That's strange.
When setting up PiVPN I entered my pihole IP address as DNS?
Just to add to this...
I modified /etc/OpenVPN/server.conf to state my pihole IP address and when connected via OpenVPN ads are blocked.
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Just a tip, commenting out push "redirect-gateway def1" will route only DNS queries. It'sā useful incase if you have low broadband speed on the server side, however you will loose the full encryption
Just coming back to the android problem.
I have tried on older android devices and ads are successfully blocked, so guess it's an android 6+ issue?
Very annoying, given my phone is the most device!
Good tip thanks.
But my speeds are pretty good, plus I wouldn't want to loose the full encryption, kinda defeats the object of a VPN!
Google uses a slick backdoor using port 443 on android that apparently dns queries use and more. They are bastards. Simple fix was to use VPN for me
How did you come about this information?
I recall seeing reports of the QUIC protocol being able to let the ads through...
pfense and capturing packets. I don't know 100% what goes on but blocking that ip range renders everything Google to stop. Including YouTube. They have upped the ante on their ads, they are everywhere and it's driving me nuts.
How is this only implemented in more recent versions of android though?
I have tested on a 4.0 device and pihole functions perfectly.
I'd have thought that anything they put I place for their benefit / gain would manifest in all things Google / android?
It's a real pain
The reason I don't want to be connected to my VPN 100% of he time is it seems to time out. So if my device is asleep, or not in use for a while, the VPN disconnects and when I unlock, I get a heap of notifications, mails etc.
I'm using the OpenVPN app for android.
Interesting. Thanks for sharing.
I think we'll have a continually difficult time going forward, and Google's a lot bigger than us...
There will be a way I'm sure of it. It's also rather scary that your phone can just bypass the dns in the network configuration, seems like a big hole that we are trusting everything to Google (phishing,etc).
It really is a crying shame.
I guess that from your (Pihole Dev) side it's something that you can't circumnavigate?
So the only workaround is the use of a VPN?
Well I recently got a new android(older version) and do not have the VPN setup on this one yet. But I noticed pihole was letting Google through at home and that's what brought me here. My computer using ad block with unlock currently is blocking YouTube ads but I believe it blocks the js code from running directly. Everything else in my house through phone is getting YouTube ads.
My newer android device (Galaxy S6 running android 6.0.1) is the only device in my network that allows adverts through.
So I figured it was an android thing, but was hoping there was a proper fix.
Use of a VPN is a workaround in my opinion.
And given the issues I have with VPN timing out and effectively putting me in an "offline" state it's not really viable for me.
I'll need to double check this, but my Nexus 5X (running Android 7.1.2) has ads blocked by Pi-hole.
That'll be another spanner in the works!
My only addition would be the 2 devices that had adverts blocked through pihole are custom ROMs and my newer S6 is not vanilla android, it's the Samsung 'version'
I also have a Nexus 7 on Marshmallow, which I think also blocks ads (also will need to check that).
I have Nexus 7 (droid 6.0.1) and HTC (droid 4.1.1) both blocking ads like below one:
"http://doubleclick.com/"
Both the phone and tablet are blocking ads. Just to check, are you only connected via Wifi (not cellular)?
Yes. Connected only via WiFi with data disabled.