Adblock Plus for Android FAQ

Is a rooted device required?

If you're running Android 3.1 or higher, or if your device supports manually configuring a proxy, root is not required. But it is always desirable, since it is the only way to seamlessly block ads on all connections.

Why am I asked to make changes to my network settings, even if Adblock Plus used to work fine?

Adblock Plus tries to automatically change the proxy settings for you. Android 4.1.2, 4.2.1 and later versions contain a security fix making our approach impossible. So there is no way around configuring it manually now. We are trying to make this process as simple as possible. There's a blog post with more information.

Can I move the app to an SD card?

Adblock Plus has the option to automatically start at boot time. On Android, this is only possible with apps that are installed on the device's internal storage. If you're not interested in starting the app at boot time, you can safely move it to an SD card.

Does it work with Firefox for Android?

Adblock Plus for Android works fine with current versions of Firefox for Android, but we still recommend using the more powerful Adblock Plus for Firefox. Older versions of Firefox for Android don't support Android's system proxy settings, so it will only work on rooted devices with those.

Why does Adblock Plus appear to consume so much traffic?

To filter ads, all traffic has to pass through Adblock Plus. Android considers this to be the traffic caused by the app, while it is in reality the sum of all traffic.

How can I make the icon in the notification area go away?

We hear you, the icon is a bit annoying. But right now, it has to be there - otherwise the Android system will just stop the app, and it won't be able to block ads anymore. We have added an option to hide it - this is the best we can do.

Why is Adblock Plus not on the Google Play store?

It used to be, but they removed Adblock Plus, somewhat arbitrarily.