Rethink: DNS + Firewall + VPN vs TrackerControl
Side-by-side comparison of two open source alternatives
Rethink: DNS + Firewall + VPN
Say hello to a safer, transparent, and secure Android. VPN: Connects to multiple WireGuard VPNs of your choice. Safe: Reveals network activity of installed apps and lets you disable, uninstall, or firewall them. Secure: First line of defense against spyware, ransomware, and malware that steal personal information and takeover accounts. Protects from DNS manipulation typically employed to censor websites, social media, and messaging apps. Fast: DNS Servers deployed to 300+ locations world-wide to ensure your internet is as fast and highly available as it can be. Open: Open source and free of any trackers. ***Features*** Firewall: Prevent apps from connecting to the Internet. Block spyware, malware, ransomware and more. A firewall blocks any app connecting to the Internet over WiFi or Mobile data. Since most forms of surveillance require the data to be sent the network to a server, firewalling them effectively mitigates the threat (File Managers, Alarm Clock, Calculator are few such examples of apps that do not require any Internet access to function). The firewall feature uses Accessibility Service to detect and firewall background applications. Monitoring: Keep tabs on incoming and outgoing Internet traffic. If enabled, the connectivity logs are collected and analyzed. Automated reports flag previously unknown or suspicious connections, and reveal the extent of attempt to steal data by spyware networks. In our tests, around 60% of the traffic is flagged and reported as being initiated by known spyware. Logs generated are made available in near-real time to the user for their own analysis. WireGuard: Secure outgoing Internet traffic. The app uses fast, modern, light-weight, and secure WireGuard protocol to encrypt outgoing connections to any compatible VPN provider of your choice. Anti-censorship: The app encrypts your internet connection to Domain Name System (DNS) server run by Rethink with presence in our 300+ locations world-wide. DNS servers are the address book of the internet: A DNS server provides the exact addresses you need to visit a website or open an app. Data Monitor: Track per-app and per-connection Mobile or WiFi data usage.
TrackerControl
TrackerControl allows users to monitor and control the widespread, ongoing, hidden data collection in mobile apps about user behaviour ('tracking').To detect tracking, TrackerControl combines the power of the Disconnect blocklist, used by Firefox, and our in-house blocklist is used, created from analysing ~2 000 000 apps! Additionally, TrackerControl supports custom blocklists.This approachreveals the companies behind tracking,allows to block tracking selectively, andexposes the purposes of tracking, such as analytics or advertising.The app also aims to educate about your rights under Data Protection Law, such the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).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, to enable network traffic analysis by TrackerControl.No root is required, other VPNs or Private DNS are not supported. No external VPN server is used, to keep your data safe! TrackerControl even protects you against DNS cloaking, a popular technique to hide trackers in websites and apps.TrackerControl will always be free and open source, being a research project.
| Feature | Rethink: DNS + Firewall + VPN | TrackerControl |
|---|---|---|
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0-only |
| Install sources | F-DroidGitHub | F-DroidGitHubIzzyOnDroid |
| Categories | Password ManagerVPNFirewallDev ToolsMessagingBrowser | Password ManagerFirewallDev ToolsBrowser |
| Features | Ad-FreeOpen SourceNo Tracking | Ad-FreeOpen SourceNo Tracking |
| Platforms | Android | Android |
| Website | ||
| Source code |