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

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guhvanoh

Senior Member
Hi @PerfectSlayer , I've finally jumped to v5.0.3 and I have to say, I love what you did to the design! Information is much clearer than before and to the users reach, without having to search through long menus for each section. I also like that you moved the menu to the bottom, so nice for these ridiculously large phones. Great job!

<SNIP>

So based on this feedback, I made some little tweaks keeping the essence of your original design.

Cheers!
Thanks for the effort you put into these suggested changes. They do look good and might even be used as themes. Here are my thoughts on what I like. On the whole, I'd like a combination of things. I prefer the original top 3 boxes as they are informational only. For the middle box, I choose your fourth option. For the bottom 3 boxes I prefer your fourth but with the button fully inside the outline. Splitting out the options for the burger icon is fine with the current options. However if more options are added, you would have to go back to using the burger icon. To tie it all in and make my choices consistent, the top 3 boxes would also need an outline. I'm not sure how that would look. Just my 2p worth...

Sent from my SM-T720 using XDA Labs
 
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Deleted member 8704808

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I'd say mockup 3 is more easy to look at and understand. I also initially thought the transparent icon placement was a visual glitch.

Only I wonder why the settings cog is on the left. Don't most apps with a dedicated button to access settings put it on the right hand side? That would feel more intuitive for me.

Sent from my OnePlus6T using XDA Labs
 
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Wolfcity

Recognized Contributor
Ok, until now I never had any problems with negative times etc.
Now 2 of my 3 host sources are showing "actual since 613 month" and the last one "installed a few minutes ago'.
Also on the main page only 2 sources are shown.
5.0.3 in non-root mode.

Edit: Ok, after some activating/deactivating and a reboot everything is back to normal now. Just usual beta stuff;)
 

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TomiLynch

Senior Member
Jan 31, 2017
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OnePlus 3
As a regular user i find your design a bit chaotic.
I like the bottom bar with 3 buttons.
The added light grey boxes make it to cluttered for me. Not do I see the need to change the transparent icons. I really like them the way they are.

I think the original design looks more unique. It has its own character while not differentiating from the general Android design too much.
Your design more like an it of the box, follow the standard design with less character.

Just my 2 cents as a regular user without any design background.

On the end it's up to the developer to choose.
I'm sorry to read you don't like what I've suggested, but it's perfectly understandable. Likes are personal and totally subjective.
I do like the new design as I said, but there are some details I think could be polished, so I decided to actually do something about it and suggest some ideas instead of complaining from behind the keyboard. But no worries, these are nothing but suggestions.

About the transparencies, a transparency is generally used to make something blend with the background, so it won't be as noticeable. If the idea of the icons coming out of the box is to generate a 3D feel, you'd want them to pop out, not fade away. That's why I suggested not using transparencies there.

Thanks for the effort you put into these suggested changes. They do look good and might even be used as themes. Here are my thoughts on what I like. On the whole, I'd like a combination of things. I prefer the original top 3 boxes as they are informational only. For the middle box, I choose your fourth option. For the bottom 3 boxes I prefer your fourth but with the button fully inside the outline. Splitting out the options for the burger icon is fine with the current options. However if more options are added, you would have to go back to using the burger icon. To tie it all in and make my choices consistent, the top 3 boxes would also need an outline. I'm not sure how that would look. Just my 2p worth...
Thank you! Grad you liked them. I did try a lot more options, but chose the few I liked the most. Of course these are not meant to be used as they are, but more of a couple of ideas to trigger the imagination.

The fact that you point out that the top three icons are only informative is proof of a miscommunication in the design. Those are indeed informative but not exclusively. They are actually pressable buttons that take you to an other screen. As an industrial designer, my job is to be extremely conscious about what a product communicates to the user, and make sure he understands exactly what I want. This is why I tried designing something that would suggest touching them.

I'd say mockup 3 is more easy to look at and understand. I also initially thought the transparent icon placement was a visual glitch.

Only I wonder why the settings cog is on the left. Don't most apps with a dedicated button to access settings put it on the right hand side? That would feel more intuitive for me.
I guess I put the settings on the left side because I'm used to having the menus slide out from the left. But swapping them is totally doable if that makes more sense.

I am not going to do any more changes because I feel I might be getting into something nobody asked me to, and I don't want to disrespect the dev. The app is not mine and I have no right to try and change it.
PerfectSlayer, if you read this, I hope you don't feel any of it as an attack. I repeat once again that I love what you did with the the new design. I simply saw some opportunities for improvement and decided to try some examples to visualize alternatives and trigger the imagination.
 
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gaww

Senior Member
Oct 4, 2010
7,277
1,254
Asheville, NC
I'm sorry to read you don't like what I've suggested, but it's perfectly understandable. Likes are personal and totally subjective.
I do like the new design as I said, but there are some details I think could be polished, so I decided to actually do something about it and suggest some ideas instead of complaining from behind the keyboard. But no worries, these are nothing but suggestions.

About the transparencies, a transparency is generally used to make something blend with the background, so it won't be as noticeable. If the idea of the icons coming out of the box is to generate a 3D feel, you'd want them to pop out, not fade away. That's why I suggested not using transparencies there.


Thank you! Grad you liked them. I did try a lot more options, but chose the few I liked the most. Of course these are not meant to be used as they are, but more of a couple of ideas to trigger the imagination.

The fact that you point out that the top three icons are only informative is proof of a miscommunication in the design. Those are indeed informative but not exclusively. They are actually pressable buttons that take you to an other screen. As an industrial designer, my job is to be extremely conscious about what a product communicates to the user, and make sure he understands exactly what I want. This is why I tried designing something that would suggest touching them.


I guess I put the settings on the left side because I'm used to having the menus slide out from the left. But swapping them is totally doable if that makes more sense.

I am not going to do any more changes because I feel I might be getting into something nobody asked me to, and I don't want to disrespect the dev. The app is not mine and I have no right to try and change it.
PerfectSlayer, if you read this, I hope you don't feel any of it as an attack. I repeat once again that I love what you did with the the new design. I simply saw some opportunities for improvement and decided to try some examples to visualize alternatives and trigger the imagination.

The "design" is irrelevant - how it works is everything. After using this for several years, it is now having problems blamed on hosts. If the OP could find a way to fix that, I and many others would be very happy with the traditional layout - who cares about the sizes of boxes and layout of then.

Too much time on wasted time.
 
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IronTechmonkey

Recognized Contributor
Feb 12, 2013
10,000
17,867
The "design" is irrelevant - how it works is everything...

...aaaand, the design determines how people use it ;).

It sounds like you and I are high-function desiring UI minimalists and I somewhat share your view for my own usage but...

How it works - that it works reliably - may be the most important thing and the highest priority, but how users interact with an interface is also important and can make a huge difference by minimizing needless support requests, and by offering the reliable functionality you and I expect with an interface that's easy to use by a wider range of users than just us.
 

gaww

Senior Member
Oct 4, 2010
7,277
1,254
Asheville, NC
...aaaand, the design determines how people use it ;).

It sounds like you and I are high-function desiring UI minimalists and I somewhat share your view for my own usage but...

How it works - that it works reliably - may be the most important thing and the highest priority, but how users interact with an interface is also important and can make a huge difference by minimizing needless support requests, and by offering the reliable functionality you and I expect with an interface that's easy to use by a wider range of users than just us.

Yeah - whoever came up adb and fastboot interfaces didn't care either...
 

ipdev

Recognized Contributor
Feb 14, 2016
2,546
1
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Google Nexus 10
Nexus 7 (2013)
I'm sorry to read you don't like what I've suggested, but it's perfectly understandable. Likes are personal and totally subjective.
I do like the new design as I said, but there are some details I think could be polished, so I decided to actually do something about it and suggest some ideas instead of complaining from behind the keyboard. But no worries, these are nothing but suggestions.

About the transparencies, a transparency is generally used to make something blend with the background, so it won't be as noticeable. If the idea of the icons coming out of the box is to generate a 3D feel, you'd want them to pop out, not fade away. That's why I suggested not using transparencies there.


Thank you! Grad you liked them. I did try a lot more options, but chose the few I liked the most. Of course these are not meant to be used as they are, but more of a couple of ideas to trigger the imagination.

The fact that you point out that the top three icons are only informative is proof of a miscommunication in the design. Those are indeed informative but not exclusively. They are actually pressable buttons that take you to an other screen. As an industrial designer, my job is to be extremely conscious about what a product communicates to the user, and make sure he understands exactly what I want. This is why I tried designing something that would suggest touching them.


I guess I put the settings on the left side because I'm used to having the menus slide out from the left. But swapping them is totally doable if that makes more sense.

I am not going to do any more changes because I feel I might be getting into something nobody asked me to, and I don't want to disrespect the dev. The app is not mine and I have no right to try and change it.
PerfectSlayer, if you read this, I hope you don't feel any of it as an attack. I repeat once again that I love what you did with the the new design. I simply saw some opportunities for improvement and decided to try some examples to visualize alternatives and trigger the imagination.

Hi.
I like the ideas you came up. I do not prefer one or another other but, I like some parts of each. Just not sure how I'd mix and match them..
If you are like I am, each one of the examples you posted probably has 10 variations and (more time than you want to admit) staring at them trying to figure out why you do not like it. ;)

Looking at it again and I think it's the big center button.
Why is that one is combined ?
I do not think a 3x3 grid would look good.
Maybe 3,1,2,3(?)

I'm not a graphic designer or part of the AdAway team.
I try to help in the xda tread, bug reports and testing.

I would like to see what your idea of splitting the Hosts sources, Refresh and Download sources into separate buttons would look like. :D

Ideas, suggestions, and any contribution to the AdAway project are always welcome.
AdAway GitHub - Link :)

Cheers. :cowboy:
 

ipdev

Recognized Contributor
Feb 14, 2016
2,546
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Nexus 7 (2013)
The "design" is irrelevant - how it works is everything. After using this for several years, it is now having problems blamed on hosts. If the OP could find a way to fix that, I and many others would be very happy with the traditional layout - who cares about the sizes of boxes and layout of then.
Too much time on wasted time.
Most users do not understand how hosts files work.
Add Magisk (even SuperSU) systemless root into it and they are more confused.
It's a simple learning process, they do not know so someone has to teach them.

Quite a few members/visitors do not read the OP or even parts of the thread, especially if it is thousands of pages. Heck half of the xda members never read the rules.
Most Google users are surprised when you point out something in the Google License Agreement they acknowledged and agreed to.

So you can NOT fault the developer(s) for user error or ignorance.
Ignorance is used in proper form (lack of knowledge) not as derogatory statement.

Yeah - whoever came up adb and fastboot interfaces didn't care either...
If the app was using command line, then I agree.
No graphical UI no problem. - This app does though.

When a graphical UI is being used, it has to be user friendly.

The UI changes to 5.x is a nice change and like everything (including me/myself and I) has room for improvement.
If not why would Android/BSD/Linux/Unix even be updated ???

Before you start bashing the development, take a look at the actual development being focused on.

https://github.com/AdAway/AdAway/commits/master
https://github.com/AdAway/AdAway/projects/2
https://github.com/AdAway/AdAway/projects/1


And remember, beside contributions from the community, there are only two currently maintaining AdAway.
https://github.com/AdAway/AdAway#project-status

General PSA.

Just remember most of the Android community are developers that offer their knowledge, time, files and builds that they personally make and use to the rest of us.

If we have an error that they do not, they try to make it right and correct it to help or make it work for us also. They have no reason, beside the willingness to offer.

A donation or sponsorship (if accepted) helps.

A simple Thank You or I appreciate or Good Job here and there helps quite a bit..

Reporting a problem is fine.
Requesting a change or adding a feature is fine.


Start Demanding or Degrading well...
I think even the average user would say ***** I'm out of here.

Cheers all. :cowboy:
 

zgfg

Senior Member
Oct 10, 2016
10,688
9,203
Redmi K20 / Xiaomi Mi 9T
Xiaomi Mi 11
Honestly speaking, under normal circumstances, you don't 'use' AdAway app a lot. Once you setup your host sources and your whitelist (maybe blacklist, too) and that's it

From time to time you do some maintenance work, you trigger updating hosts (there used to be problems with periodic auto updating but auto updating on restart worked fine, hence if rebooting a phone once a week it was fine).
And rarely you have to remove some dead hosts source, add a new one or make changes to the white (black) list

It's not like WhatsApp or similar that you actively use every day and for a lot of time

Hence features and reliability is first and foremost. Colors, icons, layout (is it trendy and now metal design), skins (yeah, specially themes or skins) I personally don't care (at all) - it is only important that there are no bugs in the UI, that clicks do what they are supposed to do.
From the layout perspective it is most important that you can easily find how to do when and what you need to do, and that most often actions are accessible with less clicks

So I was the user of AdAway for certainly four or five years (not because of its design but because of its features, functionality and reliability!!!), and already on seven or eight devices (maybe more). Whenever possible (depending on the launcher) I 'hide' it to the app drawer

It's like heating and plumbing in the house, you don't look at it and enjoy in its colours and design every day (like the furniture in the living room).
But it must be reliable - actually if you have to play with your heating and plumbing every day then something is wrong with your pipes and equipment or construction workers did not set it up correctly

That's my cents about this graphical UI design discussion

Edit: But the world must go on and apps must be updated for features (and design). We must appreciate developers who spend their free time for community (give them also some real 'cents', too), hence sometimes you swallow up and sooner or later accommodate to certain changes you maybe didn't like at first or thought they were not necessary
 
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Ultramanoid

Senior Member
Apr 24, 2011
3,901
6,764
東京都 Tokyo Metro
Since everyone and their dog is giving their opinion, and I sincerely believe feature creep is by now out of control, given the fact even the UI is being discussed in earnest, here's an honest proposal :

'Lite' AdAway : It would have a single option to input hosts URLs, a single button to fetch them, merge them without duplicates, and output a hosts file in a specified filesystem location.

Nothing else. No fancy UI, no preferences, no whitelist / blacklist / purple list, no VPN, no DNS log, no server, no Rootisk systemic mount atomic button, no transmogrifier, no, no. Nothing. Not even root required, put the file in /sdcard for all I care.

Wouldn't even need to be installed permanently, just occasionally to create a new hosts file.

( Not being sarcastic, this is how I use AdAway and by now it's faster to get hosts files and merge them myself than the ever longer install + figure out new UI today + go through auto update + import settings + remove auto hosts + check for update + fetch hosts + create hosts file + uninstall ... )

Edit : Developer bonus; zero maintenance work.
 
 
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DiamondJohn

Recognized Contributor
Aug 31, 2013
7,350
7,366
Sydney
'Lite' AdAway : It would have a single option to input hosts URLs, a single button to fetch them, merge them without duplicates, and output a hosts file in a specified filesystem location.

Nothing else. No fancy UI, no preferences, no whitelist / blacklist / purple list, no VPN, no DNS log, no server, no Rootisk systemic mount atomic button, no transmogrifier, no, no. Nothing. Not even root required, put the file in /sdcard for all I care.

Wouldn't even need to be installed permanently, just occasionally to create a new hosts file.

( Not being sarcastic, this is how I use AdAway and by now it's faster to get hosts files and merge them myself than the ever longer install + figure out new UI today + go through auto update + import settings + remove auto hosts + check for update + fetch hosts + create hosts file + uninstall ... )

Edit : Developer bonus; zero maintenance work.
 
and thats mostly why I use a script to create my host file.I follow this thread to check if my script is missing anything.
 

Ultramanoid

Senior Member
Apr 24, 2011
3,901
6,764
東京都 Tokyo Metro
and thats mostly why I use a script to create my host file.I follow this thread to check if my script is missing anything.

Make a one page web site with it, put a donation button on it, get my money, and someone else's too probably. ( Would gladly pay for 'AdAway Lite' too. )

At this point I'm about to download Pollock's or Black's hosts as-is once a month and be done with it. Forever. Not one more second wasted, ever again. I guess I follow the thread because... Inertia ? Too many years here. (^_^ )
 
 
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DiamondJohn

Recognized Contributor
Aug 31, 2013
7,350
7,366
Sydney
Make a one page web site with it, put a donation button on it, get my money, and someone else's too probably. ( Would gladly pay for 'AdAway Lite' too. )

At this point I'm about to download Pollock's or Black's hosts as-is once a month and be done with it. Forever. Not one more second wasted, ever again. I guess I follow the thread because... Inertia ? Too many years here. (^_^ )
 

What?!? donations? Money? where was that suggestion when I created the thread! ... 18 months ago....
https://xdaforums.com/android/software-hacking/hosts-diamondjohn-host-builder-script-t3872728
 
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vandyman

Senior Member
Jul 30, 2012
870
478
S.Jersey
Moto G 5G
Google Pixel 6
Q: using v5 beta, amazon app thinks i have no internet, but when i disable the adblock, amazon app works fine?
Same issue as you. I tried to white list everything to do with Amazon and different hosts as well. And no luck here.
AdAway 5.02 was working okay, Amazon issues started with version 5.03. I am thinking of going back to 5.02, but I am not sure if a residue of 5.03 will remain.

Sent from my Pixel 3a XL using Tapatalk
 
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  • 1
    Non root uses VPN, hence make sure you don't run another VPN in parallel
    If it helps, an example of that mistake of trying to run (non-rootable) two VPNs at a time would be to try to use both of these at the same time.

    AdAway (non-root system-wide hosts-based ad blocking)
    NetGuard (non-root system-wide hosts-based ad blocking)
    adblocker_netguard_vpn.jpg
    1
    I've been using the app for many years now, but have had massive problems in the last few weeks. Latest Android 14 with February patches. Network connection suddenly stops working after a while and only works again after manually stopping/starting the app. Notifications are not delivered. Restarting / reinstalling or updating the sources only fixes the problem temporarily. Problem occurs on several devices.

    Found some Bug reports on devs github, but no solution.

    Non-rooted Devices...
    1
    So what do you suggest for 'not rooted' devices?
    For developers to fix it?

    Tik Tok has connection problems...
    Screenshot_2024-02-28-20-36-58-088_com.zhiliaoapp.musically.jpg
    1
    1. Yesterday I installed AdAway and set it up as my VPN app.
    2. Today I installed an app that SAID it has no ads but it has ads.
    • <ht tps://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.quantum.updater>
    AdAway does NOT block those ads.
    • AdAway doesn't block the full-page ads
    • AdAway doesn't block the bar ads
    Why not?
    What did I do wrong in my setup?
    1
    Do it by logDNS. Check the Wiki:

    Start the log and open your preferred site.
    Whitelist what has to be whitelisted.
    Followed the guide. It's simple enough until I try to find the hostname I am supposed to white list - there are probably 50 entries just clicking on one article. Plus the names don't give any clue what they are related to. I tried white-listing about a dozen different entries but none allowed the comments to be read. At this point it's still easier to turn off Adaway and scroll the articles then turn it back on when I'm done.

    Thanks for the guide though.
  • 3363
    icon.png
    AdAway

    AdAway is an open source ad blocker for Android using the hosts file.


    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:


    Downloads

    Stable versions are available on GitHub releases and F-Droid Store:
    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
    170
    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 :p

    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)
    159
    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:

    Is anyone using a hosts list hosted on Gitlab? It keeps showing "Unknown update status".
    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)
    148
    Hi all,

    Feedback:

    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
    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.

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

    Isn't automatic build basically for nightlies?
    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.

    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?
    Thank you so much! :highfive:

    This is now done, @PerfectSlayer is the OP of this thread.
    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)
    144
    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: