NetGuard - https://f-droid.org/packages/eu.faircode.netguard/
TrackerControl - https://f-droid.org/packages/net.kollnig.missioncontrol.fdroid/
How was your experience with them? Differences in battery life etc.
Another doubt:
I had tried NetGuard some years ago to restrict internet access of apps like Gboard n Gdrive(I use the pdfviewer associated with it. Any lightweight foss alternatives to it?).
Was planning to use it again, but saw that eventhough they have a recent update, their Github doesn’t allow issues and the latest pull request are from 2023. Is there some change in the app? Have they transferred to Gitlab or Codeberg.
I don’t know much details about programming, so asking the doubt here because of the Simple apps transfer issue that I heard recently.
Thanks in advance.
Edit: Mentioned the usecase for gdrive
As someone else said you probably want RethinkDNS.
If you want to get away from Simple Mobile Tools (and you should, they sold out to an ad company) you should look at the fork here https://github.com/FossifyOrg they are on f-droid
Yep. I switched to Fossify Gallery during that time.
Is RethinkDNS better? I did see it and it seems have much more features and focused on anti-censorship. Would it to be too much for my use? In terms of battery usage n all.
I think it’s better since it allows more granular control. For instance, if you have the Wikipedia app you can block
and still use the site normally. You have to decide if that’s right for you.
Battery usage is 4.2% on my device.
Edit: formatting
RethinkDNS is unique and basically Android magic.
It combines the possibility for Orbot, multiple Wireguard VPNs with different apps and killswitch, firewall rules (like blocking mobile network or HTTP traffic)
Tracker control is pretty fantastic. It blocks an incredible amount of communication from every app including advertisements.
Examples:
- I love Gboard and detest Google’s data theft. And so, my gboard is now cut off from Google and offline with all features still available.
- I’ve made simple games like Mahjong entirely offline.
- I block dozens of trackers for apps I pay for which I think inappropriately steal information. Why on earth is Paramount+ trying to contact 43+ companies. Or AP contacting 32?
Tracker Control is a very very useful tool.
And… It uses only a tiny fraction of my battery. I’m talking 0.13% the last 24 hours.
Thank you.
It says that private dns must be disabled. Is there a way to use both? Or add it into trackercontrol?
Edit:
The private dns stuff does not seem to be an issue for restricting net access to apps.TC runs as a (local I assume) VPN service. So doubt it.
Private DNS is currently Auto (and not off). I haven’t tried to specify another.
As a consequence it might also block sone ads so that’s a bonus. Either way, I like the level of control.
More like all ads. Whoops. That wasn’t intentional at all. 🤭
I’ve been using NetGuard for many years to block net access for apps that shouldn’t need it. I haven’t noticed any impact on battery life and haven’t run into issues other than what one might expect (for example when it turns out that the blocked app refuses to run without network access)
Didn’t know about RethinkDNS, looks neat, will give it a try sometime.
RethinkDNS is probably better, but I’m currently still using NetGuard Pro and kind of happy with it, but I will soon migrate to Rethink DNS. If you use NetGuard, make sure to use the Pro version, download its hosts file and use it in whitelist mode and display all contacted hosts/IPs for each app (block everything by default, allow only the technically necessary connections!). The more proprietary apps you use, the more tracking hosts you’ll see being contacted (lots of proprietary apps contact Google, Meta, etc.). Don’t allow these connections.
Back in times when my device was rooted I used AFWall for controlling app internet access and AdAway for DNS-based ad blocking. Nowadays I use ReThink DNS for both.
I use netguard and whitelist apps for network connections. I haven’t noticed a difference in battery usage.
Tracker control let’s me know if I can live without an app from the playstore 👍
How??
Turn the main switch on in the app, then launch every app, check back in TC to see how many trackers each app contains.
But I’d prefer to have a VPN on instead of TC, but if android had two VPN slots that would be amazing. Also some of the flags are for normal running of the apps, e.g. pipepipe needs to contact YouTube to get videos for you to watch.
TV let’s you turn off various flags per app.
their Github doesn’t allow issues
https://github.com/M66B/NetGuard?tab=readme-ov-file#support
the latest pull requests are from 2023
how does it matter? not every open source project relies on, or even accepts, pull requests.
So, it’s safe? I wanted to know it was. That’s why I mentioned the Simple apps issue, where it was acquired by some ad company or so. Saw posts recommending Fossify apps
Thank you.
Which of two apps would you recommend?
