this post was submitted on 29 Dec 2023
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I don't quite understand the use-case for the pi-hole. Why use it, when one could simply use something like µBlock Origin?
µBlock Origin is great for browsers that support extensions. But that won't get most Android TV ads or Apple TV users. And I suspect many of the people with pi hole also use µBlock Origin for redundancy.
Correct. I haven't seen an ad for years.
Correct, I use both myself. Pihole is also my DHCP server and I created different blocklists for different devices on my network. For example, I have "general", "media", "gaming" and "kids".
There shouldn’t be any ads on AppleTV. And for AndroidTV, just install a custom launcher.
Or they could install a pihole instead that'll cover guests to their network
Yeah but why do one simple task that covers your entire network when you can do more work on each individual device?
cant use adblocking on xbox/roku/etc.
pihole blocks ads on those.
Sure you can. I've been doing it for years - works great.
It does. You have to use the right adlist to make sure you block ads and tracking but don't block content.
One example. Can't really AD block ios that easily. But with a pi hole you don't need to worry about anything.
Just setup the pi hole static IP as the dns in your routers settings and all devices are behind the one interface.
Got an issue? Just login to the pi hole website to manage it. White list some critical AD site for some stupid mobile game your kids play for example.
I just set the DNS ip on my router to the Mullvad adblocking DNS. Also on my private DNS on my phone!
Ads are not only present in the browser. For example, there are Smart (not really lol) TVs that have ads embedded right into the operating system (https://reddit.com/r/assholedesign/comments/co5aw4/unremovable_ads_on_my_2500_samsung_smart_tv/). You can't install an adblocker there, but a DNS based filter will know how to deal with this. There are other alternatives, some are cloud hosted like NextDNS or ControlD, there are other local alternatives like AdguardHome or PfBlockerNG if you run a PfSense Firewall. There are also simple solutions like AdGuard's Public DNS or Mullvad's Adblocking DNS servers. If you use an iPhone or iPad, you can easily download a configuration profile that includes the DNS settings for these services. I think NextDNS offers a similar service. On Android, you can just set up Dns over TLS, I think it's called Private DNS in the settings. DNS adfiltering can't get rid of all ads though, e.g. YouTube's mechanism for displaying ads is resistant to DNS filtering. That's what uBlock Origin if for though.
It blocks ads in apps on your cell phone too, not just in browsers
Can do that with Adguard's DNS too. It's what I use, which also works on mobile networks.
They are kind of two separate things.
Pi-Hole will work on literally every device on your network. It can block ads on smart TVs, cell phones, etc. It can prevent certain forms of tracking on video doorbells, voice assistants, cameras, etc. You can also set up custom DNS to restore online service to old game consoles or to host web services at home.
You also get all the metrics. For example, I can see that my computer reaches out to my printer several times a minute and that the Oculus app for my Quest 2 was reaching out to its servers even when the app was “closed”.
You could also use it as a sort of parental control. It can provide one set of block lists to the parent’s devices and a different one to the kids devices. Or you could do the same with IoT devices so they are only allowed to reach out to the services they need to be able to run.
uBlock is still important though. It’s possible to get around a DNS filter like Pi-Hole by serving ads from the same domain that the core service is served through. uBlock Origin can do things like block YouTube ads for instance.
With a pi hole, you're basically setting up a DNS server that has built in abilities to stop ads.
What that means is, you can point your router (or any device really) at that DNS server (pi hole) to block ads.
Ublock is good.
Due to remote work constraints, a pi hole doesn't play nicely with their stuff and I can't be bothered to figure out a work around. Mostly because it's my wife's remote work, and their IT is hesitant to talk with me about it - I get it, I wouldn't do that at work (I'm in IT).
So I use ublock on Firefox on both my desktop and phone, plus I run through a VPN that blocks ads and malware for everything else. The VPN is a separate use case, but that's just an added benefit.
Speed and efficiency. Why waste time downloading ad content just for it to be hidden by the browser when you can simply stop them from being downloaded in the first place?