this post was submitted on 01 Aug 2023
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Ad blocking on android (lemmy.dbzer0.com)
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
 

I would like to pirate on my phone sometimes and the ads on websites are problem. I'm not newbie, I know I can install firefox and get the uBlock on it but firefox android is a little bit slow so I prefer to use Opera browser; opera has an ad blocker but it's a joke compared to uBlock. I'm in a restricted country and my phone is not rooted, so if I use ad block apps like AdAway or Adgaurd they need to create a VPN connection in order to function unless the phone is rooted, and that VPN connection doesn't let me to enable another VPN in order to visit filtered websites or apps.

I'm not stuck, but felt if I ask here there may be another smart solution for ad blocking on android that can solve these small problems; and the solution would help other people so be kind and provide what you have.

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[–] [email protected] 30 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (5 children)

Pihole for network wide ad blocking (no ads on all apps on all devices within the LAN) then self-host a vpn to keep your phone within that lan.

Tis what I do at least.

Blocks pretty much everything except Youtube, and Twitchs video ads as they serve their own ads from their own domain's as well as things like sponsored posts on reddit/twitter/facebook.

Don't watch much Twitch, Youtube (re)Vanced is a thing, and Twitter/FB/Reddit can all die in a fire. So none of those are issues for me either.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

This is exactly how I've been doing it. Pihole + Wireguard. Set your pihole device as your DNS on everything ya want. It's shocking how much crap tries phoning home. Especially smart TV's and streaming sticks(Roku ex).

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Set your pihole device as your DNS on everything ya want.

I went one further and defined my pihole as the DNS IP that the dhcp server hands out; then set iptables rules on the router to block all external dns access except for the pihole.

If you're on my LAN, you must use the LAN DNS server, or you will not get DNS resolved at all. Enforcing ad and telemetry blocking network wide.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Hosting a vpn also gives me secure remote access to my various self-hosted services like Radarr/Sonarr/SABnzbd/qbit/etc, without directly exposing them to the open internet.

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[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 year ago (8 children)

All the people suggesting firefox...

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

tips tophat

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago (1 children)

i dont mean be that guy, but opera is chinese spyware, and firefox is worth the switch. trust me, i used to love opera, but now using firefox (librewolf/mull), i could never go back

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Looking it up online, the subject of Opera being chinese spyware seems to be debated pretty thoroughly, but with no definitive consensus (that I could find at least). Any articles on the subject I could read up on?

I use Firefox myself, so it wouldn't really impact my internet usage, but I'm just curious about what's going on with Opera.

Funnily enough, I think the last time I used Opera was the Internet Channel on the Wii way back when, which was powered by Opera lmao

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Opera was acquired by a chinese consortium back in 2016 or so. IMO opera telemetry isn't too different from other proprietary browsers like chrome or edge but there were also some controversial decisions on Opera such as not removing a chinese CA cert (wosign?) that was being widely misused etc.

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Wait since when is firefox considered slow ? For me the speed is decent i dont have a 1000$ phone so i dont expect it to be as fast as on my pc

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Im basically exclusively using Firefox on my phone and loading websites is pretty fast, the app just feels less responsive when scrolling compared to chrome/bromite

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Why not change your system DNS to the public AdGuard address? Then you don't need to use the app. DNS filtering is still more limited than uBlock, of course, but if you refuse to use browsers where that's available, I think that's the next best option.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago

Firefox + unlock Origin. Use alternative opens-source apps. DNS: Adguard, NextDNS, etc.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Firefox with uBlock Origin is by far the best option, the only other browser that comes close is Brave, their content blocking and such is pretty good, so I'd recommend trying them if you're hellbent on not using FF. I'd also recommend looking into NextDNS for system-wide ad/tracker blocking in conjuction with the browser.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Easiest solution I found was manually setting a Private DNS on Android. Adguard public DNS address filters pretty much all of them.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I've found it's worked really well. One annoying part is if you use Google search, the top 4/5 results which usually are ads (but eventually redirect to the correct page you want) become inaccessible, as Adguard interrupts it

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Firefox on Android allows a few extensions. A few of those are privacy badger, ublock origin, and decentraleyes. Should meet your need at a base level.

EDIT: Spelling

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago

Firefox + uBlock origin, and reVanced for YouTube ad-blocking/other features.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

https://controld.com/free-dns has free DNS resolvers that do the same thing as a pihole. you just go to your phones "Private DNS" setting and at it there. this will work for non-browser apps as well!

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (3 children)

is this any better than adguard dns or just similar?

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Firefox and Kiwi browsers both support full Ublock Origin

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Perhaps worth trying kiwis built in adblocking before you start. I recently installed kiwi so I could run 'i still don't care about cookies'. Seems really nice

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You can try out nextDNS. It has a list of blockers and you can track and block what request are being made by your phone.

Additionally, DNS-crypt proxy can be a good alternative too.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I've been using NextDNS for a while now. It's great compared to VPN implementations like Blokada because it frees up your phone to use an actual VPN.

I've found PDNSQS for when I need to temporarily disable ad blocking, a really nice addition.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (8 children)

Kiwi Browser is Chromium based and supports desktop add-ons like uBlock Origin.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

This.. While I don't like how the source code isn't updated to the public regularly there isn't anything fishy in Kiwi, we get regular updates and there are some neat features like being able to change the tab switcher UI or use desktop extensions.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)
  1. Create a free Nextdns account.
  2. Add some blocklists
  3. Use the private dns settings on your android to set the dns. (i think this feature is present in Android versions which are 9 and above)

Voila ! you have blocked ads without wasting your VPN slot.

As an added bonus you can also configure nextdns to block your specific phone vendor tracking as well.

If you are interested in trying different web browsers you can check out Fennec from F-droid or Brave browser. These are my go-to browsers on android.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

You wouldn't be able to use AdGuard properly with Opera anyway because Opera don't accept user certificates (issued by AdGuard or AdAway) so it wouldn't filter https traffic.

Try Vivaldi, amazing browser, built-in adblocker. Hopefully will be better than Opera's. Personally haven't tested it as I'm using said AdGuard which Vivaldi has no problem with - one of the reason I moved from Opera to Vivaldi.

Or simply change DNS to AdGuard.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Have you heard about pihole for DNS blocking ? You m might have success when at home on wifi as this would greatly cut down on ads and trackers.

Otherwise, if you think Firefox is too slow to pirate (not sure I understand that, but ok) you can try another browser .. maybe try Brave? Ya, maybe some negative publicity lately, but I'm not sure it bothers me, or perhaps I don't understand what exactly they might be selling of my info..

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Mullvad vpn has an ad blocking feature Although ive never tried it

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

In your case I'd sacrifice a bit of speed and went with Firefox. Another option is AdGuard + AdGuard VPN, the apps can work together.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

If I were you I'd just root my phone and use it along with AdAway.

If that isn't an option for you you already got some neat answers like using a public DNS or your own self hosted.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I used to be a big fan of Opera back when it was good but I wouldn't recommend using anything made by them since they got bought out by a shady Chinese company that makes their money off of predatory payday loan apps with exploitative interest rates in a few developing nations. Firefox (and Mull and the like) are the best Android web browsers but if you really want a Chromium-based one then I'd recommend looking into using one that's open source and not owned by an unethical corporation.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

RethinkDNS and Firefox+Ublock-Origin

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I find configuring an ad blocking private dns over https DOH in Firefox much faster and efficient compared to other methods. Firefox Extensions and VPN add unnecessary over head.

If interested, the steps are documented in my notes - https://abskmj.github.io/notes/posts/android/firefox-dns-https/

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I'm in a restricted country and my phone is not rooted, so if I use ad block apps like AdAway or Adgaurd they need to create a VPN connection in order to function unless the phone is rooted, and that VPN connection doesn't let me to enable another VPN in order to visit filtered websites or apps.

Ultimately, I think rooting is the way to go, but only if you have a device with a decent XDA thread guide and support. If you choose not to root, Adguard has their own VPN service integrated if you wanted to pay for that (haven't tried), or else you can add your own proxy servers through the app – so you can add individual server IPs for (say) Nord and connect to them while still using Adguard in VPN mode.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If you don't mind paying, Blokada has a "cloud" subscription. You set your DNS settings on the phone to what they give you, turn it on in the app once, then it runs without using the VPN method.

I use it because, even though it's another God damn subscription, it seems to work better for me and now I don't have to think about it.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (2 children)

NextDNS has a free ad-blocking option.

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