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I am tech savvy and run ad blockers on all my devices. However I consume Instagram through an app, and can’t be arsed setting up an ad blocker that would deal w

I am tech savvy and run ad blockers on all my devices. However I consume Instagram through an app, and can’t be arsed setting up an ad blocker that would deal with that. I have bought a whole bunch of stuff through Instagram ads. I see too many ads on Instagram, but not enough to make me stop using it, and the ads are apparently relevant enough. I assume this is a large reason why websites are so keen for you to use their apps.

Helmut10001 4y ago
I run an ad blocker centrally on my router (pfSense with pfblockerng on an APU2.D4), which has an automatically updated list of all known ad servers worldwide, directing traffic for those into a DNS sink. No device configuration needed. Cannot be detected by websites.
- Thorrez 4y ago
  Couldn't JavaScript on the page notice that ads aren't loading?
  - Helmut10001 4y ago
    No, DNS sinkholes silently replace queries by a valid internal IP - to JavaScript, it looks like the resource is loading, but the webbrowser actually just displays whitespace instead of the app. Check for example this page [1] - if you run AdBlock, it will be detected. My page just looks void of Ads with pfblockerng [2]. It works inside Apps (Android etc.) and games or youtube videos, too. There are ways to get around this, like e.g. hardcoding IPs that are not known to serve Ads, but this needs additional work and 99% of ads don't do this. Benefits of router based DNS sinkholes: - cannot be detected by websites with anti-adblock scripts - no memory consumption on clients - fewer web browser plug-ins needed - lower device CPU utilization from AdGuard PC/Android apps, uBlock extensions etc. - protects all network devices without requiring extra work - browser, software and OS independent - device and PC independent. - implements redundancy should users remove/disable browser plug-ins [1]: https://next-episode.net/ https://next-episode.net/ [2]: https://imageupload.io/i/pL0x1yM8eC https://imageupload.io/i/pL0x1yM8eC
    - Thorrez 4y ago
      It's probably still somewhat detectable by noticing that all requests to ad domains are taking a long time to load while requests to non-ad domains are loading quickly. There will be false positives and false negatives, but I think it can be pretty accurate for people who have good network speed.
      - Helmut10001 4y ago
        Requests to ad domains don't take longer - they're faster, since 0.0.0.0 (the sinkhole) will answer the query, instead of some internet Ad IP.
        Thorrez 4y ago
        Then the request will fail right, since the https cert doesn't match? Or are you installing a custom root CA? Loading faster is also probably detectable, especially if there's some request that the server intentionally replies slowly to to aid detection.
        Helmut10001 4y ago
        You're right, in this case the https will fail and this will indeed (mostly) slow down loading of Ads. I was wrong - although, personally, I do not observe slower loading times for pages, even though some ad-urls are failing. There are indeed some very rare pages (like zdf.de) that won't load at all because they have a very aggressive ad/surveillance checking.
    - LunaSea 4y ago
      So it's incredibly easy to detect.
      - Helmut10001 4y ago
        Care to explain? Give me an address that runs an anti-ad-blocker and I show you it won't work.
  - dan1234 4y ago
    They can but it’s pretty rare for them to do anything about it (and even then it’s normally just a full page div that’s easy to remove with dev tools). I use nextdns (because I was too lazy to setup pi-hole), which has a simple ui for whitelisting domains as and when I can’t get around one (though usually it’s down to a tracking script breaking a site when it fails to load).
- petesergeant 4y ago
  Enough non-ad stuff breaks for me using a browser-based blocker that I’m not sure it’s worth the hassle for me, to block ads only on Instagram, especially as I do occasionally buy stuff
  - Helmut10001 4y ago
    Yes, then DNS sinkhole is the way to go because it cannot be detected and won't break stuff.
JoshTriplett 4y ago
I've been so much happier with YouTube when I removed the Android app and replaced it with an icon on my home screen that goes to https://m.youtube.com/feed/subscriptions https://m.youtube.com/feed/subscriptions in Firefox (with uBlock Origin). Works perfectly.
- kitkat_new 4y ago
  I switched to ReVanced
- petesergeant 4y ago
  I do the same thing with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Reddit, which has the added advantage of trashing the experience a bit so I use them much less. Instagram doesn’t really work outside of the app for me though
- malermeister 4y ago
  You could try NewPipe instead!
  - 2Gkashmiri 4y ago
    or libretube. newpipe is a broken mess for me now that libretube is here. i get buffering on a regular basis, videos take multiple seconds to get started. libretube OTOH is much better. been using newpipe since it came out first so i have seen the whole drama of previous many years.
asdff 4y ago
Instagram ads are uniquely irrelevant for me. I get some ad for wayfair advertising an excavator or a cedar lined sauna. I don't even think wayfair sells these things they are advertising towards me.

Helmut10001 4y ago

I run an ad blocker centrally on my router (pfSense with pfblockerng on an APU2.D4), which has an automatically updated list of all known ad servers worldwide, directing traffic for those into a DNS sink. No device configuration needed. Cannot be detected by websites.

Thorrez 4y ago
Couldn't JavaScript on the page notice that ads aren't loading?
- Helmut10001 4y ago
  No, DNS sinkholes silently replace queries by a valid internal IP - to JavaScript, it looks like the resource is loading, but the webbrowser actually just displays whitespace instead of the app. Check for example this page [1] - if you run AdBlock, it will be detected. My page just looks void of Ads with pfblockerng [2]. It works inside Apps (Android etc.) and games or youtube videos, too. There are ways to get around this, like e.g. hardcoding IPs that are not known to serve Ads, but this needs additional work and 99% of ads don't do this. Benefits of router based DNS sinkholes: - cannot be detected by websites with anti-adblock scripts - no memory consumption on clients - fewer web browser plug-ins needed - lower device CPU utilization from AdGuard PC/Android apps, uBlock extensions etc. - protects all network devices without requiring extra work - browser, software and OS independent - device and PC independent. - implements redundancy should users remove/disable browser plug-ins [1]: https://next-episode.net/ https://next-episode.net/ [2]: https://imageupload.io/i/pL0x1yM8eC https://imageupload.io/i/pL0x1yM8eC
  - Thorrez 4y ago
    It's probably still somewhat detectable by noticing that all requests to ad domains are taking a long time to load while requests to non-ad domains are loading quickly. There will be false positives and false negatives, but I think it can be pretty accurate for people who have good network speed.
    - Helmut10001 4y ago
      Requests to ad domains don't take longer - they're faster, since 0.0.0.0 (the sinkhole) will answer the query, instead of some internet Ad IP.
      - Thorrez 4y ago
        Then the request will fail right, since the https cert doesn't match? Or are you installing a custom root CA? Loading faster is also probably detectable, especially if there's some request that the server intentionally replies slowly to to aid detection.
        Helmut10001 4y ago
        You're right, in this case the https will fail and this will indeed (mostly) slow down loading of Ads. I was wrong - although, personally, I do not observe slower loading times for pages, even though some ad-urls are failing. There are indeed some very rare pages (like zdf.de) that won't load at all because they have a very aggressive ad/surveillance checking.
  - LunaSea 4y ago
    So it's incredibly easy to detect.
    - Helmut10001 4y ago
      Care to explain? Give me an address that runs an anti-ad-blocker and I show you it won't work.
- dan1234 4y ago
  They can but it’s pretty rare for them to do anything about it (and even then it’s normally just a full page div that’s easy to remove with dev tools). I use nextdns (because I was too lazy to setup pi-hole), which has a simple ui for whitelisting domains as and when I can’t get around one (though usually it’s down to a tracking script breaking a site when it fails to load).
petesergeant 4y ago
Enough non-ad stuff breaks for me using a browser-based blocker that I’m not sure it’s worth the hassle for me, to block ads only on Instagram, especially as I do occasionally buy stuff
- Helmut10001 4y ago
  Yes, then DNS sinkhole is the way to go because it cannot be detected and won't break stuff.

JoshTriplett 4y ago

I've been so much happier with YouTube when I removed the Android app and replaced it with an icon on my home screen that goes to https://m.youtube.com/feed/subscriptions https://m.youtube.com/feed/subscriptions in Firefox (with uBlock Origin). Works perfectly.

kitkat_new 4y ago
I switched to ReVanced
petesergeant 4y ago
I do the same thing with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Reddit, which has the added advantage of trashing the experience a bit so I use them much less. Instagram doesn’t really work outside of the app for me though
malermeister 4y ago
You could try NewPipe instead!
- 2Gkashmiri 4y ago
  or libretube. newpipe is a broken mess for me now that libretube is here. i get buffering on a regular basis, videos take multiple seconds to get started. libretube OTOH is much better. been using newpipe since it came out first so i have seen the whole drama of previous many years.

asdff 4y ago

Instagram ads are uniquely irrelevant for me. I get some ad for wayfair advertising an excavator or a cedar lined sauna. I don't even think wayfair sells these things they are advertising towards me.