Benjamin Kaiser

Using uBlock Origin with Chrome on Android

Benjamin Kaiser -

Until not too long ago I thought the main options for ad blocking the web on an Android phone were:

  • Use Firefox with an ad-blocking extension
  • Use a DNS filter (a la DNS66)

I've never been a huge fan of Firefox, and the DNS filter doesn't catch everything like uBlock origin does.

Eventually, I ran into Kiwi Browser (play store link). You can think of Kiwi Browser as just like Chrome, but with extension support! It's also open source on GitHub.

Once you install Kiwi Browser, installing uBlock is as simple as it is on Chrome on desktop. Visit the uBlock origin extension page and click Add to Chrome.

Now you have a web browser that works the same as Chrome on your phone but with uBlock Origin blocking ads for you. You can set it as your default browser, and if you use a launcher like Nova Launcher you can swap out the default search bar on the home screen for one that launches Kiwi Browser directly.