Any VPN that effectively blocks ads from YouTube in iOS?

Mobile Tech Mobile OS
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I had AdBlock Plus on my previous phone, but since it has been removed from AppStore, when I did a restore to my new device, it wasn’t installed. I am using Blockada atm, but it simply doesn’t work, and I even tried to enable ALL the filters they have.

Their official response was that they cannot block them, because they are encrypted…

I have had similar answers from other application too, including other excuses, like they deliver the ads from the same servers, they embed them, etc…

However, on my PC (Manjaro, but works with W10 too) I am using Firefox and uBlock, that work perfect blocking ALL ads from YouTube. So, no more BS excuses for not blocking them…

And the 1m dollar question is, is there any application for iOS that EFFECTIVELY blocks ALL ads from YouTube?

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IDK, but do you really want to keep using such a tivotized device that forbids the use of apps you want to run?

Sell the iOS device.

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Will do eventually, but current state of Linux phones has still some gaps for my needs.
Android is out of the question for many reasons.

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Its even worse than that. My VPN is set to somewhere in America but my ads are specific for my local country. My location data is off.

I dont think Apple allows for blocking of their income stream. Makes me deeply regret about purchasing an iOS device.

If the VPN is set at the router level, the iOS device thinks I am at the country of the VPN I am on.

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Care to elaborate? I use Firefox on Android with uBlock, it happily blocks YouTube ads for me.

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That’s the difference between a DNS/VPN adblocker like Blockada or a Pi-hole vs a browser extension like uBlock.

uBlock can remove elements from the site, where Blockada only stops your device from downloading content from blacklisted domains.

YouTube video content and ads are served from the same domains, hence why Blockada cannot block YouTube ads. (Technically it can block the ads, but to do so would mean also blocking the regular video content) 🥲

If you can install the uBlock extension on Firefox for iOS that’ll work but you’ll have to use YouTube through Firefox rather than via the iOS app.

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Pi hole / jailbreak

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I agree, if you don’t have control over the device or software, the only real solution is network level (DNS) ad blocking.
It’ll only work on your local network but a good bonus is ad blocking on every device in your house!

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You could set up a DNS or gateway solution either at home, VPS or wherever and then vpn into that.

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Yeah, since PiHole is just a DNS server, hosting it on a VPS and setting as your default DNS server on your phone/router should be pretty simple.

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As I said, AdBlock was working as a VPN, therefore there is a way. And I was able to find it through LunaVPN, which is not available in my region but they also provide a direct VPN installation.

From what I read, it is free because it “reads” my traffic, but I don’t mind that, there are already too many “readers” in my life…

@THEkitchenSINK thank you but I am not willing to JB my phone

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wow just wow…

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The short answer: Not without jailbreaking and using YouTube Vanced.

The long answer: Hard coded DNS and even DNS over HTTPS is going to become impossible to block via PiHole soon. Both are heavily used by YouTube. Your only option on iOS is to Jailbreak and go YouTube Vanced.

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My option, as I wrote before, is LunaVPN which works great, and except from YT, it works on other services, like Spotify, ads in games, etc.

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It is not seamless, but the free non-VPN non-subscription mode of iOS AdGuard does seem to block YouTube ads. The caveat is, it can sometimes leave the page “stuck” for the amount of time that the ad would have been playing, in which case, just reload the page and it will play after reload without the ad.

AdGuard does have a paid/subscription VPN mode, but it is much more secure to simply have it load its blocklists into Safari, so that it never actually touches your internet traffic.

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