We prepared it ourselves by running some common apps, hunting down where the video ads are coming from, and adding them to the list. You might need to press on the link and hold and tap “Download link”. Don’t worry, it’s easy.įirst download this video ads hosts file to your device. These hosts files tend not to include the ad companies that show video ads inside your apps, so if you’re keen to block those, you’ll need to download a hosts file we’ve prepared, and add that to DNS66. DNS66 is handy because it includes well known hosts files that are kept up to date with new ad companies to block as they appear. Set up hosts to blockĭNS66 uses lists of sites to block called hosts files. If you downloaded the APK file, just open it to install it. You can either install F-Droid and install DNS66 from it, or you can download it and install it directly as an APK file. You can download DNS66 from F-Droid, which is like the Play Store but for open source apps. You can read up about what open source means to learn more. Because the app is open source, if it was doing anything shady, it would be found out. Open source is important here because all your network requests will go through this app, and we need to make sure we can trust it. Be careful which apps you install though.Īllow side-loading apps on Android 2. This lets you install apps from files called APK files, which have the file extension. To allow it, go to Settings, Security (or “Lock screen and security” on Samsung), and enable the setting called “Unknown sources”. If you haven’t before, you might need to tell your phone to allow you to install apps from outside the Play Store. But this is a special VPN: it doesn’t let apps request data from ad companies. Every time an app tries to request data from the internet, it gets funnelled through what’s called a VPN - a virtual private network. Or you can try the light version, “Blokada Slim” on the Play Store.įor everyone else, we recommend DNS66 - it takes a few minutes to set up. It’s still available on the Blokada website. If for some reason you can’t use Blokada 5, we don’t strongly recommend Blokada 4 as we found it buggy enough to be an irritation, but it is easier to set up than DNS66. Get Blokada 5 on the Blokada website If Blokada 5 isn’t for you There’s a light version of Blokada on the Play Store but we recommend getting it from their website, or better yet through the open source app repository, F-Droid. This easy customizability makes it simple to block something that got through the filter list, or allow a request that gets blocked but is needed for an app to run correctly. The previous version could be slow and occasionally unreliable, but the latest version works without a hitch and is as speedy as you like.Īpart from the obvious feature of stopping ads on websites and apps, it also shows you a list of requests your phone has made, allowing you to easily block or unblock individual websites. It’s also open source and free.īlokada recently released version 5 of their app, and it’s incredible. We used to recommend DNS66 as the go-to solution for blocking ads on Android, and it’s a great, customizable, open-source solution, but there’s an easier way as of 2021, and it’s an incredible app that works amazingly well. It even uses less battery and data, because the ads won’t be downloaded and played. Every app (and website) is now a breeze to use, doesn’t shove obnoxious ads in my face, and my sanity has returned. I’ve been using this method to keep ads off my Android phone for years now, and I find it impossible to go back. But try to support the developer by buying the full version or giving them a donation. When an app has gone from using harmless banner ads to showing a 30-second, loud, obnoxious video ad for a kid’s video game you’ll never play, I’d suggest it’s fair to block it. “But wait! Isn’t that like stealing the app?” you cry. But it’s possible on Android, without root access to your phone. While there’s browsers that block ads on the web, in-app ads are tougher to eliminate. Updated Jan 2021 with a new, simpler recommended method for blocking Android adsĪds on websites and in apps are annoying enough, but apps that pop up a 30 second video ad while you’re going about your business are much harder to put up with.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |