This is simply untrue. There are a myriad of adblockers available for iOS (crystal, Wipr, Adblock, Adguard, Purify, 1Blocker X, etc), as well as VPN applications which provide content blocking.

Not an iOS user, so I can't test it: does this block the usual suspects like search, Facebook, Reddit or Instagram ads?

I tried to block those for a while now on Android and wasn't able to find any other solution than using Firefox with ubo.

I don't need to block in-app ads; I just bought my way out of those.

iOS content blockers only function in Safari and certain views.

The Firefox Focus content blocker blocks pretty much every advert for me, works in mobile safari and has done for years.

Blocking ads in apps is certainly trickier though.

Curious about this. Are you expecting something different than going to the safari settings and enabling a third party content blocker? What are you looking for that isn’t offered by that feature?

I'm happy with 1Blocker [1] for blocking ads on iOS.

[1]: https://1blocker.com/

Ah thanks, will check it out!

There are Safari ad blockers. A lot of them. There are also some local vpn ad blockers. Searching in App Store should bring up a lot of options.