Ever since upgrading to Android 4.3 on my S4 on Sprint, I have been noticing that Adaway doesn't work correctly. It either fails, or takes forever to apply the hosts file after it compiles it's list. Adfree however, works fine. Unfortunately, the lists tht adfree use are poorly maintained (or old), and I enjoy the ability to specify which hosts I want included in being blocked.
Is there any alternative to Adaway, or is there some reason why Adaway doesn't want to work correctly on Android 4.3, specifically, my phone? I had been looking into this, but unfortunately, my search results didn't really come back with anything conclusive as to why that may be.
slixzen said:
Ever since upgrading to Android 4.3 on my S4 on Sprint, I have been noticing that Adaway doesn't work correctly. It either fails, or takes forever to apply the hosts file after it compiles it's list. Adfree however, works fine. Unfortunately, the lists tht adfree use are poorly maintained (or old), and I enjoy the ability to specify which hosts I want included in being blocked.
Is there any alternative to Adaway, or is there some reason why Adaway doesn't want to work correctly on Android 4.3, specifically, my phone? I had been looking into this, but unfortunately, my search results didn't really come back with anything conclusive as to why that may be.
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Click to collapse
Hey, try grabbing the 2.8 APK from http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2190753. I've had tons of problems with the version from F-Droid and the Play Store. Apparently, the one compiled by @mrRobinson fixes those issues.
slixzen said:
Ever since upgrading to Android 4.3 on my S4 on Sprint, I have been noticing that Adaway doesn't work correctly. It either fails, or takes forever to apply the hosts file after it compiles it's list. Adfree however, works fine. Unfortunately, the lists tht adfree use are poorly maintained (or old), and I enjoy the ability to specify which hosts I want included in being blocked.
Is there any alternative to Adaway, or is there some reason why Adaway doesn't want to work correctly on Android 4.3, specifically, my phone? I had been looking into this, but unfortunately, my search results didn't really come back with anything conclusive as to why that may be.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you should better consult the adblock advisor which has three unique options to block ads:
1. Ad Block
2. AdGuard
3. Adblock Plus
You can choose one among them for your android. If you still face any difficulties, you can then google and visit their official sites for further information. I hope this will solve your issue. Good luck!
Mother of All Ad-Blocking
More than 15Mb of blocked domains into one signle hosts file and you can add yours if needed.
Good morning .
Sorry for my ignorant question.
I installed ad block plus and its browser aswell to my note 2 phone.
And changed the proxy to local host and port ro 2020.
Still getting ads inside apps and in you tube.
Please help . Or do I have to install some other apps to block ads.
My phone is not rooted.
Thank you.
Sreviz said:
Good morning .
Sorry for my ignorant question.
I installed ad block plus and its browser aswell to my note 2 phone.
And changed the proxy to local host and port ro 2020.
Still getting ads inside apps and in you tube.
Please help . Or do I have to install some other apps to block ads.
My phone is not rooted.
Thank you.
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Click to collapse
Check my thread here. AdBlock Plus does block most ads, but not all. Ensure you have followed everything according to the setup instructions. Maybe try using Adguard as an alternative ad-blocker.
None of those adblockers will block ads on Youtube for non-rooted devices.
OK, I know, some of you would tell my friend to just root the phone, delete the offending APK, and get on with it. Problem is it's under warranty, and he just isn't confident with hacking the device for now. He stumbled upon what appears to be an SMS malware app in /system, and while a few virus scanners flagged it as malicious, Kphone's customer support apparently shrugs it off in a (automated) reply to my friend's inquiry.
My friend bought it off QVC, and so far we haven't succeded in convincing either the manufacturer or QVC in recalling the device and/or issuing an OTA zip to rectify the issue in some way. To put it another way, we need confirmation that the app is of malicious nature, regardless of how the manufacturer tries to downplay or cover things up. I could more or less dechiper the code, but I'm no Java expert so any help would be appreciated.
Hello. I am the OP's friend here. I'm here to share some more details about the APK file and what programs detect it.
First off, this phone piqued my interest when it was actually shown on air late one night on the QVC network, which I don't usually watch much. I got the phone, and upon the recommendation of Blake and another friend, the first thing I did was run Malwarebytes on the Kphone. It initially picked up the APK as a generic SMSSend trojan variant, but after sending in the APK to Malwarebytes for a more detailed analysis, they reclassified it a not-as-severe PUP/Riskware. Another mobile antivirus app, AVG, also detected this APK as an SMSSend variant, but upon rescanning the device a few days ago, it no longer flags this APK. No other AV app I tried flags it, and I have tried ESET, 360 Security, Avast, Kaspersky, Sophos, and Avira. For the AV apps that detected the APK, removal is impossible since it's installed in the system folder. The phone isn't rooted out of the box.
I did initially email QVC about this potential problem, and they claimed to forward my concern to the proper department. I haven't heard from them since and the phone is still listed for sale. I also contacted Kphone's support site. After a few days, they replied back and stated that the file is meant for "international use" and it's a false positive. While the CSR could just be trying to cover up malicious activity, the fact that AVG seems to have removed the file from it's definition files seems to indicate a bit of truth behind their explanation. Even so, we do need a second opinion, which is why my friend put the file up here for further analysis.
It would be a shame too if the file is indeed malicious since the Kphone itself is rather great for the price. The performance and screen are great overall and it would actually make a good Android-based media player if you don't plan on using it as a phone.
wb8976 said:
Hello. I am the OP's friend here. I'm here to share some more details about the APK file and what programs detect it.
First off, this phone piqued my interest when it was actually shown on air late one night on the QVC network, which I don't usually watch much. I got the phone, and upon the recommendation of Blake and another friend, the first thing I did was run Malwarebytes on the Kphone. It initially picked up the APK as a generic SMSSend trojan variant, but after sending in the APK to Malwarebytes for a more detailed analysis, they reclassified it a not-as-severe PUP/Riskware. Another mobile antivirus app, AVG, also detected this APK as an SMSSend variant, but upon rescanning the device a few days ago, it no longer flags this APK. No other AV app I tried flags it, and I have tried ESET, 360 Security, Avast, Kaspersky, Sophos, and Avira. For the AV apps that detected the APK, removal is impossible since it's installed in the system folder. The phone isn't rooted out of the box.
I did initially email QVC about this potential problem, and they claimed to forward my concern to the proper department. I haven't heard from them since and the phone is still listed for sale. I also contacted Kphone's support site. After a few days, they replied back and stated that the file is meant for "international use" and it's a false positive. While the CSR could just be trying to cover up malicious activity, the fact that AVG seems to have removed the file from it's definition files seems to indicate a bit of truth behind their explanation. Even so, we do need a second opinion, which is why my friend put the file up here for further analysis.
It would be a shame too if the file is indeed malicious since the Kphone itself is rather great for the price. The performance and screen are great overall and it would actually make a good Android-based media player if you don't plan on using it as a phone.
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Click to collapse
And it's just as much of a disappointment when similar low-cost Android devices end up being tainted OOB, as what you mentioned on our forum some time ago, and when a friend of mine recalled a tablet belonging to a kid whose parent or relative is a friend of his, to which they had a rather hard time due to the sheer amount of popup ads being shoved up their throats, all thanks to the malware that's present in /system.
Mobile virus scanner apps are ****.
(Atleast most of them.)
I saw 360 security flaged share it.apk as a malware and deleted all my files.
So,I recommend u to get d help of a pc and run a anti-v test.
If it still shows as a malware then disable it from system.
For rooted user's, there's some easy solution like,
delete/freeze/denying permissions.
good luck
BatDroid said:
Mobile virus scanner apps are ****.
(Atleast most of them.)
I saw 360 security flaged share it.apk as a malware and deleted all my files.
So,I recommend u to get d help of a pc and run a anti-v test.
If it still shows as a malware then disable it from system.
For rooted user's, there's some easy solution like,
delete/freeze/denying permissions.
good luck
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The desktop edition of Avast flagged the APK as malicious, so that's one red flag for me.
blakegriplingph said:
The desktop edition of Avast flagged the APK as malicious, so that's one red flag for me.
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Click to collapse
The mobile version of Avast seemed to just scan a handful of apps and did not detect the APK.
The only AV apps on my PC are Windows Defender and the PC version of Malwarebytes. Both don't flag the APK.
If one could take a look at the code and determine what it does, that could give us a better picture as to what the APK does. We did glance at some of the source code and found what appear to be various Chinese phone numbers and a server URL that seems to belong to the manufacturer of the Kphone K5, K-Touch. These can be red flags on their own, and if the rest of the APK code could be better analyzed, the meanings of these strings could be clearer.
wb8976 said:
The mobile version of Avast seemed to just scan a handful of apps and did not detect the APK.
The only AV apps on my PC are Windows Defender and the PC version of Malwarebytes. Both don't flag the APK.
If one could take a look at the code and determine what it does, that could give us a better picture as to what the APK does. We did glance at some of the source code and found what appear to be various Chinese phone numbers and a server URL that seems to belong to the manufacturer of the Kphone K5, K-Touch. These can be red flags on their own, and if the rest of the APK code could be better analyzed, the meanings of these strings could be clearer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I could barely understand what the code does apart from a few functions, but it's still perturbing given the malware my friends and I encountered with no-name tabs previously.
Hello there,
it seems that on the S9+ (and maybe S9, tho users over there report everything is fine) all the VPN-based ad blockers like DNS66, Blokada and the likes do not work correctly. When switching between wifi and mobile, the connection randomly dies, not letting anything through anymore until you restart the phone, or disable the blocker. It is documented in a github issue for DNS66 here. This is annoying, as I found this solution the most user-friendly. I know there is Adhell 3, but a) it's annoying to resign and reinstall every 3 months and apply for new keys and b) it doesn't block everything, not even if I manually feed it with all the hosts files that DNS66 uses. It blocks ads alright, but misses quite some.
Is there any known fix for this, or any other adblock suggestion besides that? I know that rooting and adaway would be best, but I won't root anymore since Samsung here in Europe straight off denies any warranty requests for rooted devices, even if it's got nothing to do with the root itself.
Adguard would a suggestion, but it does use a VPN blocking service for system wide blocking. It's not free and is subscription based. At one time I used adguard over dns66 as adguard worked and dns66 did not (VPN issues with dns66).
For non rooted users there is really no other options. Unless you want to setup a pihole server, somehow get your dns setting on your phone to point to the pihole server and go that route. In the case of dns changes on non-rooted devices it's either a VPN based change or knox. So your options are limited to one or the other. Of course this becomes moot if your plan on only blocking ads when you use a wifi connection.
I've done the pihole route before too, it works but doesn't catch everything. Some ads originate from the same domain as where your visiting, in which case dns adblocking won't work. For those scenarios cosmetic filtering would.
Otherwise I use adhell3 and adblock plus plugin on samsung browser. For practical intents and purposes I steered clear of VPN based setups for a reason. Also I don't mind recompilimg adhell3 once in a while, he's really put a lot of work into making it as simple as possible. I've got my android studio setup so that I just pull the latest changes, build the apk and install.
If adhell3 isn't your cup of tea then the only app I know is Disconnect Pro which costs $24.99 in the galaxy app store. Disconnect Pro functions the same way as Adhell3 does.. as a front end configuration for knox. I've read somewhere that Adhell3 has more features then Disconnect Pro, but I didn't look to much into that to find out what one has over the other.
If I were to suggest something I would suggest adhell3 combined with adblock plus plugin for your browser. combined those work the best for me... some ads might slip through, but dns based ad blocking is not the same as cosmetic ad blocking. Adguard should still do cosmetic filtering, but it's been a while since I used that app.
I am use this one on my S9+, it's free and work fine.
https://block-this.com/
Hello,so just to clarify this. I have already blocked ads online by using adguard in my phones dns setting,but i still have ads creeping in and taking over my social platforms such as my Facebook,Twitter,Instagram and Tumblr accounts eventhough i have done all i can in the apps settings to limit or partly block ads in each.
I still get way too many ads showing up and am tired of trying to block each and every ad that shows. Does anyone know of an effective way to completely block ads EVERYWHERE on Android without having to root my phone first? I am using an Xperia XZ2 running on Android 10. If anyone has a solution that works,please let me know.