Block ads on your Android phone (2010-04-15)

Search This thread

Nyaki

New member
Apr 7, 2011
1
0
Sorry for the dumb question, but I assume the program have to run to block the ads, right? If I turn it on, the ads coming back?
 

ashok2ashok

New member
Sep 7, 2010
1
0
Wow, thanks a lot for this. Works like a charm. I even tried putting adsense into a sample app with your hosts file. Blocks perfectly :)
 

almondecks

Member
Mar 6, 2011
9
0
adfree error

I keep getting this error, unable to locate a partition to remount to write the host file to. I don't know what to do. EVO 4G mikg 2.xx
 

thebrainkafka

Senior Member
Apr 12, 2011
2,035
2,054
Hi, I'm using an SGS+ (i9001) and either Ad-Free nor the manual pushing of the hosts file is giving success in blocking adds. Host file is in /etc folder and >800kb.

Any ideas?

Thanks
 

Lucker

Member
May 23, 2007
5
0
Hi guys, this wonderful software using hosts file where someone place news website lenta.ru (russian website for news agency I read every day) with the last update. As far I'm completely newbie in android it took me about hour and half to find out why the website down, but working on my laptop. Finally I deleted the line with lenta.ru from hosts but I'm afraid it will be there with new update.

Is it possible to create some "white list" for the application to avoid editing hosts after every updates? I'd like to include in "white list" some other website, for instance gravatar.
 

gyverd

Senior Member
Aug 12, 2011
73
13
Hi, I would like to not used adfree anymore. What should I do ?

I'm already uninstalling the application but it still blocked my ads. I can't access some ads that I need.

Note : In the host file still had many blocked links.

*Problem Solved
 
Last edited:

motopig

Senior Member
Dec 30, 2009
117
11
Google Nexus 4
Nexus 6
Adfree improved my Angry Birds play on my sucky Spice to be a bit more tolerable, especially with Seasons.

Looking at some remaining ads I found that rovio1.appads.com also needs to be included in the hosts file, so it was not entirely perfect in blocking its ads. I added it manually to my hosts and the last bits of ads were gone.

In looking for this I also found that Angry Birds uses Burstly for its ads, which spews enough crap to plug up my logcat in a single run.

The good side is I only need to run it every so often to update the hosts file, then I can close it and leave it like that. Its built-in web server is entirely optional.

All in all, this is a must-have!
 

Coucher

Senior Member
Jun 23, 2008
204
8
Atlanta, GA
Trying to register on the website so that I can whitelist a site that by default is blocked.

Keep getting "There was a problem creating your account, please try again. If you still have problems please contact support."

Thoughts?
 

Megatr0n.

Senior Member
Sep 22, 2011
127
13
Is there a reason why adfree android and adaway cripple my download speeds when running speedtest.net?

Adfree android is a little better than adaway (which really hurts my connection speeds), but I'm still seeing well over a 50% reduction in download speed when running adfree android. Now, my question is: is the speed reduction just a result of certain addresses being blocked that the speedtest.net app uses or is adfree's host changes really reducing the connection speeds? I'm debating whether blocking ads is really worth crippling my connection.
 

p_025

Member
Feb 14, 2011
45
3
I haven't seen any kind of slowdown of Verizon's 4G LTE on my Samsung Stratosphere.

I still see some ads though in Angry Birds Seasons. I've seen ones for some Zillow thing, a hotel booking app and, of all things, the iPhone 4S. If I wanted a damn iPhone then I wouldn't have seen the ad in the first place. Please find those domains and filter them, this is starting to piss me off.
 

motopig

Senior Member
Dec 30, 2009
117
11
Google Nexus 4
Nexus 6
I still see some ads though in Angry Birds Seasons. I've seen ones for some Zillow thing, a hotel booking app and, of all things, the iPhone 4S. If I wanted a damn iPhone then I wouldn't have seen the ad in the first place. Please find those domains and filter them, this is starting to piss me off.

I am seeing that too. I also found that the 2012 seasons switched to Nexage for the ad engine and - worst of all - refuses to move between levels without an internet connection. To top it all off tcpdump bundled in AdFree have not been able to reliably capture any ad activity. I'm also seeing stray ads in AndroZip and TubeMate as well, but I do have a way to block all data in apps that otherwise should not need to go online ever.

EDIT: Looks like the Wreck the Halls update switched again to AdMob.
 
Last edited:

bobbymokie

Senior Member
May 18, 2011
639
114
abq
Question, how can I tell what line to remove from the hosts file to no longer block a server? since installing adfree I can no longer view emails or click through to see sales from newegg, my all time favorite site for buying stuff I don't really need. It hurts. I see this in logcat, but don't know how it translates into the sites blocked by the hosts file. Any help would be appreciated
 

Attachments

  • screenshot-1326584521919.jpg
    screenshot-1326584521919.jpg
    54 KB · Views: 341
Question, how can I tell what line to remove from the hosts file to no longer block a server? since installing adfree I can no longer view emails or click through to see sales from newegg, my all time favorite site for buying stuff I don't really need. It hurts. I see this in logcat, but don't know how it translates into the sites blocked by the hosts file. Any help would be appreciated

I second this, any help would be fully appreciated!
 

baradharajan

Member
Jun 11, 2010
11
0
bangalore
hi, i tired doing this on a Xpera arc -s , i have root acccess, when i do adb push hosts.for.mobile.txt /etc/hosts it says adb: not found, what could be the issue.
Regards,
M.Baradharajan
 

jleotta

New member
Apr 22, 2012
1
0
Two Problems with AdFree

I have found two problems:

1) When I go into options and as to see the host file in just hangs.
2) nytimes/adx/bin - needs to be added to host file.

I also find that sometime the ads are blocked from the NYTimes app and then they return. I have a Motorola Photon 4G running at 1.3 GHz.

Thanks!
 

Top Liked Posts

  • There are no posts matching your filters.
  • 8
    AdFree is a fantastic program created by XDA user delta_foxtrot2 (see this thread in the G1 forum) to facilitate using your hosts file to block ad servers. This makes it extremely easy. Of course you will need root access!


    Unfortunately I found some ads still weren't blocked and the last update to the AdFree hosts file happened 2010-02-27. So I decided to update the hosts file myself. I merged the hosts files from adfree/mvps/yoyo and added a bunch of mobile ad providers I've found myself. The list is free of duplicates and comments, so as to keep it as small as possible (it still amounts to about 635 kB).

    To install this hosts file, you still need root access obviously:

    1. download the zip
    2. unpack it to the directory where adb.exe is located (if you don't know what adb is or how to get it running, please use the search)
    3. open a command prompt
    Code:
    adb shell mount -o rw,remount -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system 
    adb push hosts.for.mobile.txt /etc/hosts
    adb shell mount -o ro,remount -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system

    You might need to restart your phone. Also clearing the Android browser cache will apparently help in getting rid of already cached ads (worked for me, ymmv).


    As for ethical discussions on blocking ads for free apps, blah. I don't so much have a problem with ads, as I do with the personal data that gets send to the ad providers. I'm talking about location data and whatever else they might want to know about my device and what I'm running ("analytics" is a fancy name for "we want to find out as much about you as we possibly can get away with").

    Anyway.. use it, don't use it, up to you.

    Last updated

    15-4-2010 23:23 (20808 hosts blocked)


    .
    5
    Hello, since this is the top search result for this topic on Google I'd thought I'd share an update. This is a simple method:

    1. Boot into clockworkmod recovery
    2. partitions > mount /system
    3. adb push hosts /system/etc/hosts
    4. adb reboot

    No need to play with remount and permissions in recovery. Working on CM7 RC2 on HTC Aria. I have updated the hosts file using the sources in the comments as of March 8, 2011.

    Edit: Put mobile advertisers from original list back in and removed duplicates.
    2
    I've shamelessly stolen from the hosts files in this thread and then added my own to make an up-to-date list that mainly works for me.

    The file is sorted, (with the exception of the localhost entry), with duplicates removed.
    2
    caps are important - yes, however, it is strange that the hosts file is HOSTS on your Android ROM... but I guess nothing is impossible...

    @No-Frost: If you have Terminal Emulator and some Superuser app for granting root privileges, you can use the following:

    You need to place the hosts file on your SD card to begin with (in this example, the hosts file is: /mnt/sdcard/hosts.final)

    Next, you need to mount the filesystem in read-write mode, as it is read-only by default

    su
    mount -o remount,rw /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system
    mv /etc/hosts /etc/hosts.bak
    cp /mnt/sdcard/hosts.final /etc/hosts
    chmod 644 /etc/hosts
    mount -o remount,ro /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system
    ls -l /etc/hosts


    That should move the hosts.final file from the root of your SD card, into the /etc directory, and apply the filename: hosts

    Be weary of filenames and foldernames under linux - they are case-sensitive... you don't want System or ETC, etc.

    Once you've executed the last line in the script ls -l /etc/hosts, you should be able to verify that the hosts file exists, with the correct access rights.

    Maybe reboot at this point.

    Quit Terminal Emulator, open your browser, maybe clear the cache in the browser, and open one of the ad-servers listed in your hosts file, e.g.:
    http://00fun.com
    If the page fails to load, then everything worked!

    If you still get ads in apps or websites after the above test succeeded, then it could be that the specific app or website is sourcing it's ads from another host that is not yet in the hosts file, or via some other means...
    2
    Finally got it to work.

    Now there is no way I got this working from terminal app, adb + phone booted or default recovery mode (traingle screen). However if you boot into clockwork recovery mode, manually mount system and sdcard and than use the commands from this topic it will work.