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M66B
XPrivacy
Java2013–2023
M66B / XPrivacy · Archived

XPrivacy

XPrivacy - The ultimate, yet easy to use, privacy manager

18Distinct people
24Mentions
1Explicit recommenders
2.1KGitHub stars
REPOSITORY AT A GLANCE

What to know before exploring

What it is

XPrivacy - The ultimate, yet easy to use, privacy manager

GitHub

Where it is used

No documented product use was verified in the last source check.

What people are saying

for anyone who wants apps to request permissions or the ability to deny permissions I highly recommend rooting your phone then installing XPrivacy; https://github.com/M66B/XPrivacy

sizzle used a recommendation phrase. One indexed comment matches. This is a phrase match, not a verdict.

No classified warning is attached to this page. Read the discussions before treating silence as approval.

Also in these discussions

No other repository is repeatedly linked in the same discussions.

This week on Hacker News

Nov 8–Nov 15 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/15/2026, 4:00:59 PM 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 year24 dated mentions

Observed mentions: 2013-11-16 15:59:16 UTC to 2023-07-08 15:06:55 UTC.

0369122013-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2014-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 2 mentions; 0 submissions, 2 comments20132014-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 12 mentions; 0 submissions, 12 comments2015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 2 mentions; 0 submissions, 2 comments2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 comments2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 2 mentions; 0 submissions, 2 comments2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 comments20182019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 comments2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 comments2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 comments2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 comments2023

Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.

View mention counts and date ranges
UTC ranges include their start and exclude their end. Select a period to filter the source evidence.
PeriodStart (UTC)End (exclusive, UTC)MentionsSubmissionsComments
20132013-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2014-01-01 00:00:00 UTC202
20142014-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC12012
20152015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC202
20162016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC101
20172017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC202
20182018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC101
20192019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC101
20202020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC101
20212021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC101
20222022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC000
20232023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC101

From the project README

An excerpt from the repository, fetched Nov 13, 2026.

Read the project’s introduction
XPrivacy The ultimate, yet easy to use, privacy manager for Android XPrivacy is not maintained and supported anymore. You can use the successor XPrivacyLua on Android 6.0 Marshmallow and later. Publication Index Description Features Screenshots Restrictions Limitations Compatibility Installation Upgrading Usage Permissions Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Support Changelog Similar Solutions In The Media Contributing License Description XPrivacy can prevent applications from leaking privacy-sensitive data by restricting the categories of data an application can access. XPrivacy feeds applications fake data or no data at all. It can restrict several data categories, such as contacts or location. For example, if you restrict an application's access to contacts, that application will receive an empty contacts list (don't try this with the contacts application itself without a backup). Similarly, restricting an application's access to your location will send a fake location to that application. XPrivacy doesn't revoke or block permissions from an application, so most applications will continue to work as before and won't force close (crash). There are two exceptions: access to the internet and to external storage (typically an SD-card) are restricted by denying access (revoking permissions). There is no other way to restrict such access because Android delegates handling these permissions to the underlying Linux network/file system. XPrivacy can fake an offline (internet) and unmounted (storage) state, but some applications still try to access the internet and storage, potentially resulting in crashes or error messages. If restricting a category of data for an application causes functional limitations, XPrivacy can once again allow access to the data category to solve the issue. There is a convenient on/off toggle switch for all restrictions for each application. By default, all newly installed applications cannot access any data category, which prevents a new application from leaking sensitive data right after installing it. Shortly after installing a new application, XPrivacy will ask which data categories you want the new application to have access to. XPrivacy comes with an application browser that allows you to quickly enable or disable applications' access to any data category. You can edit all of an application's data categories. To help you identify potential data leaks, XPrivacy monitors all applications' attempts to access sensitive data. XPrivacy displays an orange warning triangle icon when an application has attempted to access data. If an application has requested Android permissions to access data, XPrivacy displays a green key icon. XPrivacy also displays an internet icon if an application has internet access, which clarifies that the application poses a risk of sharing data with an external server. XPrivacy is built using the Xposed framework, which it uses to tap into a vast number of carefully selected Android functions. Depending on the function, XPrivacy skips execution of the original function (for example, when an application tries to set a proximity alert) or alters the result of the original function (for example, to return an empty message list). XPrivacy has been tested with Android version 4.0.3 - 6.0.1 (Ice Cream Sandwich, Jelly Bean, KitKat, Lollipop, Marshmallow), and is reported to work with most Android variants, including stock ROMs. Root access is needed to install the Xposed framework. XPrivacy was a lot of work, so please support this project. If you want to donate, see here for all options. Use XPrivacy entirely at your own risk. Features Simple to use No need to patch anything (no source, no smali or anything else) For any stock variant of Android version 4.0.3 - 6.0.1 (ICS, Jelly Bean, KitKat, Lollipop, Marshmallow) Newly installed applications are restricted by default Displays data actually used by an application Option to restrict on demand Free and open source Free from advertisements Screenshots Restrictions For easy usage, data is restricted by category: Accounts return an empty account list return an empty account type list return fake account info return empty authorization tokens return an empty list of synchronizations Browser return an empty bookmark list return an empty download list return empty search history Calendar return an empty calendar Calling prevent calls from being placed prevent SIP calls from being placed prevent SMS messages from being sent prevent MMS messages from being sent prevent data messages from being sent return an empty call log Clipboard prevent paste from clipboard (both manual and from an application) Contacts return an empty contact list content://com.android.contacts content://com.android.contacts/contacts content://com.android.contacts/data content://com.android.contacts/phone_lookup content://com.android.contacts/profile SIM card Dictionary return an empty user dictionary E-mail return an empty list of accounts, e-mails, etc (standard) return an empty list of accounts, e-mails, etc (Gmail) Identification return a fake Android ID return a fake device serial number return a fake host name return a fake Google services framework ID return file not found for folder /proc return a fake Google advertising ID return a fake system property CID (Card Identification Register = SD-card serial number) return file not found for /sys/block/.../cid return file not found for /sys/class/.../cid return a fake input device descriptor return a fake USB ID/name/number return a fake Cast device ID / IP address Internet revoke permission to internet access revoke permission to internet administration revoke permission to internet bandwidth statistics/administration revoke permission to VPN services revoke permission to Mesh networking services return fake extra info return fake disconnected state return fake supplicant disconnected state IPC Binder Reflection Lo
Read the full README on GitHub

What Hacker News says

12 sources
What's stopping clones from replicating your UI right now? Are you concerned with loss of IAP revenue to clones? I would suggest you open source it under a non-commercial license. Also, take a look at how some successful android open source projects are run. In particular, I like XPrivacy (https://github.com/M66B/XPrivacy). This is an excellent app. Open source with optional purchase, similar to yours. Personally, I paid the $6 they charge because I'd rather not compile the src myself. You've already had a lot of downloads and are an established app. Clones can't replicate that.. If you are a recognized dev on xda, with your own thread for discussion, feature requests, bug reports etc, no clones will be able to replace that aspect even if they can clone your app. You should be able to get more downloads/purchases from privacy-aware users.
Read the rest
And you can have donations for feature requests if you want. Just some thoughts.. best of luck with the app!
In Show HN: Javelin Browser
(Copied from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7132790) If you're using Android, I'd highly recommend using a combination of XPrivacy [1] and Android Firewall [2] (iptables frontend). To make your life easier, disallow everything from accessing the net in Android Firewall. Then, for those apps which you've allowed net access, further tweak what they're allowed to access in XPrivacy. As a rule, turn off account info, clipboard, location, contacts, and storage. Not perfect, but a decent solution. [1] https://github.com/M66B/XPrivacy [2] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jtschohl.a...
In US and UK spy agencies scoop up private data from 'leaky' phone apps
If you're using Android, I'd highly recommend using a combination of XPrivacy [1] and Android Firewall [2] (iptables frontend). To make your life easier, disallow everything from accessing the net in Android Firewall. Then, for those apps which you've allowed net access, further tweak what they're allowed to access in XPrivacy. As a rule, turn off account info, clipboard, location, contacts, and storage. Not perfect, but a decent solution. [1] https://github.com/M66B/XPrivacy [2] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jtschohl.a...
In Spy Agencies Scour Phone Apps for Personal Data

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