Wifi Network
How to block ads with AdGuardHome (adblocker)?
Published on: 13-11-2023 / Modified: 13-11-2023
I usually test hardware (smartphones, projectors,...) and quite rarely software but I sometimes make an exception when I have something interesting to share. Are you tired of seeing ads all over the internet? I'm going to show you an easy-to-use solution that can truly change your online experience. You probably know Adblock or Adblock Plus that you need to install on your browser. This product works very well but it is limited to the browser on which you installed it. There is something better!
With AdGuardHome, you have the ability to block ads on all devices connected to your home network...all of them! If your smartphone is connected to your wifi, AdGuardhome can block ads on your smartphone automatically without having to do anything. In addition to blocking ads, AdGuardhome can also act as a parental control, block services, monitor all activity on your home network, and enforce rules on a device-by-device basis.
Before explaining to you how to do it, I just wanted to take a little “ethical” detour about advertising. Advertising is a legitimate way of making money on the internet but only when it is used adequately. Unfortunately today it is used in every possible way up to the point of destroying your online experience. I sometimes visit sites with a large audience with my smartphone where I just have a narrow horizontal strip to display the content of the page, the rest is advertising with a succession of pop-ups. When I visit this type of site, I have the impression of visiting a site through the opening a mailbox. With AdGuardhome, this is history!
You might think that I'm shooting myself in the foot by encouraging you to use AdGuardHome when I could make money from advertising on my site...yes that's true, except that I made the choice not to display any advertising on my site.
Introducing AdGuardhome
I have two different installations of AdGuardHome, one under Raspberry Pi and another under Windows. I simply wanted to test the product on different platforms. I mainly use the version on Raspberry, I have also been using AdGuardHome for several years on the same Raspberry Pi 4 which runs 24/7!
Interface
The main interface under Raspberry is quite simple, it is a local web page giving access to all the product's functionalities. On the dashboard, you'll find the total traffic circulating on your network divided into number of requests (240,642 in my example) and how many of these requests were filtered and for what reason.
We see here, for example, that 1,269 requests were blocked and those blocks mainly correspond to blocked ads or marketing services that are invisible to you but collect behavioral data. The percentage may seem low but in reality it is much higher. Why? For 2 reasons. The first is that a large part of the traffic on my network is generated by scripts which communicate with my site to, for example, fetch the prices of all the products that I test. This traffic does not generate any ads but generates a large number of requests. The other reason is more stupid, I had done some tidying up in the cupboard containing the Raspberry and I did not realize that I had unplugged it by mistake.
We also see 19 blocked requests from adult sites. Believe it or not, I haven't visited a single adult site. Why do I have these blocked requests? These are coming from sites I have visited that use trackers used by adult sites to better target you later. So you might visit a site that has nothing to do with adult content but hosts a data collection script for an adult site. AdGuardHome will block these requests for you and this will prevent you from one day receiving adult advertising on certain sites you visit.
I have a counter that remains at 0, this is the counter for phishing. I have not been the victim of a phishing attempt or interaction with malware. This is another feature of AdGuardHome, it not only blocks ads, it also blocks a whole range of threats across your entire network.
Here's the source of ad blocking filters on AdGuardHome:
You can then access a report listing all the sites that have been visited from your network and see what has been blocked. The choice to block sites or services is by default made by AdGuardHome, but if you see requests that look suspicious, you can block them manually. For example, I've blocked all kinds of trackers to avoid sharing my data with sites I've never visited
Access to this traffic report is also interesting for finding out what your children are doing on the Internet. You won't actually be able to see what they're reading or saying, but you will be able to see which sites they're using and how often. This brings me to another AdGuardHome feature: the parental control
Through these automatically updated filters, AdGuardHome also offers a parental control that blocks access to adult sites. You don't have to indicate which sites you want to block, it's automatic. If you want to block adult sites for your children and not for yourself, that's possible too, as the rules can be applied differently to each device connected to the network
Here's an example:
Here we see the configuration for my Nvidia Shield (Android game console). I haven't blocked anything, but I could set it up so that it's not filtered at all, but I could also block certain more specific services like these:
If you want to block access to a particular device for YouTube, TikTok or any of the other sites on the list, all you have to do is activate the block and the device in question will no longer be able to access the service. I think this is a really powerful feature, so useful that I think it should be available to everyone!
All the devices connected to your network are automatically displayed in AdGuardHome, so you don't have to do anything to add them. Simply click on the device of your choice and apply the rules of your choice
If you want detailed statistics per device, however, you'll need to configure each device separately so that AdGuardHome can recognize them and classify traffic in a separate category
Facebook and YouTube continue to serve ads despite filtering. I've played a bit with filtering to isolate requests to display advertising, but I haven't managed to eliminate them all. On a Windows PC, I manage to block a few YouTube and Facebook ads, but not all. On a smartphone, however, all the ads are displayed without any intervention from AdGuardHome.
Settings
There's a lot to play with in the settings section, but you don't have to go there. I think that only technical profiles would venture there, so I'll just summarize the possibilities:
- filter update frequency
- browser security
- parental controls
Examples
Blocking ads is all very well, but do you realize the impact it has on your daily life? I'll take an example that's honestly not the worst I could find:
3 ads on the first screen on the left without AdGuardHome, no ads on the second. The price comparison is part of the site's content and seems perfectly legitimate to me
Beyond the visual aspect, you also have to realize another reality:
The number of requests made by these ads and other marketing services is gigantic, we're talking here about over 3,000 requests on one page with requests that are repeated to refresh the ads. The result is a page size above 18 MB. With AdGuardHome, these 18 Mb become 10 Mb, saving you almost 50% of the data to download. The number of requests falls below 100, with many requests not succeeding because they're blocked.
So AdGuardHome not only brings visual benefits, it also significantly reduces the amount of data you download and the pages you visit are faster.
Types of installation
There are several ways to install / use AdGuardHome depending on your level and expectations, I'll start with the simplest and move on to the most complicated
Local installation
Whether you're using a Windows or MacOs computer, an iOS or Android smartphone, you can install AdGuardHome on your device in much the same way as you would install a program or app
For smartphones, simply download AdGuardHome from your app provider (Play Store or Apple Store). Once the app is installed, ads will be blocked without having to modify anything on your phone. This will work no matter what type of connection you're using, whether you're on wifi or the mobile network, AdGuardHome will protect you
For computers, it's the same principle: simply download AdGuardHome onto your computer and do the same on your mobile. There is however a catch here, you need to purchase a license to use AdGuardHome to its full potential. This license can be used for several devices
Network installation
So far, AdGuardhome is an interesting solution, but there are others that do the same thing. The real value of AdGuardHome is the ability to filter all your home network traffic. There are several ways of doing this, and I'm going to focus on two that use the same technique:
On Raspberry Pi:
If you've got a Raspberry Pi, you can install a totally free version of AdGuardHome (and that alone is very interesting). It's easy enough to install:
The project is freely available here: AdGuardHome Github
To download AdGuardHome
cd
wget 'https://static.adguard.com/adguardhome/release/AdGuardHome_linux_armv6.tar.gz'
tar -f AdGuardHome_linux_armv6.tar.gz -x -v
To install:
cd ./AdGuardHome/
sudo ./AdGuardHome -s install
Once installed, you need to start the service and remember to do so after every reboot or crash
AdGuardHome -s start
Once installation is complete, note the IP address of your Raspberry and make sure it doesn't change (via your router configuration). Using this IP address, you need to send your router's DNS resolution to the Raspberry's IP address. This will redirect all your traffic to the Raspberry before it reaches your devices. At first I thought this would slow down my connection, but it doesn't
The Raspberry version is more complete than the Windows version, offering more setting options, but if you don't want to bother with all that, the Windows version will do the job just fine too. The most complex thing will be pointing DNS requests from your router to the machine where AdGuardHome is installed, which will depend on your router.
The advantage of installing on a Raspberry is that this type of machine consumes very little energy, and you can leave it running all day long without it handicapping you in using your computer. A Windows installation, on the other hand, will be more restrictive, as you'll have to leave your computer on all the time. I have a very simple suggestion for this: I use a Mini PC that cost 69€ and consumes just a little more power than the Raspberry, but offers far more power.
My opinion
As you'll have gathered from this article, I'm very happy to have installed AdGuardHome on my network. This software gives me a cleaner Internet experience, with pages where I can read the content without being disturbed, and it doesn't stop there. AdGuardHome offers a wide range of filtering options to suit your specific needs, from the simplest automatic parental filter to configuring filtering for every machine on your network.
You can block services like Tiktok or Youtube on some devices and not others, you can also filter certain more specific requests according to your needs You define the level of filtering according to your needs and if you don't feel comfortable with that, let AdGuardHome do the work for you
AdGuardHome can be used without technical skill by installing it on all your devices, this version is not free but it has the advantage of being active when you leave home. The alternative is to install AdGuardHome on a dedicated machine (e.g. Raspberry) and point all DNS queries to this machine. This may sound complicated if you've never done it before, but it doesn't take more than 10 minutes in total.
Strengths:
- basic filters very complete
- possibility to setup your filters device by device
- easy-to-use interface
- doesn't slow down your connection
- easy to install
Weaknesses:
- Windows version is available as a subscription
- doesn't block YouTube video ads
- doesn't block Facebook ads
- it significantly reduces the amount of data arriving at your home and the pages you visit are faster.
Want to try it too ?
AdGuardHome - official site
Questions/Comments