#Blokada

[the-sleepy-archivist]

Blocking Ads on Mobile Devices

Blocking ads on our phones is way harder than it should be so I figured I'd make some recommendations. These are not the only options out there, just the ones that I know and use.

Please note that browser-level and system-level adblocking are complementary; you'll have the best experience if you use both of them together as they each block different things in different places. If you want a basic idea of how effective your combined adblocking setup is, you can visit this website in your mobile browser.

Lastly, there is some additional advice/info under the readmore if you're curious (EDIT: updated June 2024 to add info about sideloading altered versions of social media apps that don't contain ads on Android and iOS).

Android

Browser-Level

uBlock Origin (for Firefox)

System-Level (works in all apps, not just browsers)

AdGuard

Blokada 5 (completely free version) OR Blokada 6 (has some newer features but they require a subscription)

iPhone/iPad

Browser-Level

AdGuard (Safari extension; free for basic browser-level blocking, requires a subscription for custom filters)

System-Level (works in all apps, not just browsers)

AdGuard (requires subscription for system-level blocking)

AdGuard DNS only (this is free and does not require the AdGuard app, BUT I would only recommend it for advanced users, as you can't easily turn it off like you can with the app. Credit to this Reddit thread for the DNS profile)

Some additional info: browser-level blocking is a browser addon or extension, like you might be used to from a desktop computer. This inspects the HTML code returned by websites and searches for patterns that identify the presence of an ad or other annoyance (popup videos, cookie agreements, etc.). System-level blocking is almost always DNS-based. Basically whenever an app asks your phone's OS to make a connection to a website that is known for serving ads, the system-level blocker replies "sorry, I don't know her 🤷‍♂️💅" and the ad doesn't get downloaded. This works in most places, not just a browser, but be warned that it might make your battery drain a little faster depending on the app/setup.

Each of those types of blocking has strengths and weaknesses. System-level DNS blocking blocks ads in all apps, but companies that own advertising networks AND the websites those ads are served on can combine their services into the same domain to render DNS blocking useless; you can’t block ads served by Facebook/Meta domains without also blocking all of Facebook and Instagram as well because they made sure their ads are served from the same domain as all the user posts you actually want to see. Similarly, browser-level blocking can recognize ads by appearance and content, regardless of what domain they’re served from, so it can block them on Instagram and Facebook. However, it needs to be able to inspect the content being loaded in order to look for ads, and there’s no way to do that in non-browser apps. That’s why using both together will get you the best results.

These limitations do mean that you can’t block ads in the Facebook or Instagram apps, unfortunately, only in the website versions of them visited in your browser. It also means ads served by meta’s/facebook’s ad network in other apps can’t be blocked either (unless you're one of the rare beasts who doesn't use facebook or instagram or threads, in which case feel free to blacklist all Meta/FB domains and watch your ads disappear 😍; I'm jealous and in awe of you lol).

One note: some apps may behave unpredictably when they can't download ads. For example, the Tumblr app has big black spaces where the ads are, and sometimes those spaces collapse as you scroll past them and it messes up scrolling for a few seconds (UPDATE: looks like the scrolling issue may have actually been a Tumblr bug that they have now fixed, at least on iOS). Still way less annoying than getting ads for Draco Malfoy seduction roleplay AI chatbots imo though. And honestly *most* apps handle this fairly gracefully, like a mobile game I play just throws error messages like "ad is not ready" and then continues like normal.

One final note: on Android, you may actually be able to find hacked versions of Meta’s apps that have the ad frameworks removed. In some cases they are a little janky (unsurprisingly, apps don’t always take kindly to having some of their innards ripped out by a third-party), and they are often out of date. BUT in return you get an Instagram app with no ads whatsoever, and some of them even add additional features like buttons for saving IG videos and photos to your phone. However, use these apps at your own risk, as there is functionally no way to validate the code that the third-parties have added or removed from the app. Example altered IG app (I have not vetted this altered app, it's just a popular option): link.

It is technically possible to install altered apps on iOS as well, but Apple makes it much, much harder to do (unless you are jailbroken, which is a whole different ballgame). I'm not going to cover sideloading or jailbreaking here because even I as a very techy person eventually grew tired of messing with it or having to pay for it. If you're interested you can read more about the different ways to do sideloading on iOS here.

[darkangel-myworld]

"Chciałabym wiedzieć czy kiedykolwiek byłam dla ciebie ważna,tak jak ty dla mnie"

[wrenfea]

Hey be careful if you use blokada, you might break your Tumblr. Only block the ones in red here, if you block the others it won't let you log in

[mtonino]

La demolizione dello stadio di Leningrado per recuperare legno da bruciare nei circa 900 giorni di assedio di Leningrado durante la II guerra Mondiale.

Le immagini sono di repertorio e sono tratte dal documentario

Blokada (2006) Sergei Loznitsa

Come ha spiegato lo stesso regista, durante la Masterclass, ospitata dall' Unarchive Found Footage Fest, la panoramica nella gif avrebbe potuto costare la fucilazione al coraggioso operatore per aver accostato le immagini della demolizione all'effige di Stalin che chiude il movimento di macchina.

[captain-acab]

Thank you so much for telling everyone a lot Blockada. I had never heard of it until now and holy shit. Literally the only ads on Tumblr mobile it doesn't block are the ones from actual accounts (which are still annoying but less frequent) and goddamn the app is actually usable now.

Right?? I don't know how the average American survives with the ads being shoved at us 24/7

So while I have you here, switch to Firefox now and install the uBlock Origin extension to block ads fucking e v e r y w h e r e

[charonte-simi]

Okay yeah the ads are now infuriating me. Gonna see if Blokada fixes it..

[spiderchao]

I installed Blokada about three days ago.

[difficult--emotions]

My ss.

[captain-acab]

opens website on mobile

Gentle daily reminder that on Firefox for Android you can easily add the uBlock Origin extension (aka best adblocker for browsers). Apple doesn't let you do that, BUT you can still use a DNS-based adblocking app like Blokada to block most ads across all apps (Blokada also works on Android! It blocks so many in-app ads it's unreal. Can also be used to block invasive tracking from Tumblr Live).

guy who installs an adblocker and forgets about it and lives in a beautiful world where online ads have become much less frequent

[haverwood]

Blokada Sergei Loznitsa Russia, 2006

How bored do you think the Foley guys were?

[darkangel-myworld]

To nie jest tak ,że nie chce mówić ci o moich problemach ja po prostu nie potrafię

[letterboxd-loggd]

Blockade (Блокада) (Blokada) (2006) Sergei Loznitsa

July 27th 2024

[blaacknoir]

Ugh, the latest android update killed Blokada and now it's like ads are *all* I'm seeing. Any suggestions to adblock the app?

[captain-acab]

hey! do you know if blokada works with youtube+twitch as well? tired of wanting to watch things to get ads in my face

Not sure, I don't personally use those apps. But you have options!

Use a "front-end client" app. Basically an unofficial youtube app that can fetch yt videos, comments, etc, but blocks the ads itself. For ad-free Youtube I recommend using NewPipe. For ad-free Twitch, I've heard Twire is good. (I have a longer post about how to do this stuff here. It also links to an app for ad-free Spotify Premium, if you're interested.)

Try it out and see if it works! Blokada is a filter for all your phone's network connections, so if those apps use separate connections for ads versus regular content, then you can block just the ad connections. So, open an app you want to try, (you may need to wait til you see an ad), then go to Blokada and look for connections that look ad-related. Block em and see what happens. It will either A) block some ads, B) block some other functionality, or C) do nothing. Worst case, you can always unblock the connection again. Just by toying around with this, I've discovered some domains can be blocked for Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat to reduce ads and trackers.

[coolinternetthings]

Blokada

This app blocks ads and trackers for your entire phone, I even don't get ads on twitch with this. Blokada 5 is free, however this is an older version. That is what I'm using, and it's been working fine.

[captain-acab]

Friendly reminder that at the bottom of this post are my instructions for completely blocking Tumblr Live from the mobile app

you can remove tumblr live by adding

"www.tumblr.com##.RAEnv www.tumblr.com##.ADlDx"

to your filter list in ublock (omit quotation marks)