Many apps stop working when Adguard is active (QUIC-related)

[fdezsergio02]

Please answer the following questions for yourself before submitting an issue

• [x] Filters were updated before reproducing an issue
• [x] I checked the knowledge base and found no answer
• [x] I checked to make sure that this issue has not already been filed

AdGuard version

4.7.1

Environment

• OS version: Android 14 (One UI 6.1)
• Device: Galaxy A55 5G

HTTPS filtering

• [x] yes, I do

Root access

• [ ] yes, I have it

Integration with AdGuard VPN

• [x] yes, I do

Routing mode

Local VPN

Ad Blocking

AdGuard Base filter, AdGuard Mobile Ads filter

Privacy

AdGuard Tracking Protection filter, AdGuard URL Tracking filter

Social

AdGuard Social Media filter

Annoyances

AdGuard Cookie Notices filter, AdGuard Popups filter, AdGuard Mobile App Banners filter, AdGuard Other Annoyances filter, AdGuard Widgets filter

Security

Online Malicious URL Blocklist

Language-specific

AdGuard Spanish/Portuguese filter

Other

No response

Which DNS server do you use?

Google DNS

DNS protocol

DNS-over-HTTPS

Custom DNS

No response

What Stealth Mode options do you have enabled?

Block trackers, Remove tracking parameters from URLs, Hide your search queries, Ask websits not to track you, Remove X-client-Data header from HTTP request, Hide your Referrer from third-parties

Issue Details

Steps to reproduce:

1. Install and start Adguard for Android.
2. Open any Google app(Search, Gboard, Chrome, etc) and start using it.
3. Observe how any interaction (Circle to Search, dictation in Gboard) fails a first time marking that it cannot “connect to Google servers”, while a second/third attempt works correctly.
4. Go back to Adguard and see that just when the apps fail, it tries to connect with QUIC and the connection is blocked, while the second/third attempt is made using HTTP/2 and it works correctly.

Expected Behavior

Google applications should work normally with Adguard on

Actual Behavior

Google applications recurrently fail with a “there was a problem connecting to Google's servers” error when making use of online functionalities, but when the user retries the action, it works correctly again because the application switches from HTTP/3 to HTTP/2.

Screenshots

Screenshot 1

Additional Information

Regardless of whether QUIC filtering is enabled or not, this problem happens on Android (unknown if it happens on iOS, I don't have an iPhone to test it). The workaround I've found so far is to add Google apps to the QUIC filtering whitelist, with the risk that they may deliver ads through there in the future.

[jordansworld]

@fdezsergio02 here is my list. if u wanna copy and paste it into yours it has a lot of popular apps in there. these apps all use quic and are blocked.

com.snapchat.android com.google.android.gms com.google.android.gsf com.google.android.googlequicksearchbox com.instagram.android com.google.android.apps.maps com.reddit.frontpage com.amazon.mShop.android.shopping app.rvx.android.youtube com.facebook.katana com.facebook.orca app.rvx.android.apps.youtube.music com.ubercab com.ebay.mobile com.instagram.barcelona com.myinsta.android com.google.android.apps.photos

[zzebrum]

@fdezsergio02 I see a few complaints about this issue, we will look into it as soon as possible.

[SyCoREAPER]

@zzebrum @Versty please elvate this. Phone is unusable. Please help.

It's this all over again https://github.com/AdguardTeam/AdguardForAndroid/issues/5405#issue-2429297774, except an unknown cause this time. Random apps just refuse to work. Have reinstalled said apps. Reinstalled Adguard. Sometimes it works for a while but then stops again.

Not just Google. Samsung File Manager (Integrated Cloud portion). BlueMail. Parts of GitHub. And a few others I can't think of.

For me many apps that OP posted work fine like Circle Search and Gboard.

Nothing is showing blocked in the traffic history.

Turn off Adguard and it works fine.

And all devices have been for a while having protection turn itself off. Nothing has changed on the other devices including OS version.

[SyCoREAPER]

@zzebrum @Versty please elvate this. Phone is unusable. Please help.

It's this all over again https://github.com/AdguardTeam/AdguardForAndroid/issues/5405#issue-2429297774, except an unknown cause this time. Random apps just refuse to work. Have reinstalled said apps. Reinstalled Adguard. Sometimes it works for a while but then stops again.

Not just Google. Samsung File Manager (Integrated Cloud portion). BlueMail. Parts of GitHub. And a few others I can't think of.

For me many apps that OP posted work fine like Circle Search and Gboard.

Nothing is showing blocked in the traffic history.

Turn off Adguard and it works fine.

And all devices have been for a while having protection turn itself off. Nothing has changed on the other devices including OS version.

Here's what I don't understand. For you guys multiple Google stuff doesn't work.

My Gboard works. My Circle Search works. GDrive doesn't. BlueMail is not using QUIC at all and despite not being routed though Adguard it still won't load emails.

I wish we'd get some more feedback on this.

:edit: ~~Here's what I've done to get everything working, for now.~~

~~- Uninstall Adguard. Reinstall v4.6 and accompanying cert and recent backup (This part is likely coincidental).~~

~~- Clear App Data, Uninstall and Reinstall all problem apps.~~

:edit2: Well that didn't last... I give up. I'll give it a few days I guess. Hope AdGuard Team can fix this so I don't have to unsubscribe.

[techIndia-hacker]

For me except circle to search everything else is working fine in Google apps. Although I had to whitelist discover-pa.googleapis.com for Google app in Https filtering whitelist. This is ssl pinned but causes sponsored ads to leak. I have root access in Android 15

[0xrxL]

@fdezsergio02 I see a few complaints about this issue, we will look into it as soon as possible.

Today I was forced to add the following Google packages to the quic bypass list, because I could no longer receive notifications from my account or even manage it:

• com.google.android.gfs (Google Services Framework)
• com.google.android.gms (Play Services)
• com.google.android.gm (Gmail)

All these packages appeared in the filtering lists as ip domains blocked under iquic:// category.

[techIndia-hacker]

@fdezsergio02 I see a few complaints about this issue, we will look into it as soon as possible.

Today I was forced to add the following Google packages to the quic bypass list, because I could no longer receive notifications from my account or even manage it:

• com.google.android.gfs (Google Services Framework)
• com.google.android.gms (Play Services)
• com.google.android.gm (Gmail)

All these packages appeared in the filtering lists as ip domains blocked under iquic:// category.

Means in some phones google is forcing QUIC more aggressively. Cause my OnePlus 13 android 15 doesn't have this issue but only with the "Circle to search feature"

[TPS]

Google's getting very aggressive w/ this, as it's now completely breaking Sync (data backup to Google servers/Drive). April 4, 2025 is when my devices have been able to last succeed at such.

[fdezsergio02]

Is there any update on this? @Versty. I think already many companies are starting to implement QUIC in their apps, because I am having the same problem with Claude AI, and I don't think having a very high exception list is going to solve the problem :/

[SyCoREAPER]

Is there any update on this? @Versty. I think already many companies are starting to implement QUIC in their apps, because I am having the same problem with Claude AI, and I don't think having a very high exception list is going to solve the problem :/

I'm curious why this is so wildly inconsistent. Apps that work for some don't work for others. I'm still having issues with the latest Samsung Android 16 Beta but it's sporadic rather than consistent. Odd.

[TPS]

@SyCoREAPER I suspect that working apps retain the old behavior before QUIC was largely prevalent — when that doesn't work, they fallback to TCP/TLS. Now that QUIC is widespead, more & more apps are phasing out support for the "old" stuff to lessen support burdens. E.g., how many folks are downloading stuff over FTP anymore? Same idea w/ HTTP1 & HTTP2 nowadays w/ many apps.

[SyCoREAPER]

@TPS That's a fair assumption and possibly correct but I can't find the pattern. It's not leaving and joining wifi. It's not reboots. Not AdGuard updates. Not app full restarts.

[fdezsergio02]

@SyCoREAPER I suspect that working apps retain the old behavior before QUIC was largely prevalent — when that doesn't work, they fallback to TCP/TLS. Now that QUIC is widespead, more & more apps are phasing out support for the "old" stuff to lessen support burdens. E.g., how many folks are downloading stuff over FTP anymore? Same idea w/ HTTP1 & HTTP2 nowadays w/ many apps.

So... if QUIC is becoming more and more widespread and Adguard is not able to filter connections and block them, what is going to happen? Because now I'm seeing that apps like Spotify, or Reddit that didn't use QUIC before, now do. In the end I will have to add exceptions to virtually all apps, and it is possible that in some of them ads or trackers that were blocked before will start appearing.

[fdezsergio02]

@zzebrum I think that on an provisional way, it would be a good idea to exclude all Google applications from QUIC filtering. Even the Google Services Framework makes QUIC requests that are constantly blocked by Adguard, and in the case of the Google application it causes Circle to Search to crash quite frequently.

[muchqs]

Yes this is becoming a serious, widespread issue now. ALL Google apps now use QUIC and will either fail completely or have some parts not work if the connections are blocked. They are making the apps wait a LONG time before it falls back to old TCP connections, on purpose, to force the QUIC connections on users. ie. YouTube app will not allow u to leave comments if QUIC is blocked and if u wait a long time (1min+) then it falls back to TCP and ur comment shows up. In Google Maps, location info will straight up not load at all even if u wait if QUIC is blocked.

And other apps like WeChat etc. are all implementing QUIC and will not work properly if blocked.

If we have to keep using a whitelist, then eventually the whitelist will become HUGE as it will have to contain pretty much every popular app in existence.

[techIndia-hacker]

Why QUICK can't be filtered properly instead of bypass??

Ayan

On Fri, 11 Jul 2025, 10:26 am muchqs, @.***> wrote:

muchqs left a comment (AdguardTeam/AdguardForAndroid#5617) https://github.com/AdguardTeam/AdguardForAndroid/issues/5617#issuecomment-3060520927

Yes this is becoming a serious, widespread issue now. ALL Google apps now use QUIC and will either fail completely or have some parts not work if the connections are blocked. They are making the apps wait a LONG time before it falls back to old TCP connections, on purpose, to force the QUIC connections on users. ie. YouTube app will not allow u to leave comments if QUIC is blocked and if u wait a long time (1min+) then it falls back to TCP and ur comment shows up. In Google Maps, location info will straight up not load at all even if u wait if QUIC is blocked.

And other apps like WeChat etc. are all implementing QUIC and will not work properly if blocked.

If we have to keep using a whitelist, then eventually the whitelist will become HUGE as it will have to contain pretty much every popular app in existence.

— Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/AdguardTeam/AdguardForAndroid/issues/5617#issuecomment-3060520927, or unsubscribe https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AN3FHQZU5DBYECHA3EW5HLL3H47ZFAVCNFSM6AAAAABXAKOJ5OVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZTANRQGUZDAOJSG4 . You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID: @.***>

[SeriousHoax]

I was having many issues with the Facebook app lately like images taking a long time to load, videos stopping to load after a few seconds, etc. I noticed in the log that AdGuard was blocking a lot of UDP connections. Since QUIC uses UDP, I manually added the Facebook app into the QUIC bypass filter, and everything went back to being normal again. At this point, AdGuard should simply add all similar problematic apps to the QUIC bypass whitelist in the next release even if the list is big. It's better than blocking app functionalities. Some people may not even be aware that AdGuard is causing these issues.

[TPS]

@fdezsergio02 Maybe, given recent feedback here, update title "Google" → "Many current" or some such?

[Versty]

@fdezsergio02 @TPS @SyCoREAPER @muchqs

This issue is tracked internally. The fix will be included in CoreLibs v1.20.

[TPS]

The fix will be included in CoreLibs v1.20.

@Versty Is there an ETA for the nightly in which we may test this?

[SyCoREAPER]

The fix will be included in CoreLibs v1.20.

@Versty Is there an ETA for the nightly in which we may test this?

When it's ready?

Were on CoreLibs to 1.19.41 now

[robw-nl]

Besides some of the mentioned issues my main problem is that Google Home and Nest Geofencing consistently fail. I think I've solved this now by not routing any system components through Adguard Android (in app management) and only allow apps that I hand pick.

[TPS]

@robw-nl Essentially https://github.com/AdguardTeam/AdguardForAndroid/issues/5766?

[robw-nl]

TPS, maybe. There's so many complaints about Google apps not (always) working, it's too much to go through all of them. What I validated this morning once more is that:

1. Turn off Adguard solves all problems, specifically geofencing works as it should.
2. Turn only a few selected apps ON in Adguard app manager: all google apps work as they should but e.g. Firefox still receives adds.
3. Use Adguard's preferred filtering: many Google apps have issues, Geofencing will NOT work at all. Trying to turn filtering off for system apps did not get me anywhere, there's too many combination to try so I gave up (for now).

Added a forth option that seems to work: 4. I reset Adguard filtering to the preferred default in App Management. I then disabled filtering for several banking and other sensitive apps but left as much as possible switched on. Additionally I disabled filtering for quite a lot of Google system apps with this being the sum of Adguards defaults and my additions:

Android Accessibility Suite Android Auto Android Services Library Android Setup Android System Intelligence Android System SafetyCore Android System Webview Captive Portal Login Carrier Services Carrier Settings Carrier Setup Google Play Protect Services Google Play Store Google Play Services Home Messages com.android.imsserviceentitlement com.android.sdm.plugins.diagmon com.google.android.apps.internal.betterbug

[robw-nl]

I updated my previous post, in case this is not picked up automatically:

I added a forth option that seems to work: 4. I reset Adguard filtering to the preferred default in App Management. I then disabled filtering for several banking and other sensitive apps but left as much as possible switched on. Additionally I disabled filtering for quite a lot of Google system apps with this being the sum of Adguards defaults and my additions:

Android Accessibility Suite Android Auto Android Services Library Android Setup Android System Intelligence Android System SafetyCore Android System Webview Captive Portal Login Carrier Services Carrier Settings Carrier Setup Google Play Protect Services Google Play Store Google Play Services Home Messages com.android.imsserviceentitlement com.android.sdm.plugins.diagmon com.google.android.apps.internal.betterbug

[fdezsergio02]

@fdezsergio02 @TPS @SyCoREAPER @muchqs

This issue is tracked internally. The fix will be included in CoreLibs v1.20.

Good! So far, my temporary solution has been to exclude almost all Google applications from QUIC filtering, but I hope that this will be fixed in Adguard 4.13!

[robw-nl]

TPS, maybe. There's so many complaints about Google apps not (always) working, it's too much to go through all of them. What I validated this morning once more is that:

1. Turn off Adguard solves all problems, specifically geofencing works as it should.

2. Turn only a few selected apps ON in  Adguard app manager: all google apps work as they should but e.g. Firefox still receives adds.

3. Use Adguard's preferred filtering: many Google apps have issues, Geofencing will NOT work at all. Trying to turn filtering off for system apps did not get me anywhere, there's too many combination to try so I gave up (for now).

Added a forth option that seems to work: 4. I reset Adguard filtering to the preferred default in App Management. I then disabled filtering for several banking and other sensitive apps but left as much as possible switched on. Additionally I disabled filtering for quite a lot of Google system apps with this being the sum of Adguards defaults and my additions:

Android Accessibility Suite Android Auto Android Services Library Android Setup Android System Intelligence Android System SafetyCore Android System Webview Captive Portal Login Carrier Services Carrier Settings Carrier Setup Google Play Protect Services Google Play Store Google Play Services Home Messages com.android.imsserviceentitlement com.android.sdm.plugins.diagmon com.google.android.apps.internal.betterbug

Update (FYI: Pixel 7 Pro, Android 16, not rooted)

After extensive testing yesterday I can confirm that the Adguard filter changes I made still don't work. When I leave house google home does not switch to away. However, my Eufy Homebase 3 does switch to away and both aps run through the same Adguard settings.

So it is clear to me that Google (home) is still able to probe Adguard under the hood.

I have 2 ideas now:

1. I will try a reverse approach. All filtering in Adguard to off and we find out what needs to be filtered (on) in order to block ads in Firefox (or Chrome, etc) and in apps that push ads.
2. Adguard could implement a feature that for example temporary disables all filtering when approaching and leaving a designated Geofence or when wifi is switched off or something along those lines. That could solve the problem as well.

Whatever is needed, this needs to be fixed as Google services that use Geofencing need to work reliably.

[muchqs]

i see the Google Framework QUIC connections being blocked constantly. But I don't really experience any problems so I keep it blocked. Not sure if unblocking ALL Google apps by default is a good idea though. But then again I really only use YouTube and Maps and have those whitelisted or they don't work properly.

[robw-nl]

Yeah, these 2 work for me as well but then again, they don't rely on geofencing. Until someone figures out exactly which services need to be unfiltered turning them all off might be the only way to get them working properly with Adguard.

[SeriousHoax]

Didn't AdGuard version 3 have an option for filtering browsers only? I don't know why it was removed, but I think many users would appreciate it if the option were re-added to the current AdGuard.