups and save valuable screen real estate.
People seem to be really happy with it
I'm personally always hesitant to download Safari extensions from developers I don't recognize, but Banish seems to have some notable happy customers. John Gruber of Daring Fireball says that it does its one job well:
“Banish does one thing and does it well: it nukes dickpanels in Safari on iPhone and iPad.”
Sarah Perez of TechCrunch notes that the app does more than removing the "Open in App" prompt and can also remove popup blockers that require you to log in:
"The app proved incredibly useful. For instance, when on Quora, clicking a link to another Quora page would normally pop up a blocker that requires you to log in to continue navigating the website. With Banish, this pop-up was gone and you could use the site normally."
The app currently has 4.7 stars in the App Store and only costs a one-time payment of $1.99. So, if you have a couple of bucks and don't want to deal with those annoying prompts anymore, Banish seems like a great option.
