3 ms·

Dang, you're right, I forgot about that. So not so suitable, unfortunately. Seems like root + a local hosts adblocker is still the best solution for Android, o

Dang, you're right, I forgot about that. So not so suitable, unfortunately. Seems like root + a local hosts adblocker is still the best solution for Android, or a local VPN for iOS (do they have those on Android? never checked).

Laforet 10y ago
Ideally you'd want to have L7 filtering so an SSL terminating proxy is the best thing short of running a fully functional copy of uBlock on your mobile device, lest you run into issues where removing ads on youtube also interferes with normal site function.
bitmapbrother 10y ago
Or, you know, you could actually pay for a reddit app without ads.
cromulent 10y ago
I don't have a full understanding of what's going on here, so this might be a stupid comment: Isn't 1GB of DNS lookups quite a lot?
- Orangeair 10y ago
  Geez, color me double-wrong. Yes, that should be plenty. I thought was a VPN-esque solution that required shuffling all traffic through the VPS instance, but yes you're right, it's basically just a custom DNS server. In which case this would be totally fine. I might even try it myself if I ever decide to unroot my phone.
  - filmor 10y ago
    DNS66 (https://github.com/julian-klode/dns66 https://github.com/julian-klode/dns66) doesn't require root. It uses the Android VPN system to capture DNS requests and forwards everything else.
    - simfoo 10y ago
      Agreed. Works really well on all my Android devices and the performance impact is negligible
- bweitzman 10y ago
  It would also have to serve the not found responses, no? Still, if they're short it seems unlikely that you'd have any issues.
TeMPOraL 10y ago
> or a local VPN for iOS (do they have those on Android? never checked). It seems so; at least my Android phone has something named "VPN", which I sometimes use to capture traffic and look at what my phone is sending/receiving. (Packet-capturing your phone traffic is a pretty eye-opening experience; I was surprised just how much data about you goes to ad/tracking services.)
- HenryBemis 10y ago
  for Android (local VPN) I am using the free "NoRootFirewall" on all my android devices [1] for iOS (for jailbroken) via Cydia and BigBoss I am using "Firewall IP7" which is not yet updated for iOS10, costs $2.99 or near both act as firewalls in learning mode.. it can be a little tedious in the beginning but as soon as you block most ads/trackers/beacons "globally" then you feel the difference on speed, bandwidth usage, and user experience [1] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.greyshirts.firewall https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.greyshirts...
mastazi 10y ago
AFAIK Block This! Is an example of local VPN - based ad blocker for Android.
akgerber 10y ago
I use Firefox on Android with an adblocker installed via its extensions page without root and it makes me a happy browser. It obviously doesn't do anything for other apps, though.

Laforet 10y ago

Ideally you'd want to have L7 filtering so an SSL terminating proxy is the best thing short of running a fully functional copy of uBlock on your mobile device, lest you run into issues where removing ads on youtube also interferes with normal site function.

bitmapbrother 10y ago

Or, you know, you could actually pay for a reddit app without ads.

cromulent 10y ago

I don't have a full understanding of what's going on here, so this might be a stupid comment: Isn't 1GB of DNS lookups quite a lot?

Orangeair 10y ago
Geez, color me double-wrong. Yes, that should be plenty. I thought was a VPN-esque solution that required shuffling all traffic through the VPS instance, but yes you're right, it's basically just a custom DNS server. In which case this would be totally fine. I might even try it myself if I ever decide to unroot my phone.
- filmor 10y ago
  DNS66 (https://github.com/julian-klode/dns66 https://github.com/julian-klode/dns66) doesn't require root. It uses the Android VPN system to capture DNS requests and forwards everything else.
  - simfoo 10y ago
    Agreed. Works really well on all my Android devices and the performance impact is negligible
bweitzman 10y ago
It would also have to serve the not found responses, no? Still, if they're short it seems unlikely that you'd have any issues.

TeMPOraL 10y ago

> or a local VPN for iOS (do they have those on Android? never checked). It seems so; at least my Android phone has something named "VPN", which I sometimes use to capture traffic and look at what my phone is sending/receiving. (Packet-capturing your phone traffic is a pretty eye-opening experience; I was surprised just how much data about you goes to ad/tracking services.)

HenryBemis 10y ago
for Android (local VPN) I am using the free "NoRootFirewall" on all my android devices [1] for iOS (for jailbroken) via Cydia and BigBoss I am using "Firewall IP7" which is not yet updated for iOS10, costs $2.99 or near both act as firewalls in learning mode.. it can be a little tedious in the beginning but as soon as you block most ads/trackers/beacons "globally" then you feel the difference on speed, bandwidth usage, and user experience [1] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.greyshirts.firewall https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.greyshirts...

mastazi 10y ago

AFAIK Block This! Is an example of local VPN - based ad blocker for Android.

akgerber 10y ago

I use Firefox on Android with an adblocker installed via its extensions page without root and it makes me a happy browser. It obviously doesn't do anything for other apps, though.