If you're missing features or find bugs, use the issue tracker or contact Konrad directly (tc@kollnig.net).
TrackerControl allows users to monitor and control the widespread, ongoing, hidden data collection in mobile apps about user behaviour ('tracking').
To detect tracking, TrackerControl checks all network traffic against the Disconnect blocklist. This is the same list, that is used by the Firefox browser. This reveals the companies behind tracking to users and allows users to block tracking selectively. This blocklist also allows to expose the purpose of tracking, such as analytics or advertising.
The app further aims to educate users about their legal rights under current EU Data Protection Law (i.e. GDPR and the ePrivacy Directive)
Under the hood, TrackerControl uses Android's VPN functionality, to analyse apps' network communications locally on the Android device. This is accomplished through a local VPN server, through which all network communications are passed, to enable the analysis by TrackerControl. In other words, no external VPN server is used, and hence no network data leaves the user's device for the purposes of tracker analysis.
Disclaimer: The usage of this app is at your own risk. No app can offer 100% protection against tracking.
The app can be downloaded here.
TrackerControl provides
- real-time monitoring of app tracking,
- granular blocking of app tracking,
- one-click data requests as granted under EU Data Protection Legislation, and
- ad-blocking using widely available host files.
Contrary to similar solutions, this application does not intercept SSL connections, minimising privacy risks and allowing for usage on unrooted Android devices. Only the meta data about network communications is logged, and displayed to the users.
TrackerControl allows users to monitor the network communications on their Android device. This network data qualifies as personal data, but is only processed locally on the user's device.
If the user consents, TrackerControl contacts the Google Play Store to retrieve further information about the users' apps. The app automatically contacts GitHub to check for updates, which can be disabled from the app settings. No personal data is ever shared, other than what is strictly necessary for network communications (e.g. IP address).
TrackerControl saves two pieces of information on the user's device:
- a database of network communications, and
- user settings.
This data is necessary for the functioning of TrackerControl.
This information is kept on the user's device until app data is removed manually by the user (e.g. by uninstalling).
The majority of the development was carried out by Konrad Kollnig (University of Oxford).
Yet, the development of this app would not have been possible without the help of many outstandings minds, including Max van Kleek, Katherine Fletcher, George Chalhoub, Sir Nigel Shadbolt and numerous app testers and friends.
Further, the app itself builds upon a range of publicly available tools, the foundation of this work.
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VPN Functionality: The underlying network analysis functionality is provided by the NetGuard Firewall, developed by Marcel Bokhorst.
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Disconnect Tracker List: TrackerControl integrates the Disconnect list of known tracker domains, that is distributed with the Firefox browser.
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X-Ray Tracker List: TrackerControl also uses the tracker database by Reuben Binns, Ulrik Lyngs, Max Van Kleek, Jun Zhao, Timothy Libert, and Nigel Shadbolt from the X-Ray project. This database was released as part of their 2018 paper on Third Party Tracking in the Mobile Ecosystem. The original data can be retrieved here.
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Icons: The app uses icons made by bqlqn from www.flaticon.com, and a rocket icon by Dave Gandy under the SIL Open Font License
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GDPR Requests: For the GDPR requests, the templates from the website My Data Done Right by the NGO "Bits of Freedom" were adopted.
This project is licensed under GPLv3.