I've used the Grey Shirts NoRoot Firewall for about a year on a Nexus 7 2013 Wifi slab. 142395 in my Grey Shirts thread here in Wilders made mention of LostNet NoRoot Firewall. I've been running Pro for a few days and first observations are... Outstanding. I am amazed at how well it blocks ads across all apps. Even if an app is fully blocked, ads evoked by that app for rendering in Google+ or Android System or Android Transport are intercepted. Wow. My efforts to block China with the Grey Shirts firewall were tedious and complicated in that each and every app needed its own rule sets to that end. (A wild card rule for the cn TLD is not all that effective.) In LostNet, countries can be selected and that also works across all apps. LostNet has a dashboard which displays recommendations for apps and countries. China was in there - no need to twist my arm on that. I took their suggestion to block Romania. Which broke Bitdefender Mobile Security. There's no way to tweak individual apps around that. Several other countries I chose to block on my own haven't broken anything else. I have an email to LostNet regarding the updating method for the ads and malware blacklists. Local database(s) updated in a separate process? How often? Or when the APK is updated? Or (unlikely) scans in a cloud service? Stay tuned.
I'm thinking of purchasing the Pro version myself, once I get some leftover credit from gift cards. Do tell if you experience disconnection problems as I have though.
I haven't looked into it thoroughly as I personally don't like Google-analytics (I hope it's not included in paid version. Can you confirm this?), but in function, yeah it has no competitor. Very interesting. I suppose it's database is in the cloud since having tons of filter in local will cause significant delay, though can be wrong.
Yeah. The disconnect thing arrived. Same behavior is reported by several others in the Google Store reviews, too. Judging by earlier positive reviews, it's possible that LostNet worked well in Jelly Bean. Interesting the issue took several days to turn up on my slab. Fortunately, it un-installed OK. Considering the latest blog post on the developer's Web site was in April and he/she hasn't yet responded to my email (which referenced my paid Store order number), it can be concluded there is no fix in the works. Again, in the reviews others have posted up about the lack of response. I'll post up if I do hear from them. So sad... TOTAL FAIL.
So I'm out the 99¢ on that buy. To make up for that today at Phast & Phatty Burgers I ordered small fries instead the the usual large onion rings. Now I'm ahead 79¢
I'm test driving LostNET NRFW - really like the UI. Unfortunately it prevents some apps from connecting. I don't know if it's because the apps are designed to wait for ads to be delivered and if the ads are blocked then the apps don't work? Also, blocking based on country/region seems extreme.
Lostnet is using alot of my 4g data (1gb) all my other apps hardly any, is this happening for you guys as well?
That's normal, it tunnels the data of all other apps. That makes it represent the your entire data usage of all apps.
How has Lostnet Firewall been working for you? I had connectivity problems and had to uninstall, but I liked the concept and would try it again if they make it more reliable.
Would have Internet access one minute and have no Internet the next, uninstall LostNet and have Internet back.
I believe AdGuard can, although no longer available through Google play store. Must be downloaded directly from AdGuard's website.