Hot android ad blocker beats Google’s ban

Samsung's browser with and without Ad Block Fast. GIF: Ad Block Fast

Samsung’s browser with and without Ad Block Fast. GIF: Ad Block Fast

Adblock Fast, the ad-blocker designed for Samsung’s own Android browser, has returned to Google Play less than a week after it was banned. What’s more, it now supports even more Samsung devices running Android 4.0 and up.

The creators of Adblock Fast partnered with Samsung to take advantage of the new content-blocking API in Samsung Internet 4.0. It’s essentially a clone of the feature Apple introduced to Safari with iOS 9, and it allows users to install plugins that block ads on the web.

This can greatly increase browsing speeds — as demonstrated in the video below — but ad-blockers are controversial because they eliminate the main revenue source for most of the sites on the web. As an ad seller, Google doesn’t like them, either.

It was no surprise when the company pulled Adblock Fast last week, then. But now it’s back.

“We submitted an appeal on the Monday our update was rejected and we’re happy to report that Google has reversed their decision, both accepting our appeal in an email sent to us on Friday evening and approving and republishing Adblock Fast,” confirmed Rocketship Apps.

If you didn’t get a chance to grab Adblock Fast when it made its debut last week, then, now is your change. But remember, it only works with the Samsung Internet browser on Galaxy devices, and you’ll need to be running Android 4.0 or later.