The digital world has expanded beyond our imagination, with an audience-reach bigger than ever before. And hence, large chunk of our society now uses the www to further their career; be it a business trying to promote a product/service or a part-time blogger trying to monetize their blog-site. Most ads are in sync with your interests. But as creepy as it may sound, they do this by tracking your browsing history or social activities. However, there are still many ads which are just outright annoying, repetitive, and irrelevant. In the case of websites which offer their content for free, displaying ads become critical to their survival, or to gain more popularity. Nevertheless, quite a few of them abuse this money-making opportunity, plaguing the entire site with unwanted commercials and affecting a user’s overall experience; to the point where it becomes absolutely necessary to restrict ads. Recently, we have also shared best free movie apps for Android.
We’ve rounded up a comprehensive list of the top-rated Ad-Blocker apps for Android that you can get to get rid of those pesky advertisements. Take a look:
16 Best Ad Blocker Apps For Android 2018
AdAway:
One of the most commonly reviewed Ad-blocker app to have received tons of appreciation, is AdAway. It is perhaps the most effective and reliable app that you can currently get. It makes use of host files to reroute ads to 127.0.0.1; be it any kind, i.e. pop-ups, game-ads, banner ads, etc. You can even manually blacklist or whitelist websites if you need to! However, one very important point to note is that though AdAway is an open-source app that’s completely free to download, it is only available to those with rooted phones. If you ask us, we’d say its totally worth rooting your phone for this app, if blocking ads is a huge priority for you. Download
AdClear by Seven:
AdClear is for you non-rooted Android folks and can be accessed for free. It shuts out not only the encrypted or intrusive ads that you come across on several websites but also deters ads on YouTube. To boot, this app has Firewall and Doze features which help a lot in reserving battery and bandwidth, while increasing page load-times. You can also be assured that no malware would enter through any advertisement when using AdClear. Although it doesn’t give you the level of control AdAway does, it surely does its work incredibly well. Download
Adguard:
Adguard can be downloaded by both, rooted and non-rooted Android phone users. It is an open-source app that you can download straight off the Google Play Store, for free. Similar to Adclear, this app too is VPN-based so aside from barring ads on the web, you can also avoid them across other applications including games. What’s more? Adguard is highly customizable and allows you to pick from 20 different rule-lists pertaining to filtration for ad-blocking. Undoubtedly, it is one of the best ad blocker apps for Android phone. Having said that, the only limitation is that it doesn’t work on any other browsers except Yandex and Samsung Internet.
Adblock Browser/Plus:
Unarguably, one of the most popular and efficient ad-blocker apps on Android, Adblock Browser is an open-source app which is available officially on the Google Playstore, for free. Its cousin, Adblock Plus is published by the same developer, albeit, with a few key differences. The Adblock browser works extremely well if you wish to only keep the ads at bay while browsing on your phone. But if you want more features, such as a system-wide ad-blocking including pop-ups, banner ads, while keeping your device safe from any malicious viruses, you may want to get the Adblock Plus. That said, its suitable solely for Samsung users running the Samsung Internet 4.0 or higher. Note that both these apps function on rooted ((more features and customization) as well as non-rooted phones.
DNS66:
If you’re a tech-savvy person, you might be aware that the VPN-based ad-blockers are the best type as they go down to the DNS level in order to block ads and host names. Basically, such apps use DNS to generate a local VPN interface which then receives all the server-traffic, thereby blocking ads not only on your browsers but across the entire mobile system. These apps are far more advanced and enhance your phone’s overall performance as well as battery-life. DNS66 is perhaps the best app in this category. What’s more? You don’t need a rooted device to install this app. The only downside (or upside, depending upon how you look at it), is that it might seem slightly difficult to use due to its advance features. Download
Blokada:
Blokada is a robust ad-blocker for Android that offers superlative speed, stability, while ensuring minimal battery and data usage. As with majority of the apps mentioned on this list, Blokada is also an open-source service that is free, and easy to use. It keeps your personal information safe and allows you to filter the websites that you wish to be blocked or unblocked. We’ve gone over a legion of forums and review sites before listing this app here and can confidently recommend it to you. However, you must keep in mind that Blokada is not available on the Google Playstore. Download
Free Adblock Browser:
As the name suggests, Free Adblock Browser is essentially an Android browser which let’s users enjoy a web-experience sans ads, focusing more on the content they’re actually looking for. You can use it to do away with ads while browsing, pop-ups, auto-play commercial videos, and banner ads. Similar to Blokada, this service protects you from online trackers who try and extract data or consumer behavior. Additionally, it is also very battery-efficient and doesn’t eat up data more than required. The best part? It is officially available on the Playstore and is very user-friendly so if you just want a simple app that blocks ads on your browser without going through too much trouble, this is the one to get!
Adblock Fast:
Adblock Fast is much like the other ad-blockers listed here. It is free, can be downloaded from the Playstore, and does not require you to root your Android device. However, the most unique feature of this service is that unlike other apps, it even blocks “acceptable ads” so an ad-free web experience in the truest sense is guaranteed. Other than that it also offers least possible usage of disk space, CPU cycles, and memory space. All the good stuff aside, Adblock Fast is only accessible on devices with Samsung Internet browser (4.0+) so make sure to install that before getting the app itself.
TrustGo Ad Detector:
TrustGo Ad Detector works in a slightly different model as compared to all the other ad-blocker apps mentioned here. Although it does block ads, its chief function is to ensure utmost security while using a mobile application. Simply put, it’ll scrutinize all the apps on your phone and detect the ones that contain ads which pose a threat to your privacy. This is very useful because there are numerous mobile ad-networks out there who try and pilfer personal information. Bear in mind that this app is not available on the Play Store and needs to be installed via a 3rd party APK file using the link given below. Download
AppBrain Ad Detector:
As you can possible guess by the name itself, AppBrain Ad Detector is an app quite similar to TrustGo, albeit, with an incredibly smart in-built technology. This app is capable of identifying over 70 aspects of mobile apps which can be a cause for annoyance. These include push notifications, “desktop icon spam ads”, and apps that steal or share your personal information. These features help you to understand which software have an access to your data via any accounts or messages; so you can ultimately remove them. What’s more? Through AppBrain, you can also find out which mobile ad-networks are ingrained in the apps (just for reference). Apart from this, of course, it blocks all pop-ups and ads.
Block This:
Yet another free and open-source DNS-based ad blocker for Android, Block This deserves a mention even though it may not be as popular as the other apps. It works on non-rooted phones. However, if you try looking for it on your Play Store, you wouldn’t find it any longer. It now has to be downloaded separately from their official website. That said, Block This boasts of multifarious features including enhanced security, decreased data usage, shield from malware, faster browsing speeds, and less mobile data traffic. Furthermore, it gets rid of all kinds of ads including pop-ups, cookies, and browser ads be it in any form – audio, video, or image. An additional feature of this app is that it allows you to sidestep the censorship dictated by your internet provider thereby enabling you to access all sites. Download
NetGuard:
NetGuard is an excellent ad-blocker that supports both, rooted and non-rooted Android devices. Though not readily available on the Google Play Store, you can easily get it online using our download link. Its a breeze not just install it but also use it since it sports a rather simple and clean interface. This software sets itself apart in that it is ultra customizable. You can manually add websites and apps to the list that you want to deny access your internet connection to. Download
CM Browser:
CM Browser is a simple, yet efficient ad-blocker that can be availed for free on the Play Store. It aids in blocking pop-ups and other ads while browsing, thereby helping you to enjoy surfing the net or downloading content without any interruptions. As with many ad-blockers, CM browser too, offers increased web-security and protection of identity. What’s unique about this app is that it can automatically detect the videos which can be downloaded and provides a download link for the same. Also, all your browsing history will be erased right after exiting the app.
Brave Browser Fast Ad Blocker:
Brave Browser is a free, all-in-one ad-blocker that conceals your identity and personal data from network trackers, by means of HTTPS request enforcements. Obviously, it helps you get rid of ads while focusing on saving battery, deterring cookies, boosting over all speed and performance of the device. Note that in actuality this is a browser and does not block ads or push notifications that you get from other apps on your phone.
Cynergy Adskip for YouTube:
As you can tell by the name, Cynergy Adskip automatically skips the advertisement and begins playing the video. It is free, and does not need you to root your device. Its function may sound very basic; however, it does come handy especially for those who love watching YouTube videos on a daily basis. One thing you must remember is that in order to use this software, you need to enable accessibility service through which it will be able to tap advertisements. Download
YuBrowser with Ad Filtration:
If you’re tired of slow browsing speeds on your phone, you might want to consider checking out YuBrowser. This app is especially meant for people using phones running on Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. The service claims to boost browsing speeds by up to 40%, in certain cases, even speedier compared to Google Chrome! As mentioned alongside its name, it also filters ads while keeping you safe from privacy violation. YuBrowser comes with a massive list of features including power saving mode, night mode, swipe controls, web refiner, web defender, and webpage translation. To Summarize: Ad-blockers are unbelievably useful tools that can really improve your mobil’ing experience by shutting out pointless and mundane ads that tend to eat up our phone’s batteries, data, and space. They also make sure that your personal information remains personal. Most of the ad-blocker apps listed above do work on non-rooted Android phones. However, there are a few of them which are only compatible with rooted devices so you could either skip them or try rooting your device. Keep visiting our blog Dreamy Tricks to get latest Tech updates. Let us know if the apps mentioned above worked for you!
