yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Android Apps and Games] knpk13:
More of a question for the magisk thread, but the recovery should work fine even if the system doesn't have root. I'm not too familiar with orangefox but I highly doubt any recovery tool depends on a rooted system, since the recovery is a separate environment which already has root access.

Replacing your boot.img with the stock boot.img from your ROM doesn't uninstall any modules you have so you can try that to see if it works and reinstall magisk later after debugging . However flashing the official magisk uninstaller does remove them. Could be a magisk module or xposed module conflict but I don't see ant obvious suspects.

Can't think of any ideas as to why your image backups wouldn't be present as I'm unfamiliar with your device and don't see anything jump at me based on the provided info (other than on a different drive as you mentioned).

Hopefully it isn't an xposed conflict. Haven't used it since Android 8 (later versions of android and magisk had all the functionality I needed), so again, I'm not the best person to ask. Maybe someone else has a better idea related to adaway/hosts file (I'm no expert myself, just a user) or someone on your device forum can offer more help. Good luck debugging it.

Edit: searching the thread for "bootloop" yields a few similar posts if you want to check them out. Didn't see any particularly helpful info in them though, just magisk and systemless hosts debugging.
[Android Apps and Games] manjaroid:
You weren't wrong. Systemless hosts is not required to use Adaway if rooted with Magisk. I've always used the native hosts file and Adaway never complained.

There's a lot going on with your phone and I agree that it would be important to know if it keeps looping in an unrooted state. Unfortunately, that would involve undoing so much that starting over may be more practical.
[Android Apps and Games] zgfg:
It's not up to someone's preferences or version of AdAway or so, but it all depends on device and the firmware

If firmware is SAR with read-only system, there is NO WAY to write into the hosts file and you must use Systemless hosts

Also, there are SAR devices still read-write but whose system partition is 99.9% full (only a MB of empty space left or so), hence AdAway again cannot save its hosts file and the Systemless hosts overlay provided by Magisk is required again

There are even devices read-write, with the system partition not nearly full, but if you change content on the system (so if you don't use Systemless hosts but you let your AdAway write directly to the hosts file), you can cause problems with future OTA or something (since hash of the original stock system is saved but hash upon your directly editing the system files will change)

Most (although not all) new devices or devices updated to Android 9 or 10 fall into these categories and require the systemless approach

Unfortunately, although SAR devices are out for a year or two, there are still many people who don't know what the SAR means (System As Root), how to check if system is SAR or not, how and why system would be read only (and why it remains read-only "although they successfully rooted by Magisk"), what the systemless overlay provided by Magisk means, etc. Google, google, google (or just read the Magisk GitHub Guide) - people who consider themselves power-users who want to mod and root their devices must keep-up and learn about the new technologies

It's a kind of weird that people cry for the latest Android but once their devices get updated to, they are surprised why e.g. AdAway does no more work and how/why/what/where is that Systemless hosts (or similarly, how come they cannot directly edit system props anymore and why they need now MHPC module, etc)
[Android Apps and Games] brasscupcakes:
SAR is definitely over my head ...

zgfy, you are so right:

Unfortunately, although SAR devices are out for a year or two, there are still so many people who don't know what is SAR, how and why system would be read only (and why it remains read-only "although they successfully rooted by Magisk"

We don't know that we don't know! Many, like me, don't consider ourselves power users, modding/rooting for its own sake. We do it to limit tracking by business & government, reduce the crapware on our phones, re-enable features the carriers disabled for unlocked devices. I don't want the latest Android. Haven't played a video game since pong, so my needs are modest. But you get the latest Android, like it or not, when you need to replace your phone.

This forum was never intended for people like me, but where else is there? I am always astonished at how patient developers are with us.

As for my current bootloop issue, I'll wipe and start over. The partial solutions are too many to wrap my mind around and I'm Xiami's anti-rollback "feature" has made me timid.
[Android Apps and Games] zgfg:
If you are on Xiaomi/MIUI (10 or maybe even 11 with Android 9 and maybe also 10) you are 'safe', it's SAR but not read-only and nearly but not completely full, hence you can still avoid using Systemless hosts.

Nine months ago I was running AdAway without Systemless hosts on MIUI 10/Android 9 with no problems

Not sure for MIUI 12 - I'm on but using Systemless hosts. It's still read-write SAR but shortly inspecting by df it looks that there would be not enough space for AdAway to write to the 'real' /etc/hosts file (without systemless dynamic-linking overlay)

Anyway, it doesn't hurt to switch to Systemless hosts ?
[Android Apps and Games] manjaroid:
Not me. I'm so attached to my legacy Androids that I wasn't taking into account Treble, SAR, A, B, A/B etc. I stand corrected and thanks for the lesson.
[Android Apps and Games] chooks06:
Sometimes, we are victims of the circumstances.

What's not broken doesn't need a fix (I think)..

Me too mate.. But along the way we learn new things (not that we need to adopt).

Cheers mate! I'm like you .:)
[Android Apps and Games] :
Is the Whitelist not working on the 5.0x versions?

Google-analytics is in the host file I use, but I also put it in the whitelist. The whitelist should take precedence, right?

I can't get it to behave that way unfortunately.
[Android Apps and Games] ipdev:
Are you using Root (hosts) version or VPN version?

Most user haven't seemed to run into or notice it but, I think some might have.

Those using DNS logging to add domains to get an app/website working, may have not noticed that the domain(s) they add is/are still being blocked.

Adding a domain to the Allow list after the Blocked list is created, does not always work.

When you refresh/download sources, the added allowed domain may still be in the blocked.

I do not remember if is more noticeable in the VPN version or the root (hosts) version.

I run adaway on multiple devices and use both the VPN and root (hosts) method.

Normally, you can work around it by deselecting your hosts sources and refresh/download.

This should put you back to a clean hosts file (blocking list). Then re-select your hosts sources and refresh/download.

What you have in your allow list should override the blocking (hosts sources).

It seems a little random at the moment and I haven't had the time to test and reproduce the issue at will.

Might be device, rom, user configuration??? Not sure at the moment.

Cheers. :cowboy:

PS.

I currently have three issues with adaway 5.x

VPN mode - Enable at startup.

AdAway starts on boot but, it starts paused not active (running).

Reproducible but, the issue might still be on my side. (Device, rom, user configuration..)

VPN mode - Stall.

See Posts # - 15186 - 15190 - 15192 - 15193 - 15224 for reference.

Totally random for me. I will go days without it happening and then it will happen once or multiple times in one day.

Not currently reproducible at will. Only observations and not sure if it is on my side. (Device, rom, user configuration..)

Logs do not show much. You could get the same log results by turning on airplane mode and ignoring the airplane mode activation.

Sometimes adaway appears to be running and a quick pause and start, other times adaway is paused. (⊙＿⊙')

Allow list additions not allowed.

Again random for me, not sure if it is on my side. (Device, rom, user configuration..)

Not currently reproducible at will.
[Android Apps and Games] :
Thanks, that workaround did the trick for now! Gonna wait and see if it stays this way when 'updating' the host source.

I'm using the rooted version on my OnePlus 6t for what it's worth.

I hadn't seen this issue or the workaround described anywhere so I'm kind of glad to read it's not 'user error'!
[Android Apps and Games] PerfectSlayer:
Hi all,

There is a current discussion about allowed list format on GitHub and I invite you to give your idea.

The main question is: what should be the format of the allowed hosts list.

1. Should it be included in a host file as originally?

1.a Using allow keyword instead of IP address and breaking hosts file format?

127.0.0.1 blocked.com
allow allowed.com

1.b Using hosts file comment and keywords

127.0.0.1 blocked.com
# ALLOW allowed.com

2. Should it be included in another file type

2.a Using plain text file

allowed.com

2.b Using any other format? (json?)

For me, I like the idea of being store in hosts file because it does not bring a new format.

Adding a source mean you could add a hosts source with all you need. You won't have to add a source at one location then add the allow part in an other location.

But I dislike breaking the hosts file format (even if there is no real standard definition, at least I can't find it...) so I would go for the comment and keyword format inside hosts file.

A good thing with keywords is it could evolve and improve through time.

For example, I think at two keywords right now: ALLOW and ALLOW_PATTERN.

127.0.0.1 blocked.com
# ALLOW allowed.com
# ALLOW_PATTERN s*.domain.com

Using plain text file as allowed source does not support such feature for example.

Once I have a clear idea of how allowed list should work, I can bring them back in the app. In the meantime, the only way to add an allowed host it to add it to "Your lists" ;)
[Android Apps and Games] DiamondJohn:
I agree with your initial proposal above (i.e. no new format, if it aint broke...). As for the example of two keywords for "ALLOW" and "ALLOW_PATTERN", from the users perspective, in what case would you not just process all "ALLOW" lines as "ALLOW_PATTERN"? ie why not use a pattern in the "ALLOW" keyword lines? I am assuming that a "*" is an invalid host name character.

Arguing the other side, it would allow for future expansion that is just not evident to me today, but could be indispensable in the future. i.e. It would open up for un-foreseen future functionality.

The other thing that I am not clear about (although I feel I am also asking the obvious), your above example appears to be mixing a block-list and an allow-list in the same file? I personally would prefer to keep them separate, but I understand, there would of course be nothing stopping a user from doing that anyway. Too many choices!
[Android Apps and Games] PerfectSlayer:
Because there is several types of patterns. The one we use is (a poor) glob pattern, with * and ?. But there is also regexp patterns, where * and ? are not wildcards but quantifiers...

So the keywords could be ALLOW followed by a plain host name, ALLOW_GLOB_PATTERN followed by a glob pattern, ALLOW_REGEXP_PATTERN followed by a regular expression pattern, etc...

We could think about device or priority hints for example to express if an hosts should be applied for mobile or desktop, recommended or mandatory if you want to keep your list small, etc...

If block-list and allow-list are the same format, nothing prevent them to contains mixed blocked and allowed host at the same time.

There is now a settings per hosts file to apply allowed and/or redirected hosts or not. So you don't have to worry about using a hosts source containing allowed hosts you don't want to unblock.

You can enable this settings on your allow-list only and it should work as expected for you ;)

I wish by evolving the hosts file format, we can improve the overall behavior of other ad-blockers too.

I will try to ping the other hosts maintainers to ask them for advice.
[Android Apps and Games] zagzag99:
Looks like the blocking of google photos upload is now happening in VPN mode. While not in root mode.

There's no exact DNS blocking.

I thought at first it's GPhotos not uploading while on VPN. but apparently it works in VPN , just not adAway's VPN.

Blockada is somehow allowing it to upload.

Anyone found a way around it?
[Android Apps and Games] Wolfcity:
No, didn't found a way too (not with DNS, only way is to deactivate Adaway for uploading pictures/videos). But I agree, had this problem since the first Adaway VPN mode app.

Mi 9T, MIUI 12 (Android 10), unrooted.
[Android Apps and Games] PoochyX:
Is the VPN method better then host file

([emoji88]Chaos GSI[emoji88])
[Android Apps and Games] pec0ra:
I haven't had any issue with Google Photos upload in VPN mode. I use the default hosts and I have activated upload over cell data in Google Photos.

It's possible that Google treats WiFi + VPN differently as just WiFi. I sometimes have the play store telling it's waiting for WiFi even though I'm on WiFi. This isn't every time though.
[Android Apps and Games] PerfectSlayer:
Hi all,

A new update for the beta version with some fixes related to list updates.

It will now download source when there is updates and auto sync option is checked and user lists will be updated when user sync.

Changelog:

Fix source not updated on automatic update

Fix user list not sync until source update

Update hosts source creation to disable allowed hosts by default

Update AndroidX dependencies

Thanks:

Special thanks to [MENTION=453495]JEANRIVERA[/MENTION] for its helpful bug reports.

Download:

AdAway 5.0.8

P.S.: I just received the stickers and already love them <3
[Android Apps and Games] tosonny:
I have installed AdAway 5.0.8 and it blocks nothing. It has got root access, restarted the phone and so on ....did everything as I did with version 4.x
[Android Apps and Games] zgfg:
You only updated AdAway or also anything from below:

- switched the phone

- upgraded firmware

- switched browser

- updated browser

- something else that might have changed the conditions

Check if /system/etc/hosts is near empty (only localhost) or filled in with domains to block (few MB).

You can try to open (text file) to see if it prints it was updated by AdAway

If near empty, enable Systemless hosts in Magisk Manager, reboot, disable and enable AdAway to see would it fill then the hosts file
[Android Apps and Games] tosonny:
It's not empty at all. It just doesn't work as it should.
[Android Apps and Games] zgfg:
In any app or in the particular app/browser - if you wish the people to help you, you need to provide more details

If you didn't want to, no problem ?
[Android Apps and Games] tosonny:
For an example in the "Biathlon.live" app. I switched back to version 4.x. Therefore I don't know exactly all the differences to the 5.x version.
[Android Apps and Games] lukjod:
In my case i have to uninstall 4.3.6 completely, clear cache and memory, then after install of 5.0.7 all started to work right after reboot, host file started to fill with blocked content etc

Wysłane z mojego SM-G975F przy użyciu Tapatalka
[Android Apps and Games] zgfg:
Domains to be blocked depend on hosts sources you use (not on the AdAway version) - version 5.0.8 likely uses different hosts sources by default than the old v4.3.6

Inspect/compare also the settings like IPv6, etc.

Use DNS logging (read instructions on the GitHub) to find domain(s) where from the ads are pulled in your game or apo, you can search then in the Blocked list if particular domain(s) are blocked by your active hosts sources and manually add the wanted domain(s) to your Block list
[Android Apps and Games] co-moi:
Hello, i believe that my banking APP detects root because i have installed ad away. Would there a possibility to reinstall it under another package Name like it ia possible with magisk?
[Android Apps and Games] pycxe-01:
Nonsense; banking apps don't check for ad blockers! However, you may want to make use of Magisk Hide & select your banking app there therefore effectively hiding root from it! Good luck! ?
[Android Apps and Games] Frostbiter:
I had the same issue. I backed up my lists, cleared the app data and restored my lists and now it works, although it says my block list is huge and I can't remove things but it works now.

I had upgraded directly from 4.x to 5 too so that might be an issue but I am not sure.
[Android Apps and Games] JudgeDread11:
No nonsense.

Many banking apps start to look for other popular root apps as indicators of rooted devices.

So while they probably couldn't care less about blocking ads they might check for adaway as a root indicator.

---------- Post added at 01:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:51 PM ----------

If you are sure your banking app is using adaway as an indicator for root you should contact them and tell them that adaway has the rootless VPN option.

If you use Xposed you can use sudohide to hide adaway from your app.

Or you can use the island app and move your banking app into the island.

The storage isolation app could help as well depending on what methods your banking app is using.
[Android Apps and Games] sacrificialpawn:
I had to do the exact same as you and Frostbiter. I updated from 4.3.6 to 5.0.7 and it showed "0 Blocked" and I verified that ads were no longer being blocked. I reinstalled 4.3.6 and everything was blocked again.

I uninstalled 4.3.6 and rebooted. I installed 5.0.8 and it showed "50535 Blocked" and I verified ads were now being blocked.

Long story short, it appears that best practice is to uninstall , reboot and do a clean install to update
[Android Apps and Games] tosonny:
The solution for me was to clear data. I have deleted and reinstalled several times, but clear data helped!
[Android Apps and Games] zgfg:
Somebody who had this problem should think about reporting to GitHub

Seems to be an issue when updating from v4.3.x to v5.0.7 or v5.0.8 - many of us updated long ago from v4.3.x to v5.0.1 or v5.0.2 (don't recall how it worked but at that time v5 Beta was new with many instability bugs that are already fixed now), and since then we're updating from e.g. v5.0.6 to v5.0.7 and from v5.07 to v5.0.8 with no issues
[Android Apps and Games] knpk13:
Using island did not make my banking app work.

Are you aware of any way to isolate/sandbox an app other than using island? Preferably a magisk module?

Do those isolation apps work differently from android's scoped storage?

Edit: deleted. nevermind I didn't understand how island works at first, seems fine now. Still don't get how it created a work profile without admin privs, and why you can't create a work profile from android settings instead of using an app.
[Android Apps and Games] JudgeDread11:
You're welcome.
[Android Apps and Games] spaziomilano:
Need help with the Amazon application, I can't get it to work completely, what can I whitelist to make it work and I have the same problem with the Skullgirl game
[Android Apps and Games] trax69:
Same problem, the host file is empty. Back to v4.3.6
[Android Apps and Games] zgfg:
And you didn't read how others simply resolved the problem?!
[Android Apps and Games] guest4711:
Reading somthing is old school. U2b or it did not happen ;)
[Android Apps and Games] zgfg:
YT - old school, TikTok or nothing
[Android Apps and Games] trax69:
Tricks to upgrade? :eek: Is 5.0.8 considered a beta or final version?
[Android Apps and Games] Wishmasterflo:
That is still beta I guess.
[Android Apps and Games] zgfg:
Why people think others should bother to read and answer them if they themselves don't read what was posted (or simply search for - top/right Search icon, searching for 5.0.8 finds):
[Android Apps and Games] PoochyX:
I think it's approaching stable it operates stable but with so many devices out there u have to leave the window open for a while so pull request can be processed

([emoji88]Chaos GSI[emoji88])
[Android Apps and Games] trax69:
I have read on the official site , Prerelease version, to be exact
[Android Apps and Games] zpower:
Hello,

By a week ago adaway its blocking everything inside Facebook browser and need to press continue several times to open site.

If i disable adaway the the sites runs OK.

This happens all sites.

Attach example

Test 4.3.6 and last beta and the results are the same.

Default block lists

I'm using adaway for a long time never happen before.

Any solution?
[Android Apps and Games] zgfg:
AdAway blocks domains that are listed in the Hosts sources (and hosts sources are updated from time to time by their maintainers - independently of AdAway and its versions)

You would need to find out which hosts source blocks social domains and unlist that hosts source. Or by DNS debugging, find out which domains are blocked for FB and put them to your White list

Actually (it's a great tool but people don't use it), by simply searching for Facebook in this thread, it was recently reported - maybe it can help:
[Android Apps and Games] ecbock:
Ad Blocking Disabled

I'm running 4.3.6 on my Pixel 4a. Ive recently noticed that after some time (Im unsure how long it takes) I find that Adblocking is disabled but the webserver continues to run. I have Adaway unoptimized in the bateery settings and have only added one extra hosts list (energized blu). Anyone else notice this behavior?
[Android Apps and Games] Portgas D. Ace:
What exactly do you mean by "adblocking is disabled"? Once the hosts file is in place, then the adblocking is active. Either you have another program modifying the host file, or you are using a web browser with some ominous "data saver" enabled or you are using apps with hard-coded apps inside.

BTW: you are using Magisk's systemless hosts module, do you?
[Android Apps and Games] zgfg:
AdAway 4.3.6 can only run in Hosts mode (not VPN).

For Hosts mode it is unnecessary that AdAway is runnong/active or not.

In Hosts mode, AdAway only updates the Hosts file, nothing else.

You can consider Hosts file as a phone book, and AdAway as a clerk updating the phone book.

If clerk gets sick, there will be delay in updating a few bew numbers to the phone book but thousands of numbers that were entered earlier would be still available in the phonebook

Hence, even if you don't update from hosts sources (and reboit) for a week or so, there is very, very slim chance that you would stumble to some domain that was updated in the hosts sources, but you didn't update from hosts sources on your phone

So, make sure:

- Systemless hosts must be enabled in Magisk Manager.

Upon enabling, you must reboot!

- If you didn't have Systemless hosts enabled so far, then disable adblocking in AdAway and re-enable again

- Then reboot once again (necessary on some phones, not on others, but if you don't do it then please don't complain here if it won't work because Guide also suggests to reboot)

- After updating hosts sources in AdAway, also reboot (same comment applies as above, you must first make sure that it works with rebooting, later you can experiment on your own if rebooting is maybe not needed on your phone)

Chrome uses its own mechanism for DNS, ignoring hosts file and you cannot block ads in Chrome by AdAway
[Android Apps and Games] droople:
Hi, it works like charming.

But when it enabled, the fitbit clock face and app store will be blocked, I added *.fitbit.com into the whitelist, still not working.

Anyone knows how to fix it?

Cheers
[Android Apps and Games] :
Parts of the Fitbit app require www.google-analytics.com to be whitelisted.

The Google analytics domain is often added to adblock lists to minimise data tracking but it doesn't serve actual ads as far as I am aware. So there shouldn't be any major downsides to whitelisting it.