Already the bane of web marketers everywhere, the makers of the popular ad-blocking software Adblock Plus are taking their service a step further by releasing their own mobile browser for Android that natively blocks advertisements.

“Today we are pleased to announce Adblock Browser for Android, our first foray into a more complete mobile ad blocking solution and a great browser to boot,” Adblock’s Ben Williams wrote in a blog post. “Adblock Browser for Android will block annoying ads automatically, which can save you battery power, keep you safe from threats and give you control of your browsing on the go.”

Adblock Browser is currently in open beta testing, and you can gain access by joining the app’s Google+ community and selecting “Beta Opt-In” in the About section. If you do not want to bother with Google+ or waiting for the app to show up in Play Store, you can also download the app’s APK directly.

The new mobile browser is built on top of the code from Firefox for Android, and Adblock Browser itself is open source. “Mozilla’s openness is what made Adblock Plus possible in the first place,” Adblock’s Felix Dahlke wrote. “And since we have to bet on one platform, we decided to bet on Firefox.”

He added, “Unfortunately, as opposed to Firefox on Desktop, we’re extremely limited when it comes to integrating Adblock Plus into the user interface of Firefox for Android. Building our own browser gives us a lot more freedom to integrate adblocking as a first class feature that’s easy to understand and configure.”

In addition to the “sheer annoyance factor” of seeing ads all over websites, Williams notes that the primary motivation behind the company’s dedication to blocking ads is the security and privacy concerns involved.

“For technical and privacy-related reasons, we have decided to tackle the issue carefully,” Williams wrote. “There are other approaches out there, which we have looked into (and could reproduce). But these sometimes present privacy concerns — do you really want someone controlling your entire network? — not to mention potential legal and net neutrality issues.”

photo credit: practice_adblock via photopin (license)