You can now block ads in Android

Update (February 9): Adblock Fast is back in Google Play after being removed!

Update (February 2): Our ad blocker hit the top spot for free, new productivity apps in the Play store yesterday:

Then, Adblock Fast was removed by Google [update (May 9): old Google News links are busted].

We’re working to somehow, someway bring the app back to Android, though. Find out when Adblock Fast for Android relaunches!

When Apple rolled content blocking out to hundreds of millions of iOS users in September, ad blocking became kind of a big deal and our Adblock Fast app was the first free and first open-source ad blocker on that platform. Adblock Fast, which is also available for Chrome and Opera on desktops and laptops, has since racked up over 200,000 users, is currently rated over 4.5 out of 5 stars in the App Store and still the only content blocker rated an A+ by the readers of MacRumors, and was even featured in an Adweek cover story.

Today, Samsung is rolling content blocking out to hundreds of millions of Android users with an over-the-air update and they’ve partnered with us to again make Adblock Fast the first free and first open-source ad blocker on this platform. Adblock Fast for Android runs just seven optimized filtering rules as on other platforms and, as a result, webpages in Android load an average of 51% faster according to our benchmarks.

Here’s how to block ads in Android!

1. Make sure you have Samsung Internet

Adblock Fast blocks ads in the Samsung Internet browser, version 4.0 and up. This is the default browser on most Samsung devices. If you have another Android device or an older version of the browser, you can [correction (February 1): will soon be able to] install or update Samsung Internet from Google Play. Version 4.x requires Android 5.0, Lollipop, [correction: 6.0, Marshmallow] or higher at the moment but will soon be compatible with Android 4.x, Ice Cream Sandwich [correction: and 5.x, Lollipop].

On the chance you installed Adblock Fast first, press the Help button in the app to start installing or updating Samsung Internet [correction: installing and updating the browser by hand aren’t yet possible]:

2. Install and enable Adblock Fast

You can install Adblock Fast from Google Play too. Open the app, press Help, then follow the instructions to turn ad blocking on:

To unblock ads afterwards, press the Adblock Fast button in the app.

3. Figure out what to do with your new free time

As mentioned, Adblock Fast accelerates page loading by more than 50% on average. Take a look at an example from our benchmarks to see a site in action, before and after Adblock Fast for Android:

Now, what are you waiting for?! Get Adblock Fast for Android!

You can follow and message us on Facebook or on Twitter if you have any questions or comments and, to try our latest apps like Adblock Fast for Android before we launch them, sign up for early access.

Posted by Brian Kennish