10 ms·

Bouncer – Private SMS Blocker

103 points by troydavis 4y ago

troydavis 4y ago
(I'm not associated with the app, but this is basically what I wish was built in to iOS, and it's OSS, free, ad-free, and implemented entirely on the device) Source: https://github.com/afterxleep/Bouncer https://github.com/afterxleep/Bouncer From the app listing: > Bouncer a simple SMS and MMS filtering app that moves unwanted messages to the "Junk", "Promotion" and "Transaction" sections of the Messages app. > Different to other apps, Bouncer does not share, upload or send any of your personal information or SMS messages to a remote server. All the filtering happens locally on your phone, based on your own private word or regular expression list.
- gingerlime 4y ago
  I’m using a free app called SMS block[0] for a number of years. Other than a weird app icon (has a strange logo that has the word TAXI on it with a cross mark for some odd reason), it seems to run local and does the job simply and effectively. Wonder if I need to worry about it leaking any data? I guess it’s easy to switch to Bouncer [0] https://apps.apple.com/de/app/sms-spam-block/id1283355601?l=en https://apps.apple.com/de/app/sms-spam-block/id1283355601?l=...
  - sejje 4y ago
    That's really a bizarre icon, ha. I can't figure it out.
  - karaterobot 4y ago
    FYI, you still get the warning from iOS about how the author will receive your filtered messages if you enable it.
sgt 4y ago
How are they building this without using a private API?
- conception 4y ago
  There is a content blocking setting in ios now for sms.
- InCityDreams 4y ago
  There's also an app called bouncer on google.
  - bjconlan 4y ago
    This is a pretty good proposition for people across devices. This is the one feature I've been expecting to see in a keynote for the last few years but alas. This seems like a good compromise (Google's incoming SMS/caller spam identification is still the most compelling reason to stay on its platform (but I'm a 'mom and pop' style device user who's app averse)
goodoldneon 4y ago
This is probably a dumb question, but is it possible that a malicious update to Bouncer could allow a bad actor to intercept my texts and ship them to a remote server?
- Traubenfuchs 4y ago
  I would like to extend this question to iOS adblockers.
  - sgerenser 4y ago
    What I said applies to iOS ad blockers as well, at least the ones that use Apple’s content blocking API (which is the only one that works in Safari). If it uses a loopback VPN then it has more free reign but I think Apple is trying to crack down on those.
- sgerenser 4y ago
  No, Apple has a content blocking API. The only thing the app can do is tell iOS something along the lines of “scan incoming SMS for this regex, if it matches, throw it in junk.” The blocker app never actually sees the messages.
  - gondo 4y ago
    This message displayed before allowing app access contradicts your statement: "The developer of Bouncer will receive the text, attachments and sender information in SMS and MMS messages from senders not in your Contacts. Messages may include personal or sensitive information like bank verifications codes."
    - cmer 4y ago
      I uninstalled it immediately when I saw that. Having control of this data is way better than SIM swapping. This seems like a terribly risky thing to install, security-wise.
NotYourLawyer 4y ago
> The developer of "Bouncer" will receive the text, attachments, and sender information in SMS and MMS messages from senders not in your Contacts. Messages may include personal or sensitive information like bank verification codes. That’s a no for me, dog.
- GekkePrutser 4y ago
  IOS really needs something like F-Droid that provides reproducible builds of FOSS. Everything on F-Droid is compiled straight from GitHub <3
  - layer8 4y ago
    > Everything is compiled straight from GitHub For some reason, that instills terror in me.
    - MrStonedOne 4y ago
      its a plus and a minus. Verifiably open source packages are a net positive to security because it ensures the code running is the same code that has the public's eye on it. People keep forgetting this, because they spend most their time thinking about security in the terms of a enterprise system, but for a personal usecase, an app extracting data to their servers that i was not expecting is a info leak security breach. Its just that acknowledging that fact requires treating most operating systems (ubuntu, (but not debian) android, and ios included) as malware and this is a uncomfortable position.
    - MacsHeadroom 4y ago
      Most apps are compiled straight from some dev's laptop with a largely undocumented environment consisting of many unvetted tools capable of injecting themselves into the build process. But it's reproducible builds that scare you?
      - fxtentacle 4y ago
        I'd guess rather "builds on Microsoft infrastructure".
causality0 4y ago
It's patently absurd that iOS and Android don't have robust filtering options built into their standard messaging apps.
- bahmboo 4y ago
  Google's Android messaging app does just that and has for many years. I had no idea that iOS didn't.
- durpkingOP 4y ago
  it's patently absurd when people use patently as a filler word.
- jeroenhd 4y ago
  I can find references to the built in spam filter for Google Messages going back to at least the beginning of 2019, so this isn't exactly a new feature. I haven't noticed it myself, but as someone who has received a spam message maybe once or twice in his life, I don't think SMS spam filtering is something I would've come up with were I to work on an SMS messenger. Maybe as an extended blocking feature? I personally use Signal for my SMS messages, maybe that's filtering messages for me. Pretty neat to be able to use an alternative messenger as the system messenger app to be honest, since I'm going to install Signal on my phone anyway!
- treelovinhippie 4y ago
devmunchies 4y ago
I’ve never done iOS dev, but is there a way for me to load my own dev app onto my phone from Xcode or something. I’d like to not let 3rd parties get access to my texts.
- neilparikh 4y ago
  Yes, but unless you pay $99/year, you'll need to reinstall the app every 7 days.
  - devmunchies 4y ago
    If I pay for a dev account, then I won’t have to reinstall it?
    - neilparikh 4y ago
      As far as I know, if you have a dev account, apps installed yourself will be valid for a year, instead of 7 days. I've never done it myself though, so this is just based on what I've read.
tekeous 4y ago
I prefer VeroSMS for privacy text blocking https://apps.apple.com/us/app/verosms/id1269693537 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/verosms/id1269693537
nerdyadventurer 4y ago
Anyone knows how to block promotional SMS senders where there is no sender number to block on Android? This has become quite annoying.
afterxleep 4y ago
Hey all, Bouncer developer here. The message presented on iOS is just Apple's boilerplate. It gets added to all applications using the ILMessageFilterExtension by default, without any consideration of the actual features of the app. The reason I wrote this app is because I don't trust third party developers with my SMS messages or personal data. That's also the reason is Open Source and available in Github: https://github.com/afterxleep/Bouncer https://github.com/afterxleep/Bouncer, in case you want to confirm it's safe and build it yourself. ;)

103 points by troydavis 4y ago

(I'm not associated with the app, but this is basically what I wish was built in to iOS, and it's OSS, free, ad-free, and implemented entirely on the device) Source: https://github.com/afterxleep/Bouncer https://github.com/afterxleep/Bouncer From the app listing: > Bouncer a simple SMS and MMS filtering app that moves unwanted messages to the "Junk", "Promotion" and "Transaction" sections of the Messages app. > Different to other apps, Bouncer does not share, upload or send any of your personal information or SMS messages to a remote server. All the filtering happens locally on your phone, based on your own private word or regular expression list.

gingerlime 4y ago
I’m using a free app called SMS block[0] for a number of years. Other than a weird app icon (has a strange logo that has the word TAXI on it with a cross mark for some odd reason), it seems to run local and does the job simply and effectively. Wonder if I need to worry about it leaking any data? I guess it’s easy to switch to Bouncer [0] https://apps.apple.com/de/app/sms-spam-block/id1283355601?l=en https://apps.apple.com/de/app/sms-spam-block/id1283355601?l=...
- sejje 4y ago
  That's really a bizarre icon, ha. I can't figure it out.
- karaterobot 4y ago
  FYI, you still get the warning from iOS about how the author will receive your filtered messages if you enable it.

sgt 4y ago

How are they building this without using a private API?

conception 4y ago
There is a content blocking setting in ios now for sms.
InCityDreams 4y ago
There's also an app called bouncer on google.
- bjconlan 4y ago
  This is a pretty good proposition for people across devices. This is the one feature I've been expecting to see in a keynote for the last few years but alas. This seems like a good compromise (Google's incoming SMS/caller spam identification is still the most compelling reason to stay on its platform (but I'm a 'mom and pop' style device user who's app averse)

goodoldneon 4y ago

This is probably a dumb question, but is it possible that a malicious update to Bouncer could allow a bad actor to intercept my texts and ship them to a remote server?

Traubenfuchs 4y ago
I would like to extend this question to iOS adblockers.
- sgerenser 4y ago
  What I said applies to iOS ad blockers as well, at least the ones that use Apple’s content blocking API (which is the only one that works in Safari). If it uses a loopback VPN then it has more free reign but I think Apple is trying to crack down on those.
sgerenser 4y ago
No, Apple has a content blocking API. The only thing the app can do is tell iOS something along the lines of “scan incoming SMS for this regex, if it matches, throw it in junk.” The blocker app never actually sees the messages.
- gondo 4y ago
  This message displayed before allowing app access contradicts your statement: "The developer of Bouncer will receive the text, attachments and sender information in SMS and MMS messages from senders not in your Contacts. Messages may include personal or sensitive information like bank verifications codes."
  - cmer 4y ago
    I uninstalled it immediately when I saw that. Having control of this data is way better than SIM swapping. This seems like a terribly risky thing to install, security-wise.

NotYourLawyer 4y ago

> The developer of "Bouncer" will receive the text, attachments, and sender information in SMS and MMS messages from senders not in your Contacts. Messages may include personal or sensitive information like bank verification codes. That’s a no for me, dog.

GekkePrutser 4y ago
IOS really needs something like F-Droid that provides reproducible builds of FOSS. Everything on F-Droid is compiled straight from GitHub <3
- layer8 4y ago
  > Everything is compiled straight from GitHub For some reason, that instills terror in me.
  - MrStonedOne 4y ago
    its a plus and a minus. Verifiably open source packages are a net positive to security because it ensures the code running is the same code that has the public's eye on it. People keep forgetting this, because they spend most their time thinking about security in the terms of a enterprise system, but for a personal usecase, an app extracting data to their servers that i was not expecting is a info leak security breach. Its just that acknowledging that fact requires treating most operating systems (ubuntu, (but not debian) android, and ios included) as malware and this is a uncomfortable position.
  - MacsHeadroom 4y ago
    Most apps are compiled straight from some dev's laptop with a largely undocumented environment consisting of many unvetted tools capable of injecting themselves into the build process. But it's reproducible builds that scare you?
    - fxtentacle 4y ago
      I'd guess rather "builds on Microsoft infrastructure".

causality0 4y ago

It's patently absurd that iOS and Android don't have robust filtering options built into their standard messaging apps.

bahmboo 4y ago
Google's Android messaging app does just that and has for many years. I had no idea that iOS didn't.
durpkingOP 4y ago
it's patently absurd when people use patently as a filler word.
jeroenhd 4y ago
I can find references to the built in spam filter for Google Messages going back to at least the beginning of 2019, so this isn't exactly a new feature. I haven't noticed it myself, but as someone who has received a spam message maybe once or twice in his life, I don't think SMS spam filtering is something I would've come up with were I to work on an SMS messenger. Maybe as an extended blocking feature? I personally use Signal for my SMS messages, maybe that's filtering messages for me. Pretty neat to be able to use an alternative messenger as the system messenger app to be honest, since I'm going to install Signal on my phone anyway!
treelovinhippie 4y ago

devmunchies 4y ago

I’ve never done iOS dev, but is there a way for me to load my own dev app onto my phone from Xcode or something. I’d like to not let 3rd parties get access to my texts.

neilparikh 4y ago
Yes, but unless you pay $99/year, you'll need to reinstall the app every 7 days.
- devmunchies 4y ago
  If I pay for a dev account, then I won’t have to reinstall it?
  - neilparikh 4y ago
    As far as I know, if you have a dev account, apps installed yourself will be valid for a year, instead of 7 days. I've never done it myself though, so this is just based on what I've read.

tekeous 4y ago

I prefer VeroSMS for privacy text blocking https://apps.apple.com/us/app/verosms/id1269693537 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/verosms/id1269693537

nerdyadventurer 4y ago

Anyone knows how to block promotional SMS senders where there is no sender number to block on Android? This has become quite annoying.

afterxleep 4y ago

Hey all, Bouncer developer here. The message presented on iOS is just Apple's boilerplate. It gets added to all applications using the ILMessageFilterExtension by default, without any consideration of the actual features of the app. The reason I wrote this app is because I don't trust third party developers with my SMS messages or personal data. That's also the reason is Open Source and available in Github: https://github.com/afterxleep/Bouncer https://github.com/afterxleep/Bouncer, in case you want to confirm it's safe and build it yourself. ;)