Samsung Follows Apple With Ad Blocking for Android

Samsung introduced its own ad blocking capabilities on Jan. 31. With ad blocking, Samsung devices will prevent ads and additional content from appearing in the Android default browser.

The ad blocking solution will work on devices running Android Lollipop or higher, Tech Crunch reports.

Faster Browsing Without Ads

Developers will now be able to create third-party apps that will prevent annoying ads and extra content from appearing while Samsung owners are browsing the web. By preventing these ads and extra content from clogging the browser, web pages will load faster. Samsung owners will also use less data.

Ad blocking capabilities are made possible through Samsung's Content Blocker extension API. In order to take advantage of the new feature, however, Samsung owners will have to use the Samsung Internet Browser, not a third-party browser.

While the Samsung browser is popular, most Android users turn to Google Chrome instead. On the other hand, most Apple iOS users use Apple's own Safari, which also blocks ads.

Samsung has become the first major Android smartphone maker to offer ad blocking technology. This could entice users interested in ad blocking to switch over to the Samsung Internet Browser. When Apple introduced ad blocking, ad blocker apps became some of the most downloaded apps from the Apple App Store.

Other Ways to Speed Up Browsing

Mobile web users who are frustrated with slow loading times and annoying ads have other options to speed up browsers. Google's AMP Project focuses on faster loading mobile web pages, while Facebook says its "Instant Articles" news service will help articles load 10 times faster than mobile web pages.

Meanwhile, Crystal and Adblock Fast are two apps available for Samsung devices. Adblock says its app uses filters to help web pages load 51 percent faster.

More of these ad blocking apps are expected in the future. Samsung could see massive downloads of ad blocking apps like Apple did, and the company's smartphones could become the preference for Android phone buyers.