Custom blocklists and whitelist is essential for Android, because most adblockers (like blokada) use VPN connection to filter ads, and while protonvpn is active I have to rely on its ability to block and filter ads and it's too generic.
Please add this function

Proton VPN isn't really made for minors to be used, With that in mind, you may want to look into privacy respecting parental controls on specific platforms that you need modified.

If you're not able to find a suitable tool or a VPN is necessary, you can use a desktop computer as a VPN gateway with the features you want/need including PiHole functionality with a connection to Proton VPN

I would love to see ProtonVPN introduce **custom DNS domain blocking**, similar Pi-hole functionality, as part of the **NetShield** feature.

**Why this is important:**

1. **Dynamic Domain Blocking:**

* Many unwanted services (ads, trackers, malicious content) constantly change their IPs, making it inefficient to block them at the firewall level.
* Domain-based blocking would allow users to block at the DNS layer, making enforcement simple and effective.

2. **Family Safety & Parental Controls:**

* A DNS-level blocklist would ensure children are **not exposed to harmful or inappropriate content** without requiring third-party tools or hardware filters.
* A simple ProtonVPN interface for managing blocklists would make ProtonVPN an all-in-one privacy and security solution.

3. **Advanced Privacy & Control:**

* Users could create **custom blacklists and whitelists**, e.g., `*.trackingdomain.com` or `*.ads`.
* Support for importing **community blocklists** (OISD, Energized Protection, etc.) would elevate privacy protection to the next level.

4. **Proton’s Strength in Privacy:**

* ProtonVPN already runs its own DNS infrastructure. Extending **NetShield** with customizable blocking is a natural step, keeping Proton ahead of competitors.
* This feature would remove the need for complex setups like Pi-hole, which many users cannot easily configure.

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### **Suggested Features:**

* Add or remove custom domains to a block/allow list.
* Support for **wildcards (e.g., `*.example.com`)**.
* Optional **content categories** for parental controls (adult content, gambling, etc.).
* Universal across all ProtonVPN-enabled devices.

This is essential for the proper functioning of NetShield on Android. Currently, I have to completely disable NetShield just to access basic Google services, such as Search, because googleadservices.com is blocked and there is no whitelist option. This breaks essential functionality and reduces Proton VPN's reliability in daily use.

Until custom allow/block lists are possible, apps like Blokada 5 are more practical on Android. Please prioritize user control over blocklists and enable per-domain overrides.

...and not just ad blocking - please also let users select security-related blocking lists like HaGeZi's Threat Intelligence Feeds. This would turn NetShield into a significant security feature. Proton would not even have to curate such lists - they are out there on GitHub. See Adguard DNS for an example of how this could be done.

Privacy and security go hand in hand, as demonstrated by Proton Sentinel.

Additionally, it would be great to be block known phishing and malware sites. Adguard DNS lets users select security-related blocking lists like HaGeZi's Threat Intelligence Feeds. If Proton VPN / NetShield offered a similar feature, I would switch to Proton VPN. I already have a Proton Duo subscription and I would love to go full-Proton. But right now I use Adguard DNS because I have a strong emphasis on security.

It could replace ADAWAY. I would like to request the ability to import and integrate custom hostfiles (e.g., those from AdAway or similar sources) into NetShield.
Letting use integrate the host files like in there: https://github.com/AdAway/AdAway/wiki/HostsSources
It could allow android and apple users to totally block any advertising and tracking.

● What It Is: NetShield is a tool that blocks ads, trackers, and malware. With the paid version of Proton VPN, it's more advanced, but it's good to request basic NetShield for free users.

● Why It's a Good Request: For free VPN users, we don't need to see ads or worry about tracking that slows down our browsing. With a simple NetShield, the browsing is smoother and safer than trackers.

"Hi Proton Team, it would be awesome if free users could have a basic version of NetShield for ad and tracker blocking. Even a lite version would really help improve privacy for free users!"

This is my most request a features because privacy and ad-blocking are its primary benefits, at least in a simple way.

More media sites won't let you read their content with an ad blocker turned on, so this is becoming a more important feature

Please improve netshield blocklist. Its terrible compared to other providers. Sometimes it even blocks wanted contents while not blocking actual ads. Improve the blocklist and let us add custom or preset blocklists.

It would be great if there would be a separate service or build in feature where we could choose our lists and settings similar to NextDNS.
Or implement the option where we can set the DNS ourself.

AdGuard had a really nice product with their Ad Blocker. It would be great if Proton would offer a similar service.

I am aware of the Netshield feature, however this is much more limited than AdGuard Ad Blocker.
Netshield doesn’t ‘Hides empty spaces after ads
Keeps pages looking good after removing ads’.
AdGuard works better in apps.
I also like the option to manage the blocklists myself.

This is very important. I have to disable full NetShield (and use partial) to get a specific app to remember me without going through 2FA. A whitelist would be awesome.

Yes, very useful, we need a pi-hole like tool when using 4g with vpn

As Blockada offer the ability to choose between many safe improve adblock or social tracking etc.

Add an option for enable and select pre-choose lists (and maybe, an advance option for add-it manually from filter list for example https://filterlists.com/)

I currently use Blokada on my phone to block ads and tracking, and since it's a pseudo-VPN it cannot be used along with ProtonVPN. Therefore for me to use ProtonVPN would mean stopping Blokada. So, either NetShield becomes strong enough to work at the same level as Blokada, or i will not use it. Giving the VPN client the ability to use these block lists would be an easy way to ensure this happens.

Until then i am not paying for Unlimited, all i use for now is Mail and in a limited way Drive, without the VPN i see no point in upgrading.

Blocking of ads and trackers is an important part of maintaining user privacy and the ability to browse the internet without being constantly surveilled or provided with skewed content based on the decisions of algorithms.

NetShield is cool, but it would be great to have a more comprehensive blocking capability in Proton VPN similar to the likes of AdGuard. Currently, it is clunky to use AdGuardd or DuckDuckGo tracking protection together with VPN because most platforms allow only one VPN connection at a time and a "fake" VPN is necessary for the blocking services to work.

Important features for this are:
-Ability to either activate some blocklists from a wider Proton-curated collection or to subscribe to custom blocklists and have the app regularly check for their updates.
- Ability to add custom block/allow rules.
- Ability to filter all DNS requests.
- Potentially ability to customize rules per app on platforms that allow this (Android only afaik).
- Ability to inspect HTTPS traffic by inserting itself into it with its own certificate. This is important for blocking DNS requests made by apps via HTTPS.
- Possibly a companion extension in desktop browsers to complement blocking with esthetical adjustments (removal of empty spaces left after ads) and adding blocking rules straight from the page.
- Log of requests. This is important for user troubleshooting in case important DNS requests get blocked.