this post was submitted on 18 Aug 2023
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Privacy

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What's the consensus on AdGuard? (lemm.ee)
submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by ominouslemon@lemm.ee to c/privacy@lemmy.ml
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I've been using AdGuard's DNS resolver on my Android phone for a couple of months, and I'm pretty satisfied with it.

The idea is that it filters out ad networks at the DNS level, so there is no need to root the phone (nor to install any app). You just put dns.adguard-dns.com in your "private DNS" settings and that's it.

Recently, though, I've seen a couple of people around here mentioning how Adguard is not trustworthy, or "kinda shady". What's your take on them? Their privacy policy seems OK to me, but I'd be interested to know more about them.

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[–] Harrison@infosec.pub 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

There's zero evidence of any wrongdoing or shadiness other than them having employees living in Russia. The company itself moved to Cyprus, many of their engineers left Russia, none of their servers are physically located in Russia, and they publicly disavowed Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

This doesn't mean Russia couldn't apply massive pressure by threatening family members, etc, of course, but I personally have no concerns at this time and use AdGuard Home (their local adblocking DNS server) in my LAN and their iOS app on my devices. The iOS app in particular uses Apple's content-blocking Safari tech so it should be completely safe so long as you don't pay for a VPN or use a local VPN to block everything outside Safari.

If you're rooted on Android, definitely use AdAway instead, it just replaces the hosts file.

https://adguard.com/en/blog/official-response-to-setapp.html

[–] brcl@artemis.camp -1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Why do you mention paying for a VPN as unsafe?

[–] Harrison@infosec.pub 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Specifically, the way iOS content blocking works is guaranteed safe. All it does is write to a file loaded by the Safari browser to block content, the app can't do anything at all itself. No indication any VPN sold by AdGuard (or the local device-wide fake VPN) is particularly unsafe that I've seen.

[–] brcl@artemis.camp 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

So if I just use private relay and AdGuard should be enough?

[–] Harrison@infosec.pub 1 points 2 years ago

Yeah that'll block all ads and trackers that're possible without severe annoyance with a non fingerprinted browser etc.

[–] forked_bytes@lemm.ee 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

No opinion on AdGuard, but there are several options for ad blocking DoH:

[–] mishimaenjoyer@kbin.social 0 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Add ProtonVPN‘s NetShield to the list. Also blocks trackers.

[–] 9krpm@sh.itjust.works 0 points 2 years ago (2 children)

protonmail has been seen sharing it's users data with 3rth parties. I assume that extends to all their services if necessary.

[–] mishimaenjoyer@kbin.social 2 points 2 years ago

Source: skizo rambling on /g/

[–] zwekihoyy@lemmy.ml 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

you're gonna have to provide a source if you wanna spread FUD, chief.

[–] netchami@sh.itjust.works -1 points 2 years ago

It's only available when using their paid VPN service. I much prefer NextDNS which is free and works on any VPN or outside a VPN tunnel.

[–] Gargari@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 years ago

Adguard is good, very good. Their rules are default included on uBO, they know their jobs well so getting very good product. As an alternative you can consider NextDNS

[–] NullaFacies@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 years ago

As an ad blocker/tracker blocker, AdGuard works really well.

They also have a “browsing security filter” which may be of concern to some people. This filter, similar to smart screen and Google Safe Browsing, will check to make sure websites aren't in a list.

However, if you have it on, they have a section you can opt in (I think it is opt in) to send extra data to help with the security filter.

That telemetry may seem like too much for some people, but I think it's the only thing in AdGuard products that collects data, and even then, it's not making filter better and helping its development, not for selling data.

[–] svamp@lemmy.ml 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I have no idea if adGuard is trustworthy or not, I personally use adAway which is open source and under a GPLv3 license. Perfectly satisfied with it.

[–] noodlejetski@geddit.social -1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I prefer NextDNS for blocking ads and trackers, you get to choose your own blocklists and white/blacklist domains of your choosing if you run into some problems.

[–] f4b10@feddit.it 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

What is the address to add as private dns service? Thank you.

[–] noodlejetski@geddit.social 1 points 2 years ago

you set up your own address with the block lists you want through https://my.nextdns.io

[–] zwekihoyy@lemmy.ml -4 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

it was good when I used it but I switched to nextdns and have liked it a bit more. adguard is based in Russia (I trust the company but who knows what laws could come about) and nextdns has been way more performant for me.

note: nextdns is based in the US so you're not really winning there but I choose to trust them so far