Adfree Breaks Pinterest on Android

If you're like me, you like keeping your Android device screen free from ads. AdFree from BigTinCan is an invaluable tool in assisting with this by customizing your hosts file on a rooted Android phone so that any ad network links get redirected to your phone, effectively disabling ads. The side effect of using host-based ad blocking is that sometimes valid sites get blocked as well.

"I don't always do Pinterest, but when I do, I prefer pinning homebrew stuff." And unfortunately, Adfree blocks pinning on Android. You'll notice this when doing any pin outside of a re-pin (ie, within your pin feed). The app will churn saying it's finding images, but then finally fail with the popup error "Sorry, couldn't find any pinnable images on this page". The issue is that the Pinterest app requires access to a few hostnames that Adfree hijacks:

  • api.pinterest.com
  • assets.pinterest.com
  • log.pinterest.com

This solution to this is fairly simple. Thankfully, BigTinCan offers an option to set up a customizable exception list but of course you'll have to register for a free account. Once you have registered, add exceptions for each of the hosts above. Then sign in to your account on the AdFree android app and update your hosts. You should now be able to pin to your heart's content.

Let me know if this helped you!