Five Ad Blocker Hacks Every Android User Should Know

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Ads are everywhere on Android. For most of us, the answer is either to sit through the ad, or pay up for a service's "premium" tier. While services like YouTube Premium can genuinely be worth it, they aren't for every app. Thankfully, there are options: All you need are free apps or extensions, easily available from the Play Store or alternative app stores, including one option that can block virtually all ads on Android.

Use BlockAds to block all ads on Android via a local VPN

If you want a single app that blocks everything, start with the aptly named "BlockAds." It’s a free, open-source app you can install directly from GitHub or via the F-Droid store. It’s not available on the Play Store, so the installation method will depend on where you live and when you’re installing it. If Google’s new rules are in place, you’ll need a 24-hour cooling-off period before you can sideload apps.

Once installed, activate BlockAds, giving it permission to add a VPN profile. When enabled, BlockAds will activate its own VPN profile that will stay enabled in the background. While it uses a VPN profile, it’s not a VPN service like Proton VPN in the traditional sense. Instead, it’s a local VPN that filters the traffic on your device itself. It uses DNS filtering to automatically block traffic to ad servers and trackers, quietly disabling them in the background. All your regular activity continues, but the annoying ads in any app disappear, without needing to root your device. There is one downside to using this method: Android only lets you enable one VPN profile at a time, so if BlockAds is taking up the VPN slot, you can’t use an actual VPN to protect your internet usage or to spoof your location.

If you don't want to use a VPN profile, or a third-party app, DNS filtering is another path. This method blocks known advertiser domains, effectively blocking most ads you encounter on the web. Android OS comes with a built-in option that lets you change the DNS server to whatever you like, but there are also services that use DNS filtering to remove ads and trackers as you browse the internet, like AdGuard's free DNS filtering. All you have to do is change the DNS address. Go to Settings > Network and Internet > Private DNS and switch to the Private DNS provider hostname option, then enter the hostname. In this case, to use the free service, enter "dns.adguard-dns.co" and hit the Save button.

It's important to note that DNS filtering might break some sites or apps with full-screen ads. This is where a more flexible option like NextDNS can help. Once you create a NextDNS account, you get a personal DNS hostname URL, where you can customize which filters to use and add websites to a whitelist as well. Plus, you can enable or disable protection as needed. After you sign up for NextDNS, go to the Setup section to find your URL. NextDNS, though, isn't completely free. You get up to 300,000 queries for free per month, and the unlimited Pro plan costs $1.99 per month or $19.99 per year.

Get a desktop-class ad-blocking experience with Firefox and uBlock Origin

After Google’s new Manifest V3 changes, getting a full-fledged ad-blocker that updates in real time is becoming more difficult, even on desktop. On Mac and Windows, Firefox is perhaps the biggest champion of ad blockers, supporting the full uBlock Origin extension natively.

It’s the same story on Android as well. Firefox is the best way to run the full uBlock Origin extension, with its dynamic blocking and customizable filter support. If you want to use it, install the Firefox app on Android, tap the Menu button, and go to Extensions. Here, search for and install uBlock Origin. Once it’s installed, ads from websites will disappear automatically. The default setup is enough for most users. But if you want to customize it, you can go to uBlock Origin extension’s settings page to add extra filters.

Watch YouTube ad-free (with premium features) using NewPipe and DuckDuckGo

The most reliable way to block ads on YouTube these days is to pay for Premium, as Google makes it quite hard to block ads for free. That said, there are plenty of workarounds. The best way is to get out of Google’s system altogether using the NewPipe app, an alternative YouTube client that’s hosted on the open-source F-Droid app store (similar to the BlockAds app we discussed above). The app plays YouTube videos ad-free, and you can also access features like background playback and offline downloads (usually reserved for YouTube Premium subscribers). You can search for and play videos, but you can also subscribe to channels and build your own YouTube feed in the NewPipe app.

If you don’t want to install an app from third-party app stores, try using DuckDuckGo's browser. It has a built-in YouTube ad blocker, which uses the robust filters from the uBlock Origin extension discussed above. Just load up a YouTube video in the browser, and you should be good to go. If you still see ads, make sure that the feature is enabled from Menu > Ad Blocking > Block Ads on YouTube.

Block trackers and ads without any setup using Brave

If you just want an ad-free browsing experience without the need for installing and updating third-party extensions, try the Brave browser. It’s one of the best privacy-focused browsers out there, and the Android app is quite easy to use. It blocks trackers and ads by default. There are no switches to flip, and no extensions to enable. The default ad-blocking works for YouTube videos as well.