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Block ads and tracking on your smart TV

Sick and tired of ads? Blocking ads on your smart TV might be right for you! Warning: blocking ads and tracking may result in saved time, more enjoyment of your life, increased privacy, a slightly lower electricity bill1, and not memorizing the side effects of erectile dysfunction medication by heart.

To block ads and tracking on your smart TV, you need to set up a DNS filter. A DNS filter is a powerful tool—not just for blocking ads on any device, but also for blocking tracking scripts, malicious websites, scams, and more.

If DNS filters are so great, why isn’t everyone using one? Well, because they're really boring. Understanding DNS is boring, and setting up a DNS filter is boring — but it's not as boring as watching the same ads for indigestion tablets for the 90th time.

How to setup a DNS filter on your smart TV

This guide is specifically aimed at smart TVs and uses the service NextDNS for filtering. You can apply the same steps to any device connected to the internet.

The link to NextDNS below is my affiliate link. If you use NextDNS a lot you have to pay monthly, and then I get a small percentage. I've been using it for over a year and haven't come close to needing to pay.

  1. Create an account with nextdns.io. You'll land on a page with lots of numbers and guides to setting things up. Keep that page open.
  2. Turn on your TV.
  3. Navigate to settings
  4. Navigate to Network or Network settings
  5. Navigate to IP address, DNS settings, or something similar
  6. Enter the IP addresses provided by NextDNS. You should see an option to enter one or two IP addresses as your DNS server. This stage differs depending on your TV. There are two options for linking the IP addresses. The option you choose will depend on if your smart TV allows IPv6.

If your TV has an IPv6 option, turn it on and enter the IPv6 addresses from NextDNS under the heading Endpoints.

If your TV doesn't support IPv6, enter the IP addresses labeled DNS servers under Linked IP — then, ensuring the device you're using to access your NextDNS account is on the same network as your TV, click the Linked IP refresh button.

By default your TV will now be blocking a range of ads and trackers — there are more options available on NextDNS and you can really get into the weeds.

If your TV doesn't allow these settings changes, you can also set up NextDNS on your WiFi router, which will block ads and tracking for any device that connects to it.

Other methods and services

NextDNS isn't the only service availble — but it is simple and doesn't sell your data. You can also setup a Raspberry PI with Pi-hole — which is more involved but will give you more control.

Footnotes

  1. 1

    Assuming that watching fewer ads results in you watching less TV — then your TV will be on less — and use less power. Also you'll have less data transmitted through your WiFi router.

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