Why is AdGuard not on Google Play?
adguard.com
AdGuard for Android is a powerful app that blocks ads and protects your privacy. But why it's not available on the Google Play Store? Read on to find out.

The article is AdGuard centric but it sheds light on the whole process where Google suddenly decided to ban ad blockers.

  • TheProtagonist
    7•2 years ago

    That’s no surprise to me. Ads are Google’s core business. Why should they support technologies that potentially limit their profits?

    • @lenathaw@lemmy.ml
      3•2 years ago

      AdAway is the best choice if you’re rooted.

      Some banking apps might break, but the DNS request log will help you debug and put the necessary domains on a whitelist. Or you can just google it.

        • DawnEnglish
          1•2 years ago

          I use it not rooted, on both an android tablet and phone. Haven’t run into any issues, it uses a VPN to block the ads

          Edit: there was one issue where youtube wouldn’t update the watch history, to fix this just allow s.youtube.com on the allow list

  • 52fighters
    8•2 years ago

    Blokada on Android is the best. Get it from the website, though, not Google Play. Even though it is there, the website version is better.

  • @Zerush@lemmy.ml
    2•2 years ago

    F_Droid InviZible Pro also blocks, among others, ads (DNScrypt Proxie, I2P and TOR network), also in Google Play, but there only the “descaffeinate” version.

    Vivaldi browser has an inbuild and customizable ad- and trackerblocker.

    • correcthorsedickbatterystaple
      4•2 years ago

      i’m sorry but i have to be pedantic here. it’s not how you get your revenue it’s the good or service you provide.

      magazines are not ad companies. TV channels are not ad companies. the source of your revenue does not make you a company in a sector of that source.

      • @belated_frog_pants@beehaw.org
        6•2 years ago

        All of googles products except cloud exist to either sell customer data to companies to advertise to or they direct you to websites who pay.

        They are an ad data company. Search is a means to deliver ads. Chrome, mail, docs, etc were all there for ecosystem lock in… for what money? Customer data. For ads. Google+? User base. For ads.

        Youtube doesnt make them shit except for advertising. Youtube premium isnt selling which is why they are getting aggressive with it.

        Google is an advertising company and secondarily , a cloud provider.

      • @Jaded@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        18•2 years ago

        Google literally considers itself an ad company. They have a huge framework meant to profit off of ads shown on other products and platforms. They sell data as a service to better target consumers for advertisement. It’s not comparable to a tv channel.

      • @XTornado@lemmy.ml
        10•2 years ago

        Yeah but Google biggest services are mostly free. The main source of income, although they have improved that by offering other paid services all these years, has been ad revenue on their free services.

    • Gamey
      3•2 years ago

      DNS blocking isn’t proper ad blocking but it’s certainly better than nothing!

        • Gamey
          4•2 years ago

          Well, not about the DNS blocking, that’s absolutely great but it can only block on a domain basis so ads from the same domain aka first party ads (E.g. Youtube ads) can’t be blocked using it.

  • Reversed Cookie
    2•2 years ago

    So far ik, Apps which blocks Google Ads in other apps aren’t allowed, thats why DDG’s Tracking Protection blocks everything except Google Ads.

  • @TESTNET@lemmy.ml
    6•2 years ago

    It’s about selling your data to third parties so they can sell you sh@t and also about preventing you blocking ads playing in video content they provide or are associated with, it’s 100% to do with making money and ad blockers lower their income, for that reason they’d rather ad blockers not exist nor third party alternatives to their streaming services that do not carry the ads they’re trying to block those apps continuously.

  • AutoTL;DRBEnglish
    31•2 years ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    At the time, there were a number of apps on Google Play that offered content filtering functionality, such as AdAway, AdFree, Ad Blocker, and AdBlock Plus.

    In 2016, Google tweaked its developer policy to clarify what actions are prohibited, and for the first time directly named ad blockers as a target.

    After AdGuard for Android, which filters traffic for all apps on your device, could no longer be distributed through the Google Play Store, we had to find another way to reach our users and provide them with updates.

    The increased visibility this store provides would allow us to introduce the app to more people who can block ad-based tracking, thereby protecting their privacy.

    The reality is that most casual users install apps exclusively from the Google Play Store, and that means they are currently missing out on a chance to protect themselves from trackers and ads.

    We hope that Google will change its stance and give people the choice and tools to protect themselves from pervasive tracking technology and invasive advertising.

    The original article contains 1,019 words, the summary contains 172 words. Saved 83%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!