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Comment by ggpsv | Hacker News Reader

You can use nextdns [0] pretty much to the same effect of a pihole, yet you can get up and running in minutes. You can then configure wherever you please: your browser, your laptop, your phone, or even your router.

[0]: https://nextdns.io

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NextDNS does not help you with ads served from the same domain as the website itself, like Google ads.

It can help with subdomains like adservice.google.com

Agreed. At the end of the day there is no one tool that will fend off all of it. However, NextDNS/Pihole + uBlock Origin gets you most of the way there. uBlock Origin is particularly helpful for blocking first-party ads.

I use NextDNS in my network and I'd say it's well worth the price. I could of course accomplish it with PiHole, but NextDNS just works, and covers my phone when I'm not at home.

I use NextDNS and have crazy battery drain when the app is enabled on my iPhone

I was going to ask if anyone else had battery drain with the iPhone VPN enabled (say for pihole, or I’m assuming NextDNS).

Interesting. I'm on Android, so I just use the built-in private DNS support.

I wonder if the apple configuration generator would work better?

On Android 12+ (if my memory serves well), you can use DNS over TLS without having to install any additional software. It seems to cover all of the connections, but I don't think DoT is used when your phone connects to your network for VoWifi and eSIM provisioning connections (I didn't see them in my NextDNS logs)

I've had this happen to me with iOS and VPNs in general. NextDNS, Wireguard, and most notoriously, Tailscale.

Thank you for this! I had tried OpenDNS setup through my router but it blocked some stuff I didn't want it to and wouldn't, for anything, release the block so I moved back off of it. I'm definitely going to give nextdns a shot!

dns.adguard.com is also a free option

https://adguard-dns.io/en/public-dns.html

NextDNS also has a free plan, albeit you'll hit the limit quickly.

I don't expect everyone to pay for a service like this, but I think that paying for a service like this is reasonable if you can afford it. There's always a modicum of trust that you must confer on the provider (they're resolving all your DNS queries, and you can view logs if choose to), but paying for it does better in aligning incentives. Otherwise self-hosting is the most privacy-friendly option of all.

Are there any self-hosted options or similar?

Like PiHole?

pihole or adguard home[0]

[0]: https://github.com/AdguardTeam/AdGuardHome#getting-started

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