I’m talking full phone and blocking. Not just browser.
Edit: So many options! Thanks guys I’ll go through them all and see what one I think will work best for me. I appreciate it.
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Pihole on the home network and my phone has constant VPN connection to the home network via Wireguard.
I have the same configuration running on all my devices, my kids and my wife’s too, it’s wonderful.
Did you use a guide to configure it all? I’d love to get started but networking has always been a weak spot for me
How much battery do you think this consumes? I’ve always thought an always on VPN set up but never tried it as I assumed it would drain the battery too quickly.
The battery consumption is negligible. I use Invisible Pro with so many different types of blocks and circumventions that it’s almost ridiculous, and it runs at about a 3% in 24 hours. Invisible Pro has to be way up on the battery sucking scale for similar products.
This is the way.
I use Blokada - but not the latest version since the company switched from the free open-source standalone app paradigm to a cloud-based continual paid subscription model. It seems like Blokada version 4 (obtained either from the company’s webpage or F-droid I forget which) blocks a heck of a lot more stuff than version 5 for some reason.
On the other hand, it also noticeably heats up my phone if a not-well-behaved app (examples include Freemium games) continually resubmits queries over & over again every (or even multiple times a) second. You can block every request that it makes… but it can also keep making them so… at some point you may question whether the cost is worth it.
This arguably relates more to “tracking” than actual advertisements, since there can only be a finite number of the latter but the former can happen all day every day even when the app is not running, if it decides to be aggressive about checking in with its home base. These days, even if you do pay for something, your data is STILL the actual “product” that is the reason the company is in business at all to obtain.:-(
If you still want to use a VPN style adblocker, I moved from Blokada some time ago to Adaway. Works the same.
Thank you for helping fill out this list. May I ask why you moved away from Blokada? Version 5 is bad ofc, and 6 is far, FAR worse, but 4 worked well for me.
It looks like AdAway has some nice features since I saw it last, like the ability to whitelist a particular app. If it does not require root permissions, it might be a clear winner even.
blokada to netGuard and the reason is precision
https://github.com/M66B/NetGuard/releases or izzysoft or fDroid
it doesn’t need root
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You want a DNS based adblocker. I like nextdns because I can customise it.
Can you customise it down to the domain?
If you mean blocking specific websites, then yes. It’s in the parental control section
Nice. I use Mullvad DNS for the same purpose.
They seem to have many different endpoints depending on what you want to block, which is customizable only down to the type of content. Ads, trackers, malware, adult content, gambling, social media.
If I understand it properly, they have 64 different endpoints for their DNS. But I’m not sure if all of these are publicly facing or if you have to be connected via their VPN service for all of them to be accessible.
AdAway is amazing. I’ve used the rooted version for 10 years now and it just works
My personal favorite is RethinkDNS, which is technically capable of running your favorite VPN provider alongside blocking ads and blocking/logging domains on a per-app basis.
It’s a bit frustrating to set up for my taste, but it definitely works. (Kudos to Mozilla for sponsoring their project, BTW.)
It also works with Orbot
Proton VPN , or just change DNS to DNS.adguard.com
RethinkDNS is a great option unless you already have something in place that you want to use as well.
For example, I have a pi-hole and a server that I’d like to use 24/7. There’s a few ways to do it, but I’m an idiot and need a simple, hard-to-ruin method. So I use the pi-hole as an exit node with TailScale
AdGuard. You can get a lifetime license through stack social for anywhere between $16-$30. It also does HTTPS filtering.
I’m a fan of nextdns
Hagezi HOSTS file in NetGuard or Invizible Pro firewall. Systemwide ad/tracker/miner/malware blocking. No root needed.
DNS
Mullvad DNS or libredns
+1 for LibreDNS! I don’t see it mentioned enough.
Probably a good VPN with adblocking features. Iirc, protonvpn and mullvad do this pretty well. I’ve tried the dns methods like other people mention and on some public networks, it won’t work because they force a specific dns so you need to vpn for it to work.
uBlock Origin on Mull browser (if not Firefox), Mullvad DNS or NextDNS for “Private DNS” (its DNS-over-HTTPS iirc) if you are not rooted
