[GUIDE] Using(Understanding) XPRIVACY

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Kapiljhajhria

Senior Member
May 3, 2011
1,381
1,106
gurgaon
Using XPRIVACY
*****won't be adding any more stuff to this guide for a while. will continue this when i have enough free time*******
XPRIVACY is undoubtedly the best privacy app out there. Its because of the options it supports almost all the android versions.

But it is not as easy to understand as App Ops or Pdroid privacy guard. Thats why inspite of my many attempts to use it, i gave up after few hours or days and switched back to App Ops.

It has come along way from when i made those attempts, it has become more user friendly and interactive but so many options which is its biggest plus point, also makes it hard for new users to switch from other privacy app to XPRIVACY.

I recently made a small guide about HOW TO USE APP OPS MORE EFFECTIVELY.

So the next obvious step was GUIDE on XPRIVACY. i have been putting it off from many days but now no more will add more videos whenever i can but its about time i that i finally get started with it.

I hope this guide will help my fellow XDA members to make the required switch or to introduce them to the world of XPRIVACY

Installation instruction, minimum requirements and other usefull stuff can be found at the official thread of XPRIVACY


What this Guide is ABOUT???

>This guide is for NOOB users, so that they can understand how to use XPRIVACY. Also as i ahven't purchased the PRO version yet this huide will only cover functions of FREE version. I will be buying the PRO version soon and then it will cover use of PRO features as well

>I will try to explain different restriction using different apps.

>Examples will be video of the app with and without those restrictions and the effect that those restriction will have on that app

>NOTE 1 - this is not full blown guide and it is just to get you started. However it can turn into full blown guide depending on the inputs from various users and also after a certain time as i get better in using this app.

>Note 2: Differnet categories are explained using different app. Most of the times category name will be used as heading as you can see in 3rd point, but at some places where permissions like location, contacts , clipboard etc are explained i will use these words only as these words will result in easier understanding.

> More and more videos will be added as i find the appropriate app and a way to demonstrate the use of a particular permission using that app.

LETS START

1) Faking or restriction location
I am pretty sure this is going to be very useful to many people for playing location based games or to become mayor of certain place in foursquare and i am sure you can think of using it in many other apps.
Please note that you cannot fake location for some apps like google maps and facebook. these are the only two apps that i know of. you cannot fake location for these two apps but you can restrict it.
Also as you can see in the video you will be able to fake location in foursquare but when you will try to access google maps view from inside Foursqaure app you will get no location. But still you can check in and get suggestion from foursquare based on your fake location. default fake location is CHRISTMAS ISLAND. but you can change it through XPRIVACY(which is covered in the video).




2) Blocking access to the different accounts configured in your device

For this i have used Chrome beta as you can see in the video that blocking the account permissions will result in chrome not seeing the different google accounts that are present on my device. Thus i am unable to sign in chrome beta to sync my bookmarks and other stuff.

You can use this to block access from those app which try to gain access to the different accounts configured in your device.

Note: if you block access to 9gag, Ifunny etc apps like these for which you sign in using your configured google account. You wont be able to sign in those apps as these apps won't be able to see the configured account.

Although if a you sign in using username or email id which you use only for that particular app. You can block restrict this permission as it will have no negative effect on that app behaviour




3) Xprivacy Category - View Browser

For explaining what this permission does i have used DIGG app. This permission will restrict app from opening external links. or more precisely hyperlinks from withing app. If this permission is restricted you will be displayed warning from xprivacy when you try to open any link from withing the app(shown in the video).


4) More Videos to come soon..........

More videos to be added whenever i can find time and based on users input. I am also a beginner when it comes to XPRIVACY so be patient with me and if you have any ideas to make this thread better please do share it with us.


Once you have enough understanding to use Xprivacy on daily basis you can head over to XPRIVACY thread and post you advanced question there.


Currently i have some personal stuff to take care of so updating this thread is on hold. Will update it with more videos as soon as i can. I have made the videos just need to edit them and upload.
 
Last edited:

drreality

Senior Member
Oct 13, 2010
334
34
Coventry
thanks

thanks for this helpful tutorial.

can u please tell me if I could use xprivacy to block adds on apps , cheers
 

newbreedsoftware

Senior Member
Mar 4, 2009
72
5
Carson City
I know this is a dumb question but I've been using Xprivacy for a few years now and I never could figure out what the two boxes to the right of the application names are for. I believe one is for restrict and one is for allow? If someone could let me know which each of those boxes means it would be much appreciated.
 

yannick.12

Member
Apr 18, 2013
10
6
Good question. The two-column system is a later addition to xprivacy and many of the newbie tutorials don't cover it.

Let's take a simple example like location.

For starters, let's say the second column is unchecked. This is the easiest situation to understand. Then what happens depends on the first column.

The first column -- if it's checked then xprivacy will always deny access to location and will instead feed the app fake information as set up in the xprivacy settings.

If however the first column is unchecked then the app will be able to get to your actual location.

This is what you want with an app where the answer to "can it use this permission?" is always the same (either "always" or "never"). Second column unchecked, first column choice telling the app yes or no.

The second column controls the pop-ups that you see with xprivacy. If the second column is checked then you'll get a pop-up asking whether to allow the app the permission or not (whether or not the first column is checked).

There are four choices -- "allow", "deny", "don't know", and "oops I timed out".

"oops I timed out" will give the app whatever the answer in the first column is. You can tell what the first column is because the app says "Timeout will: allow/deny" depending on whether the first column is unchecked/checked.

If you click "allow" in the pop-up then xprivacy unchecks the second column in its settings, unchecks the first, and gives the app access to your true location. The popup will then not appear again unless you recheck the second column in the xprivacy settings.

If you click "deny" then xprivacy unchecks the second column, checks the first column and feeds the app fake location. Again you'll not see the popup again.

If you click "Don't know" then I *think* xprivacy denies access (whether or not the first column is unchecked) and leaves the second column checked, so it will ask again the next time.

How did I find this out? Well I didn't read it from a FAQ! I just downloaded xprivacy yesterday and I found it incredibly difficult to work out from scratch. In the end I just downloaded an app which prints out your gps location and nothing else, and I just experimented with it. The above is a report on my conclusions. I hope it helps other people because it is the post which I wish I could have read this time yesterday.

Note that other permissions might work slightly differently. For example it is not really possible to feed an app fake internet information, as this would require carrying around a fake internet on your phone. You can get a quick idea about what data can be faked by looking at the xprivacy settings. For example, you can fake your phone number and your MAC address. But as I've said you can't fake your internet and you can't fake your storage either -- which is quite a good idea because if you pretend to let an app write to your SD card and then pretend to let it read it and it can't find what it just wrote, this is bound to lead to trouble, probably more trouble than if you'd just denied it access in the first place.
 
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I got also another question (if someone knonw the answer) about the "shared rules". I mean, if I download the rules for some app, from the XPrivacy server, it's supposed to be the settings that someone has configure, ok. But what if I send my rules and, later in time, I download it again for that app? I got my rules (the rules that I uploaded before) or I got the " common" rules setted shared by the XPrivacy?

Sent from my Xperia E4g using XDA-Developers mobile app
 

rUx_Gaming

Member
Jul 12, 2018
8
0
Is it possible for xPrivacy to allow app's permission? I'm using a phone that runs android 5.1.1 and some apps just don't ask for permissions which makes it impossible for me to access storages. It will only respond that app has no permission to write over storages which makes the app not functional.
 

Kapiljhajhria

Senior Member
May 3, 2011
1,381
1,106
gurgaon
Is it possible for xPrivacy to allow app's permission? I'm using a phone that runs android 5.1.1 and some apps just don't ask for permissions which makes it impossible for me to access storages. It will only respond that app has no permission to write over storages which makes the app not functional.
Won't work like that.... And that issue is still there.. Even with pie... App's developer fault..

Sent from my Redmi Note 5 Pro using Tapatalk
 

rUx_Gaming

Member
Jul 12, 2018
8
0
I mean give app permission from app's info. I think u can do that... Dont remember 5.1.1 interface now but it should be possible

Sent from my Redmi Note 5 Pro using Tapatalk

My phone doesn't seem so. Here's how it looks like in the app settings.
 

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  • 12
    Using XPRIVACY
    *****won't be adding any more stuff to this guide for a while. will continue this when i have enough free time*******
    XPRIVACY is undoubtedly the best privacy app out there. Its because of the options it supports almost all the android versions.

    But it is not as easy to understand as App Ops or Pdroid privacy guard. Thats why inspite of my many attempts to use it, i gave up after few hours or days and switched back to App Ops.

    It has come along way from when i made those attempts, it has become more user friendly and interactive but so many options which is its biggest plus point, also makes it hard for new users to switch from other privacy app to XPRIVACY.

    I recently made a small guide about HOW TO USE APP OPS MORE EFFECTIVELY.

    So the next obvious step was GUIDE on XPRIVACY. i have been putting it off from many days but now no more will add more videos whenever i can but its about time i that i finally get started with it.

    I hope this guide will help my fellow XDA members to make the required switch or to introduce them to the world of XPRIVACY

    Installation instruction, minimum requirements and other usefull stuff can be found at the official thread of XPRIVACY


    What this Guide is ABOUT???

    >This guide is for NOOB users, so that they can understand how to use XPRIVACY. Also as i ahven't purchased the PRO version yet this huide will only cover functions of FREE version. I will be buying the PRO version soon and then it will cover use of PRO features as well

    >I will try to explain different restriction using different apps.

    >Examples will be video of the app with and without those restrictions and the effect that those restriction will have on that app

    >NOTE 1 - this is not full blown guide and it is just to get you started. However it can turn into full blown guide depending on the inputs from various users and also after a certain time as i get better in using this app.

    >Note 2: Differnet categories are explained using different app. Most of the times category name will be used as heading as you can see in 3rd point, but at some places where permissions like location, contacts , clipboard etc are explained i will use these words only as these words will result in easier understanding.

    > More and more videos will be added as i find the appropriate app and a way to demonstrate the use of a particular permission using that app.

    LETS START

    1) Faking or restriction location
    I am pretty sure this is going to be very useful to many people for playing location based games or to become mayor of certain place in foursquare and i am sure you can think of using it in many other apps.
    Please note that you cannot fake location for some apps like google maps and facebook. these are the only two apps that i know of. you cannot fake location for these two apps but you can restrict it.
    Also as you can see in the video you will be able to fake location in foursquare but when you will try to access google maps view from inside Foursqaure app you will get no location. But still you can check in and get suggestion from foursquare based on your fake location. default fake location is CHRISTMAS ISLAND. but you can change it through XPRIVACY(which is covered in the video).




    2) Blocking access to the different accounts configured in your device

    For this i have used Chrome beta as you can see in the video that blocking the account permissions will result in chrome not seeing the different google accounts that are present on my device. Thus i am unable to sign in chrome beta to sync my bookmarks and other stuff.

    You can use this to block access from those app which try to gain access to the different accounts configured in your device.

    Note: if you block access to 9gag, Ifunny etc apps like these for which you sign in using your configured google account. You wont be able to sign in those apps as these apps won't be able to see the configured account.

    Although if a you sign in using username or email id which you use only for that particular app. You can block restrict this permission as it will have no negative effect on that app behaviour




    3) Xprivacy Category - View Browser

    For explaining what this permission does i have used DIGG app. This permission will restrict app from opening external links. or more precisely hyperlinks from withing app. If this permission is restricted you will be displayed warning from xprivacy when you try to open any link from withing the app(shown in the video).


    4) More Videos to come soon..........

    More videos to be added whenever i can find time and based on users input. I am also a beginner when it comes to XPRIVACY so be patient with me and if you have any ideas to make this thread better please do share it with us.


    Once you have enough understanding to use Xprivacy on daily basis you can head over to XPRIVACY thread and post you advanced question there.


    Currently i have some personal stuff to take care of so updating this thread is on hold. Will update it with more videos as soon as i can. I have made the videos just need to edit them and upload.
    4
    Good question. The two-column system is a later addition to xprivacy and many of the newbie tutorials don't cover it.

    Let's take a simple example like location.

    For starters, let's say the second column is unchecked. This is the easiest situation to understand. Then what happens depends on the first column.

    The first column -- if it's checked then xprivacy will always deny access to location and will instead feed the app fake information as set up in the xprivacy settings.

    If however the first column is unchecked then the app will be able to get to your actual location.

    This is what you want with an app where the answer to "can it use this permission?" is always the same (either "always" or "never"). Second column unchecked, first column choice telling the app yes or no.

    The second column controls the pop-ups that you see with xprivacy. If the second column is checked then you'll get a pop-up asking whether to allow the app the permission or not (whether or not the first column is checked).

    There are four choices -- "allow", "deny", "don't know", and "oops I timed out".

    "oops I timed out" will give the app whatever the answer in the first column is. You can tell what the first column is because the app says "Timeout will: allow/deny" depending on whether the first column is unchecked/checked.

    If you click "allow" in the pop-up then xprivacy unchecks the second column in its settings, unchecks the first, and gives the app access to your true location. The popup will then not appear again unless you recheck the second column in the xprivacy settings.

    If you click "deny" then xprivacy unchecks the second column, checks the first column and feeds the app fake location. Again you'll not see the popup again.

    If you click "Don't know" then I *think* xprivacy denies access (whether or not the first column is unchecked) and leaves the second column checked, so it will ask again the next time.

    How did I find this out? Well I didn't read it from a FAQ! I just downloaded xprivacy yesterday and I found it incredibly difficult to work out from scratch. In the end I just downloaded an app which prints out your gps location and nothing else, and I just experimented with it. The above is a report on my conclusions. I hope it helps other people because it is the post which I wish I could have read this time yesterday.

    Note that other permissions might work slightly differently. For example it is not really possible to feed an app fake internet information, as this would require carrying around a fake internet on your phone. You can get a quick idea about what data can be faked by looking at the xprivacy settings. For example, you can fake your phone number and your MAC address. But as I've said you can't fake your internet and you can't fake your storage either -- which is quite a good idea because if you pretend to let an app write to your SD card and then pretend to let it read it and it can't find what it just wrote, this is bound to lead to trouble, probably more trouble than if you'd just denied it access in the first place.