TrackerControl for Android
TrackerControl is an Android app that monitors and controls the widespread, hidden data collection in mobile apps about user behaviour ('tracking'). It uses Android's VPN functionality to analyse network traffic locally on the device — no root, no external VPN server by default, and no personal data leaves the device. TrackerControl also protects against DNS cloaking, a popular technique used to hide trackers, and offers optional Secure DNS (DNS-over-HTTPS) and remote VPN routing through providers like Mullvad and IVPN, for users who want to hide their traffic from their internet provider as well.
To detect tracking, TrackerControl combines the Disconnect blocklist (used by Firefox), the DuckDuckGo Tracker Radar for mobile apps, and an in-house blocklist created from analysing ~2 000 000 apps. Custom blocklists are supported, and tracker libraries inside app code are detected using signatures from ClassyShark3xodus / Exodus Privacy. The app also aims to educate about your rights under data-protection law, such as the EU GDPR.
This approach reveals the companies behind tracking, allows selective blocking, and exposes the purposes of tracking (analytics, advertising, etc.).
A feature-reduced iOS version (tracker analysis only, no blocking) is in the making — see ios.trackercontrol.org.
If you have missing features or bugs, join the community, use the issue tracker, or contact Konrad directly ([email protected]).
Contents
Highlights
TrackerControl provides:
- real-time monitoring of app tracking, including destination companies and countries
- granular blocking of app tracking
- one-click data requests as granted under EU data-protection law
- ad-blocking using widely available host files
- tracker library analysis of apps' code
- secure DNS using DNS-over-HTTPS (optional)
- remote VPN routing through providers like Mullvad, IVPN, or your own server (optional)
Unlike similar solutions, TrackerControl does not intercept SSL connections, minimising privacy risks and allowing usage on unrooted devices. Only metadata about network communications is logged and shown to the user.
Download / Installation
Disclaimer: Use of this app is at your own risk. No app can offer 100% protection against tracking, and analysis results shown within the app may be inaccurate.
Two distributions exist:
| Feature | Play Store (Slim) | F-Droid / GitHub (Full) |
|---|
| Tracker Analysis | ✅ | ✅ |
| Traffic Log | ✅ | ✅ |
| Tracker & Ad Blocking | ✅ (Minimal mode) | ✅ (All modes) |
| Secure DNS (DoH) | ✅ | ✅ |
| Remote VPN routing | ✅ | ✅ |
The full version offers three Blocking Modes (the mode can be changed in Settings):
| Minimal | Standard | Strict |
|---|
| Tracker lists | DuckDuckGo only | All (X-Ray, Disconnect, DDG) | All |
| Essential services | Allowed | Allowed | Blocked |
| Ambiguous shared IPs | Allowed | Allowed | Blocked |
| Granular per-tracker control | No | Yes | Yes |
| Auto-exclude known incompatible apps from VPN | Yes | No | No |
| Default for new installs | Yes | No | No |
- Minimal blocks only trackers DuckDuckGo marks as safe to block, and auto-excludes known incompatible apps such as browsers from the VPN.
- Standard uses all tracker sources with per-app and per-tracker controls, and allows the
Content category to reduce breakage.
- Strict is like Standard but also blocks the
Content category and ambiguous mixed shared-IP cases where a tracker hostname and a non-tracker hostname resolve to the same IP.
Example Use
TrackerControl combines two analysis techniques: network traffic analysis and tracker library analysis.
Network traffic analysis
Mobile trackers send personal data over the internet, so tracking can be detected from network traffic. This is TrackerControl's core functionality. The advantage over library analysis is that actual evidence of data sharing is gathered — libraries present in app code may never be activated at runtime.
This is the beginning of the README. Read the rest at the original. Read the full README ↗
