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.
You must log in or register to comment.
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.
1-2% with always on VPN. My kernel is very old (3.18) and it doesn’t have wireguard kernel module.
This is the way.
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.)
RethinkDNS is super awesome! 🙌
It also works with Orbot
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.
AdGuard can filter all (or select) traffic blocking ads in other apps.
You can also use their DNS server without having to install anything
That is true but then it applies to everything and you can’t pick and choose which app to filter and which not (I exclude banking app for example), what level of filtering you want for each app (my phone is not rooted so there are some apps which will reject https filtering), and additionally I can quickly turn off and on filtering in the app for example when there’s a need for troubleshooting why something is not loading etc. In short, with an app you have more control and access to stats:
Doesn’t that require root? Or am I getting it confused with another solution with “ad” in the title? :/
The one you are thinking is Adaway which makes changes to the system host file.
AdGuard creates a local VPN connection and lets all traffic run through that blocking based on filters. Your VPN slot is taken up here.
NextDNS just changes your phone DNS to its servers and blocks based on filters. Here, your VPN slot is essentially free for use with actual VPN apps.
Your VPN slot is taken up here.
Oof, yeah, that wouldn’t work for me anyway since I currently use a VPN. Lol.
Thanks for clearing it up though! :)
NextDNS just changes your phone DNS to its servers and blocks based on filters. Here, your VPN slot is essentially free for use with actual VPN apps.
That sounds promising! :D
What address should I type in the settings to use NextDNS dns?
You can use it like a VPN service. But note, that AdGuard for Android isn’t OSS
Ew.
NextDNS
+1 for nextdns, it allows me to track all the connection requests and it saves the logs on Swiss.
AdGuard. You can get a lifetime license through stack social for anywhere between $16-$30. It also does HTTPS filtering.
Same I love adguard. I only wish there was a way to use it with a third party VPN (without root)
Mullvad DNS or libredns
+1 for LibreDNS! I don’t see it mentioned enough.
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
Go to your Settings app. Click on Network and Internet. Click on Private DNS. Click on Private DNS provider hostname and a type. “p2.freedns.controld.com”. Click OK and you’re done.
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
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.
And if they force a particular DNS they’re is a reason for that and I don’t use that Wi-Fi
Hagezi HOSTS file in NetGuard or Invizible Pro firewall. Systemwide ad/tracker/miner/malware blocking. No root needed.
Use ublock origin
DNS
