A program that blocks ads. Ad blocking on Android

08/12/18 13.4K

Below is a list of the best free ad blockers. But none of them is perfect, so it is most effective to use several solutions at once.

Types of Advertising

When choosing the best blockers, we adhered to the following criteria:

  • Completely free;
  • Good user ratings;
  • No need to register account for use;
  • Recently updated (within the last 12 months);
  • Implementation as a plugin for at least one browser or operating system;
  • Blocks “display ads” (pop-ups, banners, videos, static images, wallpapers, text ads);
  • Blocks advertisements in videos (for example, on YouTube).

To test blockers, we used several sites with different types advertisements. Among them: Forbes.com, Fark.com, YouTube and OrlandoSentinel.com.
On Orlando Sentinel, we found aggressive ad formats that most ad blockers cannot block. In fact, only a few of them effectively blocked all ads shown on the Orlando Sentinel.

We've tested each of these free tools based on the criteria provided and given them a rating. In addition, the ad blockers listed below, with the exception of Stend Fair Adblocker, are software open source.

The best ad blockers - browser plugins and applications

The best option for blocking ads is to install a specialized plugin or use a browser with a built-in blocker. They interact with sites much more accurately than standalone programs running in the background on your computer.

Stands Fair AdBlocker
It is only available for browser Google Chrome. With this plugin you can block all types of advertising. But it is only available as an add-on for the Google Chrome browser.
Stands Fair AdBlocker is not designed to block ad blocks, although it can be used for that as well. The development company believes in honest advertising and rewards users who create white lists of ads shown on sites.


Luckily, Stands does a great job of blocking all other ads. Including the aggressive advertising formats shown on the Orlando Sentinel. Plus display ads, autoplay videos, and YouTube ads.

Rating: 7/7

Key Benefits: Block ads on Facebook and Google search.

Works with: Google Chrome

AdBuard AdBlock
AdGuard AdBlock was able to block all types of ads. But the biggest disadvantage of this ad blocker is that all the features are only available in the premium version. However, the difference between blocker versions is explained only in the reference documentation.


Many users have rated AdBuard AdBlock positively. It has been downloaded over 4 million times and received high ratings.
When we tested it, it was one of the ad blockers that not only effectively blocked ads shown on the Orlando Sentinel website, but also blocked advertising frames with the word “advertisement.”

Rating: 7/7

Key Benefits: Possibility to convert whitelist to blacklist.

Works with: Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera, Microsoft Edge, Yandex.Browser.

Opera Browser
One of the fastest and most productive browsers. He was one of the first to offer his users a built-in ad blocker.


Once you enable the ad blocker in your settings, it blocks almost every ad you come across. But the browser was unable to block interstitial ads on the Forbes website (blocks of quotes that appear before articles). Most other ad units were blocked.
In addition, the Opera ad blocker successfully blocked advertisements shown on the Orlando Sentinel.

Rating: 7/7

Key Benefits: built into a popular browser, easy whitelisting.

Works: with Opera.

Adblock Plus
Is the most popular ad blocking software with over 10 million downloads in the Google Chrome browser alone. This is a free and open source project. Adblock Plus is the basis for many other free blockers.


By default, Adblock Plus is designed to only block ads that are considered intrusive or potentially harmful. Therefore, it requires additional configuration.
If you want to block most ads (including auto-playing videos), you'll need to disable the "Allow some non-intrusive ads" option in Settings. But even in this case, ABP does not block everything.

Adblock Plus was one of the tools that failed to do anything about the ads shown on the Orlando Sentinel. Unfortunately, even the “element blocking” function could not help. ABP is good and popular, but far from perfect.

Rating: 6.5 / 7

Key Benefits: presence of anti-blocking filter.

Works with: Google Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge, Internet Explorer, Opera, Safari, Yandex Browser, iOS, Android.

uBlock AdBlocker Plus
Unlike other tools, uBlock AdBlocker Plus is easy to use. However, there are some things that the developer could improve. For example, the blocker's website is just a page with the name of the plugin and no additional information.

Block AdBlocker Plus effectively blocks most advertisements, but still lets some through. For example, it did not block the automatic playback of advertising on one of the sites.


When some advertisements were loading, I used the "element blocking" feature to block specific advertisements on the webpage. For example, on the Orlando Sentinel, element blocking worked fine. And its use did not lead to a page reload (as was the case with other ad blockers).

Rating: 6.5 / 7

Key Benefits: easy to use, ability to lock elements.

Works with: Google Chrome.

uBlock Plus Adblocker
The biggest drawback of this plugin is that it has a clunky interface. There are several settings that are activated using switches. But most of the work involves digging into the parameters. However, uBlock Plus Adblocker effectively blocked all advertisements, including autoplay videos.


The main advantage of the plugin is the presence of a large library of third-party filters. The tool also includes advanced custom settings that allow you to create your own content filters.
During testing, uBlock Plus Adblocker blocked most advertisements. But I couldn't do anything about the banner ads shown on the Orlando Sentinel.

Rating: 6.5 / 7

Key Benefits: filters elements and unsafe advertisements.

Works with: Google Chrome.

AdBlocker Genesis Plus
If you have used uBlock Origin or AdBlock Plus, this plugin is for you. AdBlocker Genesis Plus is a fork of other popular plugins. It uses the same basic source code, but implements many of its own features.

Its user interface is slightly different, but the ad blocking functionality is the same. The plugin's developer claims to have specifically removed tracking code from the uBlock/AdBlock Plus source code to ensure greater privacy.


This ad blocker has a high rating (4.34 out of 5) based on over 100,000 ratings. But I found that Genesis Plus doesn't block all ads. The plugin blocked simple display ads on one site (Fark.com), but was unable to block a display ad on the Orlando Sentinel.

Rating: 6/7

Key Benefits: no tracking code, simple whitelist button, block items button.

Works with: Google Chrome.

Adblock Ultimate
Open source project. The tool allows you to deal with most advertisements. In testing, it was able to block YouTube ads and most display ads on websites. This ad blocker has high ratings: 4.84 out of 5 from Google Chrome users and over 600,000 installations.


The plugin was unable to handle the ads shown on the Orlando Sentinel. It did not block ads broadcast on this site at all. But for those who only need to cut out most of the ads, this is a good option. Unfortunately, the plugin has not been updated for over a year. Because of this, his rating was lowered.

Rating: 6/7

Key Benefits: Quick “item blocking” feature that allows you to instantly block any advertisements.

Works with: Google Chrome.

NoScript

This tool is only suitable for Firefox and to a greater extent is a script blocker, not an ad blocker. NoScript prevents all types of scripts from loading on web pages: JavaScript, Java, Flash and others. You can allow certain types of scripts to be loaded. But by default, the tool applies a fairly “hard” filter.


As a result of its work, most display ads are blocked. This includes aggressive advertising on the Orlando Sentinel, which other tools could not cope with. But NoScript does not block ads in videos at all.

Rating: 5.5/7

Key Benefits: Complete blocking of scripts.

Works with: Firefox.

Why aren't Privacy Badger and Ghostery on this list?

You may have heard about the popular ad blockers Privacy Badger and Ghostery. The fact is that these plugins are not designed to block ads, but to refuse ads and other elements of sites that violate user privacy. As a result, they both block certain types of advertisements. But first and foremost, the tools are aimed at protecting privacy.

This means that by using any of these plugins, you will not see the ads you may be interested in. They also provide limited control over what types of ads are blocked. And given their “good advertising” policy, you won’t be able to block a certain part of the ads at all.

Google Chrome Ad Blocker

Despite the loud statements of Google developers, the built-in Chrome ad blocker is not capable of much. While testing it, we found that it skips almost all advertisements.
At the same time, control of the built-in blocker is very limited. Even finding a site that had ads blocked was a challenge. And since Chrome's ad blocker is designed to block certain types of advertisements, most of them are not intercepted.


Google's ad blocker looks like a fake. Perhaps its appearance has forced some sites to remove particularly intrusive advertising. But you will not be able to use this tool for full blocking.

A note about ad blocking and site revenue

Users hate advertising for several reasons:

  • It may slow down page loading;
  • Many ads are intrusive and annoying;
  • Advertising often does not meet the interests of users;
  • Ads may interrupt the viewing experience (particularly on video streaming sites such as Hulu or Crunchyroll);
  • Many advertisements contain tracking code that sends information about user behavior to third parties.

The quality of the ads shown has become so bad that even Google has started using an ad blocker in its Chrome browser. But Google's intentions. The company owns a large advertising division and, most likely, Chrome does not block AdSense ads.
The advertisements shown to us have various disadvantages. And they can be used to spread computer viruses by hackers.

Before installing any of the blockers, keep in mind that the sites you visit often rely on advertising revenue to survive. Profit received from broadcasting advertising still remains the main source of income for many Internet resources. For recent years the use of ad blockers caused sites to lose $15.8 billion in revenue.
"White list" is good way Ensure that the sites you love earn advertising revenue. Even if you never click on the ads, they still earn early income from ad views.

This publication is a translation of the article “ 10 best free ad blockers to remove ads and popups", prepared by the friendly project team

Good Bad

Often, everyone who uses the Internet has experienced inconvenience caused by advertising and pop-ups in.

It doesn’t matter whether you are an advanced Internet user or just like to chat with friends on the Internet after work or find a recipe for apple strudel, but advertising windows are in the way you can quickly and easily get what you need. Speeding up the Internet by increasing traffic is useless and ineffective.


Adblock browser extension

Adblock – browser extension To protect you from intrusive advertising when browsing the Internet, a bonus of this program is the ability to work with many browsers: , and others.

Chrome app

Firefox app

Advantages and capabilities of Adblock

But in order to protect your data when working online, completely get rid of advertising, including in video format, not see advertising in applications installed on your PC, and also eliminate the possibility of “reading” your search queries and, how As a result, to protect yourself from viral advertising, you need more advanced protection. Will cope with this task successfully Adblock app.

Blocking video ads

For the Adblock application, blocking pop-up ads, even video ads, is not a problem. The browser extension is not able to distinguish regular videos from advertising on the Youtube website, and therefore is not able to make video loading on this site faster.

Adblock app can read and block video ads, which significantly speeds up the loading of the necessary videos.

Benefits of working with Adguard

You can check out detailed information about the application and see its benefits. Like regular browser extensions, Adblock blocks requests for advertising materials, and also processes sites using CSS to hide elements that the application has blocked.

If you are interested not only in ad blocking, but also in more secure Internet surfing and networking, then you simply need to additionally download the Adguard application.


This application is subject to not only blocking pop-ups in firefox and yandex, but also an advertising filter that starts working even before opening the page. This pop-up advertising program can remove windows with advertisements in applications on your computer.

You can also remove pop-up windows using browser Adblock extensions Plus 2019, but Adguard can give you more - protection from malicious sites, as well as getting rid of remote tracking of your computer or mobile device, which guarantees you reliable protection of your personal data.

Parental Controls

Take care to protect not only your personal data, but also the protection of children while they are on the Internet. Advertising windows pop up – that’s not so bad; the safety of children on the Internet is something worth thinking about. The Adguard application will easily solve this situation - "Parental Control" function will hide unwanted information.

In addition to all the included advantages, there is a simple and intuitive application interface.

Adblock for other operating systems

We learned how to remove pop-up ads in Opera, Chrome and any other browser. But the software Windows is not the only platform this application works with. How to remove a pop-up window when browsing the Internet and applications on operating systems Mac, iOS And Android?

Filtering ads when working on the Internet and in mobile applications and games, protecting personal data, speeding up web pages and applications - and a lot of other excellent functions that Adguard provides to its users.

Starting with the version 14.2, Yandex.Browser introduced catalog of recommended Extensions. This catalog provides on default the free Adguard ad blocking extension. Currently this is the one and only recommended adblock extension for Yandex.Browser, which can remove ads, block pop-ups and control your safety in the Internet.

The main features of the Adguard extension are adblocker, antiphishing and antitracking. With such a wide range of possibilities, your extension will block all the advertising in search engines, as well as in webpages. For example, video ads blocking on Youtube or removing the ads in social networks.

Adguard fully removes annoying banners, blocks pop-ups and intrusive ads. You can block separate elements through the extension menu by clicking on “Block ad on this website”. Internet without ads will work faster. Moreover Adguard uses less memory and CPU – much fewer than other adblock browser extensions. This will increase work efficiency in browser.

In the extension settings you can enable the suitable filters and configure the parameters such as blocking of contextual ads, automatic activation of most appropriate filters and others. You can also add websites that you consider trustworthy to the white list.

Filter database of the extension is being updated daily as well as the list of checked websites. Using the antiphishing function Adguard checks websites in blacklists and blocks access to malware and phishing sites. You can check website’s reputation manually. To do so you need to click the extension icon on the browser toolbar and click on “Website security report”.

Free Adguard extension is very easy to activate. As we already mentioned the extension against ads is presented in catalog of recommended extensions, in version 14.2 of Yandex.Browser. To activate it you need to click on Extensions.

In the category “Internet security” of the opened catalogue, you will see Adguard extension. Activate it by switching to “On”.

Enjoy working in Yandex.Browser without any ads.

If for some reason our adblock for Yandex.Browser does not suit you - you can continue to search among other ad blocking extensions, for example – Adblock Plus / ABP, Ad Muncher and others.

Operating System:

AdGuard for Windows provides you with reliable and manageable protection that filters loading web pages immediately without any action on your part. AdGuard removes all annoying ads and pop-ups, blocks dangerous websites, and does not allow anyone to track your activities on the Internet.

Operating Systems Windows XP SP3, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, 10
RAM from 512mb
Web Browsers Microsoft Edge, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Opera, Yandex Browser, Mozilla Firefox and others
Free Disk Space 50mb

AdGuard for Mac is the first adblocker developed specifically for macOS. Not only does it block ads and annoying pop-ups in all browsers, but it also protects you from online trackers and dangerous websites. AdGuard offers you a simple and intuitive interface with additional features such as AdGuard Assistant and a filtering log.

Operating Systems macOS 10.10 (64 bit) +
RAM from 512mb
Web Browsers Safari, Google Chrome, Opera, Yandex browser, Mozilla Firefox and others
Free Disk Space 60mb

AdGuard for Android provides you with reliable and manageable protection. AdGuard removes all the annoying ads from web pages and applications, blocks loading of dangerous websites, and does not allow anyone to track your activities on the Internet. AdGuard stands out against its analogues, as it can work either in HTTP proxy or VPN mode.

Operating Systems Android 4.0.3+
RAM from 700mb
Free Disk Space 30mb

AdGuard for iOS is an app that protects you from annoying ads in Safari. Moreover, it prohibits online tracking and secure privacy of your personal data. After downloading the app, you get an ad-free and safe internet experience, where websites open much faster. Try now and enjoy a better web-surfing experience on your iPhones and iPads.

Compatibility Requires iOS 10.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPad Air, iPad Air Wi-Fi + Cellular, iPad mini 2, iPad mini 2 Wi-Fi + Cellular, iPad Air 2, iPad Air 2 Wi-Fi + Cellular, iPad mini 3, iPad mini 3 Wi-Fi + Cellular, iPad mini 4, iPad mini 4 Wi-Fi + Cellular, iPad Pro, iPad Pro Wi-Fi + Cellular, and iPod touch (6th generation) .
Web Browsers Safari
Free Disk Space 24.4mb

Are you looking for a way to permanently remove ads from your browser for free without registration or SMS :)? He is. This is a simple and common plugin called Adblock. More precisely, there is not one, but two popular versions of this extension, as well as several ad blockers with similar functionality. There are versions for the Yandex browser, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Internet Explorer, Safari and other less popular ones. If these extensions do not help, most likely, your computer is already infected with a virus, and in order to eliminate it, you will have to work hard, but first things first.

Browser ad blockers

There are several types of ad blockers. The most popular and easiest to use are undoubtedly Adblock and Adblock Plus. Also, there are less common, but no less effective: uBlock, Adguard, Ghostery, Privacy Badger, Disconnect.

Adblock installation


Control occurs using a button in the control panel and LMB (Left Mouse Click) and RMB (Right Mouse Click) on it.

You can turn it on and off certain types advertising, include sites in exclusion lists. All controls are easy and intuitive. You can disable unwanted objects on the page.

The settings look like this


As you can see, by default the option to display unobtrusive advertising is left. This means that advertisements that do not take up a lot of space and are marked as “advertising” will not be blocked. In principle, you don’t have to change the settings, and everything will work as it should, as they say, out of the box.


Website: https://adblockplus.org/ru

Description: A browser extension that completely blocks all annoying ads on websites, including Youtube and Facebook ads, share and like buttons, as well as spyware and malware.
On my own behalf, I’ll add that there is localization of the site into Russian, unlike the same. For me, this says something.

Supported Browsers:

  • Chrome (on the WebKit engine: Yandex Browser, Google Chrome and the like)
  • Mozilla Firefox
  • Opera
  • Internet Explorer
  • Safari
  • Maxthon
  • Microsoft Edge

There is a mobile browser of our own production for Android and iOS - Adblock Browser.

Installation is also done in one click. As you can see, you can select your browser from the list

Management and configuration are also done using LMB and RMB on the button that will appear in the control panel (to the right of the URL input field) after installing the extension.

And here's what the settings look like from the inside

As you can see, in general, the essence is similar to Adblock: unobtrusive advertising is allowed, there is a white list of domains (a list of allowed domains, for which Adblock Plus is disabled). There are personal filters, where you can set your own parameters for what exactly needs to be blocked on sites (in general, an option for advanced users).
A warning has been issued that filter lists should not be too large, otherwise it may significantly slow down the browser.

In general, these are the two most popular methods for blocking unwanted content on sites, and they are more than enough for almost all occasions. Use them and do not forget to include useful sites in the list of allowed domains.

Description: the original Adguard is a firewall with the ability to filter ads and prevent phishing at the network level, that is, incoming traffic is processed before it reaches the browser. This is its advantage over Adblock and other browser extensions. It is possible to install the Mac version, as well as Android and iOS mobile devices.
Adguard firewall is paid, but the cost is far from prohibitive, around a couple of hundred rubles per year. For this you get a full-fledged commercial product with 24/7 support, ready to use right out of the box.

If you don't want to pay, there are extensions Adguard Anti-banner for different types of browsers.

Supported Browsers

  • Google Chrome
  • Yandex Browser
  • Mozilla Firefox
  • Opera
  • Palemoon

What can we say - Adguard in comparative tests with uBlock, Adblock, Adblock Plus showed itself to be far from the worst. And blocking ads on mobile phones, in my opinion, is quite a useful feature, which is not provided at the proper level by all available ones. free applications. And here, for a meager fee, a complete set with guaranteed service and support. In general, Adguard is an option for those who value their time and money.


Website: https://www.ublock.org/
Description: a relatively young, but very promising extension for blocking ads on a website. The main advantage of uBlock over Adguard, Adblock and Adblock Plus, its authors call the very low processor load and memory consumption for the plugin to work. For clarity, comparison in memory consumption

As you can see, uBlock consumes almost no RAM, its level remains almost at the same level as in the absence of blockers

Things get even more interesting when it comes to CPU load.

Here it is clearly visible that uBlock leaves its competitors far behind. In general, if you use Adblock or Adblock Plus, and because of them your browser is slow, I advise you to try uBlock, it may be what you need

Supported Browsers:

  • Chrome (Webkit: Google Chrome, Yandex Browser)
  • Mozilla Firefox
  • Safari

Installation:


uBlock is very similar to Adblock and Adblock Plus - the same white list, list of filters used, the ability to add your own. It is possible to import and export settings, so you can easily transfer all your settings to another machine and will not lose them when you reinstall the operating system.

Control is done using LMB and RMB on the button that will appear in the browser control panel.

Settings: Third-party filters - check RUS: BitBlock List and RUS: RU AdList.

Then you need to update the filters (find the Update Now button). The setup is complete.

Another point - some sites have scripts in their arsenal to detect and bypass Adblock and Adblock Plus. uBlock has an interesting Anti-Adblock Killer mechanism - it is a detector of sites with similar anti-blockers. With the help of this anti-block killer uBlock finds such sites and forcibly cuts out advertising on them. So, here's another plus for using this interesting plugin. Try it.

Description: the main task of the extension is to search and suppress hidden spy scripts built into the code of website pages, and suspicious objects. Also knows how to block aggressive advertising

Supported Browsers

  • Mozilla Firefox
  • Google Chrome
  • Yandex Browser
  • Opera
  • Safari
  • Internet Explorer


Website: https://www.eff.org/privacybadger

Description: essentially similar to Ghostery, functionality and mission are generally the same as most similar blockers

Supported Browsers

  • Mozilla Firefox
  • Google Chrome
  • Yandex Browser

Description: software that is no exception among its own kind. Detects and suppresses surveillance, including from social networks, cuts advertising, reports on the work done, and does it well. This becomes especially clear in light of the fact that the author of the extensions is a former Google employee

Supported Browsers

  • Mozilla Firefox
  • Google Chrome
  • Yandex Browser
  • Opera

If Adblock doesn't help

If you already have an ad blocker, but pop-up windows with annoying VKontakte ads and other nonsense have not disappeared, I have bad news for you - most likely you have caught a virus or a Trojan. But don’t despair, every problem has its own solution.

Alternatively, you can start scanning your computer with 2 free utilities, from Kaspersky and Dr.Web:

And even if a regular antivirus did not help, special utilities for combating Spyware, Mailware and similar evil spirits will probably be able to help you. One of these programs can be downloaded here - https://www.malwarebytes.org/products/.
After scanning the system, all suspicious objects are sent to quarantine. If useful files are sent there by mistake, they can be restored.

Also where to look:

The above measures should be enough to eliminate problems with pop-up advertising windows.

How to use Adblock correctly

As you know, advertising is the engine of trade, and without the market we would be deprived of adequate prices for goods and services. Therefore, not all advertising is bad. In addition, advertising on a site is often the only source of profit on which the site lives and develops, and there are many of them on the Internet. I understand that some webmasters, in pursuit of profit, forget about the boundaries of what is reasonable, plastering the site with advertising like Christmas tree garlands. Yes, there are doorway developers and those who do not shun the spread of viruses and Trojans, and here adblock will definitely help you. But there are also good, useful sites with unobtrusive advertising that you visit regularly, and which grow and develop thanks to the advertising placed on them. I’m not advocating that you stop using Adblock completely, but don’t forget to add useful resources to your ad blocker’s exclusion list, thereby thanking the authors for their efforts to create quality content.