Is there a way to block apps from accessing internet in Lollipop? - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I did some research on internet and most of the articles related to this topic are either outdated or suggests using some kind of another app.
I want to block internet access to apps I've installed without installing any other app or firewall. I was wondering whether there are any inbuilt settings in Lollipop which has this feature?
Basically I am worried that apps like Clean Master, etc. would be snooping around my msgs, contacts lists, pics and sending them to their servers.

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[Q] Most secure instant messenger?

Hello,
I am looking for a WhatsApp alternative and thanks to the NSA scandal, there are many "secure" IM apps like Telegram, ChatSecure etc. popping up. Now I would like to know what is the best/most secure of them. Looking forward to your answer
Regards,
Random
chatsecure + orbot maybe?
read about Tor in general (deep web and all)
cant post links since im new, sorry 'bout that
OK, I tried ChatSecure, but I don't like the UI. What I need is an app that looks like WhatsApp (incl. Emojis) and is as secure as ChatSecure
I heard that Telegram isn't quite as secure, but is it sufficient if you combine end-to-end encryption with self-destructing messages?
I am making a similar research trying to find a really secure messenger for personal communication but unfortunately, most of the messengers store the data on their servers which automatically makes them insecure.
Wickr instant messenger
Have you heard about Wickr? Do you have any experience with it? Non of my friends use it but I read that it is "the most trusted messenger in the world" .
P2P Messenger
Do you know any peer-to-peer messenger?

[Q] Secure Contacts Manager/Address Book (with db encryption) [Android]

I am looking for a secure contact (and related misc. information) manager/phone-address book that encrypts the database and protects its records from other apps as well as in case of the phone being lost. This is for Android.
I've been looking for such an app for quite some time and in various sources. I found some people asking for something similar, but with no answers. I also found some "secure wallet" programs that could almost do the trick, except that they store secure information but no people's contacts. While, of course, I can record phone numbers (and addresses) in a free-note format, that wouldn't allow easy dialing of those numbers, or easy copying of the addresses to the navigation apps (Google Maps, Waze, etc.).
None of the contacts managers I found offer encryption/protection.
I couldn't find any discussion about this type of app. I am surprised why nobody is interested in such an app. Or am I just looking in a wrong way?
Do such apps exist?
I have been looking for the same thing.
So far the only thing I have found is essential pim pro app. It uses it's own encrypted database to save the contacts. It also can share the contacts through an account in Android 6+ (not sure how secure that feature is)
There was a very old personal information manager app that had very few permissions that might also work but I have not used it in 4 years and forget the name(not could I find it when I searched Google play)
So I'm still looking for a open source app that is very similar.

Online Privacy Shield: Find apps that have access to our social profiles data

FreakSense: Online Privacy Shield is able, once downloaded and installed on our Android smartphones or tablet, to scan and do a search on all the applications installed on the device that we have access to our online profiles. The search can be carried out to discover the applications that have access to our data from Facebook, Yahoo !, Twitter, Google, LinkedIn, Dropbox, Instagram and Flickr. These are the main ones, but you can add other online services.
Online Privacy Shield also will catalog the software used on the PC
What might seem strange is that it should be listed not only the applications that you have currently installed on your device, but also applications that have also uninstalled a long time or you have installed on your PC. But what assures us that not Online Privacy Shield does just what he fights for? I mean, who assures us that it does not store our data?
The answer lies in the fact that, in addition to being specified in the description on the Play Store, whenever we want to scan an online service, we have to re-enter again our data.
cloudyjohn said:
FreakSense: Online Privacy Shield is able, once downloaded and installed on our Android smartphones or tablet, to scan and do a search on all the applications installed on the device that we have access to our online profiles. The search can be carried out to discover the applications that have access to our data from Facebook, Yahoo !, Twitter, Google, LinkedIn, Dropbox, Instagram and Flickr. These are the main ones, but you can add other online services.
Online Privacy Shield also will catalog the software used on the PC
What might seem strange is that it should be listed not only the applications that you have currently installed on your device, but also applications that have also uninstalled a long time or you have installed on your PC. But what assures us that not Online Privacy Shield does just what he fights for? I mean, who assures us that it does not store our data?
The answer lies in the fact that, in addition to being specified in the description on the Play Store, whenever we want to scan an online service, we have to re-enter again our data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Didn't know about this app before. Doesn't seem that useful to me frankly. I'd rather restrict access to my info than simply be told who has already acessed it. Furthermore, it is not open source. That is usually a no-no for security/privacy apps as you then have to hope the developers aren't lying about any claims they make.
Have a look at OpenPDroid or even CM11 in-built Privacy Guard or AppOps for some examples of tools that restrict what apps can do/access on your device.
Incidentally, having to re-enter your online credentials isn't evidence of anything. The app may still transmit your data and credentials to external servers without your knowledge or permission anyway and the need to re-enter the credentials just ensures that it always has up-to-date credentials in case you changed your passphrase/password for instance. An open source app that you can build yourself removes any doubt.

can anyone help descovering what web adresses an app calls?

I am trying to block a few specific apps from my home network I have the websites blocked but that isnt blocking the apps themselfs, is there any way to view the sights, login servers etc that the apps are calling?
specifically im trying to block dating apps like pof, i have pof.com blocked with pfblockerNG (using pfsense) but that in no way blocks the pof app, as im struggling to see the calls using my router, i was hoping i could do it on the phone level, i have decompiled the app and blocked all the addresses in the xml file, but the app is still working...

Facebook app: how to block advertised posts

Hi, sorry if this has been discussed elsewhere already but I could not find any good solution.
Since 1 year or so using FB app has become impossible. Every 3 posts one is advertised. Some days it is better, some days it is worse. I already downloaded the SlimSocial app which can hide ads but it has many limitations wrt the official app. My phone is rooted, de-googled and I also have AdAway installed. Sadly I could not find any useful dns to block. By opening fb app and browsing my timeline, inclusing ads, with AdAway monitoring the dns calls, I see these listed:
gateway.facebook.com
web.facebook.com
www.facebook.com
scontent.fgoa3-1.fna.fbcdn.net
scontent.fgoa3-2.fna.fbcdn.net
None of these seems involved. I tried to blacklist all them selectively but to no avail, with some blocked fb won't work, but I cannot blocks the ads. It almost looks like the fb app does not use any reserved dns for advertised posts but the same for regular fb functioning.
What is strange is that I do NOT see all those advertised posts if I browse FB with Firefox (maybe because I have adblock installed ?)
Anyway if somebody has an idea of how to block those advertised posts I would be grate. FB has become unusable! Thx

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