Help Block ads within apps

[gazzyaid]

Hi
I really know very litte about this stuff. My 12 year old just got a smart phone, we have parental controls like a safe browser etc but ive noticed that on apps you can get online unfiltered via some ads or in app browsers.

Is there anyway to stop this such as an ad block (thats simple to install)?

Please help im very worried about his online safety.

Best wishes

Gaz

 

[AZgl1500]

it is possible to block some, but not all advertising.

the most dangerous stuff will be links that he/she will click on "just cause it is there" to see what happens.

those are the ones that I worry about, and simply refuse to follow any of the in app links.

AdBlock used to have a side loaded app that was fairly good at stopping some of those.
it has now been replaced with a browser that incorporates nearly all of the AdBlocking features. to use it, you would have to studiously use the kid's phone and try to click on every possible combination of links, and they all will give you a chance to set the "default browser" to handle it.

I use Ghostery browser and make it a default, but, I still have to set it as the default every time I click on a different News Service as that service wants to use their own browser, and I won't let them....


but, try as you may, all it takes is 5 seconds for the kid to open up Settings/Default Applications and to clear everything you did in one single click.


Education of your child is going to be your only way to control what happens with that phone.
There are some apps that claim they can protect the child, but all of them can be uninstalled.....
unless you root the phone, put that app into the System Partition, and then lock the phone again. but that is beyond your skill level as of today.

more learned folks will be along to add to my words.

 

[Fox Mulder]

The only effective way to block ads in apps as opposed to in the browser, is to root the phone and install a host-file based blocker (i.e. AdAway). This is probably not something you would be willing to do since by your own admission you aren't that knowledgeable about this and there is an element of risk with rooting.
Short of that, the best you can do is block ads at the browser level only. Firefox has an AdBlock extension, you could install that and set Firefox as the default browser. This will do nothing for in-app ads however.