Blokada VPN - Ad Blocker for Android (Free, Open Source, No Root)

Ink

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Homepage: Blokada - the best ad blocker for Android, free and open source
Github: GitHub - blokadaorg/blokada
Blog: The Block - All about ad blockers and ad blocking. · The Block

Blokada is a free, open source, compact, fast ad blocker for Android that works for all apps and does not require root.

Before using Blokada, please install and update via the F-Droid client which can be found at F-Droid - Free and Open Source Android App Repository
F-Droid is a robot with a passion for Free and Open Source (FOSS) software on the Android platform. On this site you’ll find a repository of FOSS apps, along with an Android client to perform installations and updates, and news, reviews and other features covering all things Android and software-freedom related.
 

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Latest Update - Blokada v3.6 for Android - 11th October 2018

This is a maintenance release with a rewrite of tunnel code for robustness and stability.
  • Improve general tunnel stability
  • Rewrite of tunnel code for more predictable behaviour
  • Improve reliability of the new filters handling code from v3.5
  • Decrease data usage by downloading only lists which have too old cache
  • Add new Advanced Settings screen
  • Add a setting to prevent the system to stop Blokada when power saving
  • Add a setting for "only on wifi" for list updates
  • The "Online Only" setting is now called "Watchdog" and is off by default
  • Ask for storage permissions when exporting settings to external storage
  • Update translations
Changelog: Changelog: Blokada

Planned Roadmap: blokadaorg/blokada
 
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Ink

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Recently added Blokada back to Android Marshmallow and plan on installing it on Oreo. It's a great addition that I can now activate Quad9 DNS in the app, with many more options for those who prefer CloudFlare 1.1.1.1, Adguard DNS, Norton ConnectSafe, OpenDNS, Yandex and more.

With Smart TV support listed in the timeline (become a Blokada Insider), I can guarantee it'll be on more Android devices in the future.

There is a whitelist, but can be disabled if you want Zero Ads, Trackers and Miners.
 

HarborFront

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HarborFront

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Blokada is blocking reddit

When I have Blokada disabled I can access reddit. When I enabled Blokada it said "This site can't be reached"

When I disabled ALL the hosts (default + custom) Blokada still blocks reddit with the same above message

I'm not using any DNS with content filtering

Anyone has this issue?
 

Gandalf_The_Grey

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Blokada is blocking reddit

When I have Blokada disabled I can access reddit. When I enabled Blokada it said "This site can't be reached"

When I disabled ALL the hosts (default + custom) Blokada still blocks reddit with the same above message

I'm not using any DNS with content filtering

Anyone has this issue?
No problem here with Blokada 3.4 at default settings + Quad9 for DNS.
 
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9724anon7537

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Blokada has been updated to v3.4 now

BTW, found some good hosts for Blokada at the below sites

r-a-y/mobile-hosts

Prebake: Block EU Cookie Notices with Adblock

Anyone can contribute other good hosts to Blokada?

Prebake is no longer maintained

use instead

Fanboy's Cookie Monster
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ryanbr/fanboy-adblock/master/fanboy-cookiemonster.txt

I Don't Care About Cookies
https://www.i-dont-care-about-cookies.eu/abp/

or the

Custom-Prebake, which is based on prebake but it's maintained.
Atlas / Custom-Prebake · GitLab
 
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HarborFront

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Prebake is no longer maintained

use instead

Fanboy's Cookie Monster
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ryanbr/fanboy-adblock/master/fanboy-cookiemonster.txt

I Don't Care About Cookies
https://www.i-dont-care-about-cookies.eu/abp/

or the

Custom-Prebake, which is based on prebake but it's maintained.
Atlas / Custom-Prebake · GitLab
Except for I Don't Care About Cookies the others are not host files so cannot be added to Blokada

One thing I don't understand. On my handphone the 'I Don't Care About Cookies' shows only 22 hosts whereas on the PC it shows countless
 
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HarborFront

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Just tried the v3.6 but it still cannot remove the annoying cookie message on websites. Still no HTTPS scanning feature like in Adguard

One good thing is it added 7 more hosts to the blacklist
 
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amico81

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dont work anymore on my LG G7 with the new security patch from google. the same issue with dns66 and adguard dns.
Google/ Chrome wanna kill all adblocker....because no ads no money
 

Ink

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dont work anymore on my LG G7 with the new security patch from google. the same issue with dns66 and adguard dns.
I don't use Adguard or DNS66, but I reinstalled Blokada 3.6 and it is working on Android Pie with October 2018 patch. No Ads appear in Chrome.

Clear Data, Uninstall and reinstall the latest version.
 

amico81

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That sounds good. But blokada had some battery drains with the last versions. At the moment i'm using DNS Changer with KeWeOn-DNS. Super fast blocking and simple configuraton
 
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HarborFront

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One thing I like in Blokada is that it shows what's being blocked when connected to the net even when not surfing especially google analytics. I'm not seeing this in Adguard. I'm using Android 9(Pie) and after setting DNS-OVER-TLS in the phone and with no DNS setting in Blokada my ISP's DNS shows up when checked at whatsmydnsserver.com.com and ipleak.net. End up I need to select a DNS in Blokada. This doesn't happen with Adguard. It's reported with Blokada users on Android Pie.

Blokada allows you to add filters but it doesn't show the filter counts like in uBO. That's bad because adding filters is one thing but whether the filters are properly added is another. If memory serves me right the last version does show the filter counts. I remembered adding some filters but the counts were wrong like either zero or a handful of them.

As for blocking in-video and in-app ads it's as good as Adguard.
 
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HarborFront

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The direction of Blokada

It’s been a while since the last time I made a post, and that’s because I’ve been really busy putting a lot of things together, which I hope you’ll find as exciting as I do. Also, we should have a look at the results of the most recent survey. So, let’s get to it!

The first question was: What kind of Blokada would you like to see in the future?. You could choose at most two answers or give your own. I’ll analyze the custom answers later, but among the predefined ones, this is how it looks:

1549765717793.png


Over 90% responders want more features, which is comforting… ;). I’m happy to see that the top 3 features I want Blokada to focus on in the future, consist for almost 80% of the answers. The interest in a VPN is also high at 17%. Also, over 10% of respondents want better smart TV focus, which is great since I’m already working on it (more below).

Since we’re getting to the point where further development of the project requires stable way of supporting it, I also asked you another question, which was: How should Blokada support the development?

1549765749312.png


Again, I’m happy about those results. The majority of you proposes the freemium model, which I believe is the best way to keep the core Blokada app open source and 100% free, while offering an advanced version with cool features for a small fee to support the development. Another idea you liked is fundraising on kickstarter, which is something I will most likely do to help kick-off the VPN feature (more on it soon). Another interesting conclusion from this survey is that many of you are for the idea of Blokada merchandise, which is something I will keep in mind for the future.

Overall, this survey’s results are encouraging for how I see the future of Blokada, so I’m very happy. Thank you for almost 4000 votes!

The new stuff

First of all, I’ve been working on the new User Interface of the app, which is going to fix many problems you’ve been reporting, and allow us to be future-proof in terms of adding new functionality. The main goal of the new UI is to support a great variety of devices, from small-screen smartphones, through tablets, to smart TVs. The new UI is designed to work well in any orientation and on any screen size, and you’ll be able to access all the functionality conveniently by using a TV remote. And, it’ll come with the long-awaited feature of ad blocking log included!

Another goal of the new UI is to make the app more intuitive by exposing the most commonly used features. This is based on your feedback and the questions you are asking on our social media. I believe you’ll find the app much more convenient to use!

Also, the new UI is designed to be hackable - contributors will be able to easily play with it and try out their ideas, which I hope is going to generate more contributions, and let the community have some fun! Finally, based on the early preview feedback, it looks aesthetically pleasing and fresh, so I hope it’ll make you feel good using it. Especially since you’ll be spending much more time in the app with all the new features that are going to land soon! ;)

Speaking of new features, there’s a big one coming. I’m happy to say that a good friend of mine, who’s an expert in network, backend, and cloud, has agreed to join me in our quest to make the Blokada VPN happen, and we both are super excited about it! We have already started research and design of the new feature, and since it’s quite a challenge, we want to do it right. You may have seen the new survey in the app, that is designed to help us understand your VPN needs. Please take a minute to answer it - much appreciated!

The VPN rollout will take a few stages, with location-limited invite-only beta as the first step, to make sure we can monitor how our system handles the load, and fix any problems. then we’ll expand our service gradually to more and more users. Of course, the Blokada community will have the early access, with Donors and Insiders having priority. And yes, we’re preparing some cool freebie thank-you offer for all who donated or helped the project, since without your participation none of this would be possible!

Stay tuned for details about the new UI and about the Blokada VPN, which will come in future posts. Cheers!

PS, did you know you can join Blokada Insiders and help run the project? For example, you can be managing the voting like this one. It’s totally free and doesn’t take much time. You are welcome to join us!

Read more at

The Block - All about ad blockers and ad blocking. · The Block
 

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