by edgineer 4 days ago
It's not all-or-nothing; sometimes some people at Google push for some things to improve privacy. Rarely happens when revenue is at stake.
Android used to ask you "do you want to alllow internet access?" as an app permission. Google removed that, as it would stop ads from showing up. Devastating change for privacy and security, great for revenue.
It's not great for revenue, it is their revenue.
People act like Google products are a charity that had been free forever, and then this mega-corp called Google came along and started harvesting the data of innocent people who just want to get directions to Starbucks.
Google is pretty much just a wrapper around DoubleClick.
GrapheneOS still does this -- allows controlling internet access on a per-app basis.
It's one of the big reasons I advocate for graphene even if one chooses to install Google services afterward.
Also notable: as of last year, OnePlus allowed mobile and WiFi network toggle, effectively doing the same thing.
For those of us stuck on normal android, is there a way to achieve that? I know it used to work with some firewall apps but nowdays they all require root access.
Rethink DNS can block internet access of an app (besides doing DNS-based blocking, etc.): https://rethinkdns.com
It uses the VPN functionality, but you can stack a Wireguard VPN on top of it.
Netguard No Root Firewall still works for me: https://github.com/M66B/NetGuard
+1 for Netguard, it is awesome. A bit clumsy UI, but indispensible.
It looks like you can't revoke the internet permission, but you can use the firewall via ADB. Settings are lost on reboot, but you can use an automation with Tasker or similar to set them on boot:
https://www.reddit.com/r/tasker/comments/1mxjnvs/how_to_bloc...
Not the same thing, but you can install an app like Blokada Libre to block ads and trackers in all apps.
Or you can set your DNS resolver to dns.adguard-dns.com and it blocks almost all ads. You can search "private dns" in Android settings app and set it there.
This has the disadvantage that you can’t whitelist specific domains, which is something I need pretty often.
You can signup for private adguard dns, then you should be able to whitelist domains.
Go to settings > App > $SCUMMY_APP > Mobile Data & WiFi. Uncheck all.
Not a thing on stock android
Why does Apple not give that Wi-Fi option there? I mean, is there a reason we’d be sympathetic to?
iOS allows this, but only on mobile data, which is pretty infuriating. Why should I not be able to also restrict apps from dialing home/anywhere just because I'm on a Wi-Fi network (which isn't even necessarily unmetered)?
It's really annoying. I have a sudoku game on my phone, works great but give it internet access and it's suddenly full of sketchy adverts.
If I'm playing it on my commute, it's usable with mobile data disabled for the app. But when the train stops in a station long enough to auto-connect to wifi, immediate full screen adverts :(
The OS ought to let you deny internet access to an app entirely, but DNS-based adblocking might solve your problem: https://mullvad.net/en/help/dns-over-https-and-dns-over-tls
Then don’t use an ad supported app? I have one as supported app on my phone - Overcast. The developer created their own ad platform and serves topic based ads based on the podcast you are listening to right now. Ironically enough I started to pay for a subscription even though it didn’t give me any real benefit just to support him until he started having ads.
I’ve found a lot of useful podcasts from the ads.
I’m gonna be That Guy for a minute: if you enjoy using a Sudoku app, isn’t there one available on more acceptable terms, e.g. a single purchase or a IAP that removes the ads from this one? I’m not saying you have to pay like $3.99/week for a scam one, but more like pointing out that if you don’t like ads (as I also don’t) why not support the developers who believe in selling software to you for a few bucks rather than selling your annoyance to Google via Adsense?