AdGuard

🎤 Speak at the Ad Blocker Developer Summit — Copenhagen, November 3–4 Once a year, the people dedicated to making the web cleaner and more private gather in one room for two days. This year, that room is in Copenhagen, and there’s still space for you on stage! 🌟The people Devs from the likes of AdGuard, Brave, eyeo, Ghostery, Google, Malwarebytes, Mozilla, and Opera, filter maintainers and privacy researchers 🌟The topics AI and LLMs in ad blocking, emerging platforms like chatbots, AR/VR, smart homes, the cookieless future ahead, and more 🌟The format 20+ talks over two days, workshop, panels, plus a casual get-together. Walk up to anyone, ask questions, or disagree out loud 🌟The venue We're hosting at the cozy Zoku Hotel in lovely Copenhagen, Denmark. Travel and accommodation can be covered if you apply as a speaker! ABDS is one of the few places that brings together people from all areas adjacent to ad blocking and privacy protection. With the industry shifting as fast as it is right now, it’s a rare chance to hear every angle and actually influence what happens next. — Andrey Meshkov, AdGuard CTO 👉 Submit your talk, or register as a guest if you'd rather just listen and connect. See you in Copenhagen! 🇩🇰

💚 The team behind uAssets, the filter lists used by uBlock Origin, says it will stop fixing ad-blocking issues on Facebook. They say Facebook keeps finding ways around new fixes, making the work increasingly difficult to sustain. This won’t affect AdGuard’s Facebook filters. We maintain our own rules and will continue updating them. There’s nothing to celebrate here. It shows how hard it is for small, often volunteer-run teams to keep up with tech giants — and how important their work is for everyone who wants more control over what they see online.

📬 AdGuard Mail v1.6: Easier feedback and in-app version history Great services aren’t built in a vacuum — your feedback means the world to us. In the AdGuard Mail v1.6 update, we’ve made it seamless to report bugs, export logs, or check the changelog in just a couple of clicks. What’s new in this release: 🌟Quick reports for rejected aliases If a website refuses to accept an alias you created, you no longer have to explain the issue from scratch. Just tap the exclamation mark icon in the Aliases section and select “Address rejected by website”, the app will take you to a quick feedback form that you can fill out in a couple of minute 🌟In-app version history We made it easier to access the full version history from our app. Head to Settings ➔ About ➔ Version history to explore the full list of improvements for every release 🌟Simpler log exports Saving technical logs on smartphones is now much more straightforward (Support ➔ Export logs), complete with clear save confirmations and quick email sharing Read more about the new version on our blog!

🚨 Last chance to join the speaker lineup at the ABDS! Only a week until the call for paper closes. Whether you’re a dev, researcher, or privacy advocate — if you’ve got something to share, we want to hear it! 👉 Submit your talk idea for the Ad Blocker Developer Summit 2026 — deadline: August 16. If you know someone who might want to attend or speak — share this post with them! This event is community-driven, and the more voices we bring together, the better. Looking forward to seeing familiar faces and meeting new ones at the summit. See you in Copenhagen on November 3–4!

🫥 You didn't log in, didn't leave an email, switched on "incognito" — and the site still recognizes you. How? It's because of your digital fingerprint. As you simply open a page, your browser helpfully reveals dozens of small things: device model, OS version, language, screen resolution, installed fonts, time zone, exactly how your graphics card renders images. Individually, not a big deal. Together, a combination that's often as unique as a real fingerprint. And here's the sneaky part: you can delete cookies, but the fingerprint stays. "Incognito" hides history from other people on your device, but doesn't stop sites from collecting a fingerprint. Which is why ads sometimes "follow" you to places you seemingly left nothing behind at. You won't become fully invisible — and promising otherwise would be dishonest. But you can make your fingerprint less unique: 🌟Block trackers and data-collection scripts — fewer parties collecting your print at all 🌟Strip tags from links and clear third-party cookies so you're harder to stitch into one cross-site profile 🌟Hide some of the parameters a site sees by default — that's what AdGuard's Tracking protection does Knowing how you're recognized is the first step to giving away only what's absolutely necessary.

As the saying goes, better to ship a hotfix than regret it forever! We recently released AdGuard for Android v4.13, and now we’re dropping a quick hotfix to squash a couple of bugs that popped up right after the launch. ⚡️ A crucial note for anyone using Integration mode: To keep AdGuard Ad Blocker and AdGuard VPN running seamlessly together, make sure to update both apps to their latest versions. This is critical for proper synchronization. Update directly in the app or download the latest version from our website.

🔗 Copy any link from social media and look at the tail: ?utm_source=…&fbclid=… That's not a technical necessity, those are tags. They tell the site where you came from, and some (like fbclid) can tie your click to your social profile. And when you forward that link to a friend, you send your tags along with it. 💚 AdGuard's Tracking protection (formerly Stealth Mode) strips these tails automatically: the page opens as usual, and your data remains private. A small thing that quietly protects your privacy every day. See for yourself: copy a link before and after, the difference is obvious.

💚 AdGuard Mini for Mac v2.3: New setup checks and better diagnostics AdGuard Mini is designed to run quietly in the background. But when ad blocking suddenly stops working after a macOS update or data migration to a new Mac, tracking down the issue can be tricky. In the latest version of AdGuard Mini, we decided to take the hassle out of it — now the app diagnoses problems on the fly, explains what's wrong, and shows you how to get everything back on track. What’s new in this release: ⚠️ Clear guidance and alerts Critical (orange): Highlights major issues, like disabled Safari extensions, missing background permissions, or exceeding rule limits Standard (gray): Reminds you about less urgent matters, like outdated filters or disabled annoyances blocking 🔍 Improved diagnostics for complex cases If you run into a specific bug, like high CPU usage or an issue after restoring from a backup, the app will compile clear, detailed diagnostic info for our support team. This helps resolve the problem as quickly as possible Read more about the new version on our blog!

🥷 New versions of AdGuard VPN for Android and iOS! “VPNs, assemble!" (We Googled it and confirmed it's the legendary superhero battle cry, so we thought it would be super cool to drop it into our post about the latest VPN updates). In these releases, we’ve packed in handy new features, squashed annoying bugs, and tackled crucial security upgrades: 🌟 Instant disconnection (Android & iOS): We fixed a critical bug — now the VPN disconnects instantly, even if the connection process gets hung up. Also, the Home screen is now more responsive and pleasant to use 🌟 App exclusions on Android TV (Android): A long-awaited feature has officially landed on the big screen! You can now choose exactly which TV apps route through the VPN and which ones connect directly, set up in just a couple of clicks for smooth streaming 🌟 SOCKS5 authentication (Android): Using the local SOCKS5 proxy in AdGuard VPN for Android now requires a login and password. This completely stops third-party apps from silently connecting to an open proxy in the background 🌟 Smarter Ad Blocker integration (Android): We updated the communication protocol between AdGuard VPN for Android and AdGuard Ad Blocker, adding authentication so synchronization happens automatically and remains completely hidden from outside apps ⚠️ To keep Integration mode and SOCKS5 running smoothly, please make sure to update AdGuard Ad Blocker to v4.13 and AdGuard VPN to v2.16.2. Want to know more? Head over to our blog for the full technical breakdown!

💻 A startup is paying developers to watch ads while using AI. What’s the catch? Anyone working with AI coding assistants like Claude Code or Codex knows those painful pauses: the model is "thinking" over a complex task, and you're stuck staring at the screen. Sometimes it’s a few seconds; other times, it’s 10 to 15 minutes or even more. A startup called Kickbacks.ai wants to monetize that downtime. The service serves ads directly inside your IDE (like VS Code) while the AI generates code, sharing a cut of the ad revenue with you. At first glance, it sounds like a win-win: you’re staring at a loading bar anyway, so why not make a few extra bucks? But if you look past the pitch, this "fair economy" quickly reveals itself as a raw deal. Even in its "privacy-friendly" default mode, the extension collects device, location, and behavioral data, more than enough to build a distinct digital fingerprint. If you opt into the "boosted" mode for higher payouts, the algorithms start analyzing your AI prompts. If proprietary code, API keys, or trade secrets end up in those prompts, you (and you alone) will be on the hook for breaking your company's NDA. The payout isn't nearly as sweet as advertised either. That promised "50% share" turns out to be "up to 50% of net profit" after deducting undisclosed company expenses hidden deep in the terms of service. To top it off, the startup caps its own legal liability at a meager $100 if anything goes wrong. Ad networks are constantly hunting for new real estate — from smart TVs and sports streams to your literal workspace. But risking your professional reputation, NDA, and confidential data for some pocket change is definitely a terrible trade.

🥽 Get your headsets ready: AdGuard VPN is now on Meta Quest! Diving into virtual reality should be secure as well as immersive. Earlier this year, we launched our browser extension for Meta Quest, but browser-only protection was just the beginning. Today, AdGuard VPN is officially a standalone app in the Meta Horizon Store, bringing system-wide privacy and security to Horizon OS! We’re thrilled to be among the very first VPN services to launch a full-fledged app on the platform. What does this mean for your VR experience? 🥷 System-wide protection: game, stream, and explore virtual environments with all app traffic fully encrypted 🥷 Total privacy: mask your IP address and keep your personal data private across all VR experiences 🥷 Full control: pick your location and set up App exclusions just as easily as on your phone How to get started: 1. Open the Meta Horizon Store on your headset and search for AdGuard VPN 2. Hit "Download" and launch it from your App Library 3. Pick a location, connect, and jump right back into VR with peace of mind! 🚀

💚 The third release candidate of AdGuard v8.0 for Windows is live — and we really need beta testers!  We’ve just released the third release candidate for version 8. The official launch is getting very close, but before we roll it out to everyone, we want to make sure every detail works as expected. If you’re currently using version 7, now is a great time to switch to the beta channel and try out the new interface, faster startup times, and upgraded filtering system early. You can enable the beta right in the app: open Settings ➔ General ➔ Update channel and select "Beta" Download the RC  ➡️ https://adguard.com/beta.html?platform=windows Give it a try and let us know what you think! You can submit bug reports and feedback directly through the in-app "Support" section or on our GitHub page. Help us make version 8.0 our best release yet! 🙌

📱 5 minutes, and your phone knows less about you You don't need to be paranoid to tighten your privacy game. Run down the list — each step takes under a minute: 🌟Permissions Settings → Apps. How many have access to location, mic, contacts set to "Always"? Switch it to "While using this app" or disable altogether. A flashlight app doesn't need to access your contacts 🌟Advertising ID Go to settings and find "Reset advertising ID" (Android) or turn off tracking (iOS). It wipes your ad profile 🌟Location History Google account → turn off and clear. Maps works fine without a permanent log of your movements 🌟Passwords Check for reused ones. A single leaked password shouldn't unlock ten services 🌟DNS Set a private DNS — ads and trackers get cut at the network level, across every app at once Save this post and work through it over a coffee. Much easier than dealing with the fallout of a leak.

💚 AdGuard for Android v4.13: Faster, smarter, and safer Making a great product even faster and more resource-efficient is always our top priority. When you’re on mobile data, every second and every megabyte counts — which is why AdGuard for Android v4.13 focuses heavily on deep optimizations for both filtering and privacy. Here is why this release is a big deal: 🌟Instant filter updates and major data savings We’ve introduced differential filter updates. Instead of downloading entire filter lists from scratch, the app now fetches only tiny patches containing the latest changes. Filters update instantly in the background, saving you a ton of mobile data. 🌟Faster, more private browsing with CRLite Revoked SSL certificate checks now happen directly on your device rather than being routed through third-party servers. This means pages load faster, and no third party can see which websites you’re visiting. 🌟Seamless integration with AdGuard VPN We’ve completely rewritten our integration protocol. The Ad Blocker and VPN now work together even more reliably without any extra tweaking on your end. The best part? Third-party apps won’t be able to track your activity. 🌟Future-proof security We’ve added support for post-quantum cryptography in DNS filtering to protect against future security threats, and expanded our certificate installation guides for Oppo (ColorOS) devices. Want to dive into all the technical details? Head over to our blog to read the full breakdown!

⚙️ Five AdGuard features people usually discover too late Today is the last day of the sale. But instead of another dry reminder, here's a quick tour of the features most people find way too late, if ever. ☁️ Scheduled parental control in AdGuard DNS In AdGuard DNS, you can do more than block categories (like social media, gaming, or adult content), you can set hours. YouTube until 10 PM on weekdays, no limits at weekends, for example. You can configure this for specific devices on your home network, including the tablet your child uses while you're confident they're asleep 💚 The Annoyances filter in AdGuard Ad Blocker While standard filters remove ads, the Annoyances filter wipes out everything else that ruins web browsing: cookie banners, "subscribe to our newsletter" pop-ups, "install our app" nags, and social widgets that quietly collect data 💚 Custom rules in AdGuard Browser Extension Sometimes the most annoying thing on a page isn't an ad, it's a massive header taking up half your screen, a floating live-chat widget, or an endless "Read next" section. Manual element blocking lets you point your cursor at any clutter on a page and hide it forever It takes just a couple of clicks: open the AdGuard menu, select "Block ads manually," highlight the offending element, and confirm. The extension automatically creates a custom cosmetic rule for that site. If you ever accidentally hide something important, you can easily edit or delete the rule in your settings under "User rules" 💚 Phishing protection in AdGuard Ad Blocker AdGuard checks addresses against a database of fraudulent and malicious domains and warns you before you type a password or card number. An ad blocker isn't only about comfort 📬 AdGuard Temp Mail A separate free service: a disposable email address, no signup. Useful when a "free guide" demands your real inbox

🔍 Why do people stop using VPNs? Here's a scenario almost everyone knows: you turn on your VPN, open your banking app, and it completely refuses to work. You open a marketplace, and prices are in the wrong currency. You try to access a work portal, and it immediately flags you as a suspicious bot. What do you do? You turn off the VPN. And then, you completely forget to turn it back on. That leaves you in the worst-case scenario: you’re paying for a subscription, but you are only actually protected during those rare moments when you remember to switch it back on. This entire headache is solved by a single feature that not enough people know about: Exclusions. The concept is simple: you set rules once for traffic that shouldn’t go through the encrypted tunnel. Banking apps, delivery services, and work platforms run directly over your local connection as if the VPN isn’t even there. Meanwhile, the rest of your internet traffic stays fully encrypted. 🥷 The feature comes with two flexible modes: 🌟 General mode: The VPN is ON everywhere by default, except for the specific websites and apps on your exclusion list. 🌟 Selective mode: The VPN ONLY turns on for your chosen sites and apps, while all other traffic runs normally. Perfect if you only need a VPN for a couple of specific services. You can set exclusions for both websites and apps (with one small caveat: on iOS, it’s limited to websites due to iOS system restrictions). Set it up once, and you’ll never have to manually toggle your VPN on and off again!

📺 Your Smart TV is watching you back You probably have an ad blocker on your computer. Maybe even on your phone. But on your TV? Almost certainly not. It makes sense: you can’t just install a standard browser extension there, and it feels like your Smart TV is just a big screen for movies and shows. In reality, it’s one of the most curious residents in your home. Most modern TVs use a technology called ACR — Automatic Content Recognition. The TV periodically takes "snapshots" of whatever is on screen and checks them against a database. That's how the manufacturer knows exactly what you're watching: live channels, streaming services, console games, and even videos played from a USB stick. That data (supposedly "anonymized") is then handed over to advertisers to target you with scary accuracy — including on your other devices. Technically, you agreed to this during the initial setup, buried somewhere between picking your language and connecting to Wi-Fi. The good news? You don't need to throw out your TV. 🌟Set up AdGuard DNS in your TV’s network settings. Requests to ad and tracking domains won't even reach their destination 🌟Even better — set up DNS on your router. This cleans up your entire home network: the TV, streaming box, gaming console, smart speaker 🌟If you have Android TV, use the dedicated AdGuard for Android TV app. It blocks ads and acts as a full-fledged firewall for your TV 🌟Check your TV’s internal settings. Look for toggles like "interactive ads," "content recognition," or "Viewing Information Services" and turn them off manually. Manufacturers just don't make them easy to find Fifteen minutes in your settings, and your digital home will get noticeably quieter.

🤟 3 days of AdGuard discounts are here! Usually, sales are tied to big holidays like Black Friday or New Year’s. But why wait for a holiday when we can treat you to great deals and make your internet cleaner right now? From July 21 to July 23, we’re running a flash sale. It’s the perfect time to level up your privacy and block ads across all your devices for less: 💚 All AdGuard Ad Blocker licenses 40% off 🥷 AdGuard VPN two-year subscription 80% off ☁️ Personal AdGuard DNS subscription 55% off This promo runs for just three days and wraps up on July 23rd

🏆 The verdict is in: Announcing our World Cup contest winners! Spain officially lifted the trophy, and now it’s time to crown our own champions. We combed through all of the comments, double-checked timestamps, and filtered out any edited entries (fair play always!). Now we’re ready to reveal who saw Spain’s victory coming. 🥇 The 4-year AdGuard super bundle (Ad blocker + VPN + DNS + Mail, literally covering you all the way until the 2030 World Cup!) goes to the first three sharp callers: 🌟Mando 🌟@hesyaaaaaaa 🌟@WingedLion1897 🎁 The 1-year bundle of the exact same suite goes to these 5 randomly selected predictors who also placed their bets on Spain: 🌟@is_mirko 🌟@shahrezza92 🌟@ManuGC67 🌟@sconim 🌟@JituY13 Congrats to all the winners! Our admins will be sliding into your DMs shortly with details on how to claim your subscriptions, along with your official Football Oracle diploma for extra bragging rights Huge thanks to everyone who joined in, dropped their predictions, and followed the tournament with us. And if you didn't win this time — don't sweat it, we've got something special coming up for you too 😉