VPN with ad blocking: one switch in Mayak, and what it will not remove

Mayak has a built-in filter for ads and trackers. It does not switch itself on — you choose it once in the settings. Below: where to tap, and an honest list from our own measurement of which ads go away and which stay.

How to turn the filter on in the app

1. On Mayak's main screen, tap the gear in the top right corner — “Settings” opens.
2. Expand the “Network” section.
3. At the bottom of the section there is a row with the current filter mode. While the filter is off it reads “No filtering”. Tap it.
4. In the “Filtering” window, choose “Ads and trackers”. The app replies: “Profile saved. It applies on the next connection”.
5. Go back to the main screen, disconnect and connect again. Once it says “Protected”, the filter is on. If you were already disconnected, just connect.

The same in your account

Open your account, the “Settings” section (it is also in the strip of sections at the top), the “Filtering ads and websites” item, and choose “Ads and trackers”. At the bottom of the screen you will see “Filtering: ads and trackers — will apply on the next connection”. Then the same as above: disconnect and connect again on your phone.

The setting is one for the whole account. Turn it on on your phone and it also takes effect on your second phone and on a TV with Mayak once they reconnect. If you connected a Linux computer with a file from your account, download the file again: the filter addresses are written into it.

What the filter removes: our measurement

On 19 September 2026 we asked the filter for the addresses of 54 servers — ad networks, trackers and ordinary services — and compared its answers with an ordinary resolver. Here is what it cuts:

“Cut” means that when asked “where is this server”, the filter answers 0.0.0.0 — an address with nothing behind it — and the ad does not load. An ordinary resolver returns real addresses for the same names. What you then see in a given app — an empty space, the app's own ads, or nothing — depends on the app: we have not checked that app by app on a phone.

What stays

The filter tells servers apart only by name. If an ad comes from the same server as the content, it cannot be cut without breaking the service. In our measurement the filter let these addresses through:

One more kind of ad the filter does not cure: windows that pop up over the screen by themselves. Those are usually shown by some app installed on the phone itself. The filter cuts only what that app pulls from the networks in the first table; the app stays — you need to find it and uninstall it.

How it works

Before an app loads anything, it asks for the server's address by its name — like looking up a number in a phone book. Normally Mayak sends these questions to Cloudflare and Google. With the filter on, they go to AdGuard DNS: for the names of ad servers it answers “0.0.0.0”, for everything else it answers as usual.

• Nothing to install, and no root either. The filter works for every app that goes through the VPN connection.
• The questions travel inside the encrypted connection: your mobile carrier does not see them. AdGuard sees which name was asked, but from our server's address, not yours — just as Cloudflare and Google see them without the filter.
• AdGuard keeps the lists, not us. They decide which address to cut, and the lists change. Our tables are as of 19 September 2026.

What may stop working

• “Watch an ad, get a reward” videos in games. They run through ad modules such as Unity Ads and AppLovin, and the filter cuts those. Most likely you will not get the reward.
• A rare website or app that needs its own tracker may open only partly.

If something you need has stopped opening, switch back to “No filtering” and reconnect.

Ads are still there: what to check

1. Did you reconnect. A new setting takes effect from the next connection.
2. Is the app going around the tunnel. Apps in “Split tunneling” and in the “RU Apps” set go to the internet directly, together with their address lookups, so the filter never reaches them. Ads in a Russian app from that set will stay while it is in the set.
3. Did you see “Server not responding — connecting to … with saved settings”. That is how Mayak comes up when it cannot reach our server — with the old settings. The new filter arrives with the next normal connection.
4. Is a DNS server of your own set in Android's settings (the “Private DNS” item). With it, the phone may ask that server instead of Mayak's filter. We have not tested this case on a phone — if the ads do not go away, try turning it off.

Family mode

The same filter plus adult websites. In our measurement it answered the address of an adult website with AdGuard's placeholder page, and turned on the safe modes of Google, YouTube and Yandex: SafeSearch for Google, Restricted Mode for YouTube, family search for Yandex.

It is in the same place: “Family mode” in the app, “Kids mode” in your account. Remember that the setting is shared: it applies to every device on the account, your own phone included.

Your own DNS server

If you already have a filter of your own — NextDNS, an AdGuard account with your own lists, or one at work — choose “Your own DNS server” and enter one or two of its IP addresses. A server name will not do, and neither will home network addresses (192.168.…): they cannot be reached through the tunnel.

What we checked

• The filter's answers — on 19 September 2026, twice with a break in between: 54 addresses at AdGuard DNS (the “Ads and trackers” mode) and, for comparison, at an ordinary Cloudflare resolver. Both runs matched; those are the answers in the tables above. Family mode — on four addresses.
• That the setting reaches the connection — on a test copy of our server: after “Ads and trackers” the next connection came with the AdGuard filter addresses, after Family mode with AdGuard Family addresses, after “No filtering” with the ordinary ones again.
• The account screen — on a computer and at phone width: the item, the four options, the hint and the message after choosing.
• Where the item is in the app — in version 0.7.33, the one now in Google Play and on our site, and on a screenshot of the settings screen.

What we do not know

• What each app shows when its ad did not load: an empty space, its own ads, or nothing. We have not gone through apps on a live phone.
• Speed and battery. Whether they change with the filter, we did not measure.
• What AdGuard will cut tomorrow. The lists are theirs, and they change.
• Android's Private DNS together with Mayak — not tested.

Short answers

Does Mayak have an ad blocker? Yes: “Settings” → “Network” → “Ads and trackers” in the app, or the “Settings” section in your account. It costs nothing extra and works during the trial.

Will it block YouTube ads? No. YouTube ads come from the same servers as the videos, and the filter lets those through — otherwise the videos would not open either.

What about ads in games? The Unity Ads and AppLovin modules were cut in our measurement. Reward videos will most likely stop loading along with them.

How do I block ads in Android apps without root? Mayak's filter does not need root: it works on the level of address lookups and changes nothing in the system.

Which ad-blocking DNS does Mayak use? AdGuard DNS, addresses 94.140.14.14 and 94.140.15.15. You do not need to enter them by hand: turn the filter on and Mayak hands them out itself when you connect.

Does the filter work on a TV? Yes, if Mayak is installed on the TV: the setting is one per account and reaches every device on its next connection.

Ads pop up over the screen by themselves. Will it help? Hardly in full: those ads are shown by an app on the phone itself. Find it and uninstall it.

Something stopped opening after I turned it on. Switch back to “No filtering” and reconnect.