NetGuard

NetGuard provides a simple way to block access to the internet - no root required. Applications can individually be allowed or denied access to your Wi-Fi and/or mobile connection.

Blocking access to the internet can help:

• reduce your data usage
• save your battery
• increase your privacy

NetGuard is the first free and open source no-root firewall for Android.

Features:

• No root required
• Simple to use
• Free of charge
• Open source
• No extra battery usage
• No bandwidth reduction
• No calling home
• No tracking or analytics
• No ads
• No internet permission required
• IPv4/IPv6 TCP/UDP supported
• Optionally allow when screen on
• Optionally block when roaming
• Optionally block system applications
• Material design

There is no other no-root firewall offering all these features. Most other firewall solutions will use extra battery and reduce the overall network speed.

Most of these features are the result of sending selected traffic to a sinkhole, instead of filtering all internet traffic. This means that advanced features, like address based filtering (needed for ad blocking), traffic logging, and on-demand configuration, are not possible. Routing selected traffic into a sinkhole relies on an API introduced in Android 5.0 (Lollipop), therefore older Android versions unfortunately cannot be supported.

Since NetGuard has no internet permission, you know your internet traffic is not being sent anywhere.

Downloads:

• GitHub
• Play store (stable)
• Play store (beta)
• F-Droid (unsupported, often outdated)
• XDA Labs App (web page)

Usage:

• Enable the firewall using the switch in the action bar
• Allow/deny Wi-Fi/mobile internet access using the icons along the right side of the application list

You can use the settings menu to change from black list to white list mode.

• Orange = denied internet access
• Green = allowed internet access

Compatibility

Devices / ROMs with a broken VPN implementation:

• Asus™ ZenFone 2 / Android 5.0.2, reported on XDA (all traffic blocked)
• Asus™ ZenFone 4 / Android 5.0 (reported in the Play store) (all traffic blocked)
• Asus™ ZenFone 5 / Android 5.0 (reported through Play store feedback) (prepare fails)
• Asus™ ZenPad S 8.0 / Android 5.0, reported on Github (all traffic blocked)
• BQ™ Aquaris E5/M5 / Android 5.0.2/5.0 (reported in the Play store) (all traffic blocked)
• Lenovo™ Yoga Tablet Pro-1380L / 2 Pro / Android 5.0.1, reported on XDA (all traffic blocked)
• LGE G2 Mini (D620) / Android 5.0.2, reported on XDA (prepare fails)
• Samsung™ Galaxy A5 / Android 5.0.2, reported on Github (all traffic blocked)
• Samsung™ Galaxy Note3 / Android 5.0 (reported through Play store feedback) (prepare fails)
• Sony™ Xperia™ M4 Aqua Dual / Android 5.0 (reported in the Play store) (all traffic blocked)
• Symphony Teleca™ / Micromax™ Canvas Knight 2 E471 / Android 5.0.2 (reported by e-mail) (VPN establish fails)
• TCT Mobile Limited™ (Alcatel) 6039Y / Android / Android 5.0 (reported in the Play store) (all traffic blocked)
• TCT Mobile Limited™ (Alcatel) OneTouch Idol 3 / Android 5.0.2 (reported in the Play store) (all traffic blocked)

NetGuard will crash when the package com.android.vpndialogs has been removed or otherwise is unavailable.

Tethering will not work when NetGuard is enabled due to a bug in Android (issue).

Unfortunately it is not possible to workaround any of these Android problems.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

(0) How do I use NetGuard?

(1) Can NetGuard completely protect my privacy?

(2) Can I use another VPN application while using NetGuard?

(3) Can I use NetGuard on any Android version?

(4) Will NetGuard use extra battery power?

(5) Can you add selective allowing/blocking applications/IP addresses?

(6) Will NetGuard send my internet traffic to an external (VPN) server?

(7) Why are applications without internet permission shown?

(8) What do I need to enable for the Google Play Store to work?

(9) Why is the VPN service being restarted?

(10) Will you provide a Tasker plug-in?

(12) Can you add on demand asking to block/allow access?

(13) How can I remove the ongoing NetGuard entry in the notification screen?

(14) Why can't I select OK to approve the VPN connection request?

(15) Why won't you support the F-Droid builds?

(16) Why are some applications shown dimmed?

(17) Why is NetGuard using so much memory?

(18) Why can't I find NetGuard in the Google Play Store?

(19) Why does aplication XYZ still have internet access?

(20) Can I Greenify/hibernate NetGuard?

(21) Does doze mode affect NetGuard?

(22) Can I tether while using NetGuard?

(24) Can you remove the notification from the notification screen

Permissions

• ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE: to check if the device is connected to the internet through Wi-Fi
• RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED: to start the firewall when booting the device
• WAKE_LOCK: to reliably reload rules in the background on connectivity changes
• com.android.vending.BILLING: to accept donations via in-app billing

Support

• Questions: please use this XDA-Developers forum thread
• Feature requests and bugs: please create an issue on GitHub

Please do not use GitHub for questions.

Contributing

Translations:

• Translations to other languages are welcomed
• You can translate online here
• If your language is not listed, please send a message to marcel(plus)netguard(at)faircode(dot)eu

Current translations:

1. Arabic (ar)
2. Simplified Chinese (zh-rCN)
3. Dutch (nl)
4. English
5. French (fr)
6. German (de)
7. Italian (it)
8. Japanese (ja)
9. Korean (ko)
10. Polish (pl)
11. Portuguese/Brazilian (pt-rBR)
12. Romanian (ro)
13. Russian (ru)
14. Slovak (sk)
15. Spanish (es)
16. Turkish (tr)
17. Ukrainian (uk)

You can see the actual status of all translations here.

Please note that you agree to the license below by contributing, including the copyright.

Attribution

NetGuard uses:

• Picasso
• Android Support Library

License

GNU General Public License version 3

Copyright (c) 2015 Marcel Bokhorst (M66B)

All rights reserved

This file is part of NetGuard.

NetGuard is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your discretion) any later version.

NetGuard is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with NetGuard. If not, see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/.