IGignoramous·Aug 16, 2022
Not really, no. Ref: https://github.com/celzero/rethink-app/issues/224
In VPNs on iOS are a scamcelzero
rethink-app
Kotlin2021–2026
celzero / rethink-app
rethink-app
DNS over HTTPS / DNS over Tor / DNSCrypt client, WireGuard proxifier, firewall, and connection tracker for Android.
14Distinct people
42Mentions
0Explicit recommenders
5.9KGitHub stars
What to know before exploring
What it is
DNS over HTTPS / DNS over Tor / DNSCrypt client, WireGuard proxifier, firewall, and connection tracker for Android.
GitHub
Where it is used
No documented product use was verified in the last source check.
What people are saying
No recommendation phrase was found in the indexed comments.
No classified warning is attached to this page. Read the discussions before treating silence as approval.
Also in these discussions
- serverless-dns/serverless-dns · linked in 2 of the same discussions
Mentioned in the same Hacker News threads. That is not proof they are substitutes.
This week on Hacker News
Nov 8–Nov 15 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/15/2026, 5:03:38 AM UTC.
No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.
Mentions over time
HN mentions by year42 dated mentions
Observed mentions: 2021-02-14 18:48:27 UTC to 2026-10-06 22:33:36 UTC.
* An incomplete calendar period is marked with an outlined bar. Its count is not directly comparable with a full period.
Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.
View mention counts and date ranges
| Period | Start (UTC) | End (exclusive, UTC) | Mentions | Submissions | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 15 | 0 | 15 |
| 2022 | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 5 | 1 | 4 |
| 2023 | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 6 | 0 | 6 |
| 2024 | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| 2025 | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 6 | 0 | 6 |
| 2026 (partial) | 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2027-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 5 | 0 | 5 |
What Hacker News says
5 sourcesIt isn't that System Apps actively bypass the VPN tunnel, but they can if they want to, on-demand [0]. That is, System Apps retain the ability to bind to any network interface. Whether they do so, is anyone's guess.
For installed apps, there's no such respite, iff one enables 'Block connections without VPN' (the VPN lockdown mode) on Android 10+ (but NetGuard doesn't support it). This means in the times when NetGuard crashes or restarts (which it does on network changes, for example, or even on screen-off/screen-on, from what I recall), there's a chance the traffic flows through underlying interfaces rather than the tunnel (because the tunnel simply doesn't exist in the interim).
Datura (ebpf based) on CalyxOS and AfWall+ on any rooted Android can block out everything it pleases, though.
I don't mean to downplay NetGuard, because the code
Read the rest
base has evolved in response to years of addressing flaky networks, flawed apps, buggy Android forks. Marcel, the lead developer, has put his life's work into it and gave it away for free. The app I co-develop is, in fact, inspired from his efforts.
[0] https://github.com/celzero/rethink-app/issues/224
Can't use another VPN app along with it (an Android limitation). CalyxOS (an AOSP ROM) plans to add support for multiple active VPNs [0] and may be other ROMs will too.
The app can forward TCP over SOCKS5 to other installed apps that support SOCKS5 proxies (like Orbot).
That said, since half our code-base is in Golang, we plan to embed wireguard-go once we figure how to do so [1].
[0] https://gitlab.com/CalyxOS/calyxos/-/issues/349
[1] https://github.com/celzero/rethink-app/issues/52
In Rethink-app: DNS over HTTPS, firewall, and connection tracker for AndroidRethink-app: DNS over HTTPS, firewall, and connection tracker for Android
91 points · Open discussionNote that pi-hole can also be used by only installing the DNS resolver, without the web server and UI, which allows it to be installed on any tiny Linux system as well.
Additionally I can recommend the "Privacy" web browser on Android combined with the "Rethink DNS" firewall.
Both are amazing tools that help speed up your phone, and allow you to even filter ads out of specific apps that use e.g. an embedded cloudflare DoH resolving mechanism.
If you want to dig deeper, there's always the Aurora App Warden and Permission Manager X which allows you to modify other Apps and remove their Activities and Services that are coming from ad frameworks.
[1] https://www.stoutner.com/privacy-browser-android/
[2] https://github.com/celzero/rethink-app
In Setting up a Pi Hole made my home network faster