cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/36657058
I’m just sharing here this app I use always on my phone, and I don’t see many people talking about it.
It’s similar to DuckDuckGo app feature that block trackers across all the device, but this one is focused only on that, it also allows you to add your custom tracker URLs to block and monitor every request being made.
It’s open source and available on F-Droid: https://f-droid.org/packages/dev.clombardo.dnsnet/
GitHub: https://github.com/t895/DNSNetIt enables a VPN to intercept requests, so it can block URLs of trackers across all your apps. The app provides a list of URLs as you open it for the first time, you can choose a few options between less or more aggressive.
Obs.: The app don’t tell, but when you add a custom URL you need to disable and enable it again.
I’ve run the duckduckgo version of this for years but only recently found out you can get most of this functionality natively in android (android 13 for me) by setting a private DNS as shown in the below image. My duckduckgo app tracking protection does still catch attempts but it’s basically just google now, instead of dozens of companies before.
I’ve been using TrackerControl, using basically the same idea and concept, and been very happy with it. Having app-level control over what gets blocked is very convenient.
The only downside to this approach is that you can’t use a real VPN anymore, as android only allows one at a time.
Same. Is there any advantage to DNSNet over TrackerControl?
I used to use an app with what I assume is a similar method. I had to turn it off to use my VPN but otherwise liked it. Giving this guy a go
Wireguard and PiHole. Set the Wireguard routing to the local network IPs of your homelab, and you get the same setup.
This is my favorite app that I never got to use but inspired me to learn how to do DNS configurations to work with traditional VPN’s like Mullvad and iVPN. They have built in DNS filters that are putrid compared to DNSNet. But a DNS can’t run on its own so it casts itself like a VPN so the system runs through it and the DNS then filters the system of trackers. If you don’t think you need this and it’s just Greek then download App Warden and run a scan. That ain’t normal Comrade. Stop normalizing the end. Anyways I strayed. When the DNS casts itself as a VPN it prevents real VPN’s from connecting, leaving your IP vulnerable. No tor, no VPN. So I discovered NextDNS and after a month I learned how to use private DNS in the connection settings of Android to point it to NextDNS and then how to configure the custom DNS option in my VPN (Mulvad) to also point to NextDNS. Then I setup tor in the background. I hope this helps someone skip a month of work and can focus that time on being happy. Sorry I can’t direct you to each step I talked about. It was a LOT of work.
