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free ad blocker app for not rooted?

Hi guys I'm wondering if there is a free ad blocker that block apps in both apps and web for unrooted phone? Thanks.

theoryzz said:
Hi guys I'm wondering if there is a free ad blocker that block apps in both apps and web for unrooted phone? Thanks.
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AdHell.
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S8+ using Tapatalk

Katt50 said:
AdHell.
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S8+ using Tapatalk
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I second this! Works better than the rest.
Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

I tend to disagree. Tried Adhell since I got my phone on launch day, this week went back to DNS66. Hate to go the VPN route, but Adhell did nothing for me browsing Chrome and in some other apps. And before it's said I do not plan on using some other browser.

Here's what I use, but the premium version. https://disconnect.me/mobile/disc

I have tried Adhell but for me it doesn't block the ads on apps only on the browser. Does Adhell block ads on apps for u guys? Well u used adblock on my s7 edge it's the best for me to block ads on both browser and apps but it's no longer a free service haha.

I tried adhell but it blocked a couple of sites I wanted to use... (gumtree)
I just use adblocker for samsung by betafish. Although that doesn't do apps, just browser.

I used BlockThis on my S7 occasionally. Haven't tried anything on the S8+ yet though.

Adhell is ok but it doesnt block everything. All it needs is the ability to import your own hosts file and it would effectively give us adfree/adaway for rooted devices but no sign of such a feature yet despite quite a few requests from people, maybe if enough people request it then he will add this. It does have the ability to change dns servers now so you can try using an ad blocking dns server with it too. Disconnect pro works in the exact same way using the knox firewall, but seems to let just as many ads through but comes with an extortionate price and is supposedly geared more towards blocking trackers than ads, and you cant change the dns.
Other than that you have the vpn based ones like adguard (not free), dns666 (free). I just spotted one called netguard (free with ads and option to buy pro version) https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/apps-games/app-netguard-root-firewall-t3233012 which sounds good and lets you use your own hosts file but again its a vpn blocker.

I use Blokada and so far it's the best for me
https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/apps-games/app-blokada-fire-forget-root-ad-blocker-t3503374

y2k1ltd said:
Here's what I use, but the premium version. https://disconnect.me/mobile/disc
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Does the pro or indeed the basic block ads on apps. I miss AdAway on my un-rooted new phone

is there anything that blocks youtube ads w/o rooting?

mrkoven said:
is there anything that blocks youtube ads w/o rooting?
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Youtube Red............................works for me. lol

Aid777 said:
Does the pro or indeed the basic block ads on apps. I miss AdAway on my un-rooted new phone
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Yes it will, but you don't want to touch that thing with a barge pole. It isn't specifically made for ad blocking, its for tracking blocking. The price is a joke. You can't customise what its blocking at all. adhell is free, does the same thing, is specifically targeting blocking ads, and you can add/remove things from the list, which you cant do in disconnect pro. no contest. if only the dev of adhell would implement being able to import our own hosts files then we would have an adfree/adaway for rooted phones, but I dont know why he hasnt. most of the work to enable that is already done as it is obviously using some sort of hosts file anyway, just his own one instead of one we can customise ourselves.
my main issue is that nothing seems to block the ads that are in apps in your secure folder, regardless of whether it is a knox blocker or a vpn blocker, which i find ridiculous. trying to install the blocker into secure folder does not work and would double your battery drain even if it did work so that isnt an option.

ewokuk said:
Yes it will, but you don't want to touch that thing with a barge pole. It isn't specifically made for ad blocking, its for tracking blocking. The price is a joke. You can't customise what its blocking at all. adhell is free, does the same thing, is specifically targeting blocking ads, and you can add/remove things from the list, which you cant do in disconnect pro. no contest. if only the dev of adhell would implement being able to import our own hosts files then we would have an adfree/adaway for rooted phones, but I dont know why he hasnt. most of the work to enable that is already done as it is obviously using some sort of hosts file anyway, just his own one instead of one we can customise ourselves.
my main issue is that nothing seems to block the ads that are in apps in your secure folder, regardless of whether it is a knox blocker or a vpn blocker, which i find ridiculous. trying to install the blocker into secure folder does not work and would double your battery drain even if it did work so that isnt an option.
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Where can I find more info on adhell... The website or github does not give much at all... Also what is package disabler integration for?
Does it work if Knox is disabled in package disabler?
Sent from my SM-G955W using Tapatalk

DNS66. Just make sure your select all the sources. Works great

While it's not free I use adgaurd. They had a sale and I think it was under 15 bucks for a life time license. it's a VPN app and I haven't found anything else be able to compete with it's protection from ads. I love it. Probably had it about 6 months now. The free stuff tends to not work well at all. I've tried them all.

Is there a good App/Package Disabler and or AdBlocker like Adhell?

Title really says everything but I will iterate, on Samsung devices they have a lot of different Package/App disablers, these get rid of pre-installed bloatware that cannot be disabled normally like SwiftKey on this phone.
Does anyone know of anything like that one here?
Thanks

whoamanwtf said:
Title really says everything but I will iterate, on Samsung devices they have a lot of different Package/App disablers, these get rid of pre-installed bloatware that cannot be disabled normally like SwiftKey on this phone.
Does anyone know of anything like that one here?
Thanks
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I've removed without root some apps with this how-to:
https://www.xda-developers.com/uninstall-carrier-oem-bloatware-without-root-access/
As AdBlocker I'm using Adguard - one big plus is, that some sites does not "see" Adguard and the view on the pages is permittet. It opens a local VPN and is filtering the ads. If you are rootet, you can configure Adguard as a local proxy - so you are able to open a vpn-connection with Adguard enabled.

I am using Adguard Premium as well. Excellent adblocker (you can get it lifetime license 1+1 - 1 PC and 1 android device) for about 6 euros.

Thanks guys, I was hoping for a more direct on device method for the disabling of apps that was able to be undone with a switch on the phone like on Samsung but that is fine there is not enough bloat on here to worry too much.
As for Adguard I will give that a shot and pick up premium if I like it, thanks again!

Simple AdBlocker for Samsung

When you guys get the NA unlocked phones in today, can someone try SABS to see if it works on the S9? My phone doesn't come in until Wednesday, and I won't be able to test myself until I get to work that night. If it does work it'll be great, because I doubt we'll get root any time soon.

works flawless
Hi,
thanks for the Input. I tested it and it runs very well. No ADS etc.
100% working.
Hope i have helped.
Cheers.:good:

Thanks for trying it out. Now I know I'll be able to use it when I finally get my phone. It works great for disabling pesky things like Bixby too.

yep i have tried and it works.

What's the difference between this SABS program and Blokada? Which one do you all recommend?Thanks

Working well on G965F

rheylew said:
What's the difference between this SABS program and Blokada? Which one do you all recommend?Thanks
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Blokada works has a vpn it eats battery since is rerouting all the info first to their servers to eliminate ads plus u will see the vpn key icon on ur notification ba all the time which i hate. (If u have use adguard ) is the same.
Sabs works with knox which i much prefer. And no vpn icon. I have tried sabs, adhell but the one i prefer is disconnect pro. U dont have to mess with adb or getting a samsung certificate licenses. It just work, no ads on browser or ads on any apps.
Some people say that adhell, sabs are better than disconnect pro ( also they are free) but i have not notice any difference. DP has blocked all ads that were also blocked with adhell.
Disconnect pro i got it from samsung app, a while ago it was free. Right now is $25 which is hell alot of money. I would not pay that much with othe free option just knowing that at one time it was free. But DP is the only one that i have use without issue of a firmware update not working, or the app been reboke.

eduardmc said:
Blokada works has a vpn it eats battery since is rerouting all the info first to their servers to eliminate ads plus u will see the vpn key icon on ur notification ba all the time which i hate. (If u have use adguard ) is the same.
Sabs works with knox which i much prefer. And no vpn icon. I have tried sabs, adhell but the one i prefer is disconnect pro. U dont have to mess with adb or getting a samsung certificate licenses. It just work, no ads on browser or ads on any apps.
Some people say that adhell, sabs are better than disconnect pro ( also they are free) but i have not notice any difference. DP has blocked all ads that were also blocked with adhell.
Disconnect pro i got it from samsung app, a while ago it was free. Right now is $25 which is hell alot of money. I would not pay that much with othe free option just knowing that at one time it was free. But DP is the only one that i have use without issue of a firmware update not working, or the app been reboke.
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Looked everywhere for this apk, only found malicious popup pages, an IOS pro version, and a version on the Google play store that seems to only work in the Samsung browser, not across the whole system..

eduardmc said:
Blokada works has a vpn it eats battery since is rerouting all the info first to their servers to eliminate ads plus u will see the vpn key icon on ur notification ba all the time which i hate. (If u have use adguard ) is the same.
Sabs works with knox which i much prefer. And no vpn icon. I have tried sabs, adhell but the one i prefer is disconnect pro. U dont have to mess with adb or getting a samsung certificate licenses. It just work, no ads on browser or ads on any apps.
Some people say that adhell, sabs are better than disconnect pro ( also they are free) but i have not notice any difference. DP has blocked all ads that were also blocked with adhell.
Disconnect pro i got it from samsung app, a while ago it was free. Right now is $25 which is hell alot of money. I would not pay that much with othe free option just knowing that at one time it was free. But DP is the only one that i have use without issue of a firmware update not working, or the app been reboke.
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Very interesting. Thanks for sharing. I just got the S9+ in today, but my main daily driver is the TM variant Note 8 (rooted), however, being that I use a VPN, the ad blocker apps that uses a VPN like protocol doesn't work as the Android system only allows one VPN connection at a time. Bummer eh...
So I too have been on the search for an ad blocker that actually works for VPN users.
For NON rooted phones NetGuard is pretty neat, but it uses a VPN protocol so no go there...
YouTube Adblocker, Adaway etc...doesn't work either as it needs the xposed framework (which we don't have for the SD variant of the Note 8, only root) ...
block-this, is also another app kind of like adaway, but it too uses a VPN protocol.
OGYouTUbe app recently kicked the bucket as well and now has ads...ie..it's broken so no go there...
Any ideas? :highfive:

allenrb2 said:
Thanks for trying it out. Now I know I'll be able to use it when I finally get my phone. It works great for disabling pesky things like Bixby too.
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The only bad thing was you have to buy the apk editor pro to rename the package

eduardmc said:
Some people say that adhell, sabs are better than disconnect pro ( also they are free) but i have not notice any difference. DP has blocked all ads that were also blocked with adhell.
Disconnect pro i got it from samsung app, a while ago it was free. Right now is $25 which is hell alot of money. I would not pay that much with othe free option just knowing that at one time it was free. But DP is the only one that i have use without issue of a firmware update not working, or the app been reboke.
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Click to collapse
Does Disconnect Pro have the system package disabling abilities of SABS? If so it'd be worth checking out, but if not I would stick with SABS, so I can disable things like bixby.
dhonzik said:
The only bad thing was you have to buy the apk editor pro to rename the package
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You don't have to buy the apk editor if you have a windows PC. They link to an apk editor in their instructions post. Either way it's worth it to me, knowing these phones will be locked down like fort knox, and most likely wont get a boot unlock, or full root capabilities.

123

rheylew said:
Looked everywhere for this apk, only found malicious popup pages, an IOS pro version, and a version on the Google play store that seems to only work in the Samsung browser, not across the whole system..
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http://apps.samsung.com/appquery/appDetail.as?appId=com.disconnectandroidfirewall
---------- Post added at 02:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:06 PM ----------
allenrb2 said:
Does Disconnect Pro have the system package disabling abilities of SABS? If so it'd be worth checking out, but if not I would stick with SABS, so I can disable things like bixby.
You don't have to buy the apk editor if you have a windows PC. They link to an apk editor in their instructions post. Either way it's worth it to me, knowing these phones will be locked down like fort knox, and most likely wont get a boot unlock, or full root capabilities.
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Click to collapse
.
Disconnect pro only remove ads from browser AND apps ( except youtube lol). Theres a disconnect pro plug in for samsung browser, is different from the actual disconnect pro app.
http://apps.samsung.com/appquery/appDetail.as?appId=com.disconnectandroidfirewal
Disconnect pro does not have a package disabler. But even when i was using adhell which does have a package disabler, i did not use it. Much prefer the BK PD because it actually tells how much ram each apps is using and is more organized. (Is not free though but well worth it)
Ill give u an example. I have the pixel launcher and touchwiz installed. Even when i select the pixel 2 launcher has default , BK package disable says that touchwiz still running in the background eating 147mg ram. I just disable touchwiz launcher and i know that i have the xtra ram for something else.
Below is a ui pic, of DP in action, i like ui interface

dhonzik said:
The only bad thing was you have to buy the apk editor pro to rename the package
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Its available here on xda , seach for it. No need to buy
Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk

eduardmc said:
Blokada works has a vpn it eats battery since is rerouting all the info first to their servers to eliminate ads plus u will see the vpn key icon on ur notification ba all the time which i hate. (If u have use adguard ) is the same.
Sabs works with knox which i much prefer. And no vpn icon. I have tried sabs, adhell but the one i prefer is disconnect pro. U dont have to mess with adb or getting a samsung certificate licenses. It just work, no ads on browser or ads on any apps.
Some people say that adhell, sabs are better than disconnect pro ( also they are free) but i have not notice any difference. DP has blocked all ads that were also blocked with adhell.
Disconnect pro i got it from samsung app, a while ago it was free. Right now is $25 which is hell alot of money. I would not pay that much with othe free option just knowing that at one time it was free. But DP is the only one that i have use without issue of a firmware update not working, or the app been reboke.
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Click to collapse
You sure about that ?
Blokada works as a "virtual" VPN - meaning that all traffic first gets redirected to a local hosts file (hence it also works without root and modification of the hosts file of the Android system itself),
thus there should be NO additional battery consumption from the blocking itself (each attempt to try to reach the IP leads to a 404 or not reacheable)
but there might be some battery consumption from the functionality of the app & VPN itself
Anyone please correct this if I'm wrong

Thanks again for everyone chiming in. I got my S9+ in today, and have SABS up, and working. This app is a sanity saver.

zacharias.maladroit said:
You sure about that ?
Blokada works as a "virtual" VPN - meaning that all traffic first gets redirected to a local hosts file (hence it also works without root and modification of the hosts file of the Android system itself),
thus there should be NO additional battery consumption from the blocking itself (each attempt to try to reach the IP leads to a 404 or not reacheable)
but there might be some battery consumption from the functionality of the app & VPN itself
Anyone please correct this if I'm wrong
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Click to collapse
Blockada is the same has blockthis, adguard, netguard,nds666 and other vpn. I actually like blockada the most vause of.the inteeface and is lite in ram. Adguard heat up my phone and eata more battery. Blockada dos eat battery not alot that u will still notice in day to day use.
The advantage of our samsung phone is able to use ad blockers like adhell, disconnet pro etc. This apps will only work on samsung phone cause of knox and i believe they are a better ad blocking solution than vpn ads blocker. You are not really sure if they are collecting all ur info down the line of redirecting.

Adhell lets way too much stuff through.
Blokada is close to AdAway in performance. It kills ads in everything except youtube.

Thanks
eduardmc said:
Blokada works has a vpn it eats battery since is rerouting all the info first to their servers to eliminate ads plus u will see the vpn key icon on ur notification ba all the time which i hate. (If u have use adguard ) is the same.
Sabs works with knox which i much prefer. And no vpn icon. I have tried sabs, adhell but the one i prefer is disconnect pro. U dont have to mess with adb or getting a samsung certificate licenses. It just work, no ads on browser or ads on any apps.
Some people say that adhell, sabs are better than disconnect pro ( also they are free) but i have not notice any difference. DP has blocked all ads that were also blocked with adhell.
Disconnect pro i got it from samsung app, a while ago it was free. Right now is $25 which is hell alot of money. I would not pay that much with othe free option just knowing that at one time it was free. But DP is the only one that i have use without issue of a firmware update not working, or the app been reboke.
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Click to collapse
Thanks for sharing that, previously I was using a rooted phone with Adaway, now I got my S9+ a week ago and I'm not planning to root it in the near future, I Tried the SABS and its work fine with no ads.
thanks again

Thanks OP, founded this topic today, installed SABS on my Sprint GS9+, its working great.
Long time users, what apps/process are safely to disable from the GS9? I disabled sprint ones, looking to stop all bloatware.

Can't make adway work.

Hello xda users.. today im facing a big problem..
I have op6 with rooted (magisk installed). oos 9.02
Ive installed latest adway 4.0.11. Everything works fine (adway gets permisions.. etc). But he does not stop the ads.
In magisk i have ticked systemless hosts same for adway in prefs. What i am doing wrong?
I am missing something?

zubyro said:
What i am doing wrong?
I am missing something?
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I haven't routed a phone for a few years now but I seem to remember Adaway wrote its hosts file to the system partition. And isn't it the way of Magisk to not write anything to system?
I use Adguard directly from Adguard.com. It just works, (apart from the odd time Oneplus closes it ,) and I ALWAYS have Google Pay working too - so no hassle at checkouts.

Ended up using dns66.. cant make adway to work..

zubyro said:
Ended up using dns66.. cant make adway to work..
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I have Adaway running on my rooted OP 6, but I'm not using that systemless switch you mentioned...

zubyro said:
Ended up using dns66.. cant make adway to work..
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Use AdAway v3.3. I have it working perfectly fine.

croques said:
I haven't routed a phone for a few years now but I seem to remember Adaway wrote its hosts file to the system partition. And isn't it the way of Magisk to not write anything to system?
I use Adguard directly from Adguard.com. It just works, (apart from the odd time Oneplus closes it ,) and I ALWAYS have Google Pay working too - so no hassle at checkouts.
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Click to collapse
I agree with you. Adaway just doesn't do anything for me. Adguard just works, and it works very well.

On unrooted phones, the VPN adapter is used to reroute traffic. As I use a normal VPN permanently to prohibit carrier deep packet inspection, any adblocker relying on the VPN approach is a nogo for me as Android only supports one VPN connection at a time.

akxak said:
On unrooted phones, the VPN adapter is used to reroute traffic. As I use a normal VPN permanently to prohibit carrier deep packet inspection, any adblocker relying on the VPN approach is a nogo for me as Android only supports one VPN connection at a time.
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Click to collapse
I agree with you totally. I would much prefer your way of a permanent VPN and to block ads some other way.. However,
I need Google Pay to work all the time and not be in an arms race with Google;
I need to block ads;
I need a VPN that always has good connection speeds for downloads and not just a high burst speed for a few seconds..
That little list just won't work together. And that last point seems impossible to achieve - certainly with the many VPN services I've tried. I'm currently using Mullvad when I need security but cannot recommend it for speed

I use an OP6 with Android 9, OOS 9.0.1 routed with Madison 17.2
I have Google Pay, Adaway and my permanent VPN with OpenVPN.
I use NordVPN for which I pay but it's reliable and fast, allows multiple connections from my home router and my mobile.
Reliable and without any problems.

akxak said:
On unrooted phones, the VPN adapter is used to reroute traffic. As I use a normal VPN permanently to prohibit carrier deep packet inspection, any adblocker relying on the VPN approach is a nogo for me as Android only supports one VPN connection at a time.
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Click to collapse
Adguard works both in vpn or in proxy mode. But for proxy mode, root is required. Using Adguard for an year ans its always my fav adblocker.

If you're using Magisk, both Magisk and Adaway need to be set to systemless via the settings in each application.
For some reason Adaway 4.x just ignore the restart warning and then just press check for updates again and it'll start properly downloading the host files.

My Adaway has the systemless setting grayed out and not ticked. I'm using Adaway 3.3 from F-Droid which is the latest version, there's no version 4. It's not available on Google Play.

akxak said:
I use NordVPN for which I pay but it's reliable and fast, allows multiple connections from my home router and my mobile.
Reliable and without any problems.
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Well and good for you. TrustPilot (UK) gives them only 5.8/10. There are some good and bad comments - as to be expected -but this is recent post. It chimes with my own experiences of paid VPN - more promises than delivery.
Extremely slow server
Extremely slow servers. Absolutely horrible app. They make it next to impossible to select a specific server you've used in the past and instead give you an unsorted list of thousands of servers to manually scroll through and try to find the one you want. You can search for a server but if you do it this way you can't add it to favourites.
They advertise as fast for p2p, yet my speeds are the slowest I've ever experienced with a VPN, including those lousy free vpn.
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Click to collapse
I'm aware this is off-topic for Adaway; apologies to OP for possible thread hi-jacking; but if you are in to ad-blocking the next step is VPN

I use the app OpenVPN which gives me more control, speed of servers vary but I am satisfied.

Questions - workarounds when not rooted?

I finally pullled the trigger on this device.
The one thing I am a bit worried and need advice on is using an un-rooted device. I've never used a device as a daily driver without root. Can anyone help with some questions:
is there any way to block ads system wide without root? i've tried googling for this answer but I'm realy not sure.
Does Vanced youtube work?
that is it thus far I'm sure there will be many more after I get the device.

Blokada for ad blocking and yes vanced works great. I haven't rooted my phone in years due to the fact that there is little reason to. Honestly it's more of a hassle to do it for me (updates etc) than it is to not.
Sent from my SM-F916U1 using Tapatalk

I am using disconnect pro from Samsung store.. its not cheap but does block majority of ads system wide. And yes youtube vanced works perfectly well.

desantim said:
Blokada for ad blocking and yes vanced works great. I haven't rooted my phone in years due to the fact that there is little reason to. Honestly it's more of a hassle to do it for me (updates etc) than it is to not.
Sent from my SM-F916U1 using Tapatalk
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awesome. thanks for that info
i think the only other app i needed root for was DarQ that let you make apps dark system wide and then choose certain ones you didn't want to darken

njan_ivide said:
I am using disconnect pro from Samsung store.. its not cheap but does block majority of ads system wide. And yes youtube vanced works perfectly well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
can I ask if it blocks the annoying ads in TuneIn app?
Thank you

For Youtube i suggest Samsung browser with adblock installed - no more ads in youtube and it works basically the same as youtube app. The only problem you may have if you use youtube notifications - they obviously will bring you to youtube app. Otherwise youtube in samsung browser with adblock plugin is perfect.

Karma Firewall is a simple, useful tool.
Less so probably on Q and higher due to their restrictions.
On Pie it has logging capabilities... try it and see what you got. No Ads, freeware, very low battery usage.
A compatible package blocker is highly recommended... to take out the trash.

my first few days with the fold
I'm using Adaway right now to block ads, the non root version, though any non root ad blocker goes through some type of vpn which slows things down a bit. i'd still much prefer to have root
I turned on force dark mode everywhere in dev settings and that helped darken apps good enough.
I am still trying to use Nova as my launcher as I hate the samsung launcher and rarely if ever use multi window but for some reason nova is sucking up a ton of battery
also have Vanced loaded for youtube and it is great, the only downside is there doesn't seem to be a way to use OK GOOGLE to play videos in vanced while driving, etc.

Lose Nova, it uses more resources/battery and is likely slower than the native launcher. After another 3rd party launcher cost me 2 reloads I stopped playing with them.
Can't speak for your variant but on my 10+ One UI is fast and very stable... I use the Samsung customization apps, themes and icon packs.
Got 99% of what I want and that missing 1% isn't worth the battery drain, system instability or loss of some of the functions I get with the Samsung customization.

Had no issues whatsoever with Action Launcher. Not a chance I'd use the stock launcher, no adjustable grid is a deal breaker right out of the gate. Add in all the missing features and it's like going back to an SGS2 or something using the stock launcher, woefully inadequate.

I am using nextdns.io for ad blocking
Works great, no extra load or battery drain.
Also supports newer dns standards via private dns option in android 10