In most any browser on Windows, such as Chrome, Firefox, or Edge, finding an ad-blocking extension is a two-click solution. Yet, the process for properly blocking ads on a phone is exponentially more complicated, and the fact that many websites have their own apps such as Youtube mean that you might have to find an ad-blocking solution for each app on a case-by-case approach. Why is this the case?
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Firefox Android let’s you download ublock and dark reader. Those are the only 2 extensions I have.
Everyone should just get a raspberry pi and setup [pihole](https://pi-hole.net/). It’s on the entire network and it grabs most things.
You can install the uBlock extension on mobile Firefox.
You can use Brave browser which already has adblocking.
You can install NetGuard pretty easily as well for systemwide blocking (although annoyingly it means you can’t use another VPN at the same time).
Of course this is all on Android. I assume iPhone is too locked down to do much of anything with. I avoid using my iPhone for anything other than pics/videos, calls, and texts. Although even getting those pics and videos off it is a pain in the ass now.
On PC you view the internet through window. Your browser. Everything you see on the internet you se through that same window. So you can dress it up or down as you like.
On your phone each app is a different window. So if you dress up YouTubes window you’ll have to go do the same to instagram and Reddit….but those windows might be different shapes/sizes and the same dressing won’t work.
Hopefully that makes sense.
Eli5, Computers were made back when people had to actually do technical things on their machines, this means that all the intricate stuff is not hidden away, but actually available if you know how to access it. A computer is essentially a blank canvas, you can do whatever you want on it.
Smartphones came later, when most manual tasks were already automated. So essentially they decided to give you a pre-chewed version of a computer, and hide everything technical.
And to use the drawing/painting analogy again, Apple is like a “fill with color” drawing, everytging is very rigid and you have to follow what Apple wants you to do. Android is more like a “Connect the dots” where it’s working in a certain way but you get to choose the details, and ultimately you can leave the dots hanging and do your thing
If you’re on iOS, I recommend 1Blocker. It’s not hard to install at all and does a wonderful job. The only thing it struggles with are ads on YouTube since that changes very quickly. Bonus point: 1B also blocks in-app trackers, and there’s *a lot* of those.
A web browser is not the same thing as a phone app.
A phone app is a closed system. Unless the app has built-in ad blocking or allows add-ons, ads cannot be blocked.
Web browsers allow extensions. However, the site must be visited within the browser in order to block ads.
If you’ve tried using a browser on a phone and visiting Reddit for example, the site will annoy users constantly to use the “better” phone app. It’s bullshit, because Reddit knows damn well ads cannot be blocked in their phone app.
This ends the ELI5 explanation.
I will continue to cover AdGuard, as it’s one of the best known ad blockers on the market.
iOS users may know of the extension, but this is as far as it goes. It’s not very effective due to the limitations of Apple’s ecosystem. So if you’re using iOS, you have no further options.
Android users can side load the AdGuard app directly onto their phone as Google banned it from its play store given how damn good this thing works.
I won’t go into the nitty-gritty, but AdGuard takes control of your phone so that it checks every outbound IP address of every app. If an address is a known ad CDN, it’s blocked.
Why is this better than an extension? It happens at the phone’s root, a process Google says is “illegal” in their ToS (and this ToS was updated when they saw how AdGuard worked, FYI).
I’ve been using AdGuard for 7+ years and I’ve only seen maybe 3 ads using my apps except those in which the ad is part of the video (nothing can block those – just gotta fast forward).
However, once reported, they’re blocked. AdGuard has an excellent turn around time to block ads reported by users.
I MUST STRESS WITH EXTREME IMPORTANCE TO RESEARCH AND CHECK EVERY APP YOU SIDE LOAD ONTO YOUR PHONE – THIS CAN BE VERY DANGEROUS IF YOU DO NOT DO YOUR HOMEWORK. ALWAYS DOWNLOAD FROM THE APP MAKER’S WEBSITE, AND NOT A THIRD PARTY SITE. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
With that, side loading is easy and safe when you’re ready to install. Android will warn you when you enable the option. Just be sure to disable the option again once the install is complete.
Not plugging AdGuard here (well, much) but if you’re on Android and you’re not using this or another ad blocking app, then you probably weren’t aware you could.
Knowledge is power.
Do what you must. 🙂
Cynical answer:
Because you own your PC, but you do not own your phone. You’re paying for it, but you don’t really own it. That’s on purpose, Apple and Google would rather keep control of your device.
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