One common excuse people give for rooting their android devices is to block annoying ads from popping up on their devices.

This indeed is a compelling reason as mobile ads, at best, can be;

1. intrusive and distractive
2. ruinously expensive as it burdens device hardware resources and also drain internet data.

Popular ad blocking apps like adaway and Netspector are only available for rooted devices.

For non-rooted apps, there are a few apps available on Google Play. They work, basically, by creating a mock virtual private network (VPN) for you and you alone and then connects your device to it. What this means is that all traffic you have coming in is through the app, and it protects all your data on its way out.

Notable among these apps is Lostnet NoRoot Firewall. WIth LostNet NoRoot Firewall you will be able

• to block Internet access for any app. Let LostNet Firewall provide full Internet access to an app or access only in Wi-Fi networks or no access at all.
• to block access to any country/region for all your apps. Use LostNet Firewall to prevent your apps from connecting to the countries you don’t trust or don’t want to deal with.
• to block background activities of your apps. Surprisingly a lot of apps generate traffic while they are in background mode. LostNet Firewall may decrease your data consumption by blocking these apps.
• to capture packets (sniffer!) sent to and from your device with the sniffer tool and to analyze them using CloudShark.org. The sniffer tool of LostNet NoRoot Firewall allows you to learn details about the data your apps are sending. Use the sniffer tool to check whether your personal info is sent out. Also use the sniffer to debug applications.
• to monitor amount of data consumed by apps. This information is extremely useful if you don’t have unlimited data plan. For example, use LostNet NoRoot Firewall to compare background data consumption by Skype, Viber and Whatsapp to choose which one is better for your data plan.
• to track the countries your apps are connecting to. This way LostNet Firewall Helps to detect suspicious apps and spyware.
• to receive instant notifications. Get notified when a blocked app tries to connect to Internet or when some app tries to connect to a blocked country.
• to block ad networks. As LostNet NoRoot Firewall intercepts traffic from all apps, it is capable of removing traffic to certain ad networks.
• to create multiple profiles in order to switch between specific rules for different situations. Profiles can be very useful when you want to set different rules while you are in roaming or for example when your children use your Android device.
• to save your battery life. Most of your apps perform periodic activities which bring your wireless connection on and, thus, drain your battery really fast. LostNet NoRoot Firewall can block these activities.