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Comment by jessriedel | Hacker News Reader

Anyone know how to block a particular website like FB on Android without being rooted or signing up for a subscription to some security or parental-control app? A google search just turns up a million people recommending editing the host file with ES File Explorer (which doesn't work unless you're rooted) or using the TrendMicro Mobile Security app (which requires a subscription).

Why in the hell is this so hard?

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NetGuard, it's from the same developer who created Xprivacy

install it from the Github repo and you can use it load a custom host file (the playstore version doesn't allow this) it functions as a VPN. Free service that also lets you block trackers and individual app analytics

https://github.com/M66B/NetGuard

There are some site-blocking hosted-on-the-device VPNs on Android. I haven't found any I'd be comfortable recommending though - gotta find an open source one I can reasonably audit and isn't terrible :|

This is definitely not a request to do a free audit on my behalf, but one of the other commenters recommended this, which I guess is open source:

https://github.com/M66B/NetGuard

If you have a Samsung phone you can use some apps that run as part of the Knox framework and block ads or arbitrary websites system-wide without rooting.

I think if use Firefox you can get a variant of the StayFocusd extension.

If you don't want the overhead of another extension, a quick win is to add this to your `/etc/hosts`:

    127.0.0.1	facebook.com
    127.0.0.1	www.facebook.com

After a week you'll completely forget you have facebook.

BTW, there is a github repo that lists every domain owned by facebook, they have ~900 domains now.

https://github.com/jmdugan/blocklists/blob/master/corporatio...

Yes, I mentioned this one in my comment ("editing the host file with ES File Explorer"), but it requires your phone to be rooted.

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