VPN-based adblockers not working - Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers

Hello there,
it seems that on the S9+ (and maybe S9, tho users over there report everything is fine) all the VPN-based ad blockers like DNS66, Blokada and the likes do not work correctly. When switching between wifi and mobile, the connection randomly dies, not letting anything through anymore until you restart the phone, or disable the blocker. It is documented in a github issue for DNS66 here. This is annoying, as I found this solution the most user-friendly. I know there is Adhell 3, but a) it's annoying to resign and reinstall every 3 months and apply for new keys and b) it doesn't block everything, not even if I manually feed it with all the hosts files that DNS66 uses. It blocks ads alright, but misses quite some.
Is there any known fix for this, or any other adblock suggestion besides that? I know that rooting and adaway would be best, but I won't root anymore since Samsung here in Europe straight off denies any warranty requests for rooted devices, even if it's got nothing to do with the root itself.

Adguard would a suggestion, but it does use a VPN blocking service for system wide blocking. It's not free and is subscription based. At one time I used adguard over dns66 as adguard worked and dns66 did not (VPN issues with dns66).
For non rooted users there is really no other options. Unless you want to setup a pihole server, somehow get your dns setting on your phone to point to the pihole server and go that route. In the case of dns changes on non-rooted devices it's either a VPN based change or knox. So your options are limited to one or the other. Of course this becomes moot if your plan on only blocking ads when you use a wifi connection.
I've done the pihole route before too, it works but doesn't catch everything. Some ads originate from the same domain as where your visiting, in which case dns adblocking won't work. For those scenarios cosmetic filtering would.
Otherwise I use adhell3 and adblock plus plugin on samsung browser. For practical intents and purposes I steered clear of VPN based setups for a reason. Also I don't mind recompilimg adhell3 once in a while, he's really put a lot of work into making it as simple as possible. I've got my android studio setup so that I just pull the latest changes, build the apk and install.
If adhell3 isn't your cup of tea then the only app I know is Disconnect Pro which costs $24.99 in the galaxy app store. Disconnect Pro functions the same way as Adhell3 does.. as a front end configuration for knox. I've read somewhere that Adhell3 has more features then Disconnect Pro, but I didn't look to much into that to find out what one has over the other.
If I were to suggest something I would suggest adhell3 combined with adblock plus plugin for your browser. combined those work the best for me... some ads might slip through, but dns based ad blocking is not the same as cosmetic ad blocking. Adguard should still do cosmetic filtering, but it's been a while since I used that app.

I am use this one on my S9+, it's free and work fine.
https://block-this.com/

Related

[Q] Alternative to Adaway?

Ever since upgrading to Android 4.3 on my S4 on Sprint, I have been noticing that Adaway doesn't work correctly. It either fails, or takes forever to apply the hosts file after it compiles it's list. Adfree however, works fine. Unfortunately, the lists tht adfree use are poorly maintained (or old), and I enjoy the ability to specify which hosts I want included in being blocked.
Is there any alternative to Adaway, or is there some reason why Adaway doesn't want to work correctly on Android 4.3, specifically, my phone? I had been looking into this, but unfortunately, my search results didn't really come back with anything conclusive as to why that may be.
slixzen said:
Ever since upgrading to Android 4.3 on my S4 on Sprint, I have been noticing that Adaway doesn't work correctly. It either fails, or takes forever to apply the hosts file after it compiles it's list. Adfree however, works fine. Unfortunately, the lists tht adfree use are poorly maintained (or old), and I enjoy the ability to specify which hosts I want included in being blocked.
Is there any alternative to Adaway, or is there some reason why Adaway doesn't want to work correctly on Android 4.3, specifically, my phone? I had been looking into this, but unfortunately, my search results didn't really come back with anything conclusive as to why that may be.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey, try grabbing the 2.8 APK from http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2190753. I've had tons of problems with the version from F-Droid and the Play Store. Apparently, the one compiled by @mrRobinson fixes those issues.
slixzen said:
Ever since upgrading to Android 4.3 on my S4 on Sprint, I have been noticing that Adaway doesn't work correctly. It either fails, or takes forever to apply the hosts file after it compiles it's list. Adfree however, works fine. Unfortunately, the lists tht adfree use are poorly maintained (or old), and I enjoy the ability to specify which hosts I want included in being blocked.
Is there any alternative to Adaway, or is there some reason why Adaway doesn't want to work correctly on Android 4.3, specifically, my phone? I had been looking into this, but unfortunately, my search results didn't really come back with anything conclusive as to why that may be.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you should better consult the adblock advisor which has three unique options to block ads:
1. Ad Block
2. AdGuard
3. Adblock Plus
You can choose one among them for your android. If you still face any difficulties, you can then google and visit their official sites for further information. I hope this will solve your issue. Good luck!
Mother of All Ad-Blocking
More than 15Mb of blocked domains into one signle hosts file and you can add yours if needed.

Block ads in games

Is it possible to block ads in games on CM Kitkat(rooted Tab 10.1), I have installed adblock plus and adaway. But it only works on webbrowsing.
i dont think so ... maybe for google ads sort of what lucky patchers "patch to remove adds" does.
for now i dont think anything like that is available. just use it offline
I recommend AdAway... Of course the trade off is that you have to root your Device.
But, after installing this you'll only ever see the pre-ads in YouTube. But, thankfully you can for the most part skip those.
Otherwise in-app banner Ads will be a thing of the past.
I've also found this App to be great at blocking Ads in Spootify as well On my PS3 I might get 2~3 Songs in before an Ad....
While on my AdAway Droids, there are absolutely NONE!
The only bad thing... Is it will block Googles top ad based Searches which kinda sucks if your looking for something to buy. But, on those occasions you can turn it off, or train up a Whitelist.

[Search] no root adblock without vpn

my problem is that i have a non rooted phone with vpn always on and im searching for an app to activating ad block on it.
My fix for it would be to use an android wide proxy or a custom dns that overrides vpn dns.
as title said an root app or an app that provides vpn solution wouldnt be what im searching for. I had once an adblock app that routes traffic trough local proxy beside the vpn but cant find it anymore
Update: i found AdHell but its only for Samsung Devices with knox. Any other solutions?
HeathenMan said:
Update: i found AdHell but its only for Samsung Devices with knox. Any other solutions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
any news on this one?
I wanna use protonVPN and adblcoker at same time
a bit of elbow grease to protect self from Privacy Raping
Some [open]vpn clients allow vpn side connection to Socks5. Some even allow toggle of LAN access from device. I am not claiming a finish product exists but perhaps this gives you some joy.
Perhaps your socks5 instance runs in Amazon AWS free tier. Maybe it runs locally on your android handset. Perhaps you run Privoxy itself on android. [@mod: privoxy is F/OSS older than this forum]. There are a few privoxy projects for android on github. Perhaps you pick their brain. It was that against which proxomitron competed [also F/OSS. Thank God for Scott Lemmon].
Using things in differing order you might search the article to which I may not link: Privoxy on Android (with EC2 VPN)
I wanted to bring the Amazon EC2-based Privoxy service to it, by way of a VPN.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There was no obvious way to contact the author who hasn't posted since 2016.
There is an OpenVPN service you can likely find the name of yourself offering *recently* an adblock toggle and AntiTracker toggle with a hardcode mode to protect you from predators like google and Fbook. It shouldn't be long before others emulate this functionality. It sports the vpn side socks5 option.
Or privoxy tunnel to remote [cloud (openvpn)]. See? Fun with permutations. Maybe from phone with ShadowSocks to cloud to vpn to web. "OpenVPN over shadowsocks". At this point look into sites helping Chinese dissidents.
You definitely then return here with your improvements to share.
The remaining question is how much is your time worth? Not much? Then search the web ad naseum for the 'ideal free' solution. Elsewise pony up some pennies for some cloud time as part of a solution.
Same question here !
And it seems that adhell is now only available for entreprise use
Wasn't AdGuard doing that?
yes you are right. it works with setting a private dns in the system settings with dns.adguard.com - no batterydrain - no more ads - no vpn - no root

Should I root just for an Adblocker?

Hi
At them moment I'm rooting my device only to use adaway. Do you think the afford to root a device is worth the benefits of adaway especially as there are some other good vpn based Adblockers? I did some researches and found out that the impact on the performance and battery is minimal.
The only reason I hesitate is that I'm using a VPN for public wifis. But on the other hand every connection my Smartphone opens should be encrypted anyway (hopefully) so I maybe can live without that.
So can you give me an advice? What would you do?
I would say: YES!
Reason: I f you use a VPN, in the data summary everything is collected into that VPN. And you are flexible. In my view Adaway is a cleaner solution. I also need a firewall like AF+ Wall. And tasker for improving my battery life. You see, I like the opportunities.
No, you can use Netguard (not from Play Store) and with it you can download/import the host file you want. That's what Adaway does, and Netguard doesn't need root. And take a look to all the feature u have with Netguard itself. It's awesome
One of the best (and IMO the best) android adblocker is AdClear, it works efficiently and it doesn't need root. Using it for years. It works very well when it comes to blocking ads. And, it's free.

Question Ad blockers

first time posting on the P6 forum (last had a P3).
previously, I used dns.adguard.com for the Private DNS setting. however, that was not blocking all of the ads from within some apps. it worked pretty well until then. Now, I downloaded blokada 5, and that successfully blocks almost all ads. the lone problem is that when connecting to a website, it often slows it down.
curious to see if anyone has a similar experience or recommend an alternative to dns.adguard.com.
thanks!
jco23 said:
first time posting on the P6 forum (last had a P3).
previously, I used dns.adguard.com for the Private DNS setting. however, that was not blocking all of the ads from within some apps. it worked pretty well until then. Now, I downloaded blokada 5, and that successfully blocks almost all ads. the lone problem is that when connecting to a website, it often slows it down.
curious to see if anyone has a similar experience or recommend an alternative to dns.adguard.com.
thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I personally use both NordVPN as well as AdAway with root; AdAway has a VPN function of its own, and you can use your own host lists, but the VPN solution is more resource intensive than the root solution.
V0latyle said:
I personally use both NordVPN as well as AdAway with root; AdAway has a VPN function of its own, and you can use your own host lists, but the VPN solution is more resource intensive than the root solution.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
interesting - thanks for the quick reply.
i do have windscribe, but rarely use it. i have not rooted this device yet, as my understanding rooting will disable Google Wallet/GPay - and I use those more often than I would need to hide ads.
+1 to AdAway, plus if your preferred browser supports it, install an adblocker in it as well - I use uBlock for Firefox.
There's also MinMinGuard which has recently gotten an update to make it work on current systems, but that requires Lsposed if you don't already use it, as well as individually enabling it for every new app you install. Honestly, though, with AdAway plus a browser adblocker, I almost never see any ads in any app, so I don't find MinMinGuard necessary anymore.
Ad blocking apps like Blokada and DNS-based ad blockers like AdGuard can be effective at blocking ads, but they can also slow down your browsing experience. This is because ad blockers need to process and filter out ads, which can take up resources and cause delays.
One alternative to dns.adguard.com that you could try is Cloudflare's 1.1.1.1. This is a free, fast, and secure DNS resolver that also includes ad-blocking capabilities. Cloudflare's 1.1.1.1 uses their own ad-blocking technology which is based on the same technology used by their enterprise-grade Web Application Firewall (WAF). This can block ads at the DNS level, which can be less resource-intensive than using an app like Blokada.
jco23 said:
interesting - thanks for the quick reply.
i do have windscribe, but rarely use it. i have not rooted this device yet, as my understanding rooting will disable Google Wallet/GPay - and I use those more often than I would need to hide ads.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No root will not disable Google Wallet/GPay, you just have to install Safety net fix module and all works great, for banking apps just hide root into settings. I use all my banking apps, card tokens and gpay/wallet everyday. Rooking root + adaway.
anawilliam850 said:
Ad blocking apps like Blokada and DNS-based ad blockers like AdGuard can be effective at blocking ads, but they can also slow down your browsing experience. This is because ad blockers need to process and filter out ads, which can take up resources and cause delays.
One alternative to dns.adguard.com that you could try is Cloudflare's 1.1.1.1. This is a free, fast, and secure DNS resolver that also includes ad-blocking capabilities. Cloudflare's 1.1.1.1 uses their own ad-blocking technology which is based on the same technology used by their enterprise-grade Web Application Firewall (WAF). This can block ads at the DNS level, which can be less resource-intensive than using an app like Blokada.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i tried installing the 1.1.1.1 app from cloudflare, and it did NOT block the ads on my scrabble app. thx for the suggestion though.
Have you tried using a browser like Brave which would help with your browsing experience. I use a combination of Blockada for system wide blocking, pihole for in-home network based blocking and browsers like Brave/DDG for blocking and so on. I have a tasker based activity for turning on/off blockada when in home/out of home. It's my non-root solution.
Additionally you can also lookup -
ahadns.com - you get a customised secure dns url, you can setup filter lists and the URL is configured based on the seelctions.
nextdns.io - something similar to the above. 300,000 free ad-blocking queries per month and past that, the non-blocking DNS service will work till the next month.
cbarai said:
Have you tried using a browser like Brave which would help with your browsing experience. I use a combination of Blockada for system wide blocking, pihole for in-home network based blocking and browsers like Brave/DDG for blocking and so on. I have a tasker based activity for turning on/off blockada when in home/out of home. It's my non-root solution.
Additionally you can also lookup -
ahadns.com - you get a customised secure dns url, you can setup filter lists and the URL is configured based on the seelctions.
nextdns.io - something similar to the above. 300,000 free ad-blocking queries per month and past that, the non-blocking DNS service will work till the next month.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey, just stumbled across your post and thought that if you use piehole at home, you should be able to just use a VPN to you piehole when on the road so you don't have to rely on third party apps. Don't know about performance though, but you might give it a try.
Cheers
Been taking NextDNS for a test ride. Easy set up with a lot of features, up to 300,000 queries per month for free. What's not to like?
Fast and running pretty smooth so far, day 7.

Categories

Resources