Blocking ads on Android devices

[Introduction]

So one of our members posted a question:

(12-10-2018, 02:34 PM)Snake38 Wrote:

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According to you, what is the best way to delete the ads on a Android smartphone ? I would like to remove ads on Chrome, Youtube, my games, etc.

And being a helpful person that I am, I'm going to share what I know about blocking ads on android.

[Disclaimer]

Some methods mentioned in this thread are dangerous because we will be editing system files, I am not responsible for anything that can and will happen to your device.
If your device breaks, you get to keep all the pieces.

[Methods]

• {Using an ad-blocking browser}
  This one is pretty straight forward, there are mobile web browsers that have ad-blocking capabilities
  The one I use daily is CM Browser, although the most popular one is probably the Brave browser
  Cons: Only blocks ads inside the browser, not system-wide
  Pros: Easy to setup, root is not required
  
• {Disabling connection to the Internet}
  Also pretty straight forward, if you disable the Internet connection ads just wont show, so just disconnect from your wifi and disable mobile data.
  Cons: You can't access the Internet obviously, can't play games that requires you to connect to the Internet.
  Pros: Very easy, no setup required, just works.
  
• {Patching apps}
  There are tools that you can use to patch-out ads from applications, one of these tools is LuckyPatcher.
  After launching LuckyPatcher you'll be presented with a list of installed applications, now just chose the applications that you want to patch-out ads on, than go to: "Menu of patches"->"Remove Google ads" and select "Patch to remove Google ads"
  Cons: Does not work on all ads, you have to have a rooted phone, you have to re-patch after every update
  Pros: It works pretty well in some cases
  
• {Blocking known ad-service's by DNS}
  This is the one I use, basically you modify your device's hosts file to stop ad-service domain names from getting resolved.
  The easiest method to accomplish this is to download an app called AdAway, you can find it on the F-Droid app store.
  Cons: You have to have a rooted phone and have write access to the system partition, only works for the ad-services that are included in the public list (Otherwise you'll have to add it manually)
  Pros: Works pretty well, easy one-time setup
  

[Final notes]

Personally I use AdAway and CM Browser on my device, I do believe that AdAway is enough but using a browser centered on privacy also helps.
If I missed something ore you know more ways please share them in a reply to this thread.

[Source and external links]

10 Best Adblock Browsers for Android:

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LuckyPatcher:

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F-Droid app store:

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[Edits]

More information about BRAVE by @"UplayAlts" :

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Also a good method is putting on "plane mode" with wifi also, because it doesnt shows any advert. At least this worked for me. I hope this will work for most of the user here.

(12-10-2018, 10:41 PM)kaz Wrote:

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Also a good method is putting on "plane mode" with wifi also, because it doesnt shows any advert. At least this worked for me. I hope this will work for most of the user here.

It works the same way as with disabling wifi/mobile data, the only thing bad about this is that while you are in "plane mode" you can't receive calls, sms messages.

(12-10-2018, 10:48 PM)kaz Wrote:

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Yeah, thats true unfortunarely, but i think its a good option for begineers and people "lazy" at the moment of installing software.

I think the point "Disabling connection to the Internet" covers this, but thanks for your input. Cheers!

(12-10-2018, 10:46 PM)Pikami Wrote:

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(12-10-2018, 10:41 PM)kaz Wrote:

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Also a good method is putting on "plane mode" with wifi also, because it doesnt shows any advert. At least this worked for me. I hope this will work for most of the user here.

It works the same way as with disabling wifi/mobile data, the only thing bad about this is that while you are in "plane mode" you can't receive calls, sms messages.

Yeah, thats true unfortunarely, but i think its a good option for begineers and people "lazy" at the moment of installing software.

Nicely written tutorial Pikami.

One thing I would like to add if you have root on your device, you can use the hosts file to block the domains, saving data and just in general blocking most adverts online one thing I use across most of my devices and with a little modifications here and there is

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It's not an exhaustive list but it blocks a lot of rubbish and keeps my net nice and clean, but there are a few modifications required to get the best from it as it does block a lot like Facebook. Twitter, Instagram.

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Is also quite effective In serving It's purpose.

Very well documented and elaborated tutorial.
Good job.

(12-11-2018, 02:45 AM)O9A Wrote:

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Nicely written tutorial Pikami.

One thing I would like to add if you have root on your device, you can use the hosts file to block the domains, saving data and just in general blocking most adverts online one thing I use across most of my devices and with a little modifications here and there is

[To see links please register here]

It's not an exhaustive list but it blocks a lot of rubbish and keeps my net nice and clean, but there are a few modifications required to get the best from it as it does block a lot like Facebook. Twitter, Instagram.

Thanks for your input, I've covered this method in the point {Blocking known ad-service's by DNS} but instead of manually editing the file I recomend using an app because you get automatic updates and a pre-built list of domain adresses.

(12-11-2018, 04:28 AM)mothered Wrote:

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Is also quite effective In serving It's purpose.

Very well documented and elaborated tutorial.
Good job.

Thanks, I'll take a look when I have some spare time.

(12-11-2018, 09:50 AM)Pikami Wrote:

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(12-11-2018, 02:45 AM)O9A Wrote:

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Nicely written tutorial Pikami.

One thing I would like to add if you have root on your device, you can use the hosts file to block the domains, saving data and just in general blocking most adverts online one thing I use across most of my devices and with a little modifications here and there is

[To see links please register here]

It's not an exhaustive list but it blocks a lot of rubbish and keeps my net nice and clean, but there are a few modifications required to get the best from it as it does block a lot like Facebook. Twitter, Instagram.

Thanks for your input, I've covered this method in the point {Blocking known ad-service's by DNS} but instead of manually editing the file I recomend using an app because you get automatic updates and a pre-built list of domain adresses.

(12-11-2018, 04:28 AM)mothered Wrote:

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[To see links please register here]

Is also quite effective In serving It's purpose.

Very well documented and elaborated tutorial.
Good job.

Thanks, I'll take a look when I have some spare time.

You're welcome.

I believe It's good but I haven't used It In an In depth manner. You'd know a lot more, so whenever you get a chance (no rush), It'll be good to read your thoughts.

Thanks for that wonderful tutorial ! I still have an issue with my phone.

Let's take for exemple :

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When i use my android browser to see streaming videos, i often have popups ads that i can't block (see the exemple). I tried all the browsers in your list but i still can't prevent theses popups.

Do you have a solution ?