As you surely saw it, Blokada has some options on the Settings screen.
The following settings can be found in the App settings menu:
- Notifications: when enabled, you will be notified when an ad is blocked. It is on by default, but if you get a lot of notifications, turn it off.
- Start on boot: when enabled, Blokada will start after the system boots up. Please note there are system level configurations for this option, therefore it cannot be guaranteed Blokada can start on boot. In this case, please check your phone’s settings. The default configuration is enabled, if you want to start Blokada manually, disable this option.
- Settings location: where do you want to store the configuration: in the internal or external storage? If you choose external, the files are available in /Download/Blokada directory. This setting is no longer included in the current versions of Blokada.
- Background animation: you can enable or disable the background animations, showing the waves. White waves represent the allowed host queries while the orange ones are the blocked ones.
- Keep alive: this option is to ensure Blokada is not paused or stopped by the system. Please note your system can overwrite it, make sure your settings will let Blokada run in the background. If you face the described situation read this article.
- Watchdog: when enabled, Blokada will exit if there is no active connection, and start again whenever connection comes back. If disabled, Blokada will always run in the background (even if no network is available). Please note this option may not work on every device. This setting is no longer included in the current versions of Blokada.
- Aggressive wakeup: enable this option if your device stops or kills Blokada due to the system’s powersaver feature. Even though this option aims to keep Blokada alive on most of the devices, the system will always have higher priority and can stop the app if it isn’t excluded for memory- or battery optimization. This setting is no longer included in the current versions of Blokada.
The following settings can be found in the menu Ad blocker / Ad blocking settings:
- [BETA] Advanced adblocking rules: please read this article to understand how the feature works.
- [BETA] Smart List: please read this article to understand how the feature works.
- Request logger: when enabled, Blokada will generate a CSV file and log requests that have been allowed and/or blocked by the app. You can find this file in the directory Download/Blokada if you selected the options ‘log blocked requests’, ‘log allowed requests’ or ‘log all requests’. If you select ‘log to internal storage only’ the log will be stored in a directory which you can’t access without root. If you ‘disable’ it no log will be saved at all.
- Filter list: if you tap ‘sync’ the list of Host lists that Blokada provides in the app gets synced with our servers. This way you will get the newest Host lists. Note: this feature doesn’t download the content of the lists (like ‘Download lists’ does), only where the lists are downloaded from and which lists are being visible in the app.
- List download frequency: select how often you want to update the content of the lists. This process needs battery. Selecting a time frame less often will help save battery.
- Download on WiFi only: if enabled Host lists are only downloaded if you are on WiFi. Disabled Blokada always downloads Host lists directly.
- Download lists: tapping ‘Download lists now’ fetches the content of all Host lists selected in the ‘Host lists’ menu. All your lists are up to date afterwards.