Seven AdClear

Introduction: AdClear is a non-root ad blocker for Android devices. There's only one version of the app, and it's free. We released it at the end of December and are looking for feedback and help in making AdClear the best it can be.

Features:

Blocks encrypted ads Works with Wi-Fi and cell data Blocks ads in apps Selective app filtering Support for all browsers Non-root Log of blocked ads Saves bandwidth and battery Increases loading speeds online

How Does It Work? AdClear is non-root, but it works on rooted phones just the same. AdClear creates a VPN on your device to filter out ad traffic before it reaches you on the web or in apps. The SSL certificate gets in the way of encrypted ads and filters them in the same way. This means the ad blocker can run in the background while you browse in whatever browser or app you want to use.

Who Are We? SEVEN Networks actually has a pretty storied history on the mobile market--just in the background. We became pioneers in mobile messaging by inventing push-notified e-mail in the early '00s. We sold this feature to carriers and companies like Blackberry to put on their phones. In the same vein, we deployed e-mail to more than 550 devices in a time when OS platforms varied from phone to phone. As Android and iOS became the two primary platforms, we switched gears. While we still got work, we wanted to do something different. We created Open Channel, which reduced network traffic by making phones only app sync when there's new information available. We sold this technology to multiple carriers and even released a version on the Play store (you don't want to download it).

Recently, we've obviously taken sight of the developing market for ad blockers, and we realized we have some unique tools to bring to the table. Open Channel's fantastic resources gave us the ability to block encrypted ads and a huge data pool with which to build AdClear. We released AdClear on December 28, and we've been updating and upgrading it ever since.

"How Do You Make Money?" The truth is, we don't right now. What we are doing is creating a source of analytics from our users in order to fix bugs and improve the app. This includes your device, android version, battery life, and app usage. You are assigned a UUID that completely separates you from your device and data, and there is no feasible way for us to personally identify you. If you'd like, uninstalling and reinstalling the app will give you a completely new UUID that cannot be connected to the previous one. We only use this to rapidly analyze and change our product.

In the future we may sell anonymized data to carriers, but that's one idea of many. That's part of what we want to know from you. This is a unique business plan for the ad blocking market. Would you be more inclined toward an acceptable ads or freemium model (premium being opting out of analytics)? Our main priority is to provide a high quality experience based on user suggestions to YOU at a high development pace. After a post we made on reddit got a bit of traction, we added a log, selectable app filter, and on/off switch based off of suggestions within the next few days. We want to get that type of feedback, that help, from XDA, and we're excited about the DEVDB platform. We've included the feature request and bug report sections and we hope that they are used! Either way, we're excited to have address these things with you in the comments.