Ryan's Toolbox

Appearance

Ad Blocking ​

Ad blocking refers to techniques and tools used to prevent advertisements from being displayed.

These usually come in the form of avoiding services with ads, using a service in a way that minimizes ads, or using tools to block ads.

TL;DR: Use the uBlock Origin browser extension, now available on iOS Safari [1] [2] [3].

Avoiding Ads ​

  • Avoid websites, apps, and services that display ads
  • Pay for an ad-free subscription if available

Social Media ​

  • Avoid reels, shorts, and stories
  • Prefer "Following" feeds

    • TIP

      Instagram has a "Following" feed that only shows posts from accounts you follow without ads. You can make it your default feed by bookmarking the URL [4].

YouTube ​

  • Use RSS or embedded videos

    • TIP

      If you're a bit technical, YouTube channel RSS feeds can act as a free API. You can transform these links into embedded video players, which don't show ads [5].

Tools ​

Browser Extensions ​

  • Use the uBlock Origin browser extension [1] [2] [3].

DNS-based Ad Blocking ​

  • If you're a bit technical, you can host an AdGuard DNS server [6].
  • You can also use public DNS servers that block ads, such as Mullvad DNS [7].

References ​

  1. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/
  2. https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/ublock-origin-lite/ddkjiahejlhfcafbddmgiahcphecmpfh?hl=en
  3. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ublock-origin-lite/id6745342698
  4. https://www.instagram.com/?variant=following
  5. https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=UCh7TkgdhwG5wi8L9eXqUkcQ
  6. https://adguard.com/en/adguard-home/overview.html
  7. https://mullvad.net/en/help/dns-over-https-and-dns-over-tls