[APP][ROOT/NONROOT][OFFICIAL] AdAway v6.1.1

Google Play Store notice

According the Google Play Developer Policy, especially the "Device and Network Abuse" section, ad blocker like AdAway violates the "Apps that block or interfere with another app displaying ads." rule and can't be distributed on distributed on the Play Store.
As Free and Open Source Software, AdAway is available from F-Droid Store or this XDA thread :good:


Requirements

This application requires Android 8 or above and does no more require root.

For older Android versions, a rooted device is required.


Changelog

If you don't want to read each announce post of this thread, you can:

• Get a summary of all changes in the project CHANGELOG.md,
• Check any further details though the source code commits.

Downloads

Stable versions are available on GitHub releases and F-Droid Store:

• AdAway 6.1.1 - Latest stable version - check v6 announcement
• AdAway 4.3.6 - for Android versions older than Android 8
• AdAway 3.3 - for Android versions older than Android 4.1 Jelly Bean

Beta versions are available on GitHub releases only: AdAway 6.0.2b

The app provides an in-app updater for both GitHub and F-Droid builds.
Keep in mind beta channel is limited to GitHub builds, and F-Droid releases usually have a several days latency.


Problem? Read this

* If you use Chrome and still see ads on web pages, remember to disable the "data saver" or "reduced data usage" browser option.
* Check your APN settings for any proxy, the proxy itself could be allowing ads. Disable the proxy.
* After you install or make any change to AdAway, you must reboot for those changes to take effect.
* If you are still having issues please read and understand all the info in the wiki before asking for help here.

Otherwise, this is the right thread to discuss about it or file a bug report here.


Contributors

PerfectSlayer, Vankog, jawz101
Source Code: https://github.com/AdAway/AdAway

Hi all,

A new year is coming and I wish you all to have nice holidays :victory:

Just few words about this ending year. There was about 12 releases in 2019 which brings you a new UI, a lot of bug fixes, Android 10 support, Gist and GitLab hosting support and better Magisk support.
All of this is possible thanks to the community to help users to discover the app, learn how to use it and report any new bug and also your moral, nice words and thanks you can send to me, and financial support.
Thanks a lot for all donators, GitHub sponsor and the Pixel 2 you sent me to test Android 10 support.

For the next year, I hope to release the next version (V5), at least in beta to start. It's been 9 months since its first lines of code and things are working quite nicely.
It aims to make the app simpler to use for the main use cases, support rooted and non rooted devices and remove old hacks/workaround which are no more needed on recent setups.

But before this big next update, I still have time to fix current issue with a new release

Changelog:

• Fix GitLab hosting support (commit date parsing failed)
• Translation update

Thanks:

Special thanks to @gallegonovato for its helpful bug report and @Vankog for translation update.

Download:

AdAway 4.3.2 on AndroidFileHost (md5: 78fde09a0e92044c45e901bb1cec8e2e)

Hi all,

Long time no see! It's been more than two months since the last update.
I can't say I was not active on the project as I start working on a new version (5.x.y) as a side project.
I won't share the source code yet as it is not ready at all and I don't want to give an ETA but this new version targets the following goals:

• 1. Revamp the UI
• 2. Clean up old support
• 3. Address one of the main drawback of the app

1. The card based UI does not feel right. Welcome card takes too much space, update button / status has a lot of critic. I guess I can do better.
I started a new simpler and lighter design which provide the most useful information on home screen and all main actions to trigger in one tap (no more burger menu).
It is still under heavy development but I hopefully get a friend onboard, specialized in graphics and design, to help me :highfive:

2. In order to simplify the development, I clean up the app and remove support for old features.
I bump target SDK version so I finally get Java 8 language feature (it was released 5y ago…) and move to topjohnwu root library (instead of home made one). It means systemless support is now handled by Magisk and other root solutions will still work.

3. Think of what prevent most of users to use AdAway? Now it's gone!
It's not gone forever. It's still here but there will be a fallback to workaround it.
I won't tell more until the first public beta but I guess you get the point :fingers-crossed:

In the meanwhile, here is a new version!

Feedback:

andy356 said:

Is anyone using a hosts list hosted on Gitlab? It keeps showing "Unknown update status".

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

GitLab, like GitHub do not set LastModified HTTP header so update status is not supported... yet!

Changelog:

• Add Gist and GitLab hosting support for hosts file
• Add option to set default IPv6 redirection
• Improve reboot command
• Improve UI for overlays
• Update translations

Thanks:

Special thanks to @MSF Jarvis and ralayax for theirs contributions and @andy356 for its helpful bug report.

Download:

AdAway 4.2.5 on AndroidFileHost (md5: ab81225745afaaa7646024109de299c0)

Hi all,

Feedback:

sirxdroid said:

Hmm, not working for me for this URL, v4.1.0 shows something like not updated in -360 days (some large negative value). Can you please see if you can reproduce?
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/StevenBlack/hosts/master/alternates/fakenews-gambling-porn/hosts

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

It works well here. I failed to reproduce as I change the HTTP client library and how I use it.
But update date for the source you link definitely works now.

andy356 said:

All the F-Droid apps I know of have manual push updates to the store.

Isn't automatic build basically for nightlies?

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Not really. You could choose a lot of different mode.
For example, F-Droid server watches AdAway GitHub repository to find tags which match a specific versioning pattern.

mrRobinson said:

I exist still... do you know what i have to do to transfer ownership? if i edit project it doesn't let me change the primary author so i assume i have to PM some higher up to make this happen?

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Thank you so much! :highfive:

Wood Man said:

This is now done, @PerfectSlayer is the OP of this thread.

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Thank you too!


Changelog:

• Add hosts source download cache
• Add snackbar notification to update host from DNS request listing
• Update UI from Material Design to Material Theming
• Update gradle, plugins and dependencies
• Fix crash parsing not defined host source last modified date
• Fix native modules build script (required for F-Droid build server)
• Fix Transifex issues

Thanks:

Special thanks to all recent donators! Your help is really appreciated :good:

Download:

AdAway 4.2.0 on AndroidFileHost (md5: 023169e7c345ef7297095793024f8478)

Hi all,

I talked enough about it the past weeks and here it is: the first beta for the next version of AdAway.
As you know, the main feature is the removal of root requirement but it also comes with a lot of improvements like an easier to use UI, a builtin updater, new cache and databases to improve reliability or even a quick pause/resume adblocking button that 3rd party apps can control.

It took me literally a year and 330+ commits to build it (the first commit of this branch was April the 7th) and I hope it will be worth it.
It should allow the app to be viable in the future with root being more and more difficult to achieve at each new Android release and Google hardening SafetyNet checks.

I will try to answer to the most expected questions here so you still can post a link to this FAQ later to lost users.

FAQ:

Does this version replace the v4.x versions?
No. This is still a preview version and does not replace the stable one.
It is available to test it and report issues and feedback before being promoted to stable.

Can I upgrade and revert safely?
Yes. Both v4 and v5 use the same settings export format.

Why does this version targets Android 8+ Oreo only?
Like the v4, v5 is expected to offer support for latest devices.
Android 8 and above represent more than 60% of device distribution and will grew through time.
If you use an older device, root solutions work very well and v4 is here for you (like v2 and v3 stayed for legacy devices).

How the hell does it work without root?
This version provides two adblocking methods: the usual root one using hosts file and a new one using local VPN.
The VPN solution allows to filter and alter connections of your devices without root access.

Is using a VPN safe?
In the case of AdAway, yes. It uses VPN API but does not connect to a VPN server.
In the case of VPN client app, it depends.
To give you more details, a VPN client app uses the VPN API to create a virtual network interface on your device and redirect all your traffic into it.
If you imaginge the VPN like a pipe (the right word is tunnel), client VPN app outputs all your traffic on a VPN server which is able to check what you are doing on the Internet.
With AdAway, your network is not redirected to a VPN server but your device internet connection (same as no VPN). VPN API is only used to get traffic into it to break the connections to ad servers.

Is VPN use battery?
Yes, like everything you do on device.
Witouth root, a VPN service will be running permanently to filter your traffic.
Good news is it will only filter DNS traffic. Not all traffic is redirected into it so it won't be as expensive as you can fear.

Did you come up with this idea alone?
Absolutely not! I spent a lot of hours trying to find altenatives to hosts based adblocking (like routes or private DNS). But nothing was better than VPN based adblocking.
So we (MrRobinson and I) approched Julian Klode, developer of DNS66 more than three years ago to see if we can merge our apps. It wasn't that easy as we don't develop our apps the same way so I ended up by integrating the DNS66 adblocking method into AdAway. It is fine for Julian, his app is Open Source and he himself built it from the core code of AdBuster app (an VPN based adblocking app).

Should we stop using DNS66 for AdAway?
Not at all. DNS66 is a great app and provides some features that AdAway doesn't have (yet?), like DNS settings.
DNS66 is a great app, keep using it if you like it!
If both apps used the same adblocking method a year ago when I start this version, I keep adding feature to the VPN adblocking method and most of them won't be in DNS66.
If Julian ports them back to DNS66, it's great if it can help his app and users!

Is it me or the app put on weight?
Yes, the app significantly grew due to new libraries like VPN related ones and Android Jetpack.
It also stores more data on device: a http cache, a host database, a hosts copy, etc...
I think 15~20mo of storage is still fine.

Changelog:

Without further ado, check the summarized changelog (it was hard to summarize a one year development)

• Add new home screen
  • Provides all main controls from one screen
  • Displays currently blocked, allowed and redirected domains
  • Displays current hosts sources status and control to force apply
• Add non root ad-blocking feature
  • Uses a builtin local VPN to filter DNS request to blocked domains
  • Based on the work of dns66 by julian-klode
  • Allows to excluded system applications and per user applications
• Add builtin updater with changelog display
• Add feature to quickly pause and resume ad-blocking
• Add wizard screen for first run setup
• Add feature to display and filter all blocked, allowed, redirect domains
• Improve preferences screen
• Add broadcast receiver to control ad-blocking from third party applications
• Update Android target to Android 10
• Improve root and shell support
• Split translation files to easier understand their context
• Add GitHub action test and build tasks

Download:

AdAway 5.0.0 beta (sha2: 200fd7789b174735d3af5925b4e568b09475bb3f39a79d24d6617af4b19cd19d)

If you like my work, feel free to support me. Check my sign for donation links. Thanks all! :highfive: