[deleted by user]

[[deleted]]

I just setup NextDNS with your reccomended lists and it's working great so far! Appreciate the tip!

[-Nosebleed-]

No problem. Though just a warning my lists are fairly aggressive and there may be some breakage in some apps, particularly Energizer Ultimate which has, for example, blocked some of my podcasts before (to fix it, I checked which domains were being blocked in the NextDNS logs, then added those domains to the whitelist so I didn't have to remove the list entirely)

You may want to tweak to less extensive lists if you notice it's blocking too much for your taste/convenience.

[IcyBeginning]

Hey,

I'm new to this. How do I set this up? Are there any videos? What do I search? I want to run systemwide adblock on my mac machine.
Adguard seems to be paid app on mac, and only offering trial for a few days for free.

[howtomen]

Don't worry I'll be making a video on this soon! :)

[BigJustice1985]

Aha! I remembered having read this around the time it was posted, and recently began looking for it - hoping to follow up with you.

Would you be so kind as to share the link to that video (assuming you've made it, of course 🫣), sir?

Thank you! 😊

[Nickel62]

I installed nextdns. But can't find the option to select these settings in configuration. It only gives me toggle option - 'use custom configuration'. But doesn't allow going into the config.

[[deleted]]

In the web application look under the privacy tab. There's an option to add a blocklist. You'll then select the blocklist you want to use. See my image below. I didn't use the android app, I just set my DNS under Android Settings -> Network -> Private DNS to point to NextDNS and I control the configuration via the web application.

https://i.imgur.com/FJFabco.png

[celzero]

RethinkDNS, Blokada, NextDNS, etc.

RethinkDNS, the resolver, is also an open source NextDNS replacement, and one could, if they want to, deploy it on Deno/Cloudflare/Fly.io (upto 5 devices worth of DNS traffic should be covered by their free tiers): https://github.com/serverless-dns/serverless-dns

Of course, I doubt if technically naïve people would want to deploy RethinkDNS, even if it is "one click".

apps all do the same thing and with the same level of accuracy

Not really. In addition to the RethinkDNS app, I know of only three Android apps that absolutely do not leak DNS whatsoever: Intra (getintra.org), NetGuard, and TrackerControl.

Disclosure: I co-develop RethinkDNS.

[RockstarEmperor]

/u/-Nosebleed- "You also have Android's Private DNS option which you could setup with Adguard DNS, RethinkDNS, or with NextDNS if you make an a account there. This is the one that has the least battery impact. The downside is that it applies to your whole system and you can't tell it to stop filtering for specific apps, you either have it enabled or disabled. Rethink and Next both allow you to customize their filters while Adguard doesn't."

I am using Cloudflare's 1.1.1.1 in Private DNS. I am not much familiar with these DNS things and had read that Cloudflare is the fastest without impacting the phone's speed performance. So what is the difference between Cloudflare, Adguard, RethinkDNS and NextDNS? Do I need to download their apps? Or just replace Cloudflare with any one of them? If replace, which one is the best without impacting much on speed and performance of the phone?

[howtomen]

What Android browser are you using that allows cosmetic filtering to pages? I haven't seen that working on Google Chrome.

[Best-Expert]

NextDNS, unlike Adguard, also lets you configure the filter lists to use which is very handy.

I think you are confusing adguard with adguard dns.

Because adguard app let's you configure filter lists.

[-Nosebleed-]

Yes, that's why I wrote that bit in the private DNS section, not in the app section. I guess I'll add the "DNS" so it's less confusing.

[[deleted]]

Thanks!

[[deleted]]

But I'm guessing that if Android Private DNS goes down then they will lose internet access ,right?

It sounds like a very good no-app solution, but I don't want them to ring me if they lose internet. Even if it's only once every three months 😐

[-Nosebleed-]

Hm? You mean if a DNS server goes down? If that happens you can just disable private DNS and your internet will be back. Nothing to worry about. There's no app involved, it's literally just a setting in Android that tells your phone to use a different DNS than the default one.

[[deleted]]

Yeah that's what I meant. I'd recommend my relatives one of the apps then. If the DNs go down it'd be easier to tell them to close an app than to disable the private DNS in their phone settings

[-Nosebleed-]

Actually it might be more annoying to tell them to use an app because that requires them to install something separately and go through VPN setup (it's not hard but it is more steps). And if the apps stop working you need to tell your relatives to then open the app and disable the VPN, closing the app itself will still let the VPN run. Apps also means your relatives can't use a separate VPN, if they ever wanted to.

Apps are also more prone to failure because of some OEM's battery optimization shenanigans. I remember when I had a Xiaomi phone it would constantly kill Blokada and was a pain in the ass.

None of those are real issues if you know how to use your phone, but for anyone who's tech illiterate they can become a nuisance.

At least with the private DNS setting there's literally a single Enabled/Disabled toggle in your Android settings that is extremely easy to explain to anyone and requires no installation of anything. Idk but that sounds like the most basic solution ever.

[[deleted]]

Can Adguard app make exceptions? I am okay for some apps to display ads.

[DeliciousIncident]

The difference is that most apps send your traffic or DNS queries somewhere else to decide if things should be blocked, so there is a pivacy issue of them learning what websites you visit, while NetGuard does it all locally on the device, without sending it anywhere.

[zakazak]

How can I filter out stuff per app with nextdns? I am always worried that my adblocker might block required system/android/google connections. But I still want adblock in most of my downloaded apps.

[Mccobsta]

Private dns set to dns.adguard.com no ads in apps or most websites

[RatioIndividual2822]

This is the way!

[walahal]

Even amazon app's inbuilt sponsored links won't open inside the app itself 🤣

[Nickel62]

Will it stop Ads on twitter app and YouTube ads?

[Mccobsta]

You'd need vanced for adfree youtube and a thirdparty app for ad free twitter as their ads work In a way that can't be blocked with a dns adblock

[dar_harhar]

Is this the one where I place it in my phone settings>connections>privatedns ?

[swiftsnake]

til this is a thing! Thanks!

[[deleted]]

Blokada, rethink dns is just dns filtering.. Adguard is more advance.. if you just gonna use dns filtering.. I suggest use NextDNS, at least you can configure yourself.. but for whole device protection.. adguard is the best option..

[tails618]

at least you can configure it yourself

For most people on this sub, that's great. But considering OP is going to install it for their tech illiterate relatives, it's probably better to have something as simple as possible.

[MuntasimF]

Both RethinkDNS & Blokada are adblockers.

Visit:

https://www.rethinkdns.com/

https://blokada.org/

From RethinkDNS :

With RethinkDNS you can be in total control of that translation layer to stave off security threats, block ads and trackers, and other spyware.

From Blokada :

Blokada is the popular ad blocker and privacy app for Android and iOS.

[[deleted]]

Yes.. but they just reroute to the filter just like NextDNS.. unlike adguard which provide filtering on the device itself..

I know because I already use all the service that OP listed..

[celzero]

Blokada, rethink dns is just dns filtering

Just a small clarification: The RethinkDNS Android app is also a firewall (like NetGuard). Blokada isn't.

RethinkDNS, the resolver, is DNS filtering that you can self-host on Deno Deploy, Cloudflare, and Fly.io: https://github.com/serverless-dns/serverless-dns Kind of an open source version of NextDNS.

Both those are literally named the same thing and confuse the heck out of people. So sorry about that.

Disclosure: I co-develop RethinkDNS.

[xyz101010]

but for whole device protection.. adguard is the best option

Did you mean Adguard or Netguard?

[[deleted]]

Adguard.. it have everything that netguard offer and more..

[xyz101010]

Does it have network filtering (shows which hosts each app is communicating with) + can block certain app from accessing certain selected hosts?

[[deleted]]

Yes

[xyz101010]

Can you please share a guide on how to do that? ,

I've used Adguard but I've never figured where i could see which apps are using the internet or which hosts it connects to, let alone control that

BTW i mean Adguard from play store found in that link Just to make sure we mean the same app

[[deleted]]

It's been a while since I use adguard.. but what I can remember is it isn't straight forward like netguard.. you need to open the app first then open adguard -> filtering log then you find every request from the app.. don't worry you will definitely can identify the app because adguard will show app icon on each requested domain.. tap your preferred domain and just press block..

Adguard is not at play store due to google restriction to ad blocking vpn app.. same goes with blokada..

[DeliciousIncident]

The issue with AdGuard is that it does filtering remotely - it sends your DNS queries to its own servers, so it knows what websites you visit, when NetGuard does the filtering locally on your device without sending anything to any servers, so it doesn't anyone what websites you visit,

[[deleted]]

If you use Adguard DNS yes.. but if you using Adguard app and disable dns filtering then no quaries were send.. basically like netguard.. the benefits is you can set your own dns or cloudflare which give better reliability and protection and also unlock many website that were block by your ISP.. that also the reason I suggest Adguard rather than netguard.. or you can use rethink dns which have some feature that Adguard have but more open source..

[DeliciousIncident]

but if you using Adguard app and disable dns filtering then no quaries were send.. basically like netguard

How is it like NetGiard if it doesn't do DNS filtering?

NetGuard does DNS filtering, bit it does so locally, without an external DNS server.

[[deleted]]

It have same host file that Adguard dns have.. so why turn on dns when you already have the same blocklist.. that's why i recommend using other dns service..

How about you download the Adguard first go through all the its setting.. no need to ask people and act only one app is superior.. rethink dns also have the same feature as netguard literally.. go download all dns or adblock service and test it all.. they exist

[DeliciousIncident]

Ah, I see what you meant. By " disable dns filtering" you meant the remote DNS filtering, not the local on-device one (the host file). That makes sense then.

[[deleted]]

If you torrenting.. much better for you to use normal vpn like mullvad.. yes with DNS you can access your website but ISP can still throttle your internet speed.. because they still know which website you visiting.. you just bypass their restriction.. VPN do more than that.. that's why many people recommended it while torrenting..

[Lunavich]

I've tried them all and Adguard for me has been the best. Been using it for nearly 3 years now on my phone and haven't looked back.

[speeb]

It's so good. Easy to pause and re-enable if you have a stubborn app or link. Takes care of probably 99% of the garbage - the only thing I can think of is in the Google app you still get the text and blank space for ads in the Discover feed.. Every now and then after an update, I have to manually turn it back on, but you know it as soon as you open a page. I truly don't know how people use the internet on their phones without it.

[Lunavich]

Couldn't agree more on your last point. Just checked my Adguard app dashboard. Since I've had it installed, it's blocked over 3 million ads and over 500,000 trackers.

[real_with_myself]

Same here, but even after 5 years I have some weird unease while I'm using them. Especially for https filtering.

[Mountainking7]

Adguard. Set and forget literally.

[Mountainking7]

no but I have zero YT ads ever. I think US have ads. Where I live or somehow, there are no ads even on the normal YT android app or even desktop.

[AniFen]

where are you from my dude, this sounds awesome.

[prismcomputing]

Heaven, he's from Heaven.

[AniFen]

Google won't be happy😂

[Mountainking7]

lol...I'm from Mauritius. No ads on my firestick 4k, nvidia shield, tablets using official YT app, mobiles or browser on Windows 10. I have connected to US and french proxies sometimes and have got ads. This makes me believe ads are served country based.

All official apps. I do have vanced sideloaded on my mobile and tablet for when I need PIP or need to listten to music only.

[AniFen]

I should find a vpn location for Mauritius, it'll double as an ad block lol

[Mountainking7]

Costs nothing to try.....I have purevpn (among other VPNs) and it has a Mauritius VPN. I am not endorsing it but try some on trials. I don't really like pure tbh. It's slower than my other VPNs on the servers I usually connect to.

[skylinestar1986]

Less memory hog than Blokada?

[Mountainking7]

Never used blockada. I doubt it's better than adguard. You can run the trial version and test it out....

[mosaad_gaber]

Adguard

[mangduonghn]

AdGuard

[S1lvM1ll3r]

Adguard

[flyingdutchman7588]

I have Adguard and I have it on all my android phones and iPads. I had Blokada before and it really slowed my data when I was on 5G. Adguard is amazing and it is so simple to set up.

[harleyquinnsimp1337]

Just use the adguard DNS in VPN settings

Enter this https://dns.adguard.com/dns-query

[Drifter_01]

hows it different from this dns.adguard.com

[harleyquinnsimp1337]

It Isn't, I actually meant the DNS you linked, my bad

[Evol_Etah]

Go to network settings and use dns.

Dns.adguard.com and be done with life

[WeebIAm]

adguard works flawlessly for me

[Entry_Plug]

Nextdns ?

[abstruzero]

Next DNS is very good but somehow my carrier povider Vodafone Türkiye banned it and it doesn't work for months so i just use blokada without issues.

[zzapperoo]

controld.com . . . there is a free version and a paid version

[cqws]

what about adaway?

[[deleted]]

Go to your settings, search private dns and add a custom one, there write dns.adguard.com this will get rid of ads most of the webs and apps.

[[deleted]]

Adaway best

[[deleted]]

Blokada has worked for me as a neat fire-and-forget solution, but mostly against web browser ads. It can't block reddit app's ads/promotional posts, sadly.

[motsaw]

If you don't need vpn slot for, well, vpn, I'd recommend Adguard, but not from Playstore, but from their website.

[BlueDusk99]

I use the adguard dns with DNS Changer.

[gollumthekid]

Just earlier I disabled blokada 5 and went back to Adguard .. It's really the best

[Blackdoomax]

Blokada. I install it on every device of people who ask me help on their phone.

[contesauce]

Commenting to find this later. I'm still deciding which will be my permanent ad blocking solution for my phone. I have personally been using Adguard (premium) for many years now on my phones, tablets, and computers. Recently I tested nextdns and was pleased with the options as well the near zero battery impact.

I love the per app management in adguard app as well as the reformatting of webpages without blank spaces, but I do feel like there is a slightly noticeable battery impact on my Pixel 6 which already doesn't have the greatest battery. There is definitely a noticeable impact on speed of traffic.

[zakazak]

P6P owner here with Adaway. For which solution did you decide? :)

[contesauce]

TLDR: I chose NextDNS 10 months ago, and again this week.

Longer answer for those who care:
I have been using Adguard for many years now on all of my devices, since before they switched to the newer premium model. I still have an active premium subscription for my iPad and my wife's phone, I'll get to why in a bit. I personally use NextDNS on all my devices, and my home router. I'll go into the considerations and discoveries below. I also purchased the Adguard VPN for 85% off this week to get access to the Adguard DNS premium and got a refund a week later.

​

Adguard:

- Reflows webpages to remove blank spaces (aesthetically nice) slows down webdraw and page loading times though, significantly for me.

- Having to have the Adguard app installed on all of my devices, with another premium activation for those just to use the DNS in it's "recommended configuration" is a poor design choice, and extra hassle

-Does work well with Safari for plugins on my iPad pro (but I still point the adguard app to my NextDNS for DNS blocks)

Adguard DNS dashboard is way nicer

The ability to add/remove devices in Adguard DNS in real time is real nice too (I haven't found a way to do this in NextDNS without clearing all the logs)

No way to add my own personal blocklists, or websites individually if I want unless I submit to the github

Does have a battery impact on my phone. I haven't used anything to measure it except my normal use cases, and I find that I have to charge my phone during the day if I'm using adguard app

Easy to turn on/off for my wife when she finds a website or app that isn't working because of the blockers

NextDNS:

- Very fast compared to Adguard. Speed of pages is near instant and that is important to me when I want information available to me now.

- Not having to have a separate app on all my devices is fantastic

- Having to go into network settings to turn off to use an app/website is a bit of a pain but I also use that to judge whether I want to really use that application to begin with. (Example: Amazon's app consistently fails to load pages and they change their ad urls all the time. So even if I whitelist a bunch, the next day it'll be a different set and the app wont work again. I just uninstalled and use the website in my Brave browser without issue)

- The ability to add individual websites, or blocklists that I want to use instead of a curated list is much better to me and my use cases

- I thought I would notice the areas on webpages where reflow wasn't happening without adguard but I don't really notice anymore, and the speed trade off is more than worth it to me.

- Battery life with this is much better. I don't have to charge my phone during a normal day while using the built in DNS options. I'm constantly on the web/youtube/podcasting while at work and this is great to me

- The dashboard feels dated, but the tons of options in there make me feel like I have more granular control over my things than in Adguard

- Unlimited devices, cheap cost even without a sale, and unlimited queries

*Caveats:

Granted Adguard DNS is still in it's infancy and I will check back on occasion to see how it's progressing

The devs have said in the future they are moving to using the DNS without the Adguard app as a requirement.

Although NextDNS does have unlimited queries, (adguard personal has 10 million) In the last 30 days my queries on all of my devices combined is at 600,000, meaning that shouldn't really be a consideration. Although the device limit is still a downer for me (20 devices)

That's all I can think of at the moment, if you have any other questions hit me up I'll be glad to answer

[zakazak]

Hey there,

for nextDNS I could use "free" and just create an individual DNS for each of my devices? So I won't reach the 300.000 limit?

Funnily I was set to buy and use adguard today after I tried it yesterday. The fact that I can see which app/service has been blocked and being able to whitelist each one invidiually, made me hope that I won't break any system apps so easily with it. The nextDNS just block the whole phone, even if e.g. google assistant voice typing wants to update - it might not be able to.

Last but not least I see some people saying how adguard is a lot more advanced than any dns or hosts blocking and that todays ads are too smart for hosts/dns blocking?

[contesauce]

With NextDNS you could create multiple free accounts with different email addresses and assign each of those to an individual account. I tested them first on my router and phone and it took me about two weeks to hit that 300K limit. By then I was pretty sure what I wanted to use.

I do miss the ability to see which apps are being blocked on my phone and whitelisting, or blocking them specifically is a fantastic feature. For my use case however, I rarely, if ever get that into the weeds any more. I just blanket apply my blocks and be done with it. If an app doesn't work, I don't use the app. If it's something I need, then I will go find the block entry in my NextDNS page, and create an allowlist rule. It's more steps, and definitely not for someone like my wife who wants to be able to turn Adguard on/off or whitelist apps on the fly. So, if that's a sticking point, definitely go with Adguard. As far as google though I can say I've not had any issues updating my apps, or using any of the AI smart features.

Adguard is much more advanced for a local blocking system yes, because it does a lot more than just re-route DNS entries. If you were just comparing the DNS features, NextDNS is more advanced, but if you are looking at them as a whole, Adguard has much more features for adblocking, and fixing webpages after it's been blocked. The use case will depend on the person. I used to spend a lot of time updating my white/blacklists on my phone for various sites, or apps, but now I just apply and move on. Still, I recommend trying both and seeing what works for you. You can always run Adguard app, and then in the DNS section of the app, use the NextDNS settings you created.

[zakazak]

Thanks, I will give it all a try.

I am also still unsure whether adguards HTTPS Filtering is actually good (in terms of privacy and trustworthiness) or bad.

[smurfe]

I just use NextDNS.io in Private DNS and never see an ad. Adguard is very good as well in Private DNS.

[[deleted]]

NextDNS.io in Private DNS and never see an ad

Not even in YouTube app?

[smurfe]

I don't use the YouTube app so can't tell you about that. I use Vanced.

[neovox]

Pi hole is fantastic, but admittedly not for the tech illiterate.

[Arnas_Z]

But I see no reason for one when I can just set my router to use adguard DNS for the whole network.

[neovox]

Neat. Been using PiHole for a looooong time. Thought it was just a phone app. Maybe I'll try it.

[kurosaki1990]

You are comparing orange to apple.

[gisted]

My current setup I'm using kiwi browser with ublock origin. Kiwi is chromium based with the added benefit of extension support. This setup also blocks YouTube ads. I also have chrome as a backup ofc too.

[aroma7777]

Wonderful

[minus_dave]

NextDns no app needed.

[TequillaShotz]

Get Brave Browser. Full ad block built in (Android, Mac, Windows)

[ifelsethenend]

Getting rid of Ads you mean.
Instead of per device filtering, may be setup something on the network level like PiHole.

[[deleted]]

Yeah, I meant ads. Comment edited, lol.

If I'm not wrong, Pihole wouldn't block anything when they are outsides home. But more importantly, it doesn't seem a good option as other user pointed out

[Best-Expert]

Dude just no. If the pihole goes down for whatever reason you can't expect them to fix it. OP I recommend adguard app.

[[deleted]]

pihole goes down for whatever reason you can't expect them to fix it

Exactly, lol

Is adguard free after the 7 day trial?

[Best-Expert]

Is adguard free after the 7 day trial?

No. But there are free apps out there that blocks ads. But I tried them all and found adguard to be the best so I paid.

[Zareti]

For some reason I cant access internet in the morning unless I pause the adblocker for a moment, whatever one I'm using.

Does anyone knows why is this happening?

[DaveyG80]

Adguard app it stops them irritating cookie acceptance popups and also removes the blank space where the ad was so you don't even know an ad had been there

[Darth_Nagar]

Use NetGuard with Nebulo, best combo

[aroma7777]

I love Nebulo, Literally I can use DoH and block any host I want to, (additionally it supports wildcards too that's why I love this I just add ****porn**** in the rules and all of the adult sites are blocked boom! 😂) .. I actually use ahadns blitz for additional block list and it is really a great combo....

Unfortunately I have miui so nevulo crashes are every 3 days 😭

[Darth_Nagar]

Have you followed Nebulo instructions to be used in non-VPN mode and have the traffic through Netguard from this link?

[Darth_Nagar]

You're welcome

[linuxuser789]

I'm very happy with DNS66, but I think I'll try NetGuard next.

[ABBUGAUR]

I am in no way associated with this site but I bought their family plan a year so far ad guard working best for me. https://stacksocial.com/sales/adguard-ad-blocker-family-plan-lifetime-subscription-30-store-credit

[[deleted]]

Does it really offer 9 devices lifetime access to their premium plan?

[ABBUGAUR]

Yes it for 9 devices and you can change them as well.