6 Best Ways To Block Ads On Android For Free: Step By Step

The world has known advertisements since 1941. Surprisingly, it aired on New York station WNBC for the promotion of a baseball game. Ever since ads have shown the ability to establish strong communication with the human audience. Hence, ads have become an essential and powerful marketing tool in the digital world.  

As of result, we have ads running for almost everything. No matter which website or app you go through, there’s a pop-up with a selling pitch. And which is why you want to avoid them. At times even we wish to block these ads.

Being familiar with your problem, we have created this guide to block ads on Android phones. Please give it a read and learn the different methods in less than a few minutes.

How to Block Ads on Android

1. Browser-Based Solutions
2. Using Ad Blocking Apps
3. Use Safe Mode to Uninstall Apps
4. Remove Recent Launcher Updates
5. Update DNS servers
6. Block Websites and Apps

How to Block Ads on Android

Browser-Based Solutions

The most common mode of using the internet on Android phones is the browser. Let’s understand how to block ads on different browsers of your device.

Default Mobile Browser

Every Android device is set up with a default internet browsing service. If you are not sure about the default browser on your phone, use these steps:

1. Open the app drawer and type the internet.
2. The search results list the default web browser app(s).

Now with that figured, follow the next steps and apply the ad blocker settings. 

1. Open the default web browser and then its settings.
2. Go to the Advanced settings and search for the Adblocker option.
3. Enable the service as it is by default set to off.

Note: If there isn’t an option that offers an ad-free experience, you can add an extension. Or you can change the default browser in your phone’s settings.

Samsung Web Browser

If you are a Samsung user, you probably use its default web crawler. While it offers one of the best browsing experiences, it can also help you deal with ad blocker services.

Yet, the catch is that you’ll have to install a compatible extension for the same. This is because Samsung’s web browser does not itself blocks these pop-ups or the video ads. 

You can follow the steps below for the installation of adblocking third-party apps:

1. Open the Samsung Internet browser on your Android device and open its settings. You can use the three dots in the bottom left corner of the screen.
2. This will open a pop-up. Click on the Add-ons option.
3. This will open a different screen with a list of all the good blockers. 
4. Next, tap on the download button of your preferred choice. This will trigger the download & installation of the app.  

Note: Samsung also supports Adblock for Samsung Internet. You can enable it if you don’t want to rely on third-party apps.

Chrome Web Browser

Chrome is undoubtedly among the widely used web browsers. Be it for Android users or desktop browsers. Let’s head to stopping the ads here for a smooth browsing experience.

1. Open the Chrom web app and locate the burger menu, i.e., the three dots on the top left corner to open its settings.
2. Explore the Advanced settings option to locate the Site Settings option. Tap it to open its settings.
3. Next, click on Pop-ups & Redirects and toggle on the Ads button. And you are about to be good with your browsing experience.

Lite Mode in Chrome Browser

Surprised as you might be, the Chrome app offers a lite version of itself. It was earlier called Data saver, which might ring a bell for you.

Anyways, it focuses on consuming less internet bandwidth. At the same time, it can help you deal with some pop-ups. Here’s how you can activate and use it:

1. Open the Google Chrome browser app and go to settings.
2. Explore the Advanced settings to locate the Lite mode option.
3. Click on it to open a new screen with a toggle to turn on the mode.
4. And that is it.

Since Chrome Lite uses less data, it is safe to say it’ll load fewer ads than the full-fledged version. 

Firefox browser

Mozilla Firefox is also among the top-rated web browsers around the globe. If none of the above browser-based tricks has worked for you, you can try this one too. Or you can enhance your browsing experience with Firefox using the steps below: 

1. Open the Firefox browsing app and tap on the three dots in the bottom left to open its menu.
2. Tap on Settings and locate the Enhanced Tracking Protection option. 
3. Click on it to open the different modes of protection. 
4. Select the Strict option to reduce the number of ads popping up. 

Note: It is good to login into the browser for a better browsing experience. But, with the Strict mode on, it may affect certain app features.

2. Using Ad Blocking Apps

It is a common scenario for browsing a topic and finding a relevant link. But as soon as you open to reading the contents, ads come up and offer you something irrelevant. And we can relate to how much you want these ads to go away and let you focus on your task. 

One way to achieve this peace is through ad-blocking apps. As a fact, quite a few are available in the Google play store. You can try the top-rated ones with a high number of downloads. Make sure you check beforehand if these third-party apps offer a free or a paid service.

3. Use Safe Mode to Uninstall Apps

Another reason you are facing more ads than usual is that you’ve got an app causing it. Sounds intriguing? It is. 

It might have happened that you were trying a new app, and it does additional tasks in the background. This can include activity trackers for your internet activity and then sharing it.

Or there were recent privacy changes in your Android phone, and there’s an unwanted app on the phone. Either way, apps can trigger these irrelevant ad pop-ups. 

But you can combat them using the built-in safe mode of your Android device. In this mode, you only use your phone with the default apps. So, you can try accessing the internet and test if you are still getting the same number of ads. 

To enter the safe mode, try these:

1. Long press the power button to get the restart option on the screen.
2. Press the screen’s power off/restart button, and it will ask to switch to safe mode.
3. Confirm your choice and test your device.

4. Remove Recent Launcher Updates

A launcher is an internal setting or an external app that can help your Android device with a new layout. There are many apps available in the Google Play store that offer enhanced designs.

While this can change the layout, it can adversely affect the battery life. At the same time, it can make you deal with unwanted ads. In such cases, removing them is the best choice. But before you uninstall it, make sure you update your device’s launcher to its default one.

This will ensure that all hidden files are removed when uninstalling the app. Hence, freeing you from pop-ups such as Youtube video ads. 

5. Update DNS servers

Updating the DNS server settings on your Android phone is another way to block ads. The catch is that this Private DNS setting was introduced in Android version 9. Hence, this step will only work for you if your has Android Pie or higher versions.

Follow these steps to update the DNS request servers:

1. Open the Settings app on your phone and look for the sub-menu Network and Internet.
2. Explore the advanced settings under this and open it.
3. It should have the Private DNS setting under its hood.
4. Note: If this doesn’t work for your Android version, you can try and search Private DNS in the search bar. This will directly take you to the DNS settings. 
5. Once you select Private DNS, you’ll need to enter an address. You can try any of the following for it to work:

Once again, they can only reduce the number of pop-ups you see on your browsing screen.

6. Block websites and apps 

Another way to block ads on your Android phone is to block particular website redirects. Say you are browsing the internet and accidentally click on an ad. Most commonly, that ad links you to a website or a webpage. And due to that click, you are redirected to that linked page.

But at times, you might begin to see a repeated number or type of websites in redirects. Thus, one way to avoid this is to activate pop-ups and redirect settings on your phone. At the same time, you can also add such websites to the blocked sites list of your chosen web browser.

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