Techlore Talks Why Everyone Should Use an Ad Blocker (AdGuard Interview)
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Feb 7, 2026 Andre, CTO and co-founder of AdGuard, a builder of privacy and ad-blocking tools. He discusses why AdGuard shifted from data collection to privacy, differences between local filtering, DNS and VPN approaches, and how Apple’s new system API lets system-wide filtering work without exposing user traffic. The conversation also covers app-level tracking, AdGuard Home, and rollout challenges with Apple’s review process.
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From Analytics Startup To Privacy Tool
- Andre described AdGuard's origin as a pivot from building analytics to building an ad blocker after realizing how much user data they collected.
- They launched AdGuard as a paid product around 2009–2010 and expanded into DNS, VPN, and email relay over time.
DNS Covers Many Devices But Has Limits
- DNS filtering protects every device on a network including smart devices by resolving domains centrally.
- But DNS can't block everything because multi-purpose domains and IP-based linking still enable tracking via IP addresses.
Adblocking Is An Interpreter Of Shared Rules
- Local/network filtering intercepts requests on your device and matches them against rule lists kept in open repositories.
- Ad blocking relies on interpreters of shared rule syntaxes maintained collaboratively across projects.