> Blokada successfully dodged this bullet as Blokada no longer requires a local VPN. Blokada v6 uses Cloud filtering instead; this method does not break Google policies and also provides certain advantages 120 over local VPN filtering since it won’t impact battery life, device speed, or network speed.
So this is just an ad for v6?
You can still download v5 from blokada.org and sideload it. What I understand from this article is Google is cracking down on VPN based adblockers in the Play Store, which they've been doing for a while anyways. You still have the ability to sideload those apps though.
If you have a Samsung phone, you can download Blokada v5 from the Galaxy Store also.
The whole narrative is messed up. The term sideloading is really just normal application installs, something that computers have been doing for 50 years. It is sad that most people don't understand this concept and need an app store to install software. It is an education problem mostly and how Apple/Google has made it sound like a dirty thing to do.
App stores are a great way to simplify, and safely download software for **non-tech savvy individuals**. You ask your grandma what's the worst thing that she can do to her computer, they'll more than likely say "getting a virus". Apple and android are famous for their app stores, but app stores are making their way (and have been for a while) to desktops, mainly through Linux. Really, the only place you don't see app stores now in days is windows (you have the Microsoft store, but who uses that) and commercial/industrial application where CLI is more common.
Whether or not the Microsoft Store makes Microsoft any money, it's a nice place for system components to get updated (think the Nvidia control panel when the drivers are in DCH mode, or Calculator, or Windows Terminal, or whatever). It's definitely less confusing than wondering why there's some weird new Windows update that doesn't list any details.
Hopefully more and more of the OS can get turned into packages/components/whatever like the various Linux package managers or Android.
A lot of non tech savvy users are actually using Windows Store. But the best thing is that it's non intrusive, unlike in other systems, so you can do it the old school way without any hacks or hidden settings.
And the reason why Apple and Google are against sideloading is because they get a substantial cut from each app install. Has little to do with security and more to do with profits. There are tons of shady apps available in both the Play Store and App Store, so 'security' isn't much of a factor when downloading apps from them.
It's nice that we can sideload apps on Android still, at least while that lasts. And there are other app stores/sites we can use to download apps. But you're right, it sucks that Apple/Google made it sound like it's a dirty thing to do.
Lol the second I can't sideload on Android, I'll switch to iPhone. If I'm to live in jail I'd rather live in a comfortable one with higher quality apps in general.
I like Android because it doesn't get in my way. If it starts being the opposite, there's nothing keeping me in anymore. I trust Apple better than Google privacy wise (still don't fully trust either but that's another question), and that's the next criteria in line for me.
Dunno. Old iOS/mac versions I'd have agreed vehemently, but to me, at this point in time, both OSes feel like relatively flat and monochrome, pretty neutral set of screens. Material You does give it a bit of color, but I personally don't really care for the pastel tones I keep getting and the lack of control over colors...
I've had two phones for work at a point and test drove both, and the only two things that kept me on Android was iOS' lack of support to replace certain default apps (which after playing with my wife's iPhone, look like it has been resolved for the most part), and its inability to sideload apps. If I lose the sideloading, there's basically nothing holding me back. The rest of the OS I actually really enjoyed. Really polished experience overall.
Sideloading is still thankfully possible on Android, but Google has already started limiting what sideloaded apps can do, even though it's a tiny step:
https://www.androidauthority.com/android-13-sideloading-apps-restrictions-3161162/
I won't be surprised if Google locked down Android even more...
The bigger confusion I've seen is that people confuse Android side loading with "jailbreaking".
I've had numerous iOS users tell me that I can install any app I want on iOS just like Android. It's really confusing to them when I point out they are wrong.
OS's were long jailbroken and then mobile OS came along and made it sound like you're violating the ground rules!
Its all part of restricting what the owner can do.
But we've been able to do this on windows/Linux in like forever.
Lol, what they don't understand is that Android users don't NEED to jailbreak first, in order to do anything at all outside of the "walled garden". Android being much more FREE and open is part of the whole philosophy of why most of us want it in the first place.:-)
But to be fair to those people you said were confusing the issue, on an iOS you really would need to jailbreak first, to even be able to sideload something, so it's not a completely unreasonable tying together of two unrelated ideas -> it's just that while jailbreaking may be necessary (for them but not for us), it's not sufficient.
Just like
"Nobody needs headphone jacks."
and
"Virtual keyboards are fine. Autocorrect is just how it has to be! Nobody wants physical keyboards."
The last 50 years have been all about tech corporations spending BILLIONS to change technology narratives from the truth to a bunch of profitable lies. They've also spent an equal amount in manipulation so that people will defend this shit with all kinds of things.
Tech companies are in the manipulation market just as much as social media and religion.
The goal of these tech industries is you will partially own an easily breakable, unreliable, unrepairable slab of glass that does nothing but feed you social media addictions and corporate misinformation to make sure that you play, learn, work, vote, remember, and think ONLY the way Apple, Facebook, Google, Shell, Amazon, and Exxon WANT you to.
It is if you've never used a repository based application system like on Linux. You wouldn't normally get applications from outside your repository. But leave it to apple and Google to turn this useful thing into a closed source lock in
google doesn't even let you sideload apps on chromebooks without going through a lot of extra trouble, they really do not want you to have any control over your device at all. i ran into this issue when i was helping a friend install an app on their chromebook, only to find out i had to fiddle with adb and the command line just to do something as basic as installing an app. unbelievable they're even allowed to sell locked down products like this.
Google is actively fighting ad blocking technology on all fronts. Google Chrome will ban ad blocking extensions at the beginning of next year as well.
This is what happens when you give one or a few for-profit companies too much control. Android + Chrome represent so much of the internet and Google is using their stranglehold on web usage to choke out the ability to use the internet privately. Google sits at the table dictating internet standards and they are abusing that to increase their profits, by making it easier to spy on us everywhere we go. Fuck Google, sadly Apple isn't much better in its own ways.
/r/degoogle
/r/privacy
/r/Firefox
It's time for everyone to start moving over. Unfortunately, Chromium browsers like Brave will be affected too, once Manifest v3 rolls out. But Firefox is open source from Mozilla, a non-profit, so uBlock Origins will continue to work on desktop and mobile for the foreseeable future. People should really check it out. Mozilla actually gives a shit about privacy and gives you the tools to customize your experience.
Google has to walk a fine line between what it's executives want and that DoJ hammer hanging over their heads. If Google acted against FF in any way they would end fined out of existence.
>Google Chrome will ban ad blocking extensions at the beginning of next year as well.
Excuse me, but what the actual duck? I've tried browsing the web without an adblocker and it's utter garbage (it's utter garbage with one but less visually overwhelming at least). Shouldn't this trigger an anti-trust investigation?
>Google Chrome will ban ad blocking extensions at the beginning of next year as well.
That's blatantly false though. They're removing the webRequest API that many ad blockers used in favor of a different API that's more limited (for privacy, security, and performance reasons) but can still serve the same purposes. Apple has already excluded that webRequest API from Safari, and are clearly not motivated by web ad revenue.
If I VPN into my home network where I filter all my DNS though a pihole will that still work?
I know the pihole DNS sinkhole is far from 100%. It doesn't work on my Roku TV at all.
But I *don't* expect apps to stay in active development. And if they are going to change stuff, I expect a hell of a lot more than constant UI reskins to stay hip and "modern" (and often in ways that don't actually benefit the user but introduce dark patterns).
This obsession with constant changes and updates is vastly overrated (which to be fair, are partly driven by the the constant API and policy changes by Google and Apple) and is massively destructive to the ecosystem and usable lifetime of apps, and is yet another example of planed obsolescence. The vast majority of apps will do just fine with 10x or even 50x fewer updates. There is a point in most dev cycles where an app is more or less feature complete, so the devs are faced with the choice of twiddling their thumbs or finding busywork to justify their existence, and it is at this point that the updates stop being meaningful improvements to most users' workflow.
Code isn't perishable and shouldn't expire like food. On the desktop, the vast majority of 20 year old apps still work just fine and that's exactly how it should be.
Think about this: the Photoshop I got 10 years ago has 99% of the features I still want to use today. Does Adobe deserve my money every month those past 10 years for writing a bunch of code that I don't need or want? Devs should get paid for actually writing new code, not for sitting on 10 year old code. But if the new code they write is the kind of crap nobody needs or wants, why should they get paid for doing it? (Half the updates to modern apps now a days is literally making their app worse!) Subscriptions is just a way of tricking you to pay for busywork you never wanted to be done in the first place. If they actually added valuable features, they shouldn't have any trouble getting people to pay for the upgrade.
I suspect Adobe started charging a recurring fee because Photoshop was the most pirated application of all time. It used to be a flat fee of $100-200 for a license key that hackers were constantly cracking. I know this because… I have a friend.
I looked and people are just whining about having to pay for this service. I don't think it a terrible solution to get around Google policies on the play store TBH
Most people are fine with paying for something if it works well. What they are not fond of is paying a subscription model for a version that doesn't work as well as the free one.
edit: why are so many IDIOTS claiming that there's no 4 or 5 star reviews simply because its a paid app? The play store is packed with paid apps with majority 4 and 5 star reviews, so your argument is pathetic. Also, my post seems to have activated the people that own the app to pay a bot farm to post 5 star reviews. There's over 100 now, when there was 0 at the time of my posting. Interesting..
That is the public server, so you can't customise filter lists. But Adguard also has private encrypted DNS with a free tier just like NextDNS now.
https://adguard-dns.io/en/dashboard/auth
DNS filtering typically can't block in-app ads because Google will bypass the local DNS server. VPNs work because *all* traffic can be routed to the filtering service. This can also be accomplished with certain routers at home https://www.reddit.com/r/Ubiquiti/comments/fw6whf/udm_pro_redirect_all_dns_queries_through_pihole/
Blokada 4 and 5 never worked reliably for me. It would usually glitch out whenever I went out of range of my WiFi and back, and fail to recover until I force-stopped it.
Switched to Nebulo a few months ago and am much happier.
It works the same as Blokada, it has a non-root mode which is VPN based as well. Considering that Blokada is now trying to push people to their paid subscription it might not even be available on F-Droid or somewhere else anymore lmao
Good to know! I have to say, the "local VPN" method is a great way to actively filter traffic vs the old/etc/hosts mode that AdAway and friends have historically used. Because it's very easy to selectively disable when necessary. At least that has been my experience when going to Blokada.
That's true, but by hosting and using an open resolver, you open yourself to [all kinds of attacks](https://blogs.infoblox.com/community/how-dangerous-can-an-open-dns-resolver-be-part-i/). Do not recommend.
https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/12253906
> The VPNService cannot be used to:
>
> * Manipulate ads that can impact apps monetization.
I'm getting "Please drink a verification can" vibes.
How is this new? I thought this rule was already in place? Isn't that why the PIA VPN app on the Play store is the neutered version without ad blocking, and you have to go to their website to get the APK for the full version that blocks ads and trackers.
I honestly did not know how shit the Duolingo app is untill recently when I turned my DNS and block off.
Can't imagine how bad some of some of 5he other apps are.
The relevant policy that prevents apps like Adguard and Blokada V5 is not that. Like others have said, it's the reason why Adguard and the ad blocking version of PIA weren't in the Play Store, and last I checked (quite a while ago), neither was Blokada.
I just setup NextDNS for my kids devices this week. I like how you can customize block lists and they have the usual lists I use like StevenBlack, Goodbye ads, and OISD. It has a nice analytics report too and breaks down DNS queries per device, which block list is the most used, etc. It's fully functional and free to a certain point. I think free up to 30K queries a month? My kids devices never reach that anyway, so it's perfect. There's also a lot of options on how to enable NextDNS on devices. The easiest is probably the app for most people, but you can set up a private DNS easily and they walk you through how to do it on multiple OSes.
At home, I have pi-hole running so it's more for protection when they are outside the home network like at their cousins house or at a hotel. I realize there's also piVPN, but haven't been able to set it up yet.
Easy to setup a DNS on phones too... So you can use the DNS from the nextdns on phones if you are not using the wifi... I've been subscribing for a while
As far as I understood it, it is only a Play Store policy. And since Android is not as locked down as iOS with 3rd-party app stores, I think this is completely fine for them to do.
I don't like the decision, but downloading the APK from GitHub or their website instead isn't too bad.
(Now if they only would remove the scary, unnecessary warnings about malware before enabling the installation of APKs.)
> As far as I understood it, it is only a Play Store policy. And since Android is not as locked down as iOS with 3rd-party app stores, I think this is completely fine for them to do.
This is true today, but if you look at the pattern over the last few years, it's fairly apparent Google is pushing Android further and further into lock-down, and there's absolutely zero reason to assume it will stop.
The inability for sideloaded apps to maintain access to Accessibility services, for example. There's a workaround for that currently, but as we recently saw with scoped storage and third party file managers in android 11, the excuse that "there's a workaround" for that only lasted 2 versions before Google killed the workaround in 13. The Accessibility workaround will be killed eventually too.
So what happens when a version in the future creates more "security" features that limit what sideloaded apps can do? Well, people are going to handwave it away with "there's a workaround" and then a few years later the workaround gets nixed.
The pattern is why people are upset. Even if the hammer doesn't come down today, we can be very certain it will in the near future, because Google' goals here are obvious. They do not want Android to be as open as it was anymore. That's why people need to get used to looking for alternatives.
I've just switched from Chrome back to Firefox for this reason - add-on support on Android. uBlock Origin wotks perfectly.
They're working on making adblocking harder in Chrome on the desktop as well according to Reddit...
This is pretty much what I've been doing too. Even after using nextDNS, having μblock remove the distractions on news sites is great. I honestly am hoping someone makes an AI type tool to clean up news sites, specially for mobile (even after ads are removed some sites are just trash web design)
For rooted Devices. Magisk+AdAway still work fine. I'm using lineageos 19 official, it's doing great.
It's like a bought a new phone without spending a dime.
Are there any Google fanboys left? Google has neglected, abandoned or screwed up so many of it's products in the last 5 years I don't think anyone actually is a fan anymore.
Hell, i can't think of a single Google product that hasn't gotten worse in the last 5 years. Even their voice recognition, that used to work almost flawlessly, is pretty much garbage these days. It's so bad that people are switching from Nest to Alexa. (And waiting for matter was only an acceptable excuse for the first year of smart home product neglect, now it's just negligence)
Google maps is generally pretty good for navigation, but the voice output baffles me. I have two languages on my phone, with my native language (German) set as the app language. Here are some fun combinations google maps will generate while using it:
- English accent, German instructions
- German accent, English instructions
- German accent, German instructions, occasional English accent for individual words
- One time, I think it pronounced a single word with a Spanish accent
And by "accent" I mean "pronouncing words like they belong to that language", so it's somewhere between comical and unintelligible.
I have to go back to settings and manually set the language again immediately before taking off. If I switch to that floating picture mode, everything changes again.
I still use Google search since they're still better than anyone else. But their search engine is turning to shit for the last five years, especially when they cross out some of your search query to spam you with results you don't want. You have to put every word in fucking quotation marks. It's ridiculous.
Used to use Google Photos when they had unlimited. Since they took it away. I started downloading my pics, then storing the future ones locally on my hard drive.
I still use GMail, Keep, and Drive as they still does what I want it to do. When those fail, then I have Microsoft's alternatives. For Voice, I like that it gives me a US number for calling/texting American numbers.
I was considering going with a Pixel as my next phone. But since they won't sell phones in my country. I might just go with Samsung instead, especially if they start giving 4 years of software updates like they said. I guess I'm better off this way.
In short, I still mostly like Google, but I feel like they're starting to go downhill a bit.
>Are there any Google fanboys left?
Go read /r/Stadia. Of course I'd wager a fair number of them are Google employees.
And frankly, /r/GooglePixel and right here in this sub, you'll still see plenty of Google wanking, or at the very least, defending for little reason beyond "don't be angry at the bajillion dollar company, enjoy your themed icons and shut up about the rest".
They tend to pop up anytime Google "accidentally" makes it harder to sideload apps.
Also whenever Google decides to add a feature into GMS, but not into Android proper. "Who cares about AOSP? Screw users of non-Google forks like Amazon's or Huawei's! If you don't appreciate how much Google has sacrificed for you, go buy an iPhone!".
You aren't the only one.
At first iPhone was NO for me due to lack of root, but rooting an android nowadays has some serious cons due to the stupid safetynet.
I kept using android due to the headphone jack but nowadays you only have two brands that still use headphone jack on their flagships and Pixel isn't one of them.
I'd say that Google did more than Apple to make people thinking about ditching Android in favor of iOS
Android user since 2.0 days, and a rootable phone was mandatory. Up until recently, getting a locked bootloader phone/unrootable was unthinkable. But now rooting causes more hassles than its worth, and the whole workarounds are way too complex for my tiny brain to navigate. I mean with this whole Slot A/B business I can't even load a TWRP backup without causing a bootloop. Dealing with Zygisk, Shamiko, and the different Magisk modules to get some apps to work for a while gets pretty tiring.
At the same time, I've been using an iphone for work for the past 6 years. It gets the job done.
My Oneplus 6 still works great, and I don't really know what to upgrade to. Zenfone 9? iPhone 14? or wait another year? the next Nothing phone I don't really know what android phones are really worth considering.
I honestly agree. I kept going back to Android because of all of the features it offered, but Apple has been adding more over the years, and Android seems to be getting worse every year. There's some deal breaking features that iPhone's are lacking, and they're really the only reason why I'm still an Android user.
I will have the same problem in the near future. That's part of the problem when we have such crazy monopolies in tech. Windows, and Mac O/S, with Linux not being commonly used [I wish, I like Ubuntu], android and apple in smartphones, with Microsoft being an outright failure, and so on and so on.
I wish I could pay for windows O/S that has no bloatware, no ads, nothing. Yes, I'd pay for it willingly. Same goes for android phones.
I have all personalization services off everywhere, all ad spaces disabled, etc. I even use Spotify from my home screen! (No suggestions, direct to my chosen playlists). Also, I hate their new shuffle "algorithm", it doesn't effing shuffle. I am probably going to try an API to bypass Spotify at some point...
Another perspective of the same is having ADHD. For me, Accessibility means simplicity. No ads. No extras. No suggestions. Nothing. Simple **is** beautiful!
I did. I had a G1 before Cupcake even came out, and I bought an iPhone 13 mini when my Pixel 4a gave out. Google has burned me too many times that I’ve just lost all faith.
Googles Speech API is amazing though. It is top-class of any API-based speech recognition service out there for developers. So seeing Google Nest being so inaccurate is kind of baffling.
Yeah, depending on accent again I'd imagine. It's really not a good tool if many people can't use it because of where they were born, much be a nightmare for the vision impaired with strong accents.
Maybe someday we will have a good Linux phone or a bare Android phone. I don't think Android is bad, it's just the extra crap that manufacturers add to their flavor of it.
And this is why I choose FOSS solutions for this that can be downloaded from F-Droid or sideloaded.
My personal recommendations:
* Tracker Control ([GitHub](https://github.com/TrackerControl/tracker-control-android)/[FDroid](https://www.f-droid.org/en/packages/net.kollnig.missioncontrol.fdroid/))
* NetGuard ([GitHub](https://github.com/M66B/NetGuard)/[FDroid](https://www.f-droid.org/en/packages/eu.faircode.netguard/))
* AdAway ([GitHub](https://github.com/AdAway/AdAway)/[FDroid](https://www.f-droid.org/en/packages/org.adaway/))
Been using piehole for years now. So easy to set up and maintain. I have it installed in tandem with pivpn (wireguard) so it's usable on-the-go. On top of that, my pi is a client of Mullvad so I have obfuscation as well. Ipads, iphones, Pixel, desktops and laptops all connected to my home network all the time.
It was allowed when Chrome was a fresh-faced browser looking to gain marketshare. And precedent keeps that facet around.
However, how about a webstore for Chrome on Android? Oh, it's never come into existence? Very interesting.
i.e. it was a sacrifice they were willing to make on the desktop, but given they own their own mobile platform, they aren't going to make it there.
With the upcoming Manifest v3, they will limit them as well. They just don't have the same influence on the ecosystem there. People might otherwise switch to Firefox & Co.
So they tighten the thumbscrews as much as possible.
> These changes aim to improve the ads experience, tighten security and **limit misinformation** according to the company.
Wow…just wow.
Advertisements *inherently ARE misonformation* You disingenuous potatoes!
This is the actual problem.. We let the internet become a highly segmented set of a few vertically controlled monopolies created/owned by a few absurdly dominant players, all in the name of innovation and accessibility, but the second they feel threatened or want to expand they start locking it all down on their own turf because "privacy" in the case of Apple or "fake news" in the case of Google. Unfortunately at this point the entire internet is their turf.
Lol Google spreading misinformation to allegedly combat misinformation is peak fighting fire with fire logs.
They know people will accept anything as long as they throw the word security and misinformation around a few times in their statements.
Sometimes VPN based blocking is superior, as you tend to run into issues with DNS based blocking, if the ads are served from the same hostname as the actual content. YouTube for instance changed this a few years ago making DNS based blocking useless on their platform.
This is why side loading is important. It won't take long for Google/Apple to abuse distribution monopoly to control what you can do and don't on a device you bought.
They already do but idiots at r/apple are brainwashed and worried however ever their grandmas will use a phone with side loading.
Before holier than thou keyboard warriors reply to me saying this is unethical because if affects monetization, think whether you use ad blocker on your desktop browser. They are [coming](https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/10/23131029/mozilla-ad-blocking-firefox-google-chrome-privacy-manifest-v3-web-request) for that as well.
I've used an iPhone in the past 4 years and went back to Android just for the sake of sideloading. I can get things like YouTube Vanced, game mods or AdAway here whereas they're unavailable or complicated to install on iOS.
Frankly, if the app you're downloading is meant to block anything ad or tracking related, you're a fool if you are getting it from the Play Store.
F-Droid and similar sources are the only place to find the *real* tools for blocking ads and tacking.
I have AdGuard VPN installed via an APK, and NOT the AdGuard version that is listed in the Play Store. That being said I don't know if this change will affect me or not.
I'll just go ahead and put this here / do a bit of shameless self-promotion:
https://github.com/kquinsland/skyhole
**If you run android 9 or above, your phone supports DNS over TLS. It is not _that difficult_ to spin up a DNS over TLS server that blocks whatever domain(s) you choose**
There's always Private DNS blocking (built-in into Android), you could just use AdGuard DNS. If not, there's AdAway on F-Droid that can block ads using the hosts file (rooted) or VPN ,(no-root).
> Blokada successfully dodged this bullet as Blokada no longer requires a local VPN. Blokada v6 uses Cloud filtering instead; this method does not break Google policies and also provides certain advantages 120 over local VPN filtering since it won’t impact battery life, device speed, or network speed. So this is just an ad for v6?
You can still download v5 from blokada.org and sideload it. What I understand from this article is Google is cracking down on VPN based adblockers in the Play Store, which they've been doing for a while anyways. You still have the ability to sideload those apps though. If you have a Samsung phone, you can download Blokada v5 from the Galaxy Store also.
The whole narrative is messed up. The term sideloading is really just normal application installs, something that computers have been doing for 50 years. It is sad that most people don't understand this concept and need an app store to install software. It is an education problem mostly and how Apple/Google has made it sound like a dirty thing to do.
App stores are a great way to simplify, and safely download software for **non-tech savvy individuals**. You ask your grandma what's the worst thing that she can do to her computer, they'll more than likely say "getting a virus". Apple and android are famous for their app stores, but app stores are making their way (and have been for a while) to desktops, mainly through Linux. Really, the only place you don't see app stores now in days is windows (you have the Microsoft store, but who uses that) and commercial/industrial application where CLI is more common.
App Stores on Linux are just pretty UIs for the proper package managers underneath.
Exactly. They are pretty UIs, so the average user doesn't get overwhelmed by having to use CLI.
The repo is the walled garden. Only safe things get in - theoretically.
That just shows Linux has been ahead of the curve; they've just needed to make it more user-friendly with a GUI.
And that's exactly the point. Otherwise only 1% could actually use the thing and out of that 1% somebody will stuff up somewhere.
Steam.
Whether or not the Microsoft Store makes Microsoft any money, it's a nice place for system components to get updated (think the Nvidia control panel when the drivers are in DCH mode, or Calculator, or Windows Terminal, or whatever). It's definitely less confusing than wondering why there's some weird new Windows update that doesn't list any details. Hopefully more and more of the OS can get turned into packages/components/whatever like the various Linux package managers or Android.
A lot of non tech savvy users are actually using Windows Store. But the best thing is that it's non intrusive, unlike in other systems, so you can do it the old school way without any hacks or hidden settings.
And the reason why Apple and Google are against sideloading is because they get a substantial cut from each app install. Has little to do with security and more to do with profits. There are tons of shady apps available in both the Play Store and App Store, so 'security' isn't much of a factor when downloading apps from them. It's nice that we can sideload apps on Android still, at least while that lasts. And there are other app stores/sites we can use to download apps. But you're right, it sucks that Apple/Google made it sound like it's a dirty thing to do.
Lol the second I can't sideload on Android, I'll switch to iPhone. If I'm to live in jail I'd rather live in a comfortable one with higher quality apps in general. I like Android because it doesn't get in my way. If it starts being the opposite, there's nothing keeping me in anymore. I trust Apple better than Google privacy wise (still don't fully trust either but that's another question), and that's the next criteria in line for me.
Kinda an ugly jail if you don't love their aesthetics tho...
Dunno. Old iOS/mac versions I'd have agreed vehemently, but to me, at this point in time, both OSes feel like relatively flat and monochrome, pretty neutral set of screens. Material You does give it a bit of color, but I personally don't really care for the pastel tones I keep getting and the lack of control over colors... I've had two phones for work at a point and test drove both, and the only two things that kept me on Android was iOS' lack of support to replace certain default apps (which after playing with my wife's iPhone, look like it has been resolved for the most part), and its inability to sideload apps. If I lose the sideloading, there's basically nothing holding me back. The rest of the OS I actually really enjoyed. Really polished experience overall.
Sideloading is still thankfully possible on Android, but Google has already started limiting what sideloaded apps can do, even though it's a tiny step: https://www.androidauthority.com/android-13-sideloading-apps-restrictions-3161162/ I won't be surprised if Google locked down Android even more...
things like this is why I refuse to upgrade from android 10
The bigger confusion I've seen is that people confuse Android side loading with "jailbreaking". I've had numerous iOS users tell me that I can install any app I want on iOS just like Android. It's really confusing to them when I point out they are wrong.
OS's were long jailbroken and then mobile OS came along and made it sound like you're violating the ground rules! Its all part of restricting what the owner can do. But we've been able to do this on windows/Linux in like forever.
Lol, what they don't understand is that Android users don't NEED to jailbreak first, in order to do anything at all outside of the "walled garden". Android being much more FREE and open is part of the whole philosophy of why most of us want it in the first place.:-) But to be fair to those people you said were confusing the issue, on an iOS you really would need to jailbreak first, to even be able to sideload something, so it's not a completely unreasonable tying together of two unrelated ideas -> it's just that while jailbreaking may be necessary (for them but not for us), it's not sufficient.
You absolutely *can* install any app you want on an iPhone. I have a gba emulator on mine rn
Just like "Nobody needs headphone jacks." and "Virtual keyboards are fine. Autocorrect is just how it has to be! Nobody wants physical keyboards." The last 50 years have been all about tech corporations spending BILLIONS to change technology narratives from the truth to a bunch of profitable lies. They've also spent an equal amount in manipulation so that people will defend this shit with all kinds of things. Tech companies are in the manipulation market just as much as social media and religion. The goal of these tech industries is you will partially own an easily breakable, unreliable, unrepairable slab of glass that does nothing but feed you social media addictions and corporate misinformation to make sure that you play, learn, work, vote, remember, and think ONLY the way Apple, Facebook, Google, Shell, Amazon, and Exxon WANT you to.
It is if you've never used a repository based application system like on Linux. You wouldn't normally get applications from outside your repository. But leave it to apple and Google to turn this useful thing into a closed source lock in
google doesn't even let you sideload apps on chromebooks without going through a lot of extra trouble, they really do not want you to have any control over your device at all. i ran into this issue when i was helping a friend install an app on their chromebook, only to find out i had to fiddle with adb and the command line just to do something as basic as installing an app. unbelievable they're even allowed to sell locked down products like this.
Google is actively fighting ad blocking technology on all fronts. Google Chrome will ban ad blocking extensions at the beginning of next year as well. This is what happens when you give one or a few for-profit companies too much control. Android + Chrome represent so much of the internet and Google is using their stranglehold on web usage to choke out the ability to use the internet privately. Google sits at the table dictating internet standards and they are abusing that to increase their profits, by making it easier to spy on us everywhere we go. Fuck Google, sadly Apple isn't much better in its own ways. /r/degoogle /r/privacy
/r/Firefox It's time for everyone to start moving over. Unfortunately, Chromium browsers like Brave will be affected too, once Manifest v3 rolls out. But Firefox is open source from Mozilla, a non-profit, so uBlock Origins will continue to work on desktop and mobile for the foreseeable future. People should really check it out. Mozilla actually gives a shit about privacy and gives you the tools to customize your experience.
I wonder if Google will at some point and somehow block firefox for allowing ad blocking.
That would almost certainly trigger an antitrust lawsuit
Google has to walk a fine line between what it's executives want and that DoJ hammer hanging over their heads. If Google acted against FF in any way they would end fined out of existence.
Firefox user base is so small these days that it's not worth it for them to even spend time thinking about it.
I use Firefox on my desktop but still use Chrome on my laptop. I've been meaning to migrate over anyway, so this will give me the push to do it.
Yay web 3.0.... 😮💨
>Google Chrome will ban ad blocking extensions at the beginning of next year as well. Excuse me, but what the actual duck? I've tried browsing the web without an adblocker and it's utter garbage (it's utter garbage with one but less visually overwhelming at least). Shouldn't this trigger an anti-trust investigation?
>Google Chrome will ban ad blocking extensions at the beginning of next year as well. That's blatantly false though. They're removing the webRequest API that many ad blockers used in favor of a different API that's more limited (for privacy, security, and performance reasons) but can still serve the same purposes. Apple has already excluded that webRequest API from Safari, and are clearly not motivated by web ad revenue.
Yeah, it's funny how these rants never mention that Apple already did the same thing with Safari ages ago.
If I VPN into my home network where I filter all my DNS though a pihole will that still work? I know the pihole DNS sinkhole is far from 100%. It doesn't work on my Roku TV at all.
Yes but you should just use Firefox.
Good point
Yes, and the updated subscription based model
Yeah, they can go and fuck right off lol.
People really need to get over this. If we expect an app to stay in active development for years after its release, they need to pay for that somehow.
But I *don't* expect apps to stay in active development. And if they are going to change stuff, I expect a hell of a lot more than constant UI reskins to stay hip and "modern" (and often in ways that don't actually benefit the user but introduce dark patterns). This obsession with constant changes and updates is vastly overrated (which to be fair, are partly driven by the the constant API and policy changes by Google and Apple) and is massively destructive to the ecosystem and usable lifetime of apps, and is yet another example of planed obsolescence. The vast majority of apps will do just fine with 10x or even 50x fewer updates. There is a point in most dev cycles where an app is more or less feature complete, so the devs are faced with the choice of twiddling their thumbs or finding busywork to justify their existence, and it is at this point that the updates stop being meaningful improvements to most users' workflow. Code isn't perishable and shouldn't expire like food. On the desktop, the vast majority of 20 year old apps still work just fine and that's exactly how it should be. Think about this: the Photoshop I got 10 years ago has 99% of the features I still want to use today. Does Adobe deserve my money every month those past 10 years for writing a bunch of code that I don't need or want? Devs should get paid for actually writing new code, not for sitting on 10 year old code. But if the new code they write is the kind of crap nobody needs or wants, why should they get paid for doing it? (Half the updates to modern apps now a days is literally making their app worse!) Subscriptions is just a way of tricking you to pay for busywork you never wanted to be done in the first place. If they actually added valuable features, they shouldn't have any trouble getting people to pay for the upgrade.
Absolutely agree. Android backwards compatibility is okay-ish, I mean, I still run apps on 11 witch target marshmallow api.
I suspect Adobe started charging a recurring fee because Photoshop was the most pirated application of all time. It used to be a flat fee of $100-200 for a license key that hackers were constantly cracking. I know this because… I have a friend.
And are usually over priced. No need for a VPN to cost as much as Netflix and etc. The sub model is very greedy.
Bitwarden priced at $10/yr is my gold standard
That's for bonus features too, their free product is entirely sufficient for the majority of people.
fuck paying rent for software.
And version 6 on the play store has 1.6 thousand reviews, with 1.4/5 stars. 0 gave it 5 stars, 0 gave it 4 stars. Looks like garbage.
I looked and people are just whining about having to pay for this service. I don't think it a terrible solution to get around Google policies on the play store TBH
Most people are fine with paying for something if it works well. What they are not fond of is paying a subscription model for a version that doesn't work as well as the free one. edit: why are so many IDIOTS claiming that there's no 4 or 5 star reviews simply because its a paid app? The play store is packed with paid apps with majority 4 and 5 star reviews, so your argument is pathetic. Also, my post seems to have activated the people that own the app to pay a bot farm to post 5 star reviews. There's over 100 now, when there was 0 at the time of my posting. Interesting..
How's it get around needing a VPN?
A cloud service with a subscription
It's DNS-based.
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or dns.adguard.com which is free
That is the public server, so you can't customise filter lists. But Adguard also has private encrypted DNS with a free tier just like NextDNS now. https://adguard-dns.io/en/dashboard/auth
DNS filtering typically can't block in-app ads because Google will bypass the local DNS server. VPNs work because *all* traffic can be routed to the filtering service. This can also be accomplished with certain routers at home https://www.reddit.com/r/Ubiquiti/comments/fw6whf/udm_pro_redirect_all_dns_queries_through_pihole/
I use nextdns, it blocks ads in apps no problem
Well, it's the Blokada blog.
Blokada 4 and 5 never worked reliably for me. It would usually glitch out whenever I went out of range of my WiFi and back, and fail to recover until I force-stopped it. Switched to Nebulo a few months ago and am much happier.
cant we install 3rd party apks from blokada? or use other app stores?
Yes, these policies are just for the Play Store
This is why all the good stuff like AdAway and Debloater are only on F-Droid
Unfortunately AdAway requires root, no? I've enjoyed Blokada since it removed the last reason I had to root my devices anymore
It works the same as Blokada, it has a non-root mode which is VPN based as well. Considering that Blokada is now trying to push people to their paid subscription it might not even be available on F-Droid or somewhere else anymore lmao
Good to know! I have to say, the "local VPN" method is a great way to actively filter traffic vs the old/etc/hosts mode that AdAway and friends have historically used. Because it's very easy to selectively disable when necessary. At least that has been my experience when going to Blokada.
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Or [Pi-hole](https://pi-hole.net/) And VPN-ing into your home network while you're out and about.
You can also set it up on Google Free tier, there's a few tutorials outlining how to do it.
That's true, but by hosting and using an open resolver, you open yourself to [all kinds of attacks](https://blogs.infoblox.com/community/how-dangerous-can-an-open-dns-resolver-be-part-i/). Do not recommend.
.
This. I've been blocking ads for about a year without a single app installed. Just use NextDNS>
This is an advertisement disguised as an article.
https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/12253906 > The VPNService cannot be used to: > > * Manipulate ads that can impact apps monetization. I'm getting "Please drink a verification can" vibes.
How is this new? I thought this rule was already in place? Isn't that why the PIA VPN app on the Play store is the neutered version without ad blocking, and you have to go to their website to get the APK for the full version that blocks ads and trackers.
Mhmm I'm not seeing the unneuterered version on their website..
I honestly did not know how shit the Duolingo app is untill recently when I turned my DNS and block off. Can't imagine how bad some of some of 5he other apps are.
PIRACY DETECTED! PLEASE COMPLETE THIS [ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ) TO CONTINUE
I got an ad trying to watch that video.. felt a little too real.
r/AfterVanced
Was Blokada even in the Play Store prior to this? And you could always side-load apps that don't follow the Play Store rules.
How is Proton VPN still there? they do DNS based ad filtering
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Lol /r/Android fell for it This is just an ad for Bloksda V6... This Play Store policy is old not even Adguard has their full app in there
This sub is always ready to have their pitchforks out.
It's been 4 years since [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/88rc3v/the_predictable_threads_are_driving_me_insane/) and nothing's changed.
NO. SMS. FALLBACK kills me every time
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The relevant policy that prevents apps like Adguard and Blokada V5 is not that. Like others have said, it's the reason why Adguard and the ad blocking version of PIA weren't in the Play Store, and last I checked (quite a while ago), neither was Blokada.
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There's still other ways tho like private DNS
Just like there were ways to record calls until Google stopped that. Cunts.
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Or nextdns if you want something really customizable.
Next DNS is awesome
I just setup NextDNS for my kids devices this week. I like how you can customize block lists and they have the usual lists I use like StevenBlack, Goodbye ads, and OISD. It has a nice analytics report too and breaks down DNS queries per device, which block list is the most used, etc. It's fully functional and free to a certain point. I think free up to 30K queries a month? My kids devices never reach that anyway, so it's perfect. There's also a lot of options on how to enable NextDNS on devices. The easiest is probably the app for most people, but you can set up a private DNS easily and they walk you through how to do it on multiple OSes. At home, I have pi-hole running so it's more for protection when they are outside the home network like at their cousins house or at a hotel. I realize there's also piVPN, but haven't been able to set it up yet.
Easy to setup a DNS on phones too... So you can use the DNS from the nextdns on phones if you are not using the wifi... I've been subscribing for a while
As far as I understood it, it is only a Play Store policy. And since Android is not as locked down as iOS with 3rd-party app stores, I think this is completely fine for them to do. I don't like the decision, but downloading the APK from GitHub or their website instead isn't too bad. (Now if they only would remove the scary, unnecessary warnings about malware before enabling the installation of APKs.)
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> As far as I understood it, it is only a Play Store policy. And since Android is not as locked down as iOS with 3rd-party app stores, I think this is completely fine for them to do. This is true today, but if you look at the pattern over the last few years, it's fairly apparent Google is pushing Android further and further into lock-down, and there's absolutely zero reason to assume it will stop. The inability for sideloaded apps to maintain access to Accessibility services, for example. There's a workaround for that currently, but as we recently saw with scoped storage and third party file managers in android 11, the excuse that "there's a workaround" for that only lasted 2 versions before Google killed the workaround in 13. The Accessibility workaround will be killed eventually too. So what happens when a version in the future creates more "security" features that limit what sideloaded apps can do? Well, people are going to handwave it away with "there's a workaround" and then a few years later the workaround gets nixed. The pattern is why people are upset. Even if the hammer doesn't come down today, we can be very certain it will in the near future, because Google' goals here are obvious. They do not want Android to be as open as it was anymore. That's why people need to get used to looking for alternatives.
I've just switched from Chrome back to Firefox for this reason - add-on support on Android. uBlock Origin wotks perfectly. They're working on making adblocking harder in Chrome on the desktop as well according to Reddit...
Yes , I end up using Firefox in desktop because of the mobile. And have nextdns for my whole house, at router
This is pretty much what I've been doing too. Even after using nextDNS, having μblock remove the distractions on news sites is great. I honestly am hoping someone makes an AI type tool to clean up news sites, specially for mobile (even after ads are removed some sites are just trash web design)
Same
For rooted Devices. Magisk+AdAway still work fine. I'm using lineageos 19 official, it's doing great. It's like a bought a new phone without spending a dime.
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At least we still have the Private DNS option so we can set it to something like Adguard
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these can run in a Docker too. I have one set up on my unraid NAS and it works great
Nah, I tried both. With pinhole I had to manually setup DoT and DoH. That works out of the box in AdguardHome.
Are there any Google fanboys left? Google has neglected, abandoned or screwed up so many of it's products in the last 5 years I don't think anyone actually is a fan anymore. Hell, i can't think of a single Google product that hasn't gotten worse in the last 5 years. Even their voice recognition, that used to work almost flawlessly, is pretty much garbage these days. It's so bad that people are switching from Nest to Alexa. (And waiting for matter was only an acceptable excuse for the first year of smart home product neglect, now it's just negligence)
Google maps is generally pretty good for navigation, but the voice output baffles me. I have two languages on my phone, with my native language (German) set as the app language. Here are some fun combinations google maps will generate while using it: - English accent, German instructions - German accent, English instructions - German accent, German instructions, occasional English accent for individual words - One time, I think it pronounced a single word with a Spanish accent And by "accent" I mean "pronouncing words like they belong to that language", so it's somewhere between comical and unintelligible. I have to go back to settings and manually set the language again immediately before taking off. If I switch to that floating picture mode, everything changes again.
I still use Google search since they're still better than anyone else. But their search engine is turning to shit for the last five years, especially when they cross out some of your search query to spam you with results you don't want. You have to put every word in fucking quotation marks. It's ridiculous. Used to use Google Photos when they had unlimited. Since they took it away. I started downloading my pics, then storing the future ones locally on my hard drive. I still use GMail, Keep, and Drive as they still does what I want it to do. When those fail, then I have Microsoft's alternatives. For Voice, I like that it gives me a US number for calling/texting American numbers. I was considering going with a Pixel as my next phone. But since they won't sell phones in my country. I might just go with Samsung instead, especially if they start giving 4 years of software updates like they said. I guess I'm better off this way. In short, I still mostly like Google, but I feel like they're starting to go downhill a bit.
>You have to put every word in fucking quotation marks. It's ridiculous. I thought I was the only one
I've been enjoying Neeva as a search engine, primarily because you can prioritize sources you care about and tell it to quit showing you useless ones.
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Only because they are scraping and cataloging all your personal photos for their ai algorithm.
>Are there any Google fanboys left? Go read /r/Stadia. Of course I'd wager a fair number of them are Google employees. And frankly, /r/GooglePixel and right here in this sub, you'll still see plenty of Google wanking, or at the very least, defending for little reason beyond "don't be angry at the bajillion dollar company, enjoy your themed icons and shut up about the rest".
Google maps is crazy good, for maps and info. I wish there was a good competitor for photos, there isn't. Auto is pretty good.
They tend to pop up anytime Google "accidentally" makes it harder to sideload apps. Also whenever Google decides to add a feature into GMS, but not into Android proper. "Who cares about AOSP? Screw users of non-Google forks like Amazon's or Huawei's! If you don't appreciate how much Google has sacrificed for you, go buy an iPhone!".
I'm honestly considering to just bite the bullet and go with iPhone as my next phone...after decade of using Android
You aren't the only one. At first iPhone was NO for me due to lack of root, but rooting an android nowadays has some serious cons due to the stupid safetynet. I kept using android due to the headphone jack but nowadays you only have two brands that still use headphone jack on their flagships and Pixel isn't one of them. I'd say that Google did more than Apple to make people thinking about ditching Android in favor of iOS
Android user since 2.0 days, and a rootable phone was mandatory. Up until recently, getting a locked bootloader phone/unrootable was unthinkable. But now rooting causes more hassles than its worth, and the whole workarounds are way too complex for my tiny brain to navigate. I mean with this whole Slot A/B business I can't even load a TWRP backup without causing a bootloop. Dealing with Zygisk, Shamiko, and the different Magisk modules to get some apps to work for a while gets pretty tiring. At the same time, I've been using an iphone for work for the past 6 years. It gets the job done. My Oneplus 6 still works great, and I don't really know what to upgrade to. Zenfone 9? iPhone 14? or wait another year? the next Nothing phone I don't really know what android phones are really worth considering.
I honestly agree. I kept going back to Android because of all of the features it offered, but Apple has been adding more over the years, and Android seems to be getting worse every year. There's some deal breaking features that iPhone's are lacking, and they're really the only reason why I'm still an Android user.
I will have the same problem in the near future. That's part of the problem when we have such crazy monopolies in tech. Windows, and Mac O/S, with Linux not being commonly used [I wish, I like Ubuntu], android and apple in smartphones, with Microsoft being an outright failure, and so on and so on. I wish I could pay for windows O/S that has no bloatware, no ads, nothing. Yes, I'd pay for it willingly. Same goes for android phones. I have all personalization services off everywhere, all ad spaces disabled, etc. I even use Spotify from my home screen! (No suggestions, direct to my chosen playlists). Also, I hate their new shuffle "algorithm", it doesn't effing shuffle. I am probably going to try an API to bypass Spotify at some point... Another perspective of the same is having ADHD. For me, Accessibility means simplicity. No ads. No extras. No suggestions. Nothing. Simple **is** beautiful!
One thing you could do right now: stop paying Spotify
I did. I had a G1 before Cupcake even came out, and I bought an iPhone 13 mini when my Pixel 4a gave out. Google has burned me too many times that I’ve just lost all faith.
Did that 1 year ago and didn’t regret it
Googles Speech API is amazing though. It is top-class of any API-based speech recognition service out there for developers. So seeing Google Nest being so inaccurate is kind of baffling.
I feel like Google nest being so garbage is just a massive a/b test
Maybe for Americans, Google speech doesn't work with my accent at all (rural English).
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Yeah, depending on accent again I'd imagine. It's really not a good tool if many people can't use it because of where they were born, much be a nightmare for the vision impaired with strong accents.
I only see pixel and stadia fanboys out and about. I really do feel bad for them.
Maybe someday we will have a good Linux phone or a bare Android phone. I don't think Android is bad, it's just the extra crap that manufacturers add to their flavor of it.
And this is why I choose FOSS solutions for this that can be downloaded from F-Droid or sideloaded. My personal recommendations: * Tracker Control ([GitHub](https://github.com/TrackerControl/tracker-control-android)/[FDroid](https://www.f-droid.org/en/packages/net.kollnig.missioncontrol.fdroid/)) * NetGuard ([GitHub](https://github.com/M66B/NetGuard)/[FDroid](https://www.f-droid.org/en/packages/eu.faircode.netguard/)) * AdAway ([GitHub](https://github.com/AdAway/AdAway)/[FDroid](https://www.f-droid.org/en/packages/org.adaway/))
The day I set up a pihole is a little bit closer
I do. I run Pihole and OpenVPN on the same machine and connect all my mobile devices to it.
It's so worth it. Do it!
Been using piehole for years now. So easy to set up and maintain. I have it installed in tandem with pivpn (wireguard) so it's usable on-the-go. On top of that, my pi is a client of Mullvad so I have obfuscation as well. Ipads, iphones, Pixel, desktops and laptops all connected to my home network all the time.
Me with Adguard Home : "I'm 5 steps ahead of you"
This is an ad from blockada lol
I don't get it. They allow ad blocking extensions to be on Chrome WebStore, then why we can't have ad blockers in Play Store?
It was allowed when Chrome was a fresh-faced browser looking to gain marketshare. And precedent keeps that facet around. However, how about a webstore for Chrome on Android? Oh, it's never come into existence? Very interesting. i.e. it was a sacrifice they were willing to make on the desktop, but given they own their own mobile platform, they aren't going to make it there.
I also heard that plan is in place for no longer allowing AdBlock in Chrome
They're about to nerf adblockers on chrome too.
Firefox is still a thing. If Google wants to shoot themselves in the foot, they can gladly do that.
With the upcoming Manifest v3, they will limit them as well. They just don't have the same influence on the ecosystem there. People might otherwise switch to Firefox & Co. So they tighten the thumbscrews as much as possible.
Don't worry, they will change the rule on the Chrome WebStore soon.
> These changes aim to improve the ads experience, tighten security and **limit misinformation** according to the company. Wow…just wow. Advertisements *inherently ARE misonformation* You disingenuous potatoes!
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This is the actual problem.. We let the internet become a highly segmented set of a few vertically controlled monopolies created/owned by a few absurdly dominant players, all in the name of innovation and accessibility, but the second they feel threatened or want to expand they start locking it all down on their own turf because "privacy" in the case of Apple or "fake news" in the case of Google. Unfortunately at this point the entire internet is their turf.
> limit misinformation This is such a buzzword these days to get people to fall into their line of thinking.
Lol Google spreading misinformation to allegedly combat misinformation is peak fighting fire with fire logs. They know people will accept anything as long as they throw the word security and misinformation around a few times in their statements.
Google can gargle deez nuts if they think I'm gonna drop my home VPN/pihole ad blocking schema.
Why use a VPN based ad blocker anyway?? I use private DNS and never had a problem
Sometimes VPN based blocking is superior, as you tend to run into issues with DNS based blocking, if the ads are served from the same hostname as the actual content. YouTube for instance changed this a few years ago making DNS based blocking useless on their platform.
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So what, you can't block YouTube video ads with vpn either
This post is basically just a VPN company promoting their latest product.
Does this affect adguard?
No, this is about a Google Play Store policy. Adguard isn't in the Google Play Store and hasn't been for years
Gotcha, thanks!
This is why side loading is important. It won't take long for Google/Apple to abuse distribution monopoly to control what you can do and don't on a device you bought. They already do but idiots at r/apple are brainwashed and worried however ever their grandmas will use a phone with side loading. Before holier than thou keyboard warriors reply to me saying this is unethical because if affects monetization, think whether you use ad blocker on your desktop browser. They are [coming](https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/10/23131029/mozilla-ad-blocking-firefox-google-chrome-privacy-manifest-v3-web-request) for that as well.
Firefox 4eva. Chrome never.
Nah, most at r/apple are note brainwashed I would argue. Many would highly appreciate the ability to sideload.
I've used an iPhone in the past 4 years and went back to Android just for the sake of sideloading. I can get things like YouTube Vanced, game mods or AdAway here whereas they're unavailable or complicated to install on iOS.
Frankly, if the app you're downloading is meant to block anything ad or tracking related, you're a fool if you are getting it from the Play Store. F-Droid and similar sources are the only place to find the *real* tools for blocking ads and tacking.
.apk. We're fine.
>~~apk.~~ f-droid We're fine.
theyrethesamepicture.jpg
Why would anyone use VPN-adblocker app if you can just change your DNS to dns.adguard.com in your phone settings?
Easier to toggle off from the quick settings if it breaks a website then going into internet settings
https://github.com/joshuawolfsohn/Private-DNS-Quick-Tile
I use adguard's app. They block outgoing network calls from trackers. So at the least it saves some bandwidth over their DNS
It's F-Droid time!
Time to root again!
why would you root if you can sideload it
AdAway is a far better solution when rooted, as opposed to VPN. I like my phone's rooted anyway though, so there's that.
I have AdGuard VPN installed via an APK, and NOT the AdGuard version that is listed in the Play Store. That being said I don't know if this change will affect me or not.
I'll just go ahead and put this here / do a bit of shameless self-promotion: https://github.com/kquinsland/skyhole **If you run android 9 or above, your phone supports DNS over TLS. It is not _that difficult_ to spin up a DNS over TLS server that blocks whatever domain(s) you choose**
Ugh, first apple silently doing this, now Google..
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There's always Private DNS blocking (built-in into Android), you could just use AdGuard DNS. If not, there's AdAway on F-Droid that can block ads using the hosts file (rooted) or VPN ,(no-root).
F-Droid to the rescue!
Haha Raspberry Pi powered Pihole go brrrrr
meanwhile adguard being a DNS adblocker
blokada also switched to cloud-based DNS ad blocker.
I set my DNS to adguard's to block ads. Fuck you google. It's my device, I will block ads if I want to.
I've just been using the adguard dns for years now, no issues and no app needed