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Android only lets an app see which addresses your apps ask for if it uses the phone's VPN setting. AshtaLok uses that setting to answer those requests on your phone. It is not a VPN service: your traffic isn't sent to an AshtaLok server and your location doesn't change.

1. Open AshtaLok and tap Turn on protection.
2. Android shows a “Connection request” message. Tap OK.
3. A small key icon appears in the status bar. That's Android telling you a VPN-setting app is active.

If you tap Cancel, nothing is blocked until you allow it. You can ask again from the home screen.

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A level decides which block lists are on. You can change it at any time and the change applies straight away.

• Light blocks the most common ad servers. Pick it if you want the least chance of anything breaking.
• Balanced blocks ads and trackers. It suits most people and is where AshtaLok starts.
• Strict blocks more widely than Balanced. Some sites and apps may need an allow rule.
• Extreme, in the Windows app only, turns on every blocking category AshtaLok has. On Android and in the browser extension, Strict already does. Expect to allow things now and then.

If an app misbehaves after you move up a level, run Fix an app rather than dropping back down.

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Pausing is the quickest way to check whether AshtaLok is behind a problem.

1. On the home screen, tap Pause.
2. Choose 5 minutes, 30 minutes or 1 hour.

Protection comes back on by itself when the time is up, or tap Resume to end the pause early. If the problem goes away while paused, Fix an app will help you find what to allow.

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1. Open Recent activity. Blocked addresses are listed newest first, with the app that asked.
2. Tap the address that belongs to the site.
3. Tap Allow, then choose whether to allow it for a while or for good.

Your allow rules take priority over ad and tracker lists. You can see and remove them later under your custom rules.

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When an app won't load, log in or play something, the guided check finds what was blocked while it misbehaved.

1. Open Fix an app and pick the app from the list.
2. Go back to the app and repeat whatever failed.
3. Return to AshtaLok. It lists what that app asked for and was refused during those moments.
4. Allow the addresses it suggests, for a while or for good, then try the app again.

If nothing on the list helps, the problem probably isn't AshtaLok. Pause protection to confirm.

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Your protection level already turns on a set of lists. You can add community lists, such as EasyList, on top.

1. Open Block lists.
2. Switch on a list from the catalogue, or tap Add a list and paste the address of a list you trust.

Lists are downloaded to your phone and matched there. Each extra list is something else that can block a site you need, so add lists you have a reason to use.

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Custom rules let you block an address the lists miss, or allow one they catch.

1. Open Custom rules and tap Add rule.
2. Type the address, such as ads.example.com, and choose Block or Allow.

Rules you add from Recent activity or Fix an app appear here too, so this is also where you undo them.

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Addresses AshtaLok lets through still need to be looked up. AshtaLok does that over encrypted DNS (DNS over HTTPS, or DNS over TLS for Quad9), so people on the same network can't read which sites you look up.

1. Open Encrypted DNS.
2. Pick a provider from the list, or enter the DoH address of one you prefer.

Your lookups go to the provider you choose, not to AshtaLok. Pick one whose privacy policy you're comfortable with.

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Plain DNS can be read, and changed, by anyone between you and the server. AshtaLok never falls back to it on its own.

A few networks block encrypted DNS entirely. If lookups fail on one of them, you can switch on plain DNS yourself under Encrypted DNS. AshtaLok shows a warning first, and keeps showing that plain DNS is in use until you switch it off again.

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The password manager is optional. Your vault is stored on your phone, encrypted, and isn't uploaded to AshtaLok.

1. Open Passwords and tap Set up vault.
2. Choose how you'll unlock it.
3. Add passwords by hand, or save them as you sign in once Autofill is on.

Because the vault lives only on this phone, keep your own backup of anything you can't afford to lose. More on the password manager page.

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AshtaLok fills passwords through Android's own Autofill service, which Android lets only one app provide at a time.

1. In AshtaLok, open Passwords and tap Use for Autofill. This opens Android's setting.
2. Choose AshtaLok as the Autofill service and confirm.

The setting's location differs between phone makers. If the shortcut doesn't open it, search Android's Settings for “Autofill”.

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The extension is built for Chrome, Edge, Opera and Brave, with a separate build for Firefox. It's not in the browser stores yet; when it is, links will be on the browser extension page.

Once installed, pin it to the toolbar so you can see how much it blocked on each page and pause it for a site.

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They cover different places. The Android app filters every app on your phone. The extension filters the browser it's installed in, on a computer or wherever that browser runs.

Both use the same protection levels and lists, so a page should be treated the same way in either.

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AshtaLok can't block ads inside the YouTube app on a phone that isn't rooted. The ads come from the same servers as the videos, so blocking them would block the videos too.

Instead, tap Share on a video in the YouTube app and choose AshtaLok. It opens in AshtaLok's private browser and plays there without ads.

Why some ads can't be stopped by blocking addresses: What DNS blocking can and can't do.

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Android lets only one app use the VPN setting at a time. When another VPN app connects, Android switches AshtaLok off.

Disconnect the other VPN and turn AshtaLok back on. If you need a work or travel VPN, AshtaLok can't filter while it's connected.

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Some phones close background apps to save battery. To keep AshtaLok running:

1. In Android's Settings, find AshtaLok under Apps, open Battery, and choose Unrestricted (the wording varies by phone maker).
2. Optionally, in Android's VPN settings, open AshtaLok's gear icon and turn on Always-on VPN, so Android restarts it after a reboot.

If it still stops, send a support report and tell us your phone model.

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AshtaLok decides what to block on your phone. Recent activity, statistics, your rules and your password vault are stored there, encrypted.

What leaves the phone: lookups for addresses AshtaLok lets through go to the encrypted DNS provider you picked, and block lists are downloaded from where they're published. A support report leaves only if you send it from your own email app.

Why we built it this way: Why everything is decided on the device.

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Open Recent activity or Statistics and tap Clear. The records are deleted from your phone; there's no copy anywhere else to delete.

Clearing them doesn't change your rules, lists or protection level.

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