Posted 16 March 2013

AdAway (ad blocker) was removed from Google Play - Download F-Droid (link for Adblock Plus in comments)

I received an email from Google Play that AdAway was removed due to "Violation of section 4.4 of the Developer Distribution Agreement." Thus, it will never be available on Google Play again. Please switch to F-Droid, the open alternative to Google Play!

Deinstall AdAway
Allow app installs from 'unknown sources'
Download f-droid.org/FDr…apk to your device
Install this apk
Open F-Droid and search for AdAway

AdAway

AdAway is an open source ad blocker for Android using the hosts file. It needs Android >= 2.1 and ROOT access.

Requirements

Android version: 2.1
ROOT required
Read/Write access on system-Partition

Problems can occur on some HTC devices when system-Partition is not writable!
Features

AdAway is Open Source
AdAway lets you select your own sources of hosts files
You can add exceptions to your Whitelist if some apps are not working with ads disabled
You can define extra hostnames in your own Blacklist
You can add your own hostname - IP pairs in the Redirection List

code.google.com/p/a…ay/

New Comment

10 Comments

sorted by

19th Mar 2013
The issue is that if anyone needs to install any of these ad apps, the Play Marketplace Store will no longer list it. If you have these apps already, and don't uninstall them, then you should have no problems (of course, I wouldn't expect the apps to ever be officially updated, either)

Thanks OP - I will be looking into F-Droid (open source alternative)
Author
16th Mar 2013
The F-Droid Repository is an easily-installable catalogue of FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) applications for the Android platform. The server contains the details of multiple versions of each application, and the Android client makes it easy to browse, install them onto your device, and keep track of updates.

You can install the latest version from here (ssl download) or see the end of this page for a QR code.

You can also browse the repository with a web browser, and download the applications directly from there if you can’t or don’t want to run the F-Droid client on your device.

Adblock Plus for Android link

Breaking: Google Has Begun Purging Ad-Blocking Apps From The Play Store

(edited)
16th Mar 2013
Any idea why they were removed. What does Section 4.4 say?

Just wondering if i should still use the Firefox version....
Author
16th Mar 2013
Peg Man
Any idea why they were removed. What does Section 4.4 say?Just wondering … Any idea why they were removed. What does Section 4.4 say?Just wondering if i should still use the Firefox version....

section 4.4

At least four prominent Android apps--AdBlock Plus, AdBlocker, AdAway and AdFree--have been unceremoniously dumped from Google Play. Read

(edited)
16th Mar 2013
So some company has cried out because their terrible advert is not being rammed down everyone's throat as they want it.

Well, I'll continue to use it and move to alternative devices if i have to.
16th Mar 2013
Some apps with ads also interfere, disrupt or damage with devices owned by Android users so how about removing them Google?
I also wonder about the will not use info to sell outside the google market bit wrt ads?
16th Mar 2013
The problem is that the developers of apps need to get revenue from somewhere if an app is given away for free...so they are paid for by advertising......the simple answer if you want ad free apps is to get the paid for app

All that will happen is that in the end there will be no free apps in the play store
(edited)
17th Mar 2013
Is there a fix out yet for enabling internet when you got Google Chrome (dev) installed?
Yes, Google Chrome is patched to disable internet on install.
(edited)
17th Mar 2013
I have Google Chrome installed. It's not stopped my internet from working!
18th Mar 2013
Just done a quick check and my adaway is fine?
Updated, rebooted, checked play and everything is golden?