How to Monitor and Block Ad Trackers on Android
Many apps collect private data to function, especially those that display ads or have a social aspect.
If you are concerned about your privacy, we recommend a very interesting app to monitor and block ad trackers on Android.
The apps we install on our mobile devices often collect information about us and our activity for their developers. Fortunately, ad trackers can be monitored and blocked on any Android device.
Are they spying on me?
Many Android apps collect data about various errors for future fixes. We also find those who use trackers for work, especially if the app has a social section, content search, etc. Trackers that report directly to the app owner are called "owned" trackers, which are in theory the safest.
The problem is that third-party trackers send data to external services used by the company or business partners. Generally speaking, they are advertisers who want to sell us things through ads. The data is used to verify our interests and in this way to be able to provide advertising more aligned with those interests.
Monitor and Block Ad Tracking Control Our Privacy!
This is obviously a matter of concern and in this sense we can trust TrackerControl, a completely free and open source app capable of identifying and blocking trackers.
The way it works is by switching our network data from the VPN server to the device and comparing the traffic to a database of known trackers. It's a VPN that is on our devices and not on a remote server. However, it is impossible to use a "normal" VPN when TrackerControl is activated.
Once the traffic is analyzed, we will be able to view which websites our data is intended for, as well as with the full version, the country in which this data is located. However, the downside is that the app relies on very accurate IP addresses.
TrackerControl is also capable of blocking trackers, but this feature has two important issues that we must consider before using it. The first is that the only version available on the Play Store (the slim version) complies with Google's rules and removes the blocking function.
In order to have real control of the trackers, we will have to download the full application from the TrackerControl website.
The second thing is that blocking trackers can prevent some apps from working properly, which is normal. In this case, we will find some screens that never load. In the tests that were done, both in web browsers and in social media applications, we almost always encountered this problem.
The way to solve this is to keep the trackers necessary for functionality while blocking others, although achieving this configuration will be a matter of trial and error.
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