Database Users

Is there an adblocking app that does actually work good?

Tried AdBlock Plus a couple of times but it just doesn't block that many ads, if any at all.
Can someone recommend one that does block ads and is easy to set up?
Thanks!

Sensamic said:
Tried AdBlock Plus a couple of times but it just doesn't block that many ads, if any at all.
Can someone recommend one that does block ads and is easy to set up?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have tried AdAway with pretty awesome results, blocking even ads within apps. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2190753 but you must be rooted to install it

+1 for Adaway

abeledesma said:
I have tried AdAway with pretty awesome results, blocking even ads within apps. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2190753 but you must be rooted to install it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not rooted Not planning on doing it for some time at least.
Any other solutions?

Sensamic said:
I'm not rooted Not planning on doing it for some time at least.
Any other solutions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope

Adblock without root?

S8 is the first phone im considering not rooting since i didnt see much use for it on my S6 except for the adblock app. Is there one that works well without root? One that will work in chrome and youtube?
Edit: Is ad block possible without a vpn app?

Try to use AdGuard - https://adguard.com/en/welcome.html
I use this app on my S7 without root and it's working very well.

That's a windows page, is there a link to an Android apk?

pRo_lama said:
Try to use AdGuard - https://adguard.com/en/welcome.html
I use this app on my S7 without root and it's working very well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Adguard is a vpn. I was wondering if there is a ad block without root that's not a vpn service. It could affect speed and battery life.

Someone mentioned "Disconnect Pro" on another thread. Apparently it has exclusive access to knox and therefore doesn't require vpn or anything...

techguyone said:
That's a windows page, is there a link to an Android apk?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
https://adguard.com/en/adguard-android/install.html#howToInstall

Termynat0r said:
Someone mentioned "Disconnect Pro" on another thread. Appearently it has exclusive access to knox and therefore doesn't require vpn or anything...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks but at $33 it's too expensive. There's another app call adhell that's open sourced and free. Used the same Knox method. Just installed it and seems to be working.

neotekz said:
Thanks but at $33 it's too expensive. There's another app call adhell that's open sourced and free. Used the same Knox method. Just installed it and seems to be working.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's good to know, thanks for the research

Try DNS66 you can get it on F-Droid. https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdfilter=dns66&fdid=org.jak_linux.dns66

Adhell is very good and free!
Trimis de pe al meu P41_eMagic folosind Tapatalk

I use AdBlock. Google it. It works great on my S7 and my tablet. It uses a vpn but does not compromise speed or battery life.
Sent from my wickedly kewl iPhone 7 Plus using my fingers. Duh!!!

Pi-Hole
If you surf the web primarily at home, something many might not have considered is PiHole. Buy a Raspberry Pi, slap PiHole on it (takes about 1 minute to setup) and set your Wifi Router's DNS to be the Raspberry PI and BAM! You've now blocked all ads for not just your phone, but also your buddy's or anyone else who uses your Wifi network. It really is amazing and I've donated.

Disconnect pro. It was free a while ago in the galaxy app store. Works really well. Not ads in chrome but more important....no vpn icon or notification. Everything runs in the background just like adblock. I tried adhell but it doesnt remove the space from where the ad were. DP does....

truckerdewd said:
I use AdBlock. Google it. It works great on my S7 and my tablet. It uses a vpn but does not compromise speed or battery life.
Sent from my wickedly kewl iPhone 7 Plus using my fingers. Duh!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Doesn't AdBlock only work on WiFi without root?

I just installed adhell on my S7E. So far I am impressed. Will use on the S8+ when I get it on friday. If Disconnect pro is that much better than Adhell, it would be worth the 25 to 30 bucks for me though. The worst part of not having root since my N7 and now S7E is not having full adblock. VPN adblock is just too cumbersome for my tastes. I will look into Disconnect pro also. Adhell is not blocking on youtube (I don't use youtube that much on my phone anyway), but so far everything else it is working.

paranoid2007 said:
Doesn't AdBlock only work on WiFi without root?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope it works on and off wi-fi
Sent from my wickedly kewl iPhone 7 Plus using my fingers. Duh!!!

Adhell from PlayStore ? It doesn't work on my Note 4.

Lodix said:
Adhell from PlayStore ? It doesn't work on my Note 4.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
funny, I just installed it on my note 4. Att note btw. Did you reboot the phone after installing and going through the setup?

mkalbarc said:
funny, I just installed it on my note 4. Att note btw.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does it work for you ? It says knox licence activation failed.

Lodix said:
Adhell from PlayStore ? It doesn't work on my Note 4.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lodix said:
Does it work for you ? It says knox licence activation failed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah it works. It didn't fail. Hmm...

root or not

I just got this device and haven't rooted any phone in a while. Is it worth rooting or no? What really are the advantages? BTW I decided to buy this from BB instead of a V20 from someone off of CL (doohhhh!!!) Lol.

From day to day uses performance and battery is quite good so if you don't care about latest Android version , security patches and heavy customisation you will be fine without root.
Because stock android on G5 plus is super smooth its first phone that I didn't root although I purchased g5plus because of development for Moto is very good but I don't ever feel that I need to root my device because I am quite happy with battery life and performance.
Hope it helps you to decide.

carnivalrejectq said:
I just got this device and haven't rooted any phone in a while. Is it worth rooting or no? What really are the advantages? BTW I decided to buy this from BB instead of a V20 from someone off of CL (doohhhh!!!) Lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I sed to root mainly to install ad block and maybe to try and get extra battery for my old NExus 5x but battery on the G5 Plus is good and I now use dns66 for adblock.

carnivalrejectq said:
I just got this device and haven't rooted any phone in a while. Is it worth rooting or no? What really are the advantages? BTW I decided to buy this from BB instead of a V20 from someone off of CL (doohhhh!!!) Lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For me, the only real reason I root is to that I can install Adaway and remove bloatware.

badtlc said:
For me, the only real reason I root is to that I can install Adaway and remove bloatware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I should've bought the v20. Some guy on CL was gonna sell it for 200. I was just skeptical cuz it wasn't unlocked and idk, have been burned before.

carnivalrejectq said:
I should've bought the v20. Some guy on CL was gonna sell it for 200. I was just skeptical cuz it wasn't unlocked and idk, have been burned before.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You were right to be wary. That is definitely one of those "sounds too good to be true" situations.
Personally I like to root. Ad blockers, mods, debloating, backups, etc are all advantages I like to have.

Even with root adaway mostly remove ad from browsers for that you can have any third party chromium based browser. And if you want to black ads in all apps you can use adguard adclear or DNS they work better then AdAway without xposed even with rooted device you can not do.muchnfor the ads and even if you can do adguard is blbettef
As for the debloting you can remove system users for primery users with ADB you can find tutorial on XDA. You can use greenify without root you just have to grant ADB permission same goes for the app which stop any background service for apps.
You can remove YouTube and install ad free and background playback enabled version of YouTube.
And as for the customisation no offence but all custom ROM have some kind of bugs I try many custom roms on different device but something was always broken in custom ROMs. So in my opinion you cannot reli in custom roms
You can customise navigation bar and increase number of tiles in quick pulldown from 5 to your liking without root.
7.1.1 shortcuts works better then 7.1.1 on nova with sesame.
So basically you can block ads , remove bloat and customise navigation bar and quick setting without root.so until xposed is there I don't see any reason to root. Only think you can think of is security patches.

Anyone feel the need to root anymore?

I've rooted just about every phone I've owned (sans the AT&T Note 5 never again a carrier phone for me after that).
I bought the OnePlus unlocked direct (vs trade in) so I'd have the easy "option" down the road versus playing the SIM unlock and bootloader bin file rodeo.
With that said, I've set up the entire phone and shockingly...I'm happy.
I've got iYTBP without root. I've got legitimate adblocking on a per-app base without root. Most importantly, I've retained L1 Windvine provision for DRM content (e.g. Netflix and YouTube TV) which you lose once the bootloader is unlocked. I enjoyed flashing the 9.0.4 update as an incremdental OTA with no drama. Rooted you have to take the full, then reflash TWRP, then flash Magisk, etc. etc. etc.
All I'm missing is Titanium Backup. Substratum I've enjoyed but can live without. Occasional app updates and you have force closed apps until the theme is either updated or reapplied.
I dunno maybe I'm getting old, but I don't miss the constant tinkering. The 6T is blistering fast, bloat-free, and "works." First phone I'm honestly happy to not root.
Who else feels the same? :good:

I haven't rooted a phone since my Nexus 6. 6P went unrooted, Pixel XL, and Pixel XL2 went unrooted and no bootloader locked.
I don't feel the need to do so on my 6T BUT here are some things that might make me reconsider
Always on Display.
Audio enhancements for BT 5.0 similar to that of the moto x4 where you could connect multiple BT speakers and play to them simultaneously.
USB-C enhancements like video out (highly doubt the hardware is even there to support it)
the key to happiness

Nosferatu. said:
I've rooted just about every phone I've owned (sans the AT&T Note 5 never again a carrier phone for me after that).
I bought the OnePlus unlocked direct (vs trade in) so I'd have the easy "option" down the road versus playing the SIM unlock and bootloader bin file rodeo.
With that said, I've set up the entire phone and shockingly...I'm happy.
I've got iYTBP without root. I've got legitimate adblocking on a per-app base without root. Most importantly, I've retained L1 Windvine provision for DRM content (e.g. Netflix and YouTube TV) which you lose once the bootloader is unlocked. I enjoyed flashing the 9.0.4 update as an incremdental OTA with no drama. Rooted you have to take the full, then reflash TWRP, then flash Magisk, etc. etc. etc.
All I'm missing is Titanium Backup. Substratum I've enjoyed but can live without. Occasional app updates and you have force closed apps until the theme is either updated or reapplied.
I dunno maybe I'm getting old, but I don't miss the constant tinkering. The 6T is blistering fast, bloat-free, and "works." First phone I'm honestly happy to not root.
Who else feels the same? :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can I ask what Adblocker you use? I used AdHell3 on my Galaxy S9 and absolutely loved it, using Blockada now but it doesn't block ads nearly as much as Adhell did.

I've only owned nexus and pixel phones and rooted every single one. Never even had a second thought to root my 6t. I probably would have been happy without root but I'm happier with it.
I love having substratum, adaway and viper4android. I agree it is quite tedious to update but I can live with it for the added benefit of the 3 apps I listed. Haven't even updated to oos 9.0.5 yet.

Does anyone of these roots make it faster and more clean guis?
GeekMcLeod said:
I've only owned nexus and pixel phones and rooted every single one. Never even had a second thought to root my 6t. I probably would have been happy without root but I'm happier with it.
I love having substratum, adaway and viper4android. I agree it is quite tedious to update but I can live with it for the added benefit of the 3 apps I listed. Haven't even updated to oos 9.0.5 yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using Tapatalk

coolguy said:
Does anyone of these roots make it faster and more clean guis?
Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They don't make it any faster, but I don't feel the need for it to be any faster. Looks cleaner, to me, with substratum because everything is dark.

The theme dark mode is already all dark right?
GeekMcLeod said:
They don't make it any faster, but I don't feel the need for it to be any faster. Looks cleaner, to me, with substratum because everything is dark.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

TheKnux said:
Can I ask what Adblocker you use? I used AdHell3 on my Galaxy S9 and absolutely loved it, using Blockada now but it doesn't block ads nearly as much as Adhell did.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use Blockada. I also have NordVPN which can block adds for me as well but that's a paid service. I use it for when travelling. I like that the "key" icon for the VPN running is hidden thanks to the notch. Coming from a 5T where there was no notch I had to have root to remove that icon as it's non-removable from the stock settings control panel.

Only 2 reasons I still root.
Making backups with titanium backups on a schedule (don't want to lose my google authenticator and its billion codes), and adaway.

I rooted just so I could black out my theme. Since Google felt the need to lock down themeing in Pie.

Having root or no root is subjective and depends on what you do. Me personally I have more than 11 apps that needs root, TiB, V4A, AdBlocker kernel management are some that I use. The phone is fast and clean, with root it can be faster and cleaner.

coolguy said:
The theme dark mode is already all dark right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't use it but I doubt it themes as much as substratum does.

Nosferatu. said:
I use Blockada. I also have NordVPN which can block adds for me as well but that's a paid service. I use it for when travelling. I like that the "key" icon for the VPN running is hidden thanks to the notch. Coming from a 5T where there was no notch I had to have root to remove that icon as it's non-removable from the stock settings control panel.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I only see Blockada DNS changer in the play store. Is there another app named Blockada that does AdBlocking? The only reason I root at this point is for AdAway. I'd like to have a solid alternative.

Yea I don't see a huge importance anymore on rooting my phone. I used to root my phones to get rid of bloat and have that pure android experience. OP already gives you that.

Nosferatu. said:
I've rooted just about every phone I've owned (sans the AT&T Note 5 never again a carrier phone for me after that).
I bought the OnePlus unlocked direct (vs trade in) so I'd have the easy "option" down the road versus playing the SIM unlock and bootloader bin file rodeo.
With that said, I've set up the entire phone and shockingly...I'm happy.
I've got iYTBP without root. I've got legitimate adblocking on a per-app base without root. Most importantly, I've retained L1 Windvine provision for DRM content (e.g. Netflix and YouTube TV) which you lose once the bootloader is unlocked. I enjoyed flashing the 9.0.4 update as an incremdental OTA with no drama. Rooted you have to take the full, then reflash TWRP, then flash Magisk, etc. etc. etc.
All I'm missing is Titanium Backup. Substratum I've enjoyed but can live without. Occasional app updates and you have force closed apps until the theme is either updated or reapplied.
I dunno maybe I'm getting old, but I don't miss the constant tinkering. The 6T is blistering fast, bloat-free, and "works." First phone I'm honestly happy to not root.
Who else feels the same? :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I root so I can backup and restore data via Titanium.
Also I want to use a system wide ad blocker.

tk8lm6 said:
I only see Blockada DNS changer in the play store. Is there another app named Blockada that does AdBlocking? The only reason I root at this point is for AdAway. I'd like to have a solid alternative.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have to get it through their website :good:
https://blokada.org/index.html

tk8lm6 said:
I only see Blockada DNS changer in the play store. Is there another app named Blockada that does AdBlocking? The only reason I root at this point is for AdAway. I'd like to have a solid alternative.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
https://energized.pro/
https://forum.xda-developers.com/an...energized-protection-ad-porn-malware-t3803773
The energized site is down for the next day or so but look up Energized on XDA. You can get Blokada on F-Droid. You're not going to find it in the Play Store. I found Blokada worked better than the DNSFilter app in said thread. System-wide ad blocking with either that or my paid VPN = no need to root for me.
The neat thing about Blokada vs the version of Adaway I used when on root is that I can whitelist particular apps that require a stock host file. Titanium Backup is nice and missed but I rarely used it. Plus if there's issues I prefer a clean install rather than injecting data. I prefer TWRP's backups over Titanium but that's a different topic of discussion.

To install Stereo Speaker mod..

Thanks. I guess I didn't realize that if you want to use this or Adguard DNS based as blocking, you can't easily use your third party VPN app (in my case ProtonVPN)
I guess I need to do some more homework.

I recieved my OP6t today and the first thing i did was unlock the BL and root it. After that i thought why. And the only thing worth rooting and losing L1 Widevine is AdAway.
5 min later, i flashed stock recovery and locked the bootloader so i can watch Netflix in HD ?
I only used Magisk and TWRP on my 5t for
- Stereo Speaker Mod (6t Speaker are awesome without Mod)
- AdAway (Just use a VPN service if you want or just use an ad block browser if the websites you use bombs you with ads, in app ads are more or less ok for me)
- Nandroid Backups (What should happen if you have everything stock ?)
- Youtube Vanced (just use the non-root Version with the right MicroG Apk)
- Viper4Android (i didn't used it anyway)
So, now full stock, always up to date without reflashing Magisk and so on. ?

To root or not to root

Hi All
I will be receiving my OnePlus 6T (in thunder purple) this week and wanted to know if there is any benefit to rooting anymore, having read posts about widevine L1-L3 etc
I'd like to install the notification mod, speaker mod and the google camera app, (or anything else that is recommended) however i'm not sure if i can do these without root
I like to tinker with my phones and im pretty clued up with this sort of thing, ive just been out of the scene for a couple of years!
Looking forward to peoples views and comments.
Thanks all

I root just for the speaker mod alone. :good:
GCam doesn't require root.

tengtengvn said:
I root just for the speaker mod alone. :good:
GCam doesn't require root.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, how big is the widevine issue once unlocked and rooted?

I use to root, but haven't in the last 3-4 years. The Huawei Mate phones I've used, really didn't need it. Pretty clean, and nothing I really needed to root anyway. Plus, unless you tweak them, I wouldn't be able to use Google pay.

Well, I was happy without root since the Note 5 but since Google is eager to slowly kill off various important apps that used to work without root on Oreo then I was forced to root this 6T since it's running on Pie. I think it's worth it now. I have call recording natively baked into the phone app, I can use Swift once more and I forgot how useful Titanium Backup is. I'm getting ready to try the speaker mod, as well.

Speaker mod seems useless. I root for adblocking without VPN (AdAway), root firewall (AFWall), and themes (Substratum).

I was a crack-flasher from way back and I don't find the need to unlock/root. I'd like Adaway but DNS66 pulls some of it's host files from Adaway.

I stopped rooting about a year or 2 ago with the note 4 and had no plans on it for the 6t but viper4android works perfectly so I rooted just for that. I have adguard for adblocker. As time goes on I might add some modules from magisk but as for now it's great. Titanium back up is always super useful as well.
MarylandCookie said:
Hi All
I will be receiving my OnePlus 6T (in thunder purple) this week and wanted to know if there is any benefit to rooting anymore, having read posts about widevine L1-L3 etc
I'd like to install the notification mod, speaker mod and the google camera app, (or anything else that is recommended) however i'm not sure if i can do these without root
I like to tinker with my phones and im pretty clued up with this sort of thing, ive just been out of the scene for a couple of years!
Looking forward to peoples views and comments.
Thanks all
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Thanks guys,
Some mixed feelings there. I’m guessing the speaker mod is not worth the hassle and the ad blocking can be achieved without root (looking at you blokada)
Not read up much on sunstratum, that’ll be my next to do...
Hmmm... decisions, decisions as I don’t want to decide to root 6 months down the line and find out I have to format my device (unlock bootloader)

MarylandCookie said:
Thanks guys,
Some mixed feelings there. I’m guessing the speaker mod is not worth the hassle and the ad blocking can be achieved without root (looking at you blokada)
Not read up much on sunstratum, that’ll be my next to do...
Hmmm... decisions, decisions as I don’t want to decide to root 6 months down the line and find out I have to format my device (unlock bootloader)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I personally love my 6t being rooted... I use adaway with Magisk v 18 which now has a Systemless host support in its (magisk)settings for ad blocking.. Substratum engine also works in magisk v 18 mod section. Swift black substratum theme works flawlessly.
Ex Kernel manager is great too.
I'm running ElementalX kernel 3.0.9. which is very smooth.
I updated to OOS 9.0.7. using TWRP fajita 3.2.3-8.
I have the stereo speaker mod also. It's not that impressive, but ok.
Well that's my 2 cents. personally I love this phone so much more now that it's rooted..
Hope this helps your decision.

So is the Widevine such a big issue with root?

MarylandCookie said:
So is the Widevine such a big issue with root?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you watch netflix or something else that is using Widevine then yes! this is a big issue. You can always experiment with root and check it yourself. If you will not be happy with root you can always unroot + lock bootloader so all will return to normal.

meciu99 said:
If you watch netflix or something else that is using Widevine then yes! this is a big issue. You can always experiment with root and check it yourself. If you will not be happy with root you can always unroot + lock bootloader so all will return to normal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Will I still be able to use my banking app? Also is there a site that lists what is reliant on widevine?

MarylandCookie said:
Thanks guys,
Some mixed feelings there. I’m guessing the speaker mod is not worth the hassle and the ad blocking can be achieved without root (looking at you blokada)
Not read up much on sunstratum, that’ll be my next to do...
Hmmm... decisions, decisions as I don’t want to decide to root 6 months down the line and find out I have to format my device (unlock bootloader)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not a hassle at all. So easy on this phone.
Speaker mod is great. I love it.

MarylandCookie said:
Thanks guys,
Some mixed feelings there. I’m guessing the speaker mod is not worth the hassle and the ad blocking can be achieved without root (looking at you blokada)
Not read up much on sunstratum, that’ll be my next to do...
Hmmm... decisions, decisions as I don’t want to decide to root 6 months down the line and find out I have to format my device (unlock bootloader)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unlock the BL and install Magisk.
No real hassle. You can take update locally and reroot.
The very first thing out of the box for my device was unlock the BL and root.

MarylandCookie said:
So is the Widevine such a big issue with root?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Widevine is not directly related to root but with unlocked bootloader.
No issue with magisk and banking apps except a few that I don't remember of. Google pay works well

sounds like someone reading my threads...there's nothing here that wasn't mentioned in countless other threads. Weigh the pros and cons and make a decision...first time I've gone rootless in years.

OK.. got my handset.. its a beauty
1st thing i have done is Unlocked the bootloader.. so simple!
Will install magisk over the weekend and set phone up properly then. Have other family priorites that have come up to deal with at the moment.
Thanks all. Need to start reading, dont want to flash wrong recovery.

MarylandCookie said:
the ad blocking can be achieved without root (looking at you blokada)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For apps like Blokada, it's always running in the background and uses a VPN. If you use an actual VPN, this means you can't use Blokada while your VPN is running. AdAway just edits the host file. No app running in background, no VPN.

MarylandCookie said:
Will I still be able to use my banking app? Also is there a site that lists what is reliant on widevine?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm rooted and use BB&T banking app and Google pay +PayPal..