Ad blocking is a necessary experience for many people. Bad ads are ruining experiences left and right, especially when browsing the web, playing games, and watching video content. Of course, there’s a necessary downside to the whole thing, but people still use ad blockers. There are several ways to get ad blocking on your Android device, at least with some capacity. It only requires root access or installing third-party apps.
There are no system-wide ad blockers in the Google Play Store. You can read here to find out why. So most of the apps in the list require third-party download and installation. We didn’t have any problems doing this, but you might be a little scared. Also, more and more sites and services allow payment in exchange for ads. Rather than banning ads, we recommend that content creators who enjoy it continue to earn a living. Just a thought.
The best ad blocking apps for Android
The ethics of ad blocking
The ethics of ad blocking is a bit of a catch-22. It’s a catch-22 situation for the unknown. Ads help creators like us here at Android Authority pay the bills, keep the lights on, and make sure we have roofs over our heads. I might be a little biased because I do this for a living, but there are real, real benefits to advertising. It frees up my work for you, the reader, while giving me enough money to pay my bills.
Many people want to know that ad blocking takes away money from independent creators. The answer to that question is yes. Android Authority is a standalone website, and our budget would definitely improve without ad block. However, we recognize that ads can eat up your data, CPU usage, and other negatives.
However, there are many things people don’t understand about advertising. For example, most websites don’t choose which ads run on their site. The site chooses where the ad goes, and a third-party ad server places the ads there. This is how a generally popular site can become infected with malicious ads.
We have this list because things like this can go wrong. We’d appreciate it if you’d see some more ads here on Android Authority, but we understand if you don’t. Here’s how to block them.
AddAway (root only)
Price: free
Joe Hindi / Android Authority
AdAway is a simple ad blocker app. It uses a modified hosts file to send all advertising requests to 12.0.0.1. In other words, the request won’t go anywhere and you won’t see any ads. The app supports modified or custom host files or you can download the basic one from the app itself. Host files are stored in the read-only section of the Android system. That is, root is needed for this person. You can donate if you want, but the entire app works for free. The only two downsides are that you have to download it from F-Droid, not the Play Store, and you need root access. Root users can always change the host files without the app if they want.
Adblocker Plus is arguably the most popular ad blocker app on the list. It works on both rooted and non-rooted devices, although non-rooted users have some extra work to do. The app runs in the background and filters web traffic just like a web browser extension. Basically you open it once, set it up, and then it works on its own. That’s about it, really. Hit the button to go to the official website with instructions on installing and setting up Adblock Plus on both rooted and non-rooted devices.
AdGuard
Price: Free / $24.99 per year
AdGuard is a bit of a wild card. We hadn’t heard much about it before doing this article, but it seems like it’s going well for us. The app blocks ads just like Adblock Plus. AdGuard runs as a service in the background and filters web traffic. It works without root, but needs a little more setup. It also keeps tabs on all your web traffic, similar to apps like GlassWire. You get a nice looking Material Design UI to tie everything together. The free version only blocks ads in web browsers. The premium version runs $24.99 per month, but you get the premium version of AdGuard for Windows PC or Mac computers.
Suspension
Price: Free / $5.99 per month / $59.99 per year
Blokada is a separate ad blocker app. The free version blocks trackers and ads with a nice little counter so you can see it working. It’s also open source so you can see that the developers aren’t stealing any data. There is also a premium version which is basically a VPN. A VPN adds another level of privacy, has no logs, and has no bandwidth limits. There is also an alternative on Play Store.
Although there is a little dirt. We really recommend installing Blokada 5 because it’s the free version. Blokada 6 in the Play Store requires a subscription. Use whatever works for you, but be aware that while the free version is available in the Play Store, the subscription version requires you to install it on the side.
Browsers with ad blocking
Price: free (usually)
There are many browsers with ad blocking. These browsers filter out most ad traffic, or at least the most offensive ad traffic. Google Chrome has ad blocking, but it still shows the least amount of ads to the viewer, leaving a few out so that websites can still make money. Firefox does the same. Additionally, browsers such as Firefox have plug-in support with options such as uBlock for additional blocking.
We recommend it as a happy medium (for practical reasons). Some examples of web browsers with ad blockers include Brave Browser, Kiwi Browser, Samsung Browser, and a few others that include ad blocker add-ons such as Dolphin Browser. Choose the one that you think will work best for me.
Change DNS
Price: free
Joe Hindi / Android Authority
Changing your DNS can block ads before they reach your phone. The good part about this is that free DNS companies block ads by default so your job is very easy here. Simply go to your Wi-Fi settings, find the Private DNS setting and change it from Automatic to Private DNS. For the hostname, most people use “dns.adguard.com” without the quotes. There are others, but Adguard DNS is as good as it gets. The method may change depending on the OEM of your phone, but the setting should be the same on every modern Android phone. We don’t have a download link for this. Because it’s a setting in your phone, not an app.
Joe Hindi / Android Authority
If the above option doesn’t work for you, DNS66 can help. It establishes a VPN connection and uses it to filter ads and trackers along your route. The app maintains a blacklist and anything in the blacklist cannot filter to your phone. This means that some ads may work, but only because they haven’t been blocked yet. The app allows you to use a custom DNS server if you want. This is downloadable on F-Droid, which you need to sideload. However, we trust F-Droid to keep this app above board.
Change DNS
Price: free
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