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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Mullvad vpn has an ad blocking feature Although ive never tried it
It works really well actually! Windscribe has it too
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.
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.
Blokada 6 uses the DNS implementation. It’s a subscription service. I paid for a year then realized I could use NextDNS and use it on multiple devices rather than be limited to just my phone for a couple dollars less.
I’m actually using NextDNS’ vpn implementation as it doesn’t affect the wifi at work, for whatever reason I’d always have to disable private dns in order to use the corporate wifi.
RethinkDNS and Firefox+Ublock-Origin
Use firefox and simply deal with the slightly slower app?
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!
Thanks for this! I use Windscribe VPN and really like it. Didn’t realize there is a free tier for Control D.
Yeah the engine for Control D is the same as for windscribe just with more bells and whistles, and loads of configuration tools on the paid tier. It’s great for smartphones which circumvent ad blocking by putting stuff in apps rather than browsers.
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
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
It’s fast enough to be enjoyable but opera has a nicer UI and since you can’t use extensions, the speed is consistent.
opera is chinese spyware tho, just for a nice ui thats not worth
My plan is returning to firefox but I have too much stuff in the opera’s Flow. I must spend some time in future to fix this and abandon opera.
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
Though I feel Firefox (and its fork Fennec FDroid) is a lot slower than other browsers based on Chromium like Bromite and Kiwi. I’m using a phone that’s pretty low-end in 2023 standard though. (MSM8974 with 2GB ram running Android 11)
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.
Easiest solution I found was manually setting a Private DNS on Android. Adguard public DNS address filters pretty much all of them.
Agreed, although I prefer pihole on a separate device. DNS blocking is best blocking.
Adware can detect that crap isn’t loaded, but it is indistinguishable from the crap server being down. Normal page blocking is a lot more detectable, so assume pages then instruct you to disable your blocker.
Also, DNS blocking saves you bandwidth.
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
And that is the reason why I’m rooted and you should be to. Also if you want to add firewall into combination with vpn and adblock, there is definitely no other way.
What do you do about banking apps onba rooted phone? Doe’s magicx work for those apps
Interested as well. Used to root everything, but if banking is questionable its a no go for me.
Im using firefox + ublock and selfhosting pihole
I heard rooting has some risks and disadvantages but I have no experience with it. is it good?
It depends if you mind the cons, which doesn’t effect me. You can use banking apps, cause you hide magisk root app from them, you have to update manually, cause you need to patch update file to include root (easy), adobe software cannot be fooled by magisk hide so you have to pirate it and Samsung devices will irreversibly trip Knox so no Samsung pay and password. So far I have rooted every device I had since HTC Evo 3D and no problems, only full control of device I paid a lot of money for.
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.
NextDNS
is this any better than adguard dns or just similar?
way better, as it lets you choose the block lists, add custom domains or whitelist the ones that are being blocked, check the statistics on which domain is being blocked the most, and some more nifty stuff. and it’s also not made by a Russian company.
actually I’m just using the public dns so I don’t think I can do that
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Seconded. NextDNS is incredible and you don’t even have to subscribe to get the benefit unless you’re a super heavy user.
Firefox is a bit slow because it’s busy blocking those ads and other garbage then figuring out how to make a web page with what little is leftover. You might be a bit slow if you can’t figure that out.
If you don’t want firefox, Cromite is pretty good. Also if you need your vpn for other things, then the next best thing is a custom dns, I use nextdns which is customisable and blocks a fair amount of stuff.
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.
