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My number one reason for rooting my phone is blocking ads on a hosts-file level. It also stopped me from being able to play pokemon go, which I assume is for th

by bberrry 10y ago

My number one reason for rooting my phone is blocking ads on a hosts-file level. It also stopped me from being able to play pokemon go, which I assume is for the best.

JohnTHaller 10y ago
Why not just use Firefox with uBlock? Or do you use a lot of free apps with ads that don't offer a pay for no ads option?
- aembleton 10y ago
  I find Chrome to be faster than Firefox with uBlock on my Android device.
  - ZonedOut 10y ago
    Get Brave browser, it's based on Chrome and looks the same but has adblocker and some other good features.
    - mirsadm 10y ago
      Is it open source? If not, I wouldn't trust it.
      - syrrim 10y ago
        Chrome isn't open source.
        ZonedOut 10y ago
        Sorry, I wanted to say it's based on Chromium not Chrome.
      - Markoff 10y ago
        yes it is, from cofounder of Mozilla https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_(web_browser) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_(web_browser)
      - ZonedOut 10y ago
        Sorry, I meant it's based on Chromium, which is open source unlike Chrome.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
- bberrry 10y ago
  A lot of my phone browsing involves apps with built-in browsers (reddit, HN) so hosts-filter is more practical. Killing ads in free apps is definitely part of the equation as well. The one downside would be not being able to click sponsored links on atop Google when looking for a particular product.
  - bostand 10y ago
    IMO Hacker News works better without an app. Most reddit apps let you open links in an external browser
    - distances 10y ago
      I like the Materialistic app for browsing HN, it's really nice.
      - a012 10y ago
        I like Hews, because I prefer serif font than Material UI
- GrinningFool 10y ago
  not-op here, but your question made me wonder: If you've paid for a freemium upgrade in an app that relies on Google's ad network, does that default to completely disabling the ads integration? In other words, is the app still feeding data points into the ad network even though it may not be displaying ads? I had assumed it was, but your question makes me think otherwise.
  - tripzilch 10y ago
    Best to just block them, than rely on the skill/goodwill/giving-a-damn of the developer to not thrash all over your privacy.
- GrinningFool 10y ago
  not-op here, but your question made me wonder: If you've paid for a freemium upgrade in an app that relies on Google's ad network, does that default to completely disabling the ads integration? In other words, is the app still feeding data points into the ad network even though it may not be displaying ads? I had assumed it was, but your question makes me think otherwise.
- Markoff 10y ago
  just yesterday was checking many browsers, Firefox on Android is slow, was comparing loading times and it was very slow compared to Brave it RSBrowser or even Chrome plus no pull down to refresh is killer and there doesn't even seem to be plugin to add this only button or more fingers gesture or not just swipe down on bright side on desktop i switched from chrome to Firefox and it seem ok, though it seem not so many pages are cached and need reload when switching many tabs
  - bostand 10y ago
    Firefox has a bug where first the tab takes ages to load. Open the same page in another app and see it fly
    - Markoff 10y ago
      in the end I gave p even on desktop and I am back to Chrome, firefox just kept freezing or was unresponsive even with few tabs open, also always refreshing tabs when returning to them after while, while I experience no problems with Chrome :( on Android I switched from YuBrowser to Brave browser, Firefox doesn't have simple pull down to refresh and it's not optimized for Snapdragon plus kinda slow in real life scenarios
HenryBemis 10y ago
great choice (I do the same on my jailbroken iDevices.. my usual go-to hosts resource is: http://someonewhocares.org/hosts/ http://someonewhocares.org/hosts/ block responsibly :)
tiatia 10y ago
How do you do this? I rooted my HTC one, put hosts in /etc/ but somehow the phoen "ignores" it?
- exadeci 10y ago
  https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdid=org.adaway https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdid=org.adaway
tomaskafka 10y ago
If you have a Samsung Galaxy with Knox (S6+ I think), you can use Adhell which works without rooting and has all the capabilities of root adblock.
- mlechha 10y ago
  Wow! Thanks for this. Adhell is awesome.
- aaattt1 10y ago
  But knox uses a Samsung owned proxy and send private identifying info to Samsung...
e40 10y ago
A non-root way: DNS66 via F-Droid. https://github.com/julian-klode/dns66 https://github.com/julian-klode/dns66

by bberrry 10y ago

My number one reason for rooting my phone is blocking ads on a hosts-file level. It also stopped me from being able to play pokemon go, which I assume is for the best.

JohnTHaller 10y ago

Why not just use Firefox with uBlock? Or do you use a lot of free apps with ads that don't offer a pay for no ads option?

aembleton 10y ago
I find Chrome to be faster than Firefox with uBlock on my Android device.
- ZonedOut 10y ago
  Get Brave browser, it's based on Chrome and looks the same but has adblocker and some other good features.
  - mirsadm 10y ago
    Is it open source? If not, I wouldn't trust it.
    - syrrim 10y ago
      Chrome isn't open source.
      - ZonedOut 10y ago
        Sorry, I wanted to say it's based on Chromium not Chrome.
    - Markoff 10y ago
      yes it is, from cofounder of Mozilla https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_(web_browser) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_(web_browser)
    - ZonedOut 10y ago
      Sorry, I meant it's based on Chromium, which is open source unlike Chrome.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
bberrry 10y ago
A lot of my phone browsing involves apps with built-in browsers (reddit, HN) so hosts-filter is more practical. Killing ads in free apps is definitely part of the equation as well. The one downside would be not being able to click sponsored links on atop Google when looking for a particular product.
- bostand 10y ago
  IMO Hacker News works better without an app. Most reddit apps let you open links in an external browser
  - distances 10y ago
    I like the Materialistic app for browsing HN, it's really nice.
    - a012 10y ago
      I like Hews, because I prefer serif font than Material UI
GrinningFool 10y ago
not-op here, but your question made me wonder: If you've paid for a freemium upgrade in an app that relies on Google's ad network, does that default to completely disabling the ads integration? In other words, is the app still feeding data points into the ad network even though it may not be displaying ads? I had assumed it was, but your question makes me think otherwise.
- tripzilch 10y ago
  Best to just block them, than rely on the skill/goodwill/giving-a-damn of the developer to not thrash all over your privacy.
GrinningFool 10y ago
not-op here, but your question made me wonder: If you've paid for a freemium upgrade in an app that relies on Google's ad network, does that default to completely disabling the ads integration? In other words, is the app still feeding data points into the ad network even though it may not be displaying ads? I had assumed it was, but your question makes me think otherwise.
Markoff 10y ago
just yesterday was checking many browsers, Firefox on Android is slow, was comparing loading times and it was very slow compared to Brave it RSBrowser or even Chrome plus no pull down to refresh is killer and there doesn't even seem to be plugin to add this only button or more fingers gesture or not just swipe down on bright side on desktop i switched from chrome to Firefox and it seem ok, though it seem not so many pages are cached and need reload when switching many tabs
- bostand 10y ago
  Firefox has a bug where first the tab takes ages to load. Open the same page in another app and see it fly
  - Markoff 10y ago
    in the end I gave p even on desktop and I am back to Chrome, firefox just kept freezing or was unresponsive even with few tabs open, also always refreshing tabs when returning to them after while, while I experience no problems with Chrome :( on Android I switched from YuBrowser to Brave browser, Firefox doesn't have simple pull down to refresh and it's not optimized for Snapdragon plus kinda slow in real life scenarios

HenryBemis 10y ago

great choice (I do the same on my jailbroken iDevices.. my usual go-to hosts resource is: http://someonewhocares.org/hosts/ http://someonewhocares.org/hosts/ block responsibly :)

tiatia 10y ago

How do you do this? I rooted my HTC one, put hosts in /etc/ but somehow the phoen "ignores" it?

exadeci 10y ago
https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdid=org.adaway https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdid=org.adaway

tomaskafka 10y ago

If you have a Samsung Galaxy with Knox (S6+ I think), you can use Adhell which works without rooting and has all the capabilities of root adblock.

mlechha 10y ago
Wow! Thanks for this. Adhell is awesome.
aaattt1 10y ago
But knox uses a Samsung owned proxy and send private identifying info to Samsung...

e40 10y ago

A non-root way: DNS66 via F-Droid. https://github.com/julian-klode/dns66 https://github.com/julian-klode/dns66