Mobile data usage

[ksgwxfan]

Hi, the app works well. But I do have a concern. I've used the app 5 times or less. For what reason does it need mobile data access; especially nearly 40MB in the limited time that I've used it?

Here's a sample of some connection requests:

Why does it need to connect to AWS servers? What data is it sending [EDIT] or trying to retrieve? [/EDIT]

Thanks in advance

[derpdeveloperofficial]

Hello! Thanks for letting me know about this.

I created this app almost 10 years ago, but I don't remember any reason for connecting to Amazon servers... Did you download the app directly from GitHub or you installed it through Amazon Appstore?

[ksgwxfan]

I downloaded it from your (this) GitHub page.

I apologize for sounding tense. I'm just hypersensitive to personal privacy and it's not uncommon for me to think the worst. I just didn't see any disclaimers or TOC about it either.

Thanks again for an otherwise amazing app. When i screencast, I use the mirror feature and prefer to have the screen off. This is the only thing I've seen thus far that will do what I want.

[derpdeveloperofficial]

No problem, I'm also a privacy advocate too, so I understand your concern.

From what I remember and a quick search I just made through the source code, the only communications BSoL should do are:

• Crash reports: whenever BSoL crashes it sends a report with the stack trace (no user info, just the source code responsible for the crash).
• Dynamically load an image on About screen: since I wanted to keep the apk package small and this image was +1MB, I decided to dynamically load it when the about screen was opened instead of bundling it in the apk package. But the old url is not even working anymore, so the image will not even show up.

But none of this was done through AWS servers, so I'm not sure how is this happening. I'll try to check this later today.

Btw, I'm not an Android user nowadays, how do I get to that screen with the AWS urls you shared?

[ksgwxfan]

Hi. I got the report from an app called NoRoot Firewall.

Me thinking the worst, I was thinking it may have been trying to send data. But it is possible it is trying to retrieve data. I edited my initial post to reflect this thought.

I had seen how your app had used so much data. So I used the NoRoot Firewall app which allows you to approve/deny connection requests. I'm pretty sure that's what is showing. But it wouldn't be the first time I was wrong (won't be the last) as it seems unfamiliar to you.

But regardless, thank you for your attentiveness and willingness to appease my worries.

[ksgwxfan]

Ok. So testing again, it seems that data is only being used when it is in the "Enabled" state. It used around 7MB of data in roughly a 15-20 minute period. Then after I disabled it, the usage figure stopped rising.

Not an Android dev, but could it possibly be residual code related to ads (looks like it used to have ads)?

[derpdeveloperofficial]

Being residual ad code is a good guess! And it justifies the data download - it could be fetching the actual ads.

But it is strange that it connects to AWS servers, because I used Google AdMob service for that. I'm not sure if Google uses AWS to serve ads, but it seems unlikely...

There is definitely something going on that should not be happening. I suggest you block all traffic from BSoL as it should not need any data to work. Let me know if it continues to work as expected when you block app communication.

For the last couple of years I keep telling myself that I should do a code cleanup on this app and update it to support the latest Android versions, but I never find the motivation to do it because I'm using an iPhone now 😅 I've already decided that my next phone will be an Android, let's see how long my iPhone still survives (it has 3 years now).

[ksgwxfan]

Using a firewall app while using it shouldn't be too big of a headache. But like I said, it is an otherwise amazing app.

Thanks again for your input.

[derpdeveloperofficial]

No problem. Feel free to dig into the source code of the app and suggest any code improvements if you find something :)

[ksgwxfan]

I did have a question about the releases section. It says released on Sept 22, 2022, but do you remember why the APK has a newer date on it?

[derpdeveloperofficial]

That was because the apk I uploaded initially was not the premium version, it was the free version and was displaying ads 😅 I then edited the release to have the correct premium version apk.

[ksgwxfan]

Just to give another update, and hopefully to put your mind at ease about old code that you've written,

I tried the app on my old phone (has Android 11) and it works and doesn't use any data. Mobile usage stays at 0.

I guess it has something to do with my (newer) phone (it has Android 13). My new hypotheses:

• conflict with the OS (hence your warning about it being developed a long time ago) where an old line of code is translated to mean something different on newer OS's
• glitch in the OS where it is reporting relative differential in all data usage
• an odd conflict with an installed app

But I'm convinced it has something to do with my phone.

Thanks again for your attention. I should've tried my old phone first.

[derpdeveloperofficial]

Oh wow, that is an unexpected finding! Thanks for sharing. One of your guesses is probably on the right track, but only with further debugging we would know for sure.

So the problem is even weirder than I thought initially. But at least I'm glad that my code does not seem to directly create the issue 😄