Why is Blokada open source?

Jul 23, 2017 · by Karol

Starting with v2.0, Blokada is an open source project.

Why I think it’s the best approach for developing an ad blocker, and what does it mean for the future of Blokada and its users? Read on :)

So, why?

Well, there’re many reasons. So far I have dedicated several months of my time to the development of this app. My plans towards Blokada weren’t (and aren’t!) limited to it being “just” an ad blocker, but I wanted to limit its initial functionality so that I can see, in reasonable time, if this app may gain enough traction. So, I focused on making it the best ad blocker for Android. Today, Blokada has a really decent userbase, with no promotion efforts whatsoever, and more importantly, you seem to genuinely like it!

So now, we are finally getting to a point where the basic functionality is stable, the app is actually useful (I run it all the time!), the battery impact is absolutely acceptable (or better), and Android fragmentation doesn’t cause too many problems (well, supporting Android 4 is a real PITA, but…).

Now we can do the cool stuff!

You guys are absolutely awesome, and the feedback forum is full of really great ideas! I can’t wait to implement all of them. However, I’m unable to do this amount of work all by myself in a reasonable amount of time. I believe that together we can bring all those awesome ideas to life! I’m putting a lot of effort to make contributing code as easy as possible. If you’re a coder, get in touch! For sure there’s something cool you can implement, and put a big smile on everyone’s face :D

You don’t have to trust me (or anyone)

One important benefit of open sourcing Blokada is that now, you can be sure it’s safe to use. I was getting quite a few requests from people asking about the source code. I totally understand that. Blokada has to be installed outside of Google Play, so it’s hard to trust it. Well, the good news is, now you don’t need to trust it! The source code is out there for anyone to check. You can even build it yourself.

You should be really cautious trusting any ad-blocker app that is not open source. Technically, they can read your sensitive data, in particular if they install a custom root CA on your device. Be very careful!

Now Blokada is supported by its community (and by you!)

You can already see the benefits of the involved community in the fact, that Blokada v2.0 comes in six languages! It took less than a day since I implemented the translation system to get the first translations. I believe that my role will gradually shift to enabling and helping the community to make meaningful contributions which will lead to a rapid development of this app.

One thing is certain, a lot of cool stuff is yet to come! :)