We constantly strive to make it easy for people from all over the world to use AdGuard. One of the things that make AdGuard so user-friendly is its filters. Without properly selected filters, the quality of ad blocking can suffer (learn why and what filters are).

This time, we focused on making it more convenient for the Ukrainians to set up ad blocking and transferred all rules for Ukrainian websites from the Russian filter to a separate one.

One filter is no longer enough

About 15 years ago, when the Russian filter was created, the Internet looked different. There were far fewer websites in general, and even fewer in the languages of post-Soviet countries. There was no need for a separate filter for each of the languages, and the Russian filter was sufficient for the entire segment.

Advertising networks were also somewhat different. For a long time, Runet ad networks were used throughout the post-Soviet space (which was convenient: Runet is the second largest segment of the Internet).

Over time, the Internet has become more diverse. A huge number of Ukrainian websites and advertising networks appeared. We got so many filtering rules for Ukrainian websites that it was time to create a separate filter.

Usability issues

Another problem was that the description of the Russian filter had no mention of the Ukrainian language. As Ukrainians could not find their language in the list, they closed the Filters tab without getting anything configured.
It could also happen that the Russian filter was simply not enabled for Ukrainian websites, even if AdGuard had been configured to enable the appropriate language-specific filters automatically. In both cases AdGuard didn't block ads as well as it could.

How a separate filter can help

• If you have set up AdGuard to automatically activate the necessary language-specific filters, it will now detect the Ukrainian language better. Rest assured that the filter you need will be turned on.
• If you set up filters manually from the list, it will be easier to understand which filter you need to enable to block ads on Ukrainian websites.
• There will be fewer rules in the filters that were formed after the split. This is important for those who use Safari or the experimental MV3 extension that have limits on the number of active rules.

How to enable the Ukrainian filter

If you visit Ukrainian websites and you have the option Automatically activate language-specific filters selected (on Windows, Mac or in the extension), AdGuard will detect the Ukrainian language and enable the filter on its own. If you didn't select this option or are using AdGuard on a smartphone or tablet, here are the instructions for different platforms.

In the case of AdGuard for Safari and AdGuard Content Blocker, you’ll need to update the app.

Windows

1. Open Settings → Ad blocker and scroll down to Installed filters.
2. Click Add filter.
3. Use the search bar to find the Ukrainian filter. Check its box and click Add selected.

Mac

1. Open AdGuard and click the settings icon in the upper right corner.
2. Click Preferences… and switch to the Filters tab.
3. At the bottom of the screen, click + and find the Ukrainian filter.
4. Check its box and click Add.

Android

1. Open Settings → Content blocking → Filters → Language-specific.
2. Find the Ukrainian filter and activate it.

iOS

1. Go to the Protection tab and select Safari protection.
2. Open Filters → Language-specific.
3. Find the Ukrainian filter and activate it.

Extension

1. Open AdGuard and click the settings icon in the upper right corner.
2. Switch to Filters → Language-specific.
3. Find the Ukrainian filter and activate it.

What about filters for other languages?

We believe that — ideally — there should be a separate filter for each language. But until we have enough rules for a specific language, we store them in our Base filter. And when the time comes, a new language-specific filter appears.

You can push the process by contributing to filters or creating GitHub issues in our filter repository: if you see a missed ad, you’re always welcome to report it to us.