yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Android Apps and Games] benno1:
Unfortunately this program also started to block all pictures on sites, where it shouldn't??? Example is engadget.com . Please correct.

Thanks
[Android Apps and Games] delta_foxtrot2:
I tested without duplicates and some apps are very noisy, if you want real time, run "tail -f /sdcard/lighttpd/logs/access.log"
[Android Apps and Games] todobarato:
Hello,

autoblog.com is blocked completely, can some one clear it from the list.

Thanks.
[Android Apps and Games] delta_foxtrot2:
I removed o.aolcdn.com from the DB, refresh your host file and it should show them again.
[Android Apps and Games] delta_foxtrot2:
the problem was o.aolcdn.com, which has been removed
[Android Apps and Games] delta_foxtrot2:
I just pushed out v0.9.2, the path to the web server config file wasn't right and so nothing was logging correctly.
[Android Apps and Games] fachadick:
Hey, stupid question - how do I tell what version I'm running?
[Android Apps and Games] benno1:
Thanks for the prompt fix. All is working fine again.
[Android Apps and Games] fury683:
App Info, in Android Settings > Applications > Downloaded > AdFree

Right below the title it says the version. My app hasn't prompted me to update yet, downloading it manually now because I'm still on 0.9.1.
[Android Apps and Games] 2545:
Blocked log is working now! This app is ingenious! I love how I can revert the host file back and forth without rebooting or going into twrp recovery!
[Android Apps and Games] fury683:
Thanks for the update. The logs and block log do appear to be working correctly. I did have to reboot for it to work, though.
[Android Apps and Games] jjovanovski:
Nice app. Good job.
[Android Apps and Games] fury683:
Hmm.. The server seems to stop after some time, because now it isn't doing anything. Seems to only run for a few minutes after a reboot.
[Android Apps and Games] GrapeBandit:
idk why the FAQ/HELP option in the app takes me here.

what is the authenticate option aand what is the data/data/hosts symlink?

for reference im running KK rom on my GS4 with CrossBreeder http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2113150
[Android Apps and Games] delta_foxtrot2:
Authenticate is for people that want to setup a white/black list on the website

the symlink is probably not needed now, in the early days some ROMs would only mount the /etc directory from the boot rom
[Android Apps and Games] delta_foxtrot2:
The app doesn't allow duplicate hostnames to be shown, you can run "adb shell tail -f /sdcard/lighttpd/logs/access.log" on the log for real time updates
[Android Apps and Games] fury683:
There seems to be a lot of undocumented nuances for using the log. It seems to stop showing anything after I press wipe log. I was trying to wipe it clean after a reboot and before testing the blocked app so that I could remove all the junk and see what I was currently doing.

I think I may have found what I needed but I feel like it was much much harder than it needed to be.

A few things that would make it easier:

Timestamps on the list of items in the log

Smaller text. A lot smaller.

Ability to wipe and keep logging. If I wipe it and the new stuff isn't shown, whether duplicate or not, it doesn't really do me any good.

Maybe I'm over thinking it, but I feel like I should be able to start logging, go do something, come back and see what happened. Either accepted or blocked.
[Android Apps and Games] GrapeBandit:
thsnks.

only problem is now this ap stopped working after about 10 minutes :/ any clue as to why?
[Android Apps and Games] delta_foxtrot2:
What do you mean it stops working?
[Android Apps and Games] GrapeBandit:
stops working=not blocking ads.
[Android Apps and Games] delta_foxtrot2:
wiping the log should restart the webserver.

I'll add a menu item to show duplicates.

In the mean time I'll try and figure out how to show time stamps in the GUI.
[Android Apps and Games] delta_foxtrot2:
I had a typo in the code which stopped the webserver from restarting. I will try and figure out how to show a time stamp before I push out an update.
[Android Apps and Games] delta_foxtrot2:
Adfree v0.9.3 is now up on the website, it allows people to view duplicates in the block list, and displays time stamps, and fixes the webserver restart after wiping the log file.
[Android Apps and Games] delta_foxtrot2:
I'm about to upload v0.9.4 to the webserver, it reverses the order of the block list, and shows the latest log entries first, regardless if you show all entries or just the unique ones.
[Android Apps and Games] delta_foxtrot2:
v0.9.5 is up on the website, I applied the same reverse log ordering to the tcpdump screen
[Android Apps and Games] jarda.jezek:
Is it possible to make application update check and subsequent download and install right directly from the application?
[Android Apps and Games] delta_foxtrot2:
At a quick glance, it looks possible.

I may live to eat my own words, but there shouldn't be many more updates, the app is fairly mature and for a long time there have only been minor updates/changes.
[Android Apps and Games] delta_foxtrot2:
I have code for the app to silently upgrade itself, I'm still pondering if there is a downside to this.
[Android Apps and Games] sg.stamm:
Update problem

I turned on "Check server for updates daily" and "Automatically apply updates". But nearly every day I get an update notification like "There is a new version available, would you like to download it now?" Then I do the download and installation of the apk-file and next day I get the same notification. Why doesnt the app automatically? What is the sense of this checkbox?
[Android Apps and Games] delta_foxtrot2:
That only applies to hostname updates, but I have coded an auto upgrade feature, but haven't push out the change yet.

There was a problem a week or so ago where the server was telling the app that there was a new version when there wasn't, but that was fixed.
[Android Apps and Games] delta_foxtrot2:
I just published v0.9.6 to the website, this version auto upgrades itself and I added menu items to switch between the block list and the tcpdump screens
[Android Apps and Games] jarda.jezek:
Hi. I have just installed it. Unfortunately I don't see any option to control the application update function.
[Android Apps and Games] delta_foxtrot2:
I tossed up making it "on" and adding another checkbox, in hindsight I probably should have linked it to the automatically apply updates option
[Android Apps and Games] NightSteel:
I noticed the new version asks for full permissions to all device features and storage. Was this necessary for auto-updating to work?
[Android Apps and Games] KaHOnas:
I've noticed recently that my battery has been draining faster than normal. I've checked the usage reports and it turns out that AccuWeather is the culprit. I've also noticed that it's very slow to load.

I'm pretty sure that it's a host block causing this but I can't check my logs; all I get is a blank page. Am I doing something wrong?
[Android Apps and Games] phonetool:
I saw that, too. My first response was "Um, what? NO."

My next response was to come here and find out more.
[Android Apps and Games] delta_foxtrot2:
I had to add read/write to sdcard for the webserver logs, I also added superuser access to make su happy
[Android Apps and Games] delta_foxtrot2:
To be frank, the app gets root, so if I wanted to do something nasty it wouldn't be difficult.

Below is all the permissions from the manifest file...

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE" />

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_SUPERUSER" />

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED" />

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE"/>
[Android Apps and Games] phonetool:
True!

Which is why I was happy to find the developer posting his work here.

Thank you for the further clarification and also thank you for all of your efforts!
[Android Apps and Games] delta_foxtrot2:
At a guess the access superuser probably threw up the warning, but I only added that to hide a warning in SU... So the warning is probably accurate... and I'll update the changelog to reflect this.
[Android Apps and Games] T-RoR:
With adfree, chesstempo.com/mobile no work. Help me?
[Android Apps and Games] fury683:
Register an account on the website (http://adfree.bigtincan.com/phone-register.php)

Add the URL(s) to your whitelist (http://adfree.bigtincan.com/exceptions.php)

Press the three dots in the top right of the AdFree app on your phone

Tap on "Authenticate" and enter the same email and password you registered with on the website

Download and install hosts
[Android Apps and Games] delta_foxtrot2:
They'll also need to enable the local webserver to find out what is blocked, because I couldn't see anything obvious.

I noticed they have an app, might want to install that instead of using a browser...
[Android Apps and Games] delta_foxtrot2:
I just published v0.9.7 to the website, it links the auto upgrade of the app itself, to the auto update checkbox
[Android Apps and Games] jarda.jezek:
Hi. Why not to separate application update check box from hosts file update checkbox? These are two different things.

Can you add dns cache flush button and also perform such dns cache flush when new hosts file us installed or when adfree is reverted (switched off)? It would be useful instead rebooting the device.
[Android Apps and Games] delta_foxtrot2:
I can do it, but would most people care?

I really should remove that message, I personally haven't had any caching issues.
[Android Apps and Games] #sharath:
Please add the app version to the file name of the apk file in your website,so that users can know that they're downloading latest version.

eg: adfree v0.9.7.apk
[Android Apps and Games] delta_foxtrot2:
The version is cryptographically signed inside the binary file. Most users seem to want the app to automatically download and upgrade itself.
[Android Apps and Games] PistolSlap:
I want to suggest something. I I think it's a good idea to keep the program updated, and there is a menu option about auto updating, but still everyday I get a push notification asking me if I want to download the update. I think there should be an option that says, yes, I always want new updates so that it can stop pushing me about it.
[Android Apps and Games] KaHOnas:
Isn't there already? I thought that's what the "automatically apply updates" block was for.
[Android Apps and Games] nehuy:
Is this program just for web-browsing adfree or it removes the apps ads also?
[Android Apps and Games] DJ_SpaRky:
All ads, it blocks network access to the specified addresses (hostnames).

Sent from Omicron Persei 8 via Planet Express.
[Android Apps and Games] PistolSlap:
the auto update seems to be for the host file but I get frequent pushes for version updates. also, this doesn't work on Google Ads on some games.
[Android Apps and Games] Yahia700:
Root is necessary in this app or not ?
[Android Apps and Games] Cookie Ninja:
YES it is!

Dead Cookies leave no trails...
[Android Apps and Games] delta_foxtrot2:
What version of the app are you running?

This is what tcpdump is for, so you can find out ad hostnames not blocked...
[Android Apps and Games] andyxoxo:
Hi, I am new to AdFree (installed 0.9.7 just this morning). I noticed right away a problem when AdFree is activated using the Chrome browser and going to ww.si.com (sportsillustrated website).

Now the si.com top left menu button (looks like three stripes on top of each other) doesn't work 75% of the time and when the menu does open and I select a sports category (such as MLB) the MLB button just turns red and doesn't navigate to the MLB webpage. Also the "Load More" button doesn't work when reading the site.

When I click AdFree "revert to original settings", then the si.com menu button (and the rest of the site) works as it is supposed to.So obvious troubleshooting leads me to believe that AdFree is at fault.

How can I fix this? I would like to continue to use AdFree for other purposes. Is there a way to filter AdFree to not filter Chrome Browser and/or certain websites?

Thanks,,,,

Oh and before I forget: I noticed an AdFree Settings problem: When I click "View TCP Host names" and "View Blocked Host Names" all I get are blank white screens (and yes I created an account and logged in on my phone...)
[Android Apps and Games] delta_foxtrot2:
The short answer is to enable local webserver so it will log blocked hostnames, then you view the blocked screen and you can whitelist the hostname.

You need to enable tcpdump/local webserver other wise nothing is logged and nothing shows up.
[Android Apps and Games] andyxoxo:
Hmmm, I went ahead and uninstalled AdFree and tried AdAway instead. AdAway works with the si.com website and chrome browser right out the box (with no extra settings changes on my part) so don't know what the prob is with AdFree....
[Android Apps and Games] robertph72:
Going to try Adaway as well. AdFree used to work flawlessly without any tinkering. Cannot get it to work for a while now. I've had enough.
[Android Apps and Games] bikas:
Can I whitelist website?
[Android Apps and Games] KaHOnas:
I've been doing that for some time now. And, while I no longer get a blank white screen, now I'm getting a text box saying "calculating..." that goes nowhere. I've given it until my screen turned off (a minute plus) and it produced no results. I've got "Webserver" and "TCP dump" both checked.
[Android Apps and Games] delta_foxtrot2:
For that to display, you have a very large log file and/or slow flash memory or both. My phone renders the log file much faster than my older tablet.
[Android Apps and Games] delta_foxtrot2:
What website?
[Android Apps and Games] :
/data/data/hosts symlink should not be offered in Android 4.3 and above. I finally figured out why my ad blocking wasn't working. It was due to selinux denials on the hosts file
[Android Apps and Games] viniciusrsouza:
Searched, but didn't find the answer for this...

YouTube app ads are also blocked? I mean those videos that we need to watch at least five seconds before the video we in fact want to watch.
[Android Apps and Games] LoSt180:
Yes, I've been using this app for a few years now and didn't even realize YouTube had video ads until I got a new phone.
[Android Apps and Games] dys4ea:
i too am having problems with adfree and the soundcloud app. i noticed that every 3 out of 4 songs would not play at all on soundcloud. i disabled ad free and now it works just fine. is there a way to figure out which range/ip adfree is attempting to block?
[Android Apps and Games] delta_foxtrot2:
Turn on local webserver, run the app you're having issues with, then open/refresh the block list
[Android Apps and Games] kotey:
They *are* two different things. Most people, I don't know but I care.

New hosts if I have issue, I can fix it myself. New app version, if I have issue, I have to wait for the dev to fix it.

So yeah, I'd like the two to be separated.

Just some years ago Norton Antivirus treated pklited (compressed binary) and pkzipped (compressed archive file) as the same thing: compressed file. Its not.

---------- Post added at 07:07 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:00 PM ----------

I don't think its a good idea. People should have choice, droids are not iSheeps whose decisions are made for them.

---------- Post added at 07:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:07 PM ----------

Ryan is right. I did exactly that way for some other people devices.

Actually, in theory you also can:

Scenario A:

Root -> Install AdFree. Update hosts. Uninstall AdFree -> Unroot

You can have adblocked hosts but cannot update.

Scenario B:

Root -> Install AdFree. Update hosts. Do some fixes (*) -> Unroot

You still have AdFree and the hosts is updateable.

Scenario C:

Almost same as Scenario B, but instead of unroot, just revoke/deny AdFree SU privilege. Or disable SU, which is needed sometimes for some people.

* Here's the fix:

- You must use /data/data/hosts symlink. So use that option inside AdFree.

- Change uid/gid of hosts file to belong to AdFree, and give world read permission.

su
cd /data/data/
ls -l com.bigtincan.android.adfree <-- take note of the uid/gid here
chown <uid>.<gid> hosts <-- change to your applicable numbers here
chmod 644 hosts

Where in my case AdFree is ua_045 (user app 045) = 10405

So I would: chown 10405.10405 hosts

The catch is, if you uninstall/reinstall AdFree the uid/gid might change so you will need root again. Installing in-place update is fine though.

BUT

As I say, "in theory". During tests, it doesn't work because of the way AdFree works. Tested versions 0.8.68 and 0.9.7. AdFree would try to mount partition (/system to rw?) and it will fail to do so and aborting the update operation.

SO

Here are some suggestions for the future:

- Maybe change the way AdFree works, or make it an option to use the "unrooted method". i.e. just check if hosts file is writeable, don't try to mount anything.

- If so, AdFree should have build-in this "fix" function to make it easier on the user (settings the uid/permissions)

The benefit, as asked by the user, is he can use/update AdFree while maintaining his device unrooted. In case of warranty, all he need to do is factory reset and poof.

---------- Post added at 07:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:18 PM ----------

BTW, during testing back and forth between v0.8 and 0.9 today, I downgraded my hosts to an old, January 2014 (8066) touched the timestamp to that date, but AdFree always saying that my hosts is latest. I noticed that no outgoing/incoming connection actually occured. Actually it happened some other times too and I wonder why. Is that intentional, to reduce server load or is it a bug? If I clear data, then it will update.
[Android Apps and Games] 2545:
I like it the way it is :). Keep it simple but effective! Good job DEV!

Also, my understanding is that ad block via host file is the absolute BEST method. However, since host file is a system file, you will need to be rooted. Non-root users already have other options and apps that are avail to them. No need to screw around with this particular app to accomodate non-rooted user as they are not the intended users here.
[Android Apps and Games] zaxharu:
Hi Dev. Ive been testing this app for a week now and it looks like it blocks some apps from connecting to internet. Before i installed this add blocker, Tapatalk is working fine. But now, it wont load. Can someone confirm if youve encountered same problem?
[Android Apps and Games] Gareee:
A few questions... Not sure blocking is working properly here.

I don't see any setup instructions anywhere, so I'm shooting in the dark.

I install, authenticate, turn on auto updates and apply updates, and then download/apply hosts. (and see the update Confirm)

Is symlink always turn on on by default? Someone mentioned in not working in the latest Android updates. It auto checkmarks the symlink option, but create symlink if needed won't stay checkmarked.

I'm not seeing anything in the tcp or blocked lists at all... Just white screens. I installing and reinstalling changed nothing at all. Should I actually be seeing addresses listed?

(nexus 7 2013 with the latest stable cm11)
[Android Apps and Games] kotey:
As I said in my post, it's a suggestion. If we can help some more people, why don't we?

And, as in "like the way it is" I disagree in term of size. Bundling lighthttpd make this nice app bloated. It's almost useless except for some obscure site/app/people but it has a huge impact: raw size multiplied by 50x and apk size by 3x.

Now which one is the lesser devil?
[Android Apps and Games] LoSt180:
It's a problem with the block list this app subscribes to for the hosts file, the tapatalk domains got added to the list (outside of developers control). You can scroll back a few pages, or check this post for the domains you'll need to whitelist for Tapatalk to work properly: http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=53594011&postcount=574

Nothing wrong with suggestions. lighthttpd was added to this app because someone made the suggestion recently asking to be able to see what hosts were being blocked. Idea is to make it easier to whitelist domains when apps don't seem to work correctly (see post about about Tapatalk as an example).
[Android Apps and Games] DT USC:
i am the same problem as Gareee. I've used ad free for years on multiple different phones and never had any problems. One of top 5 apps. However, the last week or so I started seeing ad's popping up everywhere. I've uninstalled/reinstalled, checked everything on/off, but nothing is working. blocked list and tcp host names are both completely blank. any suggestions? I haven't intentionally changed anything with the app or on the phone since the problem started. TIA.
[Android Apps and Games] kotey:
Did you by any chance updated some app? If you're using Play Store auto-update function, then that's to blame. Because sometimes app devs are putting additional ad networks when updating their apps. For example an app might used to have only AdMob but now it also have RevMob for example. That's why sometimes ads started to pop up while it never did that before. Use some additional ad detector or disabler in addition to AdFree. I do ;)
[Android Apps and Games] kotey:
That's what I meant with "obscure". Apparently there are 10,000,000 websites on the Internet and we all need to have an app for each of them. Oh wait maybe more than one app. All these funny apps are what causing headaches because they're proprietary, not any Internet protocol nor the hosts file maintainers nor ad blockers (active or passive). I think people who opt to use obscure/funny/proprietary apps should resolve their problems on their own, or simply stop using such things :p

Ok let me explain a bit. The hosts maintainers compiled a list of known ad network ip addresses or domains. Somehow along the way some funny guy are using the same servers for login purposes. Isn't that funny? Not counting on protocol abuse such Google themselves are using SSL for streaming videos for God's sake. They're not banks! I think Twitter started the whole fiasco but seems like people like that malpractice because school/office usually didn't or won't block HTTPS ports/protocol. Oh how I hate that.

In short, I'm saying that I would care less about those trash apps, or their users for that matter. So should who value themselves and their time. Life is short. Don't waste your time taking care of other people stupid apps. Let them drown, good riddance.

I'm using Firefox / Chrome and can login to XDA while using AdFree. If you use *insert some stupid sounding app name here* and cannot login then it's not XDA or AdFree fault, it's that stupid app you use. Simple as that. I rest my case.
[Android Apps and Games] :
Symlink definitely causes selinux denials on cm 11. Unchecking the symlink didn't work either. I had to clear data on adfree, go into /data/data and manually delete the hosts file and then go to /etc/hosts and manually delete the symlink. Then next time I ran the program I made sure to turn off the symlink before running the update.

Just be aware your hosts file will disappear every time you flash a nightly until it updates again.

Edit: Adfree isn't experiencing the denials. It runs with superuser and works as its supposed to. Netd is experiencing the denials when it tries to read the hosts file in /data so it's as if you had no hosts file and nothing gets blocked.
[Android Apps and Games] Gareee:
I cleared data, but saw no data or host files at all you described. I restarted it, turned symlink off, and hen did the update, and now I do see the block host list in the app, so it sounds like its working properly now. Thanks for the advise!