On iOS, I’ve tried quite a few combinations and I’ve gotten feedback from users with others.
When I ran pi-hole or AdGuard home, I also used AdGuard on all my iOS devices - both the DNS pseudo-VPN and safari extensions cause otherwise ads would sneak in. The Adguard app removes the annoying ads from Apple News and NYT apps.
Now I just use NextDNS and the same AdGuard iOS app setup.
Interesting, do you or would you recommend a vpn at router level though?
Because forgive me if I’m wrong but if you use a vpn at router level then use adguard dns on the device which creates a vpn profile, wouldn’t that leak your data?
Or would you recommend no vpn on router and just use adguard home, with nextdns as the resolver or upstream?
I don’t run VPNs at the router level. The speed and latency hit, plus the spambot triggers aren’t worth it for me. This is purely a non-privacy minded preference, mind you, and I’m totally not an expert.
You bring up a good point though. Regardless of what’s running upstream, if my device is running private relay, it all gets bypassed. So I have to disable private relay.
My preference is to run nextdns over DoH, AdGuard locally on iOS + Stop the Madness, and a VPN when I’m feeling sheepish.
That makes sense, is it possible to use advised dns along with a vpn on iOS? I’m sure I read it somewhere but I don’t remember.
It does suck however that if you use private relay it doesn’t work very well.
I used PiHole for a long time, then graduated to self-hosting a VPN so I could get as-blocking when away from my home network.
Ultimately I ended up using just AdGuard DNS via the DNS profile for iOS, and hard code the DNS into my home routers.
There might be a better setup, but this simple deployment takes care of 98% of ads.
Same, except I use Mullvad’s DoH for my phone and router.
Not sure if this is really what you're looking for but I have pihole at home, then tailscale so my phone always gets the benefit.
Ahhh yes tailscale, so it uses a vpn tunnel to route your traffic back home and through your network?
I use ControlD on my router and mobile devices
If you don’t mind me asking do you use any vpn on your router?
Not at the moment. No. I used to have one of those Netgate firewalls using pfsense i could do vpn on but i really didnt see the point. By using ControlD as my DNS i block known malware, ads, and trackers for free. Obviously that does not protect from everything, but it goes a long way towards helping.
Very true, I’ve also noted that controlD can actually spoof your ip, so I suppose there is no need for vpn
DNS66 does the job on Android: https://f-droid.org/packages/org.jak_linux.dns66/
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