• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

Blocking ads on phone without root (mainly youtube)?

Seriously, does that work??
Yup. Try it. Works on Android and Windows too.

It just ocurred to me that Android is basically linux, and it prolly has etc/hosts file. If you were to inject some addresses into it, I'm sure it could be efficient at blocking youtube ads. Don't overdo it though, because it may very well slow down your phone. App for doing this at desktop PC's that I know of is called Hostsman.
Yup, there are apps for that. They require root though.
 
Low quality post by Borna Horvat
Low quality post by lexluthermiester
This is wrong beyond words Epic FAIL.jpg

How much win are you sensing now?
 
Low quality post by Borna Horvat
Low quality post by lexluthermiester
Low quality post by Borna Horvat
pretty sure there was a you tube apk without adds, you dont need a root to install one of those but i dunno if its still available, and im not about to link any apk because who knows what it may be now even if it used to be a useful app.

"not really selling this download a random apk from a random web page thing am i?"
 
I use an app called "SkyTube Extra", no ads and you can download any videos you want directly, you can keep your subscription list without even logging in, you can keep it playing in the background even with the screen locked and some other features. I have tried it and never touched the official app ever again.
 
Youtube Vanced is a adfree youtube APK that I use, works well enough for me
 
Seriously, does that work??
Yup. Been doing it for years. When you click a video you want to watch, it will usually start with some stupid car insurance add or other nonsense you have no interest in. Just hit the page refresh button and it'll go right to the video you wanted to watch but you have to tap the player because it often starts muted.

I'm guessing YouTubes algorithm can't differentiate between whether you have or haven't watched the entire ad, all it knows is that it loaded it ,and it began to play it ,and since you allowed it to load ,and start (for even a half a second) it counts as watched ,at least as far as they're concerned. All I know is it works every time 100%

oddly enough, after doing this for a long time (years) its seems almost hard to find a YT video with an ad....i just browsed YT for a minute, clicking random "trending" videos for 5 or 6 different uploads, and i didnt even run into a Ad. its like the site gives up on trying to advertise to me. im sure its just coincedence, but its funny.
 
Last edited:
PiHole installed on a Raspberry Pi located in the network and set as DNS server for the network.
 
Just switch your browser to Opera Mini or Touch they come with a built in Ad blocker works well for me on YT never see any ads in videos nor on the site itself aswell
 
Both Opera and Opera Mini have built-in add blockers. You'll also need to configure your smartphone properly. There are other browsers which can block adds, some better, some worse. Examples are UC browser, Brave browser, Startpage browser etc. Select any of them as your primary browser, deny privileges to Chrome and you are more or less done.
 
Vanilla Opera browser not the mini one. I think the ad blocker is on be default.

Seriously, does that work??

Yes it works on desktops also
 
Back
Top