r/Adblock

Hey folks! 👋

I just released StreamNoAds - a specialized ad blocklist for AdGuard Home & Pi-hole

✨ Features:

- 250+ domains optimized for streaming

- Works on Netflix, YouTube, Prime Video, Disney+, Twitch & 20+ services

- Professional README with detailed guides

- Community-maintained

📍 GitHub: https://github.com/tammo2701/StreamNoAds

Happy to answer questions!

I got tired of running a Pi-hole + unbound sidecar just to get encrypted upstream DNS (DoT), so I forked pi-hole/FTL and added native DNS-over-TLS support directly into the resolver (mbedTLS is already linked in for the web server, so I reused it). The result is pihole-dot a drop-in Pi-hole image with DoT built in.

What it is:

• FTL-DoT: a fork of FTL with a native async DoT client built into dnsmasq's forwarder
• pihole-dot: the Docker image that uses it same config, same env vars, just point FTLCONF_dns_upstreams at tls://ip#port#hostname
• No unbound, no stubby, no extra container/hop

Architecture: each upstream server gets a small pool of pipelined TCP+TLS connections (RFC 7766-style multiple queries in flight per connection, demultiplexed by DNS transaction ID), instead of one query at a time per connection.

Screenshot from my own router running pihole-dot right now config is a normal, unlocked Pi-hole DNS Settings page

https://github.com/ismkdc/pihole-dot

Been dealing with this for a while. Forbes, Wired, a bunch of news sites and random blogs started putting up that wall where they basically refuse to show you content unless you whitelist them. I was using uBlock Origin for years and it worked great until it didn't.

The problem seems to be that sites got better at fingerprinting which extensions you have. They can scan your browser's behavior and flag you by recognizing the patterns popular adblockers leave behind.

Tried a few different things, read through some old threads here. Most suggestions were outdated or just "use a VPN" which doesn't fix the actual problem.

Then I found this extension on the Chrome Web Store: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/ad-blocker-%E2%80%94-block-ads-po/cfcfhjclnllekcnfeoaaiicbjlmjmojk

The name sounds generic, I almost skipped it.

The difference is how it does the blocking. It runs at the content level before those detection scripts can even check for it, so sites that normally catch you just don't trigger the wall. I tested it on about 12 sites that gave me problems before. 10 out of 12 worked completely fine. The other 2 are behind real paywalls that use adblock detection as a cover anyway.

No account needed, no email, nothing. I checked the permissions it asks for too, pretty standard stuff.

Been about 3 weeks and I haven't gone back to my old setup.

got tired of two things: youtube shoving ads every other video, and news sites throwing up the "please disable your ad blocker" wall. couldnt find a free one that handled both well without some pro upsell or sketchy permissions, so i built my own. its open source, GPL-3.0, code is fully public.

what it does:

• blocks ads, popups and trackers across the web
• blocks youtube ads including the mid roll ones
• gets past most of the "we detected an adblocker" walls
• no account, no telemetry, three permissions total and you can read what each does

the part people find interesting: most blockers get caught because the site checks for the side effects of blocking after the page loads. did the ad slot stay empty, did the ad script fail. mine does its work at document_start, before the detection code runs, so when the site checks "did the ad load" things look normal. thats why it slips past walls that catch the big names.

repo (read the code first): https://github.com/medoxisto/ad-blocker-chrome-extension

im not a senior dev, figured out manifest v3 as i went and it nearly killed me, so id genuinely love people who know more to tear it apart. issues and PRs welcome, a few people already sent some.

its on the chrome store too if you just want a free youtube ad blocker that actually works, but the repo is the point of this post.

extension link: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/ad-blocker-%E2%80%94-block-ads-po/cfcfhjclnllekcnfeoaaiicbjlmjmojk

App Name: LookAway

What it does: I built this to save my "fat fingers" from accidentally opening the app store when trying to hit the microscopic 'x' on mobile game ads. It is an Android tool that uses image recognition to automatically sense and dismiss those screens for you so you can just enjoy the game.

Key Features:

• Background Automation: Reliably identifies and taps ad exit buttons without you having to touch the screen.
• Selective Airplane Mode: This allows you to pick individual apps to put into airplane mode while the rest of you phone operates normally. This eliminates ads in offline games.
• Open Source Transparency: Since it requires screen-viewing permissions to work, the entire project is open-source so anyone can check under the hood.

Goal: Launch & Feedback (This is my very first app, so I would love to hear what this community thinks!)

Giveaway: N/A (The app is completely free and open-source).

Link: https://github.com/FightingGravity/LookAway