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iOS has fantastic support for ad blockers and network proxies that make it INCREDIBLY easy to block outgoing connections. In my experience it works far better t

iOS has fantastic support for ad blockers and network proxies that make it INCREDIBLY easy to block outgoing connections. In my experience it works far better than Androids version of that. Face tracking for faceId you can turn off but I agree it can be creepy. So far it's been limited to only on the device and encrypted so I've been ok with it but that's obviously a very personal choice.

leadingthenet 8y ago
Could you please provide an example of these proxies that one could use to block outgoing connections? I'm only aware of Ad-blockers that do so for incoming ones.
- kilo_bravo_3 8y ago
  The only solution I have found is to run an OpenVPN server at home and stay connected to it constantly. I lose a microscopically-minuscule amount of battery life, and a few percentage points of WAN throughput but it is worth it. I then have content rules on the firewall between the OpenVPN server and the Internet. As an added benefit, this makes the monitoring done by all cellphone providers (not just Verizon!) irrelevant because all they see is a constant, 24x7 stream of encrypted traffic to the same IP address.
- pronoiac 8y ago
  Not OP, but Charles Proxy came to mind: https://www.charlesproxy.com/documentation/ios/ https://www.charlesproxy.com/documentation/ios/ I think it's come up here a few times, with various anecdotes about surfacing badly behaving apps.
  - jaegerpicker 8y ago
    Charles is the one I use but there are several in the App Store.
- jaegerpicker 8y ago
  As said down chat Charles Proxy is the one that I use, mostly because I've used it on macOS for years and trust the developer. It works great and has turned up SO many apps doing gross things. There are others in the store but I've never personally used them. Charles: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/charles-proxy/id1134218562?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/charles-proxy/id1134218562?m... Another that I have heard of but not used (your milage may vary and all that): Alice https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/alice-network-proxy-utility/id1135320992?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/alice-network-proxy-utility/... You can also run a proxy on a server remotely and intercept all the network calls from your phone, something burp is common in the security industry. It's under your network settings, HTTP Proxy. It's more limited than an app like Charles that inspects all traffic but it's another option.
nick_ 8y ago
Unfortunately Apple seems to have taken a couple steps back from supporting good ad-blocking tools. They forced AdGuard to cripple their iOS app to only allow DNS-based blocking instead of the superior local VPN blocking.
- scarface74 8y ago
  You don't need an "app" to support VPNs. All they do is make set up somewhat simpler. iOS has built in support for VPNs. Once you have the configuration information, you can set it up yourself from settings.
  - lern_too_spel 8y ago
    VPN is maybe the wrong word. He's talking about running deep packet inspection locally, which is possible on Android, instead of on a dedicated VPN server.
    - jaegerpicker 8y ago
      It's also possible on iOS, a couple of Proxy apps do so.
      - lern_too_spel 8y ago
        Which?
gvurrdon 8y ago
There are some useful products but I wouldn't call it fantastic compared with my experiences on Android, e.g. where I can root the device and use a hosts file for system-wide blocking. VPN options are good there too, in my experience, though this may be another case of personal preference. Adguard works rather well, but Apple doesn't seem too keen on their product: https://adguard.com/en/blog/adguard-pro-discontinued/ https://adguard.com/en/blog/adguard-pro-discontinued/ Of course, there's ad blocking in Safari but tracker blocking in apps also concerns me. As for the FaceID I would indeed turn it off and use a PIN, but it would be a bit of a faff; a fingerprint plus a means to quickly turn that off is quite convenient.

leadingthenet 8y ago

Could you please provide an example of these proxies that one could use to block outgoing connections? I'm only aware of Ad-blockers that do so for incoming ones.

kilo_bravo_3 8y ago
The only solution I have found is to run an OpenVPN server at home and stay connected to it constantly. I lose a microscopically-minuscule amount of battery life, and a few percentage points of WAN throughput but it is worth it. I then have content rules on the firewall between the OpenVPN server and the Internet. As an added benefit, this makes the monitoring done by all cellphone providers (not just Verizon!) irrelevant because all they see is a constant, 24x7 stream of encrypted traffic to the same IP address.
pronoiac 8y ago
Not OP, but Charles Proxy came to mind: https://www.charlesproxy.com/documentation/ios/ https://www.charlesproxy.com/documentation/ios/ I think it's come up here a few times, with various anecdotes about surfacing badly behaving apps.
- jaegerpicker 8y ago
  Charles is the one I use but there are several in the App Store.
jaegerpicker 8y ago
As said down chat Charles Proxy is the one that I use, mostly because I've used it on macOS for years and trust the developer. It works great and has turned up SO many apps doing gross things. There are others in the store but I've never personally used them. Charles: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/charles-proxy/id1134218562?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/charles-proxy/id1134218562?m... Another that I have heard of but not used (your milage may vary and all that): Alice https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/alice-network-proxy-utility/id1135320992?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/alice-network-proxy-utility/... You can also run a proxy on a server remotely and intercept all the network calls from your phone, something burp is common in the security industry. It's under your network settings, HTTP Proxy. It's more limited than an app like Charles that inspects all traffic but it's another option.

nick_ 8y ago

Unfortunately Apple seems to have taken a couple steps back from supporting good ad-blocking tools. They forced AdGuard to cripple their iOS app to only allow DNS-based blocking instead of the superior local VPN blocking.

scarface74 8y ago
You don't need an "app" to support VPNs. All they do is make set up somewhat simpler. iOS has built in support for VPNs. Once you have the configuration information, you can set it up yourself from settings.
- lern_too_spel 8y ago
  VPN is maybe the wrong word. He's talking about running deep packet inspection locally, which is possible on Android, instead of on a dedicated VPN server.
  - jaegerpicker 8y ago
    It's also possible on iOS, a couple of Proxy apps do so.
    - lern_too_spel 8y ago
      Which?

gvurrdon 8y ago

There are some useful products but I wouldn't call it fantastic compared with my experiences on Android, e.g. where I can root the device and use a hosts file for system-wide blocking. VPN options are good there too, in my experience, though this may be another case of personal preference. Adguard works rather well, but Apple doesn't seem too keen on their product: https://adguard.com/en/blog/adguard-pro-discontinued/ https://adguard.com/en/blog/adguard-pro-discontinued/ Of course, there's ad blocking in Safari but tracker blocking in apps also concerns me. As for the FaceID I would indeed turn it off and use a PIN, but it would be a bit of a faff; a fingerprint plus a means to quickly turn that off is quite convenient.