[Android General] Portgas D. Ace:
Introduction

Welcome to the thread which is dedicated to the numerous ways of how to block advertisements on your Android device. This guide will show you different ways how users can enjoy an ad-free Android experience, both for unrooted as well as rooted users. In general, this thread will give you an overview about apps, whose purpose is to block ads within apps and even web browsers.

Searching for keywords like "ad blocking" on XDA will result in many different threads with numerous aspects. But I found the lack of a centralized collection quite annoying, so I decided to start this thread to provide users with the latest possibilities to effectively block advertisements on their Android device. There is no way I am going to say that this is the "Ultimative Ad-Blocking Thread", as this is (and maybe always will be) rather an evolving than a finished topic. As each user has its own personal preferences, this is not a mandatory setup, but a guide for users which are new to the subject as well as for users, that have experience but nevertheless want to learn about other possibilities.

Basics

So let's start with some basics. There are different ways how to block ads. The most popular one is the use of so-called hosts files. Basically, this is a local file, containing a list of web addresses, which can’t be connected to from your device, so that all content (for example ads, banners, 3rd party Cookies, 3rd party page counters, web bugs and even most hijackers) from those addresses will be blocked. This way no advertisement content originating from those addresses will be shown. For more information about host files, visit Blocking unwanted connections with a hosts file.

Important: if you use a browser with data compression feature (like Chrome or Opera for example), you have to turn off this feature within the browser, otherwise the ad-blocking by using the host file will not be reliable any more. This issue arises from the fact that all data traffic is redirected over a compression server, which will result in the fact that all data – content and ads – are coming from those servers instead of the original ones, whose names are included in the host files.

So much text! Where are the apps?

Here they are. I have set up four categories for you:

Root required (check post #2) – apps that require a rooted device

No root required (check post #3) – apps that don’t require a rooted device

private DNS (check post #4) – utilizing Androids private DNS function

Browsers with ad-blocking methods (check post #5) – ad-blocking web browsers

Please note:

I have just started to fill this thread with information. If you are interested, but not satisfied with the provided information, please consider re-visiting this thread after some days and check the change log.

Disclaimer:

I am not responsible for bricked/broken devices due to modifications you decided to apply on your device. Furthermore, none of the linked apps in this thread are my own work, so I am not able to include more features or fix bugs. If you feel the need to ask for features, please visit the corresponding app’s thread or web page.

Credits:

delta_foxtrot2 - for AdFree

mrRobinson/PerfectSlayer - for AdAway

Team AdGuard - for AdGuard

M66B - for NetGuard

BSDgeek_Jake - for MoaAB - Mother of all Ad-Blocking

Mozilla - for Firefox Browser

arnaud42 - for Kiwi Browser