After trying every free ad blocker on Android, here's the setup combo that actually stuck

Published Sep 4, 2026, 8:30 AM EDT Akshay Bhalla was the former game guides editor for Screen Rant and the technology editor at MensXP. He has previously written about smartphones, apps, streaming, gadgets, and games for print, digital, and TV media outlets. When he isn’t writing about tech, he can often be found playing JRPGs, listening to music, or playing with his three dogs. You can reach Akshay at bhallanator @ proton dot me. I've tested numerous free privacy-focused browsers and apps that can block ads and tracking on Android devices. But using a single service at a time doesn't net the results I want. Some ads are quite persistent, and no app or browser can ever handle them. That's when I realized: What if I used my favorite browser alongside a service to block ads on my Android device? The results were quite surprising. Setup takes a few minutes If you search for a free ad-blocking service on the Play Store, you will be bombarded with countless apps that make incredible claims. I've tried all the free ones and have always found them lackluster. They're often used as a gateway to get users to pay for features paywalled behind a subscription or one-time fee. But apps like AdGuard offer great solutions all for free. However, you need a separate app, which uses more resources from your phone's chipset. This can drain your battery and slow down your phone's performance. These apps also occupy the VPN slot, which prevents you from running a VPN alongside an ad-blocking app. Unless you're using Aloha Browser's VPN service, which doesn't take up an additional VPN slot, you might face the aforementioned issues at some point or another. That's when I thought of using Brave's aggressive ad-blocking setting alongside Android's Private DNS feature. This would let me block ads at the browser and system levels, removing ads from most websites and apps. Apart from ads, Brave's aggressive Shield settings let me block trackers, fingerprinting, scripts, and other annoying features websites tend to implement. I also turned on specific content filters that would block cookies and newsletter pop-ups, which can hamper my browsing experience. The Brave and Private DNS combo also doesn't use a VPN slot, so I can use my VPN service if I want to consume region-locked media. I wasn't aware that I could use my VPN service with the above combo until I tried it for myself. What's neat is that since I'm not using an additional app to block ads, my phone would also last longer. While this combination doesn't exactly eradicate ads from every app, it gets rid of the annoying ones in games and websites. You can use AdGuard's DNS service, but I prefer NextDNS because it offers more customization options. But to use this combo, you first need to set up both by digging into the settings. Getting everything ready Credit: Lucas Gouveia / Android Police First, you'll set up a Private DNS in your phone's settings to block ads at the system level. I recommend using AdGuard or NextDNS, as both are free services that do a great job. To set up Private DNS, follow the steps below: Go to Settings. Select Network & internet. Tap Private DNS. Paste the DNS provider's hostname. For AdGuard, copy and paste dns.adguard-dns.com; NextDNS users can paste the IPv4 addresses 45.90.28.XX and 45.90.30.XX. Tap Save. You will need to add Google hostnames to the allowlist for certain services to function normally. These typically involve Device Registration on the Play Store and Push Notifications. After you've set up the Private DNS on your phone, you'll turn on Brave's aggressive Shield setting. Brave doesn't turn this setting on by default, but you can toggle it on in the main settings. In Brave, go to Settings > Brave Shields & privacy > Block trackers & ads, and change it to Aggressive. You're now ready to block most ads on your phone without giving up battery life, storage, or other resources. This combo will let you block ads in games and apps, as the Private DNS services will catch most ad domains. But some domains can still slip through the filter, especially in browsers. Thankfully, after enabling the Aggressive shield setting in Brave, the browser can clean up any remaining ads while browsing. Brave also blocks some of the same filters as AdGuard or NextDNS, and it blocks ads that are coded at the script level. In addition, Brave blocks trackers and unique fingerprinting. With this combo up and running, you will see fewer banner ads and pop-ups on websites. You will also notice slightly better battery life as you aren't being tracked all the time. But you might still see ads on apps like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, since they use proprietary tech for serving ads. While Brave does a great job of blocking ads on YouTube, it still isn't perfect, and you will occasionally see ads. There's always a tussle between Google and the browser, as both companies constantly try to outsmart each other with constant updates. I will keep using this combo for the foreseeable future After switching to Private DNS and Brave's aggressive Shield feature, my browsing experience has become much more peaceful. I no longer see ads in the apps and websites I use most often, and the odd ones I do come across aren't that intrusive. It's a free solution that actually works, doesn't hog resources on my phone, and lets me use a VPN service when I need to.