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Several years ago, I used Blockada, which was frequently recommended. According to some discussion threads, it seems to have fallen from grace.

What ad blocker that doesn't require root do you use? What's your experience with it? Would you recommend it?

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[–] RichRatsch@lemmy.world 50 points 1 year ago (7 children)

You can easily use private DNS settings on your android without installing anything!

dns.adguard.com is simple and works well nextdns allows more configuration, stats and blocklists

[–] ggnoredo@lemm.ee 7 points 1 year ago

Is it possible to use private dns only on mobile network ?

So what I never understood, why is this free and is there an risk attaches to using it, e.g. adguard or nextdns logging your traffic or something. I have always been suspicious, for no good reason to be honest, of using such a dns service.

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[–] TurnItOff_OnAgain@lemmy.world 22 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I set up an account with NextDNS and set them as my DNS server. It blocks ads, trackers, malicious websites. You can set up custom blocks, rewrites, and it has logging.

[–] giant_smeeg@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Easily the best option, works so well and you can still use your own VPN as and when required.

[–] TurnItOff_OnAgain@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Plus it's free under 300k queries a month. I've been using it for years and never hit my limit. I should pay for it though, it's not expensive and I've gotten a lot of value out of it.

[–] dallyo@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Same with me. After I've read you comment i bought the subscription. This service is so worth to me.

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[–] giant_smeeg@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah I have a pihole at home, but considered paying and then setting it up on my whole network. Not sure.

[–] TurnItOff_OnAgain@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I considered setting up a pi hole or something similar, but worry about the bus situation and my family. I figure NextDNS would be easier to maintain or remove than added hardware.

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[–] henfredemars@infosec.pub 20 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm surprised that I haven't seen anyone mention this, but Firefox for Android lets you install from a list of compatible extensions. You can use uBlock Origin as normal.

[–] TwinTurbo@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Thanks. Vivaldi has built-in support for ad blocking, too, and you can also add custom lists to it.

[–] nefarious@kbin.social 19 points 1 year ago

Honestly, I should probably set up a system-wide adblocker, but I just use uBlock in Firefox and avoid apps that shove ads in my face.

[–] tirestarter@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I've been using AdGuard on my phone (OnePlus 6T) and tablet (Tab S7 FE) for quite some time now. Neither device is rooted. I got AdGuard lifetime license on sale from StackSocial a while back. The app isn't on the Play Store (if you look for it, you will instead find an extension for the Samsung browser or something). They have you download the .apk from their site, and then you can set up the blocking how you prefer. It works by setting up a local VPN. I think there's other ways to use it but I didn't feel the need to tweak further. Because it acts like a VPN, all app traffic flows through it so ads are blocked pretty much system-wide. Browsers, social media apps etc. Honestly I'd highly recommend it.

[–] Kale@lemm.ee 5 points 1 year ago

I use adguard as well. Zero complaints.

[–] TwinTurbo@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Have you noticed any battery drain from it? Blockada sometimes affected my battery life when in use, or even after I deactivated it.

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[–] I_Miss_Daniel@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago

I'm in the same position. Works well.

[–] OverfedRaccoon@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

If you're coming from Blokada, check out AdAway. It works the same way unrooted, setting itself as a VPN that can be toggled on and off. So if you're coming from Blokada, it's like that, but without the recent-ish subscription stuff - so you'll feel right at home.

https://www.f-droid.org/packages/org.adaway/

[–] Wander@yiffit.net 12 points 1 year ago

Adguard works by setting up a virtual VPN and blocking adds that go through it.

[–] Reorder9543@social.fossware.space 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

AdAway is what I use on my rooted devices. It does have a rootless mode as well and if it's anywhere near as good as the root mode I would absolutely recommend it. I haven't tested it though so give it a shot.

[–] OverfedRaccoon@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

AdAway works very well unrooted. It sets itself as a VPN that you can toggle on/off within the notification or app. I've had no issues with it, personally. Recommended, especially if coming from Blokada since they moved to subscriptions.

[–] TwinTurbo@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Thanks! I'm leaning towards this option. Have you noticed any battery drain? Blockada seemed to affected my battery life sometimes.

[–] OverfedRaccoon@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

I have it off most of the time and turn it on when I know I'm heading into an adpocalyptic space, so I'm not really sure. πŸ˜…

[–] tvmole@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I use DNS66 downloaded from F-Droid. It registers itself as a VPN, but it's actually a DNS filter, not a VPN. It works to filter ads on most apps, and you can individually disable it for specific apps if needed.

I also use the Firefox app, which supports a few add-ons (much less than the desktop version), including uBlock and some similar options

I'd recommend one or both. They're working great for me on a non-rooted Pixel 4a 5G

[–] zeekzag@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago (4 children)

NextDNS (free up to 300k queries/month, doesn't require any additional apps) or AdGuard (paid but has cosmetic filtering, they have their own app available on their website). Both are fast and don't require root.

[–] iamroot@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 1 year ago

Just to note, Adguard cosmetic filtering only works with browser apps without root. For most other apps it requires root to filter HTTPS traffic.

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[–] Never_Sm1le@lemdro.id 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Blokada used to be recommend a lot in the past, what happen to them in the past 2 years?

[–] TwinTurbo@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They've moved to a cloud-based, subscription model for the new version (Blockada 6). You can still get Blockada 5, which is offline and free, for now, but it may be phased out at some point.

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[–] VerPoilu@sopuli.xyz 6 points 1 year ago

I use TrackerControl. It doesn't block ads in browsers, however, so I use Firefox and ublock origin there.

[–] mbeezy@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 year ago

Adaway is the go to thing for me, it's FOSS and Supports VPN as Well as Root Mode. Also it already has some Blocklists integrated and you can easily add more and the battery drain is near to negligable.

[–] kioshi@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I use paid Adguard on my s23 and my ipad and I love it

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[–] mojo@lemm.ee 5 points 1 year ago

I use Fennec (fork of Firefox stable) as my main browser and it has uBlock Origin, which has tons of filters. They even added specific mobile ones for annoyances like cookie banners. On top of that, I set my private DNS to dns.adguard.com. Ads aren't getting thru my defenses!

[–] DigitalPortkey@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

Private DNS. I use https://nextdns.io/, and then just change my phone's private DNS address to match.

Works great, easy enough to toggle off if needed.

[–] muaveri@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

try setting up your private dns to: adblock.doh.mullvad.net

[–] jacktherippah@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

I use Mullvad VPN and so far it's been fantastic.

[–] harry315@feddit.de 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I've used DNS66 from F-Droid. Worked like a charm.

[–] monotremata@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago

I use this along with ublock origin in Firefox, but DNS66 doesn't seem to be updated anymore, so I think it's contributing less than it once did.

[–] parrot@lemm.ee 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)
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I use private dns p3.freedns.controld.com

[–] AnonymousLlama@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago

You can set up private DNS like others have suggested here, dns.adguard.com

I've found it's pretty handy removing ads overall. The first few links on Google, the sponsored section often doesn't work (since sponsors are ad based)

[–] ScOULaris@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Adguard is the best option for system-wide, rootless ad blocking on Android IMO.

It's the best because it also performs cosmetic filtering to reclaim the empty space that most other blockers leave behind after removing an ad from a web page. This makes web pages look much cleaner and is something that I value in any adblocker, mobile or otherwise. The free version works across any browser or embedded webview instance within apps, and the paid version filters all ads within apps as well. I can't recommend it highly enough.

Completely negligible impact on battery life as well.

[–] TwinTurbo@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Thanks, that's useful to know, especially regarding the paid vs free version. I may get the trial to see how it does, then consider getting a license.

[–] ccreamsonn@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Been using Rethink DNS for awhile now. It has a lot of custom blocklists and can even block apps from having WiFi and Mobile Data access.

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