I pay for an ad blocking VPN, and run ublock origin. I'm sure ads take up much less of my data than that.
this post was submitted on 05 Jan 2025
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Not trying to make this promotional. Which one do you use?
I have a pi-hole at home so I never thought about it, but and I'm considering one for mobile.
I'm not the guy you're replying to, but I use Proton VPN, which seems to do a pretty good job blocking ads. I also added "dns.adguard.com" to my private DNS setting on my phone and tablet. Most ads are just gone now.
I also use uBlock Origin on my Firefox app. Then I disabled the YouTube app (I have a Google phone, so I can't get rid of it) and redirected all YouTube links to my Firefox browser. No more ads on mobile YouTube now!
How did you manage the redirecting by domain?
I thought I responded to this, but my comment isn't here. Must've forgotten to hit send.
In the past, my Android phone would allow me to add or remove URLs that the YouTube app opened, but it seems I can't edit that anymore. However, here's an alternative:
1.) Go to Apps > Default Apps > Opening Links
2.) Scroll down to the YouTube app and click on it (remember, I can't remove it because I have a Pixel (Google) phone).
3.) Switch the Open by Default option from "in the app" to "in your browser." Done!
4.) If you haven't already, go back to the Default Apps category and set your browser app to Firefox. Now all YouTube links will open in Firefox.
Set up wireguard on the same host as your pi-hole?
Just uninstall whatever shows you ads.
Nextdns is an easy possible solution to cut down on ads. But I wonder what their business model is?
Likely selling the data on every website you visit.
Rather than paying for that wasted data, there should be a service that lets you pay the sites displaying the ads directly – like an internet tax going to sites you visit. Problem solved. And it would cut ad providers out of the loop.
The enshittification of the subscription model here is a gradual increase in ads until you have no choice to purchase on mobile because otherwise your data is tanked. Subscriptions work for now; they might not in the future.
Are you saying there is a risk that they would salami-slice their way back to having ads even on the subscription, as happened with YT premium?