Re:Pokemon Go, Security, and Obsolescence
by nradov on Sunday October 16, 2016 @12:36PM
(#12719427)
Apple added specific ad blocking features to iOS 9, and I don't think those rely on editing the hosts file. So in principle a similar design could work for Android, although I doubt Google would ever support that.
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Re:Pokemon Go, Security, and Obsolescence
by lern_too_spel on Sunday October 16, 2016 @01:34PM
(#12719767)
Apple added specific ad-blocking features to its browser on iOS 9. There are plenty of browsers that support ad blocking on Android, and they have existed since pretty much the beginning.
It is also possible to block ads in other apps on Android. One way is to use a custom hosts file that blackholes ad-serving domains. The hosts file is stored on a read-only partition for security purposes on most builds of Android, so overwriting it requires root. Another option is to point your phone to a DNS server that does the same thing. This does not require root and works across multiple platforms. Another Android-specific option is to use the VpnService API to implement filtering in an app that does not use root but gets to see all other apps' Internet traffic. There are several apps that do this.