Ad Blocker and Firewall?

Discuss
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Looking at the debloating guide I asked myself if I should install an ad blocker, a firewall or both. Is it redundant to have both? Does it make more sense to install a firewall and add an ad block list to it?

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Most say Netguard is the one and only. But it is the most complicated as well and normally, it is not working perfectly out of the box.

TrackerControl is less complicated and on basis of Netguard

Other Apps are Blokada, PersonalDNSfilter, RethinkDNS, adguard, adaway, DNS66, etcā€¦

Some say, Netguard in combination with RethinkDNS is non plus ultraā€¦
https://forum.kuketz-blog.de/viewtopic.php?t=8419

I tried all of them

At least now, I use personalDNSfilter
For me, the best combination of individual BlockList using and DNS server choice.

So, it depends on you, which flavour you prefer and which GUI

And before you install any App, you can check it externaly with Exodus
https://reports.exodus-privacy.eu.org/de/

Then it depends if you use antother VPN, because all of them are using a local VPN because of non root priviledges.
Or you have rooted your device, then i would suggest adaway.

2 Likes
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Depends on your usecase. Iā€™d say an ad blocker is essential, because even if you donā€™t install any untrusted apps, thereā€™s still everything you do in your browser that can harm you.
A firewall can help you manage if / when / how your apps can access the net. I completely block some apps, constrict some to wifi and push others to a vpn connection.

If you are rooted and want do dive deeper into AFWall, this article :de: is a good starting point.

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I use 4 Filter Lists:
3 Energized:
Basic, Social and Regional
1 Quidsup
Trackers

In Energized ā€œBasicā€, the most well known lists are included:

Spark + 280blocker, add.207Net, add.Dead, add.Risk, add.Spam, ad-wars, AdGuard Mobile Ads Filter, Mobile Specific & Spyware Firstparty, AntiPopAds, blackbook, EasyList Adservers, EasyPrivacy and Steven Blackā€™s Hosts, AdGuard DNS & Tracking, Anudeepā€™s Adservers, Better.fyi Trackers, Disconnect Advertising Filter List, EasyPrivacy, Hexxium Creations Threat List, hosts-blocklists, KADhosts, neoHosts, and YousList

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Iā€™ve not heard of firewalls that come with built-in adblockers - I donā€™t doubt that they exist, but I like keeping with the Unix philosophy of small, sharp tools. So I prefer a larger number of smaller apps that do specific things really well to a smaller number of multifunctional apps that do multiple things poorly.

From personal experience, I can recommend AdAway for ad blocking - it comes with three preselected block lists that will cover pretty much everything youā€™re likely to run into. You can even set it to update the blocklists automatically, so itā€™s a real ā€˜set it up and forget about itā€™ type deal. I donā€™t ever want to look at any ads and AdAway makes it happen.

A firewall is definitely recommended - there are plenty of apps that have zero reason to connect to the Internet, but still do so. Blocking access helps with privacy and it saves battery. Iā€™ve used AFWall (and DroidWall before that) for years now and it has worked great for all that time. It does require root access.

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I am very happy with Blokada, it is easy to use and does not require much configuration to work well. The only problem is that it blocks login pages of public Wifi networks, and possibly some other things.

AND I use Firefox for Android with uBlock Origin (or AdGuard if that does not work), which usually works fine.

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