What would be your recommendation for blocking ads on an android phone? Do you use one and, if so, what’s your 2 cents on what you’re using? Where have you seen the biggest improvement (reduction) if it works well?

  • emergencyfood@sh.itjust.works
    1·
    1 hour ago

    OS ads, website ads or app ads?

    • For OS ads, it depends on the manufacturer. Some don’t have ads. For Xiaomi devices, ads can be completely removed by disabling a single app. Avoid anything by Samsung.
    • For ads on websites, use Firefox with uBlock.
    • App ads are the hardest to remove. You can try blocking ad domains at the OS level, or disable ads in each app’s settings (if they give you that option).
  • Stiffneckedppl@lemmy.worldEnglish
    11·
    2 days ago

    For me, the best bang for your buck as far as effort was to just set the DNS Provider to dns.adguard.com. Then use whatever adblocker or vpn solution you want on top of that. Has worked pretty well for me.

  • zecg@lemmy.world
    4·
    2 days ago

    I don’t install any app that has ads, to the extent that I even uninstalled Google Maps and became a pariah that has no Whatsapp. Most apps are from f-droid, I use OSMAND~ from f-droid, Firefox with ublock origin to browse and pipepipe as youtube client. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an ad on this phone and that’s how I like it.

  • sylver_dragon@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    2 days ago

    What ads are you trying to remove?
    For a browser, I use FireFox mobile with the uBlock Origin and NoScript extensions. Those two eliminate most ads while browsing, though NoScript does require extra effort to allow some pages to function.
    For games and other apps, I try to stick to stuff which doesn’t have ads. This usually means paying for the stuff you use or sticking to pure open-source solutions. However, I still have some apps which have ads. For that there I use PiHole as a DNS at home, which eliminates most of them.

    I could probably do more to avoid the few ads I do see, but at some point I just accept that advertisement is an inevitable consequence of our economy and just move on with life.

  • pulsewidth@lemmy.world
    2·
    2 days ago

    In general i do like others and don’t really use many apps that have ads.

    I used to use TrackerControl which works great, but acts as a vpn to get around root restrictions that stop standard ad-blocking, and now I use a permanent VPN to my home network over Wireguard, so I can’t use TrackerControl any more (or any other non-root system-wide ad blocker).

    I got around this issue by setting up a work profile, and installing the few apps that I still use that have ads on the work profile, and having TrackerControl installed on the work profile. That way… Can have always-on VPN on main profile, and few apps with ads blocked on the work profile.

    I use Grayjay for YouTube, auto-blocks ads. Browser has its own ad blocker.