GoKawiil
Tech News
Xiaomi smartphones, which sell at low prices and remain uncommon in the US market, embed advertisements across built-in apps including file management, music, and the core interface. The phones previously displayed ads even within the Settings app, though Xiaomi reversed that particular placement. Users can reduce, but not fully eliminate, these ads by adjusting specific device settings.
A technical article explains how to block advertisements across an entire Android device rather than within individual apps, noting that Android has become increasingly locked down and harder to customize. It describes four DNS-based techniques that intercept ad-serving hostnames and redirect them to invalid IP addresses, which can be applied either on the device itself or via an external DNS server. The piece notes DuckDuckGo's browser blocks trackers but not ads outright, so additional measures are needed.
The uBlock Origin team has released version 1.74, which it says will be the last stable build available on the Chrome Web Store. Google plans to pull the extension from the store on August 31 as it finishes phasing out support for Manifest V2, the older extension platform uBlock Origin relies on. Chrome users searching the store are already seeing only the Manifest V3-based uBlock Origin Lite as a replacement.