[APP][XPOSED][6.0+] XPrivacyLua - Android privacy manager

[M66B]

Marcel,

Error within XPL and as Notification:

Privacy.Build.SERIAL
java.lang.NoSuchMethodException: #SERIAL

Only seeing this for serial number and only for Clock (LG) and Whatsapp so far. Is this expected or actionable? Only shows up after first attempt or after clearing and enabling identifiers restriction.

All the best. Logcat captured and I can email to you if helpful.

If you are using beta version 0.23 or 0.24 and did reboot after updating, please contact me through this contact form to send me the logcat. The contact form doesn't allow file attachments for security reasons, so you'll need to wait for my reply.

 

[bluegrass55]

There is mostly no need to reboot to apply restrictions.

I have no idea why apps disappear from the list. Somebody else reported this too, but I need to reproduce this or see the cause in a log file to be able to fix this. My theory is that you restricted access to get application for a system app/component.

XPrivacy and XPrivacyLua work differently and therefore the restrictions cannot be compared one to one.

Yes that could be it. On first install I blocked every thing. This happened so did not restrict any system apps. It worked but reverted to this after re launch of the app. I have backup N5 which i'm trying it on. Will use updated version tomorrow. Don't know where you find the time & patience to work on this. Brain fried just installing it.

 

[kurvenmeister]

@M66B

i thank you very much for developing xpl. keep on please. my lightning browser just tried to access my camera. got a xpl message at the statusbar from that attempt. keep on man.

 

[daniu]

That was already asked multiple times today, so read a little back or use the search.

Edit: in short: for now the interest in the pro companion app doesn't justify putting time in alternate payment methods, which is not something trivial to implement.

Hi

Well - it took me some days to find that something happened on the xprivacy front ... and I am 100% sure that lots of people have not heard/read of it yet. Plus I did not update my phone for quite some time and actually am not really willing to use a beta app (not an app like xprivacy) and also will need to find some time to update. But I would pay the pro version without hesitation - immediately as a kind of crowdsourcing and I hope more people will do that!
However when I used xprivacy before I did away with gapps completely and I would love to go that path again with Oreo if xprivacy was available without gapps. So right now not being able to buy xprivacy without playstore is the thing that makes me hesitate ... why not just offer paypal? Since I do not like google playstore I would appreciate an independant licence that does not force me to pay fees to google.

Or is there a way to use xprivacylua without playstore even the licence was bought with playstore? (still would not like that but if you insist ...)

Besides all that: THANK YOU FOR STARTING AGAIN - really excited ...

Regards
Daniel

 

[M66B]

Hi

Well - it took me some days to find that something happened on the xprivacy front ... and I am 100% sure that lots of people have not heard/read of it yet. Plus I did not update my phone for quite some time and actually am not really willing to use a beta app (not an app like xprivacy) and also will need to find some time to update. But I would pay the pro version without hesitation - immediately as a kind of crowdsourcing and I hope more people will do that!
However when I used xprivacy before I did away with gapps completely and I would love to go that path again with Oreo if xprivacy was available without gapps. So right now not being able to buy xprivacy without playstore is the thing that makes me hesitate ... why not just offer paypal? Since I do not like google playstore I would appreciate an independant licence that does not force me to pay fees to google.

Or is there a way to use xprivacylua without playstore even the licence was bought with playstore? (still would not like that but if you insist ...)

Besides all that: THANK YOU FOR STARTING AGAIN - really excited ...

Regards
Daniel

XPrivacyLua is free to use and doesn't require Google services. At this moment the pro companion app adds one extra paid feature: setting a custom coarse location.

XPrivacyLua seems to be quite stable and I am considering to release an 1.0 stable version soon.

If you like XPrivacyLua, you can show your appreciation with a donation.

 

[rogier666]

IP addresses are privacy related

If you're at a small business, your IP address may pinpoint you with almost GPS-like precision through reverse DNS and a WhoIs lookup. Doesn't an app's ability to read your IP address straight from Android allow an app to get your "real" IP in addition to the IP of your proxy or VPN?

 

[daniu]

XPrivacyLua is free to use and doesn't require Google services. At this moment the pro companion app adds one extra paid feature : settings a custom coarse location.

XPrivacyLua seems to be quite stable and I am considering to release an 1.0 stable version soon.

If you like XPrivacyLua, you can show your appreciation with a donation.

Hi
Ok - thanks for your answer. Still would appreciate an gps independant pro app - and I would buy at least 1 licence of it ...
Of course developing other features seems more important atm and I will definitely need some more time before I install xprivacylua anyways
Regards

 

[M66B]

If you're at a small business, your IP address may pinpoint you with almost GPS-like precision through reverse DNS and a WhoIs lookup. Doesn't an app's ability to read your IP address straight from Android allow an app to get your "real" IP in addition to the IP of your proxy or VPN?

Please read this: https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=75222865&postcount=745

 

[rogier666]

Demonstration: https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/pages/whats-my-ip/

That site only returns the IP address of your proxy or VPN, just like all the other "what's my IP" sites. But Android knows your real IP address, 'cos it needs that to connect to your proxy or VPN.

Which IP address do apps get when they ask Android for it? If Android only gives apps your proxy/VPN IP address there's no need to block/restrict/spoof anything. However, if Android gives apps your real IP there'd be a good reason to feed it a fake address.

 

[M66B]

That site only returns the IP address of your proxy or VPN, just like all the other "what's my IP" sites. But Android knows your real IP address, 'cos it needs that to connect to your proxy or VPN.

Which IP address do apps get when they ask Android for it? If Android only gives apps your proxy/VPN IP address there's no need to block/restrict/spoof anything. However, if Android gives apps your real IP there'd be a good reason to feed it a fake address.

Apps can see the IP addresses of all network interfaces, including the VPN network interface.

XPrivacyLua is not meant to prevent tracking, so there will be no restriction for IP addresses.

 

[rogier666]

In a similar vein...

Calling
prevent calls from being placed
prevent SMS messages from being sent
Placing calls and sending messages is security specific.

[vs.]

Phone
return a fake own number

If an app can phone or text its maker (s)he knows your real phone number, even if XPL fed it a fake number.

 

[M66B]

In a similar vein...



If an app can phone or text its maker (s)he knows your real phone number, even if XPL fed it a fake number.

Theoretically, yes. Placing calls and sending text messages require special Android permissions, so it is not likely that this will happen.

Edit: I checked calling: an app can initiate a call but you need to actually place it, so this doesn't need a restriction.

 

[popveneer]

Error within XPL and as Notification:

Privacy.Build.SERIAL
java.lang.NoSuchMethodException: #SERIAL

I got more of these errors (for each new restriction) when I upgraded to 0.24 from 0.21.

Privacy.Geofence$Builder.setCircularRegion
java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: com.google.android.gms.location.Geofence$Builder
Privacy.LocationManager.addProximityAlert
java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: double

Marcel helped me through it though.

Do a FULL Reboot when enabling an updated XPL. Soft reboot will only make trouble. If you see the same... FULL REBOOT.

Thanks Marcel!

 

[tbv2005]

Hope it wasn't asked already, but why the location restriction doesn't get the checkmark that the restriction is installed. Does this has something to do with the Pro app?
I checked around 10 apps and every restriction set get's the checkmark except location restriction. Nevertheless if you open an app with location restricted (tested with Tom tom go) the set fake location is applied. You also see the timestamp in XLua but without the checkmark in front

Sent from my OnePlus3T using XDA Labs

 

[M66B]

Hope it wasn't asked already, but why the location restriction doesn't get the checkmark that the restriction is installed. Does this has something to do with the Pro app?
I checked around 10 apps and every restriction set get's the checkmark except location restriction. Nevertheless if you open an app with location restricted (tested with Tom tom go) the set fake location is applied. You also see the timestamp in XLua but without the checkmark in front

This is a bug and it will be fixed. Thanks for reporting.

 

[the.D]

@M66B there is currently no method to restore a purchase for XPrivacyLua Pro.

 

[-Tiz-]

I have now configured the xprivacy restrictions for about 200 apps. Takes some time. Would be great if there was a possibility to backup and restore these restrictions.

 

[Pogo]

Apparently WhatsApp provides its own camera implementation using the Android camera APIs. The difference is that WhatsApp will have Android camera permission, while Google keep, which starts the system camera to take pictures, does not need this Android permission.

IMHO a well behaving app will use the system camera (unless it is a camera app of course) and it is questionable that the Whatsapp needs camera permission and is implementing its own camera (why should it?). Just this allows an app to take pictures behind your back. So, be careful with granting camera permissions to apps and if you need to, restrict the camera with XPrivacyLua.

Let's summarize:

• App provides own camera implementation: restricting the app will block the camera
• App uses system camera: restricting the app will allow the system camera to start
• System camera app: restricting the app will block the camera

I hope it is clear now.

Interesting. I cannot disable Whatsapp audio recording in XLua nor Xprivacy. If Whatsapp is using own camera implementation I wouldn't be surprised if they use their own audio lib as well.
I can disable Microphone and Camera in Whatsapp's Android permission or App ops, but there is no way for me to know if Whatsapp is just faking.
Just example from my Xprivacy what Whatsapp is using/asking:
Libraries:
FFTEm
audioeffect_jni
codec2
curve25519
gnustl_shared
jhead_jni
resample
soundpool
vlc
webviewchromium
webviewchromium_plat_support
whatsapp

Shell:
exec
load
loadLibrary

command:
ps

 

[Poebat]

Interesting. I cannot disable Whatsapp audio recording in XLua nor Xprivacy. If Whatsapp is using own camera implementation I wouldn't be surprised if they use their own audio lib as well.
I can disable Microphone and Camera in Whatsapp's Android permission or App ops, but there is no way for me to know if Whatsapp is just faking.
Just example from my Xprivacy what Whatsapp is using/asking:
Libraries:
FFTEm
audioeffect_jni
codec2
curve25519
gnustl_shared
jhead_jni
resample
soundpool
vlc
webviewchromium
webviewchromium_plat_support
whatsapp

Shell:
exec
load
loadLibrary

command:
ps

Using app ops should prevent the mic completely

 

[eekyknehc]

Apps can see the IP addresses of all network interfaces, including the VPN network interface.

XPrivacyLua is not meant to prevent tracking, so there will be no restriction for IP addresses.

also might related to this topic, some app will show "you are offline" if you do not share Wi-Fi networks/network name with it. possible to extend from:

** Read network data (hide cell info, Wi-Fi networks / scan results / network name)
to
** Read network data (fake cell info, Wi-Fi networks / scan results / network name...)

Thanks.