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Proton VPN NetShield (self.protonprivacy)
submitted 1 month ago by Betawhat to c/[email protected]
6 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I'm curious to know what Proton VPN's ad blocker offers, but I don't see any videos or articles showing how it works. So I am addressing VPN users, because there is no free trial unfortunately to try it:

  • Does it block Cookie's banners?
  • Is it necessary for the VPN to be constantly activated to benefit from the block?
  • Is it better than uBlock-Origin?
  • When is the page loading speed consistent?
  • On iPhone, does the battery take a hit?

No one talks about this feature even though it is highlighted by Proton themselves (https://protonvpn.com/en/features/adblocker).

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[-] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)
  • Does it block Cookie's banners?
    • Are these the cookie consent things? It doesn't block them, I recommend consent-o-matic extension.
  • Is it necessary for the VPN to be constantly activated to benefit from the block?
    • Yes
  • Is it better than uBlock-Origin?
    • It's different. You can use both at the same time. I do and it works great.
  • When is the page loading speed consistent?
    • Not sure what you mean by this, but I haven't noticed any speed reductions using it on Wi-Fi or cellular. I haven't done any speed test comparisons, though.
  • On iPhone, does the battery take a hit?
    • It has to constantly run, so yes. But it may reduce the data downloaded, which will save some battery life. I use it on Android and I think it drains the battery a little faster, so I only use it when I'm on public Wi-Fi.
[-] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago

I've noticed the battery life reduction as well on my iPhone but no more than I'd expect from any other vpn, but it still goes all day unless I'm using my device a lot more than normal

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

I run proton w/ netshield in combination w/ ff focus as a default browser, with all blockers turned on, for general use. As others said about battery use, about the same as any other VPN. Turn off either netshield or blockers and it’s terrifying how many annoying ads are in the avg. site.

[-] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago

It's basically just pihole AFAIK but for the VPN.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

From my experience Netshield is better than nothing but not better than uBO, I use the two in combination with each other. This helps not only because they can compliment each other but Netshield also blocks ads device wide where uBO is only within FF. It also helps encrypt your DNS queries within the VPN tunnel if that's something your threat model calls for. My only complaints are the block lists Proton uses aren't known to anyone so who knows what they use. You also can't see what is and what isn't being blocked and last time I checked the protonmail app connects to google firebase, so would ProtonVPNs Netshield block that if Protonmail uses it? I'm not sure. If you want something where you can manual select blocklists and see the queries being made use NextDNS.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 4 weeks ago

Using it on my laptop I couldn’t really say cus it’s both plugged in with ublock origin

I bought premium mostly for my iPhone cus yaaay walled garden but it does block most ads in articles. It depends on the ad but I haven’t seen any banner ads maybe I’m not visiting sites with those on my phone

I mostly notice those ads in articles that have themselves between text Just don’t load rather than u block completely making them go away

this post was submitted on 15 Jun 2024
28 points (100.0% liked)

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