Samsung added content and ad-blocking plugins to its newest web browser for Android smartphones on January 31, Sunday. It is now available for all Samsung phones running Android Marshmallow and is similar to ad blocking in Apple's Safari browser for iOS 9. In coming months blocking ads will also be available for the Lollipop version of Google's operating system.

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Owners of Samsung handsets can now block annoying ads on websites they visit. An ad blocker can decrease website load times and mobile data usage because it makes the web pages much smaller without advertisements.      

Ad blockers caused a lot of hoopla when iOS 9 was launched last September. However, they later dropped from the top spots in Apple's App Store showing that there is limited interest in the content blockers.

Google's Chrome browser is pre-installed on Android smartphones but does not support ad blockers yet. Some third-party browsers such as Brave offer the feature but are much less popular than Chrome.

The end result is that blocking ads on desktop/laptop browsers has become very common. However, it is not nearly as popular on mobile phones.

Rocketship's Adblock Fast is the first ad-blocker for the Samsung Internet browser, according to Engadget. It is also available for iOS devices, and Chrome and Opera on desktop, and was rolled out to Samsung phones through an over-the-air update of the browser.  

The ad blocker is free to install. It has already racked up 200,000 users across different platforms it is available on. Adblock Fast's developer claims it decreases load times on Android phones by 51 percent, according to The Verge.

Adblock Fast is available on the Google Play Store for Samsung Internet 4.0 and must simply be downloaded and then enabled on the handset. The popular iOS content blocker Crystal is also now available for Samsung's web browser.

Engadget points out that Samsung and Rocketship have not noted that ad-blocking can prevent publishers from generating ad revenue. It can also stop them from sharing free content.

The number of Samsung phone users using ad blockers now, and how many are using the tech company's browser instead of Chrome are unclear. However, now Android and iPhone users both have the ability to enjoy ad-free web surfing.

This video takes up if Google is worried about ad-blocking: