At least once you will have used a firewall on your PC to block or give access to the Internet for a given program. But if you’ve never used a firewall or are not familiar with the term firewall, I’ll explain briefly what we’re talking about and what an Android Firewall is.
A firewall is a system designed to block internet access and prevent unauthorized access from a private network. It is in fact a passive perimeter defense component of a computer network. Firewalls can be implemented either through hardware or software, or with a combination of both. For example, you can block a single program and prevent it from connecting to the internet.
The NetGuard Android Firewall is a solution for Android devices, which does not need root permissions to work. After installing it, NetGuard checks your applications that can access the Internet and decide whether or not to allow access to some of them. NetGuard offers a separate control of the Wi-Fi network and cellular data network, making it useful to monitor apps that rapidly consume the GBs of our mobile data plan.
There are other useful methods to use a Firewall on Android and block access to the Internet for a given application. But to perform similar functionality to this app, Android devices required access to root permissions. Instead, this application uses a different technique to obtain firewall functionality. The application is based on an API introduced in Android Lollipop 5.0 that allows you to select Internet traffic. This means that advanced features such as address filtering, traffic logging and on-demand configuration are not possible. Also, older versions of Android are unfortunately not supported.
The NetGuard application is the best Android firewall. It is currently under development but the app that allows you to activate the Android Firewall works very well, and is available for free on Google Play Store. There is also a paid Pro version that implements other features. This application is an open-source project, so you could also contribute with suggestions in order to improve this project, of course if you are a programmer. To keep up to date with the latest version, you can follow this XDA thread. The application is updated frequently and new features are added in each version. Here are some basic features of the app.
Features:
- No root permission required
- Simple to use
- Free
- Open source
- No additional battery consumption
- No tracing
- No advertising
- Supports IPv4 / IPv6 TCP / UDP
- Block both the system apps and apps downloaded from the Play Store
How the NetGuard Firewall works
The application does perfectly what it says, even if it is still in beta. The possibility of allowing the app to be blocked under the cellular network or WiFi network is a useful function, to be absolutely on their devices, for a total control over internet connections. For example, the Android Firewall allows you to lock cellular data to applications that use high amounts of data, allowing access only to the Wifi network. In this way, for example, you will no longer have to worry about the GB of your internet promotion when you watch videos on YouTube, because you can only set it when you’re on WiFi.
For example, you can use this application to block the Internet access of Whatsapp or any other messaging app when you’re not in the mood to talk to your friends, but still want to browse the web or watch a video on Youtube. But be careful, because by blocking Internet access to these applications, you can end up not having emails or losing an important message.
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Try Netguard the Firewall for Android on your device and block unwanted access to the Internet for certain applications. This allows you to save your cellular data and therefore your money.