this post was submitted on 16 Sep 2024
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How do you filter ads and trackers outside of a browser while still using a VPN service? (self.privacy)
submitted 2 months ago by TheTwelveYearOld to c/privacy
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This is straightforward with browser addons like uBlock Origin where you can add and choose blocklists, but I did searches for doing so system wide and using a VPN but didn’t find clear answers. I could use a DNS service that provides blocklists but isn’t it best practice to leave DNS to the VPN provider? I looked up blocklists and VPNs but didn’t find relevant results.

On Android, I didn’t find any apps that let you filter blocklists and using your own VPN other than Rethink, but the blocklists feature requires using Rethink’s DNS.

So what’s the best way to filter ads and trackers on both 3rd party apps and on OS’s like Android (specific Samsung phones) while still using a VPN?

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago

Mullvad provides a DNS service that can be used with or without their VPN for free: https://mullvad.net/en/help/dns-over-https-and-dns-over-tls

personally, I stick with NextDNS despite using their VPN.

[–] Ziglin 2 points 2 months ago

You could probably have something like a pihole between your web traffic and VPN.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

netGuard as an always on vpn connected to a vpn as a socks proxy

[–] CrayonRosary 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Rethink does not require you to use their own DNS. You can choose from several or just use the system DNS.

In addition, it has on-device blocklist where you import rules from various public lists. Just like a desktop ad blocker.

And, of course, I have a VPN configured by downloading a wire guard config file from Mullvad and importing it into Rethink.