We always had the Perfect Adblocker for browsers, but we need the same for our mobile devices too. An ad blocker that adds value without compromising the performance of the browser.
There was a time when advertisements on every website you visit were so annoying and irritating. It didn’t matter how these advertisements were shown to you, either in-line or in the form of pop-ups.
So some people designed adblockers, which made our life so simple. Just install the extension in your browser, and the job is done. It will block all the ads for you.
Then these tools became smarter. They didn’t just block ads, but they also started blocking trackers and malware. These browser extensions do not just block ads, but also provide some sense of security and privacy.
Isn’t it the best solution, a perfect adblocker, to block ads, trackers, and malware, especially on your computers?
But then the whole world turned to mobile devices, and the same solutions were not available for mobile browsers. It was not technically feasible to have extensions for mobile browsers.
Privacy advocates worked on a solution to have privacy-focused browsers e.g. Brave or Firefox Focus. These browsers came with the built-in features of blocking ads, trackers, 3rd party cookies, fingerprinting, etc.
Virtual Private Networks for Privacy
VPNs also became popular with the common public. VPNs not just provided the Virtual Private Network for secured and encrypted communications on the internet, but they also started including features to take the privacy protection to the next level and introduced the same features of blocking ads, malware, stickers, 3rd party cookies, and fingerprinting. But, not everybody wants to use VPNs just to block ads and trackers.
However, all these solutions were lacking something very big.
More and more people started moving to mobile devices. We were overloaded with mobile apps. Therefore the advertisement, tracking industry, and data brokers also moved to mobile apps.
The biggest question became how to stop tracking advertisements within mobile apps or in-app browsers.
None of the existing solutions including VPNs stop the tracking and advertisements, because technically they were not designed to support it.
There was no perfect adblocker available for mobile devices. Especially on mobile devices, you can block ads and trackers if you browsing the internet using mobile-based browsers like Brave and Firefox Focus. But, for everything else including mobile apps, it was not possible to block these unwanted trackers and advertisements.
Blokada
That’s where Blokada pitch in. It blocks advertisements and trackers everywhere including mobile apps. It does the job very effectively.
So, let’s say you are reading news articles using a mobile app like Flipboard or any other news curator/aggregator app. You tend to open the article within the in-app browsers.
If you are using a VPN or adblocker, they are not able to block these ads within the mobile app or in-app browser. Blokada will block these ads, trackers as well.
Another example of in-app advertising is mobile apps for games. We rarely pay for games on mobile. So, how do these apps make money? Either they have an in-app purchase model or in-app advertisements. VPNs and other mobile-based adblockers can’t block these in-app advertisements.
Blokada efficiently blocks ads and trackers everywhere including mobile apps i.e. in-app advertisements.
So, What Is Blokada?
Blokada is a free, secure, and open-source solution for not just adblockers, but also all types of trackers and malware. This is exactly what every privacy-conscious person was looking for, a perfect adblocker for mobile devices.
Blokada is currently available for mobile devices only for both iOS as well as Android.
If you want to efficiently block ads, trackers, malware, save on your data plan, speed up your device, and protect your privacy with just one application, then Blokada is for you. It is free, secure, and open source.
In my earlier post, I talked about the benefits of using 1.1.1.1, just in case you are not interested in using the VPNs services.
1.1.1.1 is the solution for private DNS queries and DNS over HTTPS. Blokada is one-step ahead. Internally it uses the same Cloudflare DNS over HTTPS feature for routing all your DNS requests using the Cloudflare network. In addition to the secured DNS requests, it also works to effectively block ads, trackers, and malware.
If you install Blokada on your device, you don’t need 1.1.1.1 for secured DNS requests.
Blokada works across all of your apps, not just your browser! It doesn’t require root or jailbreak, supports both Wi-Fi and mobile networks, and is perfectly safe and simple to use. Just turn it on, and it will do the job silently!
Where to Download the Perfect Adblocker
iOS
Blokada is available on Apple App Store. Download it, Install It, Enable it and forget about it. It will quietly do its job in the background.
Android
Unfortunately, due to Google’s business model, the full-featured version of Blokada isn’t allowed on Google Play Store. On Google Play Store the slim version of the app is available and it only takes care of secure DNS requests through Cloudflare.
However, the work-around is simple and most android users are already aware of the same.
First, you need to configure your device to allow the installation of apps outside of Google Play. Click here for a short video tutorial. Then, simply click here to download the .apk file for installation on your android device.
For more tech-savvy people, you can install it using F-Droid.
How Blokada is a Pefect Adblocker?
My answer would be to install it and see for yourself. You will never see even a single ad, no matter how you browse the internet and which mobile app you use.
When it comes to its effectiveness, it breaks the core functionality of Facebook. The Facebook mobile app doesn’t work if Blokada is turned ON.
That doesn’t mean that Blokada has the issue. It means that Facebook can’t work unless it can track you for every click.
I haven’t seen issues with any other app. I simply love it for its adblocking capabilities.
It’s the best adblocker I have seen so far, especially for mobile apps and in-app advertising. I couldn’t find a better solution for in-app adblocking and trackers-blocking.
Let us all have a safer, secure, and private Digital Life.
PS: Looking for more privacy-focused browser extensions, you can refer to the best browser extensions to protect your digital privacy.