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How do I disable ads in Viber for PC - version 11.4 (2019). The hosts file trick no longer works (the following one):

127.0.0.1 ads.viber.com
127.0.0.1 ads.aws.viber.com
127.0.0.1 ads-d.viber.com

Viber offers no option to disable (paid) ads and their ads are too large and too disruptive (covering half of the contact list).

Coder12345
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  • OP notes previous solutions no longer work. Unless someone can verify that they do, this is NOT a duplicate of https://superuser.com/questions/1230742/disable-ads-in-viber – music2myear Sep 02 '19 at 00:49
  • Are you certain that those addresses are the only ones being used? – ajgringo619 Sep 02 '19 at 00:50
  • `127.0.0.1 images.taboola.com` for kill current image. Ads still here but white. – Enyby Sep 02 '19 at 03:59
  • @music2myear rest assured it is does not work with the above list and it is not a duplicate - in fact, most questions of this kind are a year or two old and refer only ads.viber.com which used to be sufficient for the above purpose. I'll try the rest of the list and report back. – Coder12345 Sep 02 '19 at 10:07
  • For the moment the list from @ZoltánKurgya works, we'll see how it behaves after a while. – Coder12345 Sep 02 '19 at 10:15
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    You are aware that this is probably a violation of their terms of conditions of use, and that you are actually stealing a service from them by doing so? If you don't want the ads, find an alternative. – jcaron Sep 02 '19 at 17:18
  • @Coder12345 that is exactly what I said. – music2myear Sep 02 '19 at 22:05
  • @jcaron SE as a whole apparently does not care, even with this question being featured on the hot network questions for quite some time. BTW yes, you are right, it's violating their TOS and this question and answers are encouraging that, which pretty much violates SE's own TOS. But hey, it's 2019 and not 2009 anymore ... Moderation is limited to deleting comments, making 100 page meta discussions and flagging for duplicates for half a decade now. – Num Lock Sep 03 '19 at 09:34
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    @jcaron Apparently, I have determined that there is a suspicious traffic coming from those URLs and I am blocking them to safeguard my own system, and saving bandwidth. So not violating SE own TOS. I wouldn't know if I am violating Viber's TOS. I pay random people on the street to click "I Agree" buttons for me. – Coder12345 Sep 03 '19 at 10:03
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    I am closing this as it is against the (spirit of) the terms of service in that you shouldn't be trying to circumvent or otherwise abuse specific programs or copyright holders. A *slightly* more generic question of "Given a nonspecific program, how do I determine what sites it connects to?" Might well be on topic as it can be viewed as a general system protection question. We all hate adverts, but sometimes developers go for a small evil for the greater good (free). Adverts are near the point where they are considered harmful, but I don't think we should single out sites or programs. – Mokubai Sep 03 '19 at 10:30
  • This is one of those difficult to judge questions that may merit discussion on [meta]. – Mokubai Sep 03 '19 at 10:32
  • @Coder12345 a last point, ignorance of the law (paying someone else to agree to the terms of service) does not absolve you of responsibility or liability to those laws or terms of service. I'm not advocating one way or another about the ad-blocking (I do use an ad-blocker in general but disable it for sites I use regularly) but in general if you were to be arrested for something *actually* illegal such as theft or murder, then saying "I didn't know it was illegal officer" is likely to be given short shrift. – Mokubai Sep 03 '19 at 17:04

3 Answers3

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I put also these two into my "c:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc\hosts" file: (for mac the file location is: "/private/etc/hosts"), however, as others may suggest, later on new ad sites filtering might need.

127.0.0.1 rmp.rakuten.com
127.0.0.1 s-bid.rmp.rakuten.com
...

so I have these now: (Viber related)

127.0.0.1 ads.viber.com
127.0.0.1 ads.aws.viber.com
127.0.0.1 ads-d.viber.com
127.0.0.1 rmp.rakuten.com
127.0.0.1 s-bid.rmp.rakuten.com
127.0.0.1 ams1-mobile.adnxs.com
127.0.0.1 api.mixpanel.com
127.0.0.1 fra1-ib.adnxs.com
127.0.0.1 mediation.adnxs.com
Zoltán Kurgya
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    After some time this was not enough as new domains are added. Here is my list i managed to collect so far: `127.0.0.1 ads.viber.com 127.0.0.1 ads.aws.viber.com 127.0.0.1 ads-d.viber.com 127.0.0.1 s-bid.rmp.rakuten.com 127.0.0.1 ams1-mobile.adnxs.com 127.0.0.1 api.mixpanel.com 127.0.0.1 fra1-ib.adnxs.com 127.0.0.1 mediation.adnxs.com` – Ognjen Babic Nov 20 '19 at 09:30
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    @OgnjenBabic - Thanks Mate, added your suggestion to the list. – Zoltán Kurgya Dec 08 '19 at 14:45
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127.0.0.1 images.taboola.com
127.0.0.1 api.taboola.com

Do the job.
First for kill image.
Second for kill load ads data from this ads network.
But if viber switch to other ads network, this solution stop work.
Or if it use another network for you.

I suggest install DNSQuerySniffer unload viber, run tool, run viber, and monitor your DNS queries.
If you see some suspicious DNS query - block it in hosts.

Enyby
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    Thank you for the added URLs, but you should also clarify this makes the images white as well in the answer (which might prove useful as a backup solution if the above ones stop working in some later version). – Coder12345 Sep 02 '19 at 10:15
  • @Coder12345 `api.taboola.com` block ads completely. – Enyby Sep 02 '19 at 14:13
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After my investigation, here are my hosts items:

127.0.0.1 ads.viber.com
127.0.0.1 ads.aws.viber.com
127.0.0.1 ads-d.viber.com
127.0.0.1 s-bid.rmp.rakuten.com
127.0.0.1 s-imp.rmp.rakuten.com
127.0.0.1 api.mixpanel.com
Dan Is Fiddling By Firelight
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steve
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