YouTube Ads

[Nzyme]

I am on Android 6 and using AG [v.3.5.2 (66)]. I have enabled HTTPS Filtering and cleared the app cache & data from the YT app. However, I still see ads upon running YT and playing videos. Another app like AdClear is able to block ALL ads on YT perfectly. Why is AG still unable to block ads in YT?

 

[Boo Berry]

App or website?

If app, AdGuard for Android can't filter the YouTube app on Android or iOS for that matter. You'd have to look into alternative apps like YouTube Vanced or NewPipe.

 

[Nzyme]

I am trying to understand why is AG unable to block ads whereas AdClear is able to? From what I understand, YT ads are encrypted so why not implement the ability to block that in AG? What is stopping the developers to add the feature?

 

[Boo Berry]

For the YouTube website, AG for Android should still work there on YouTube. What kind of filters is AdClear using? Normal filters which includes filters for cosmetic filtering or just domain blocklist filters?

If AdClear is somehow removing ads from the YouTube app then I don't know how it's doing it... my guess would be it does it via domain blocking, which is *possible* to do, but doing that you will break legit stuff on YouTube when blocking the ads that way, which is why it's not done that way in the first place. It's worth pointing out that YouTube has been moving towards unblockable/unskippable ads so unless you have a YouTube Premium subscription, I doubt whatever technique they're using will work for AdClear in the long run.

Right now YouTube Vanced and NewPipe do work, so those are acceptable workarounds. But be warned, sooner or later nothing will work anymore (except YouTube Premium subscriptions). Twitch is also moving in this direction.

 

[Boo Berry]

I did a little research and it looks like AdClear does this by using Dubbel, an app that allows you to run multiple instances, which is similar to other apps like Parallel Space.

You can already use this technique with AdGuard for Android and Parallel Space, which allows AdGuard for Android to filter the YouTube app that way. This method is a bit cumbersome to setup and annoying to do (versus installing an app like YouTube Vanced or NewPipe). It works this way because the sandboxed YouTube app's traffic is piped through Parallel Space and because Parallel Space doesn't currently target API level 24 or newer in Android, so it still trusts user certificates which allows AdGuard for Android to filter Parallel Space's traffic (and apps sandboxed inside of it).

In Android 7 and newer, apps that use API level 24 or newer don't trust user certificates anymore and the only way around it is by rooting the device and moving AdGuard's certificate from the user store to the system store, allowing more apps to work. Unfortunately even doing this doesn't allow AdGuard for Android to filter the YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc. apps.

This technique eventually will fail to work too (when I don't know, depends when apps are updated), as apps target API level 24 and newer.

 

[Nzyme]

Thanks for the response. I was checking their site and observed that Dubbel is only required for effective adblocking on Android 7 or higher. (See here).
I am running on Android 6 and everything is working perfectly fine in the official YT app when I use AdClear (without Dubbel). The main reason for using the YT app is that the service provides 'very good' suggestions on the homepage based on prior browsing. I don't think NewPipe or any other app (except Vanced for which I need to disable MIUI Optimization that would clear all the permissions from all apps) is able to do that. NewPipe only shows a 'Trending' page depending on the country that is selected in the settings. No matter what you have browsed or watched, everytime you open the app, it just shows that same set of videos on the homepage and does not show any suggested videos based on the videos watched earlier.

So without Dubbel and only the trusted certificate, AdClear is able to block ads on Android 6. Although, I have not used it in that way extensively, I did not see any ads while using it for a limited time. Is AG for Android 6 unable to block ads on YT app? For which Android version are these instructions (Enabling HTTPS Filtering and Clearing App Data) as I tried doing that but it does not block ads?

 

[Edoardo Giordano Mozzini]

I tried to solve it by leaving the advertisements.
But I wanted to eliminate them with the vpn ADclear software that blocks them perfectly with dubbel (with dubbel I tried, it starts perfectly and completely eliminates the ads even on the homepage, but the microg login doesn't work). But frankly, I was happy to skip them. Adclear skips them and silences them. Can you unpack them and add them in adguard? Can you buy it from them?

 

[Laitinlok]

For the YouTube website, AG for Android should still work there on YouTube. What kind of filters is AdClear using? Normal filters which includes filters for cosmetic filtering or just domain blocklist filters?

If AdClear is somehow removing ads from the YouTube app then I don't know how it's doing it... my guess would be it does it via domain blocking, which is *possible* to do, but doing that you will break legit stuff on YouTube when blocking the ads that way, which is why it's not done that way in the first place. It's worth pointing out that YouTube has been moving towards unblockable/unskippable ads so unless you have a YouTube Premium subscription, I doubt whatever technique they're using will work for AdClear in the long run.

Right now YouTube Vanced and NewPipe do work, so those are acceptable workarounds. But be warned, sooner or later nothing will work anymore (except YouTube Premium subscriptions). Twitch is also moving in this direction.

From what my understanding is if a VPN is on, then the traffic should route to the VPN app and if the VPN app is below API 24, adguard can filter ads with HTTPS filtering? So if Adguard target API is below 24, then it can filter ads through VPN mode of Adguard? Or you need to have something similar to parallel space?