Question regarding DNS ad locking and DNS for content unblocking
I am a long time Android user considering the move to iOS. Adblocking is something I absolutely need. I read about DNS Adblocking using adguard or nextdns and the like.
The next constraint for me is I live in Canada. I use a service called getflix DNS to unblock US content on my WiFi. I have the getflix DNS enterered directly on my router so all devices using my WiFi can see US content.
Here is my question. If I use dns adblock on my iOS device, will I still be using the getflix DNS server on the router to get US content. Will they both be used or am I doomed to just use one of them?
Posted Dec 29, 2021, 1:11 PM UTC
811
In simple terms, the router DNS setting will go to any device on the network that asks for them. If you manually set the DNS on a device, it will not use the routers provided DNS, so you are going to have to pick one or the other.
If you want to keep using the routers DNS and block ads on your phone when web browsing, Safari does support ad blocking extensions which may fulfill your needs.
Hear me out. Knowing I may be totally wrong.
If I install a DNS on my phone to block ads, I am assuming the traffic still needs to flow through my router. What am I missing?
Think of DNS as a phone book for the internet. So when you want to go somewhere, your device uses the DNS it has been provided, or has been manually set to, to look up where it needs to route traffic.
So if you set DNS on your phone, it will use that phone book, and not the one that the router has been told to provide out to clients.
Oh.. I get it. So even though the traffic flows through the router, it will go to where my phone DNS is directing it and not where my router DNS is directing it.
OK, so it's got to be one or the other. Damn.
Is there any fix to this problem other than using safari for everything. It's system wide as block that I want :-(
I've never used the service but https://controld.com supports adblocking and also allows you to bypass geoblocking.
Aside from something like u/arlenarmageddon posted, I believe you would have to be jail broken to do anything more advanced.
You can install DNSCloak and select an ad blocking DNS host. Under the hamburger menu, you can then add a WiFi exception to exclude your home WiFi network from the ad blocking DNS server.