Adguard for Android v.2.7 official release

Hi! We can't wait to tell you about new Adguard for Android version!

We've been working on it for quite some time, and really hope you will find it worthy the efforts. It has a little bit for everyone. New settings screen to customize per-app settings for those who like to control everything on their device; new $app modifier for custom rules creators; some good news for Android N users and just generally lots of fixes and 'quality of life' changes.

Be sure to read about cool new stuff and update to Adguard 2.7!

UI

[Added] ‘Apps & Statistics’ settings section #633

We decided to seriously redesign our Firewall section. There will be no more ‘Apps & Settings’ sub-section inside ‘Firewall’. Instead, we introduce a whole new first-level section named ‘Apps & Statistics’. It very much resembles the now gone ‘Apps & Settings’ but has some differences. For example, we got rid of ‘global’ switches - these buttons were too misleading.

Also, you can now disable network access when the screen is off, and you can configure it for each app separately. Not only new connections are not allowed when this option is enabled, but also all existing connections are terminated when the screen goes off.

Another big change is disposal of exclusions lists. Now you can simply add an app to exceptions through the ‘Apps and Statistics’ screen. There are other changes too, and we will not list them all here. We believe the new layout is more intuitive and you will have no troubles navigating through it.

Important note: this is not yet a big redesign we plan to do in Adguard 3.0. Only the tip of the iceberg :)

• [Added] An option to browse for a file to import user filter #120
• [Added] A notification to inform user of expiring license #606
• [Added] New localizations: Slovak & Norwegian Bokmål #688, #717
• [Changed] Disabled vibration and sound for Adguard notifications #205
• [Changed] Instead of stopping protection on settings change, a toast message is showed #667
• [Changed] When user changes default firewall settings, ask him if he wants to reset per-app settings #675
• [Changed] Show notification when VPN is revoked #672
• [Changed] Adguard now counts DNS traffic towards a special “virtual” package named “DNS” #668
• [Changed] Made some minor UI enhancements #684, #685, #687, #692, #697, #698, #700, #721, #726
• [Fixed] Adguard closes if you swipe it with ‘No icon’ notification setting #662
• [Fixed] An issue with Samsung’s buggy firmware (messed notification sounds) #716
• [Improved] Premium features description #669
• [Improved] UI accessibility for a visually impaired users #519

Ad Blocking

[Added] $app modifier #544

This modifier will be useful for advanced users who create their own custom rules. It allows both blocking ads in a specific app and blocking ads everywhere except for that app. For example, Facebook uses same domains for both ads and useful stuff. This modifier allows to block facebook ads in other apps without breaking the Facebook app itself.

[Fixed] Detect if app targets Android N #653

Due to Android N security policy, HTTPs filtering is impossible for apps developed specifically for Android N, or other apps where user-installed certificates are not trusted. Previously that could lead to errors and app crashes. Now Adguard detects if app targets Android N and does not filter HTTPS for such apps.

• [Added] RoList filter to the list of supported filters #523
• [Changed] Several browsers were added to the list of filtered by default #708, #731
• [Fixed] Disabling filtering for “Android OS” now fully excludes OS packages from the VPN #732
• [Improved] Added support for the :style pseudo class syntax #701
• [Improved] Modified $empty modificator behavior to improve filtering #677
• [Improved] Increased content filtering rules maximum length limit #590

Networking

• [Changed] Allowed DNS requests for root user #535
• [Fixed] An issue when allowed apps couldn’t connect when DNS was blocked #714, #720
• [Fixed] SSL whitelist no more can be applied to random domains #738
• [Fixed] Resolved shadowing of our Apache commons classes by old versions shipped in Android #709
• [Improved] All our requests are now more secure with SSL/TLS #611

Install/Update

• [Added] Automatic protection restart after Adguard update #725
• [Fixed] Self killing on update #696

Compatibility

From now on it will be much easier for users to add any app to exclusions. No need to go to low-level settings anymore, just open the apps screen in ‘Apps and Statistics’ and add it to exclusions from there.

Following compatibility issues were fixed:

• Ad blocking interferes with videos in Mail.ru news app #711
• Upload doesn’t work for Yandex Disk #736
• Samsung Battery Saving mode #378, #656
• HTC battery optimization #536
• Sync for Reddit app #645
• Cortana voice app #661
• Lazada app #680
• Smart appointments in Google Calendar #658

Following apps were added to exclusions due to problems caused by filtering:

Idealo, Mountainview, Itau, Yik Yak, Box, Jet, MeetMe, MoovIt, Waze, Prisma, Grindr, Romeo Uncut, SwiftKey, S Voice, Goes, NU.nl, com.samsung.syncservice, Coursera, Astana Bank, Google Now, Yandex Navigator, Heetch, TomTom Go Mobile, Amazon apps, some banking apps

(Issues: #673, #729, #641, #516, #642, #676, #612, #528, #492, #733, #715, #710, #702, #712, #686, #679, #674, #659, #655, #650, #637, #584, #447, #624, #647)

You can already update through the app. We encourage you to try the new version and share your thoughts in comments section!