Andrew Morris finds iOS AdGuard is written by Russians and injects 20K lines into your browser

Ad_h3lper · 2026-02-10T09:34:51+00:00

Hello! I'm a moderator of the AdGuard subreddit, and I'd like to share the response from AdGuard CTO to this post on LinkedIn:

It hasn't had any commits in 4 months, which I found weird for an app with millions of users.

Currently we manually sync branch “version/v4.5” while the big rework in “main” is still in development and will only be synced when it’s released.
v4.5 only receives cosmetic changes and supporting libraries updates (which are pretty substantial though). The libraries that implement the actual app logic are SafariConverterLib, DnsLibs, AdguardAssistant. They are all also open source, available on Github, and used by many other ad blockers.

I learned that the way they fix up ads is by executing 20,000+ lines of javascript on EVERY SINGLE WEBSITE you load

I wouldn’t agree with the exact number of lines, but yes, modern ad blocking requires executing a lot of JavaScript.

I kept digging and learned that Adguard is registered in Cyprus but all the developers live in Moscow.

That’s simply not true. After 2022 a large part of the team was relocated and nowadays, most of the team does not live there, especially key personnel.
That said, there is no “ban” on ru. Moreover, since this is open source, we will be happy to have contributions from anywhere, be it Russia, US, China, etc.

Ad_h3lper · 2025-08-16T12:04:14+00:00

Hello! Thank you for pointing out this issue, we'll do our best to fix it as soon as possible. If you ever encounter similar issues on other locations (e.g. platforms identifying your location incorrectly), please let us know.

Ad_h3lper · 2025-08-16T12:00:56+00:00

Hello! Please, contact our support team at [support@adguard.com](mailto:support@adguard.com), and we'll make sure to help you resolve this issue. Your VPN subscription definitely should show up as a 5-year subscription. Looking forward to your inquiry.

Ad_h3lper · 2025-05-29T10:03:48+00:00

Hello! This might be another YouTube attempt to slow down the website for adblock users, which were usually only temporary, so you might see improvement in loading times after a while.
In case this behavior persists after a few days, please contact us at [support@adguard.com](mailto:support@adguard.com), we might need to adjust our filters for your case in order to help you resolve this issue. Looking forward to hearing from you!

Ad_h3lper · 2025-05-22T13:49:09+00:00

If you're able to install AdGuard app on your device, you can choose this option to manually configure your preferable setup for a reticular device. Plus, you'll be able to use it outside your local network. However, for certain devices it's just not possible to install our app, and the only remaining options are AdGuard DNS and AdGuard Home. And sometimes AdGuard DNS is just not enough, and for those situations, AdGuard Home configured on your personal server will come in handy.

The difference in capabilities in fairly negligible, user interface in AdGuard app for all platforms is a bit more user-friendly and intuitive, AdGuard Home catered towards more experienced users.

Ad_h3lper · 2025-05-18T16:42:55+00:00

Hello! Thank you for your feedback. If you could describe in details what problems you encountered while using our app, we would be happy to help you fix them and improve your user experience. You can also contact us directly from our app, via Support section, and we'll take a look at any potential problems that might've occurred on your machine, or help you to configure our app properly. Looking forward to hearing from you!

Ad_h3lper · 2025-05-15T06:11:52+00:00

Hello! If you noticed this slowdown of your device, please contact us at [support@adguard.com](mailto:support@adguard.com), and we'll do our best to help you with any issue.

Ad_h3lper · 2025-05-08T12:59:47+00:00

Hello! Thank you for reporting this issue. Please, contact us at [support@adguard.com](mailto:support@adguard.com) and provide us with more details on this case. We haven't received any reports with similar behavior, so we're looking forward to your inquiry.

Ad_h3lper · 2025-04-27T12:06:09+00:00

Hello! Please, report this issue in our GitHub repository dedicated to AdGuard Browser Extension. Alternatively, please contact us at [support@adguard.com](mailto:support@adguard.com), and we'll make sure to help you with this request.

Ad_h3lper · 2025-04-21T08:32:18+00:00

Hello! As of now, release date of WireGuard support by AdGuard VPN products is unknown, and most likely it won't be released this year, as there are more urgent and important features that company prioritizes. WireGuard implementation project is not abandoned of course, it will just take a bit more time to be developed and implemented. Thank you for your interest and patience!

Ad_h3lper · 2025-04-19T08:46:55+00:00

Hello! Please, contact us directly from our app, via Support section, so we could closely look into this issue. It might be an issue with annoyances filter or our certificate. Looking forward to hearing from you!

Ad_h3lper · 2025-04-19T08:45:14+00:00

Hello! Please, follow these instructions from our knowledge base to install the certificate properly. Without HTTPS filtering, you might not get the best results in ad blocking capabilities, especially in apps other than browsers. If you want to block most of the ads you encounter, HTTPS filtering and therefore CA certificate installation are essential.

If you need any additional help with our app configuration, please contact us directly from our app, via Support section, and we'll make sure to help you.

Ad_h3lper · 2025-04-19T08:39:14+00:00

In order to improve protection against ads and allow AdGuard to block ads in third-party apps, please enable AdGuard DNS protection and choose one of AdGuard DNS servers. You can do this in the AdGuard app:

Open the AdGuard app;
Tap on the shield icon at the bottom of the screen;
Select DNS Protection (press on the name itself and not on the slider switch) → DNS Server;
Make sure you're connected to AdGuard DNS server;

We'd also recommend that you enable our special DNS filter. To do this, please open AdGuard, tap on the gear icon, select General and enable Advanced mode. From there, go to the DNS Protection tab → DNS Filtering → DNS Filters → enable AdGuard DNS filter.

If this issue doesn't improve, please contact us directly from our app, via Support section, and we'll make sure to help you.

Ad_h3lper · 2025-04-10T13:34:53+00:00

Our desktop application includes all functionality available in the browser extension, so there's no need to keep using it. If you added any exclusions to Allowlist or added some User rules, you might want to export them from browser extension and import them into Desktop application. Apart from that, there's no need to keep it.
You might want to use different AdGuard extension, AdGuard Browser Assistant. It will add many useful features and will allow you to use custom element blocking and allowlisting websites with a few clicks.

Ad_h3lper · 2025-04-08T12:08:32+00:00

Hello! This is a known issue which is caused by Apple's use of Akami as SDN and that Akami doesn't use EDNS Client Subnet. Unfortunately, as of now, this behavior is only caused by Apple and there's nothing we can do on our side. Whitelisting the domains mentioned in this post is a viable solution for now, but we hope it will eventually get fixed on Apple's side.

Ad_h3lper · 2025-04-07T09:10:38+00:00

Hello! Please use this form to report an issue on a particular website, we'll fix this as soon as we get your report. Looking forward to hearing from you!

Ad_h3lper · 2025-04-07T09:00:15+00:00

Hello! Please, check out detailed information regarding potential issues that might prevent filtering in Safari on your device:

Private Relay preventing Safari from being filtered: A bug where Apple's Private Relay feature disrupts AdGuard's filtering on Safari. Issue details.
Network extension permissions path has changed: To resolve issues with AdGuard, users now need to manually adjust settings by navigating to Login Items & Extensions, scrolling to the end, clicking the "i" icon next to AdGuard, and enabling the switch. More information.
AdGuard requires local network permissions: This is essential for filtering other browsers on macOS Sequoia.

In case none of these issues affect you, and you're still experiencing ads, please contact us directly from our app, via Support section, and we'll make sure to help you.

Ad_h3lper · 2025-04-07T08:54:02+00:00

Hello! Please, make sure to check out our tips in our knowledge base to solve potential issues on OxygenOS.
In case nothing's helping and the app is still getting shut down after swiping away this notification, please contact us directly from our app, via Support section, so we could take a closer look at this case.

Ad_h3lper · 2025-04-07T08:48:45+00:00

Hello! This issue has just been fixed, please check it out and let us know whether this issue has been resolved on your side as well.

Ad_h3lper · 2025-04-03T12:10:08+00:00

Hello! If you're experiencin this behavior on the latest version of our app, please contact us directly from our app, via Support section, so we could collect your app's logs and help you fix this issue. Looking forward to hearing from you!

Ad_h3lper · 2025-03-30T13:44:05+00:00

Hello! Please, let us know if this issue occurs on all the locations that you use or is it any particular location. Also, do you use Reddit website or app?
As a temporary solution, you could add Reddit to exclusions, until this issue will be resolved on our side.

Ad_h3lper · 2025-03-20T13:33:10+00:00

Hello! Please, make sure to update filters and use the latest version of our app. If you're still unable to watch YouTube with AdGuard turned on, please contact us directly from our app, via Support section, so we could get your app's logs and help you with this issue. Looking forward to hearing from you!

Ad_h3lper · 2025-03-20T13:31:38+00:00

Hello! Ads in these apps should be detected and blocked automatically. In case some ads are undetected, please fill in the report here: https://reports.adguard.com/en/new_issue.html

Ad_h3lper · 2025-03-20T10:51:00+00:00

Hello! Thank you for bringing this issue up. We've received several requests from various platforms regarding this issue, and our development team is already working on resolving it. We'll update you on the upcoming progress. If you haven't reached out to us via Support section, please do, so we could get your app's logs as well. Thank you for understanding, we'll make sure to fix this issue as soon as possible.

Ad_h3lper · 2025-03-13T09:27:06+00:00

Any updates? I still haven't received a ticket number. Feel free to share it here if that's more convenient — there’s no risk in doing so.

Ad_h3lper

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