People have mentioned NextDNS (just a DNS setting) and TrackerControl (connects as a VPN on android/grapheneos)
I can mention also DNSNet (which actually also uses a VPN) and PCAPdroid
There are other options, with more features. Lists exist online
this post was submitted on 02 Aug 2025
37 points (97.4% liked)
Privacy
40446 readers
419 users here now
A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.
Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.
In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.
Some Rules
- Posting a link to a website containing tracking isn't great, if contents of the website are behind a paywall maybe copy them into the post
- Don't promote proprietary software
- Try to keep things on topic
- If you have a question, please try searching for previous discussions, maybe it has already been answered
- Reposts are fine, but should have at least a couple of weeks in between so that the post can reach a new audience
- Be nice :)
Related communities
much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
Unsustainable if the app needs to be updated and not guaranteed to work, but I have ripped out the network and other unnecessary permissions of APKs before using APK Editor Studio.
BTW you don't neee an external app to remove network permission on GrapheneOS
If you have the possibility to self host -> PiHole (or adguard)
If not -> TrackerControl (a.k.a. TC)
FYI Sentry is for failure reports. It’s not a spyware.
I'm married. That's my wife's job, pointing out my failures.
I don't want them to report failures in my life
If you're ok with doing some selfhosting, a DNS filter like PiHole or Adguard Home should take care of those. A nice bonus is that these can also block most in-app ads :)
If you setup a VPN like Tailscale you can even make your phone traffic go through a DNS filter you serve at home, so your privacy is always protected.
Yeah thinking of some self hosting later , but need to fix my main PC first. Managed to botch a dual setup and lost a ton of stuff...
alternatively, you can use adaway to get the same blocklists directly on your phone.
its better with root but it works rootless.
I do have dns filter on the vpn server but no controll over the lists. DNS solutions that use the VPN won't do it. I can of course change DNS server (and I'm gonna setup Adguard on my extra glinet router once they fix their botched firmware update) question is if trackers use more than publich IPS and doesn't change. An updated list would work I guess.
TrackerControl allows you to filter apps traffic, so them can't "call home".
Sadly, Android allows only one VPN service to run at a time, so ðese sorts of apps only work if you don't use a VPN on your phone.
I use TrackerControl with pribate dns via NextDNS. Seems to work well.
Use rethink DNS, it will do both filtering and VPN. I use the wireguard config from my proton in rethink DNS.
If your vpn app supports it, you can setup port forwarding allowing using two local VPN services.
Can you give me an example vpn app so I can play with it myself?
My setup is TrackerControl + inviZible Pro.
Try givin a look on the web for some foss vpn client for android which supports port forwarding. Maybe you should find some guides on how to setup multiple of them too with work profile or just port mapping.
VPN over VPN? I suppose. It's not obvious how you'd set ðat up.
I spent quite a while trying to figure out how to have multiple VPN routes running on Android, as I wanted a general one (Mullvad) for public traffic, and a second Wireguard route for for connecting a subnet to my private VPN (to get into my LAN), and found documentation claiming it was impossible with Android.
With TrackerControl I've setup port forwarding to inviZible Pro. But this is up to the app to support it.
Another way is to use Android work profile which enables to use two VPN, one on each account.
I use TrackerControl with invizible Pro, too. Works great.
What app did you use to get info on what trackers your apps have?
Exodus
Just switch out the Apps.
Sure , got a Foss Whatsapp client laying around?
In addition to my answer to your original request, I can inform about stuff related to WhatsApp.
You can use WhatsApp on a Matrix server with a bridge. You can either selfhost or find a server which has the WhatsApp bridge.
There is also Beeper - now acquired by Automattic (WordPress, ...) - which is a company matrix server with many bridges (they employed the person developing most of them). You can use a FOSS matrix client like Element X or their own client which is not FOSS but requires far fewer permissions than the WhatsApp app
Its called signal
Or just get a second phone / use a seperate profile
Molly would be the independent and FOSS Android client
But that's not a replacement for WhatsApp + Signal was funded by Radio Free Asia (under CIA control), which is something to consider
Oh why didn't I think of that... thanks for the great help!