Karma FW
Karma Firewall app lets you take control back of your phone and block internet traffic to and from specific apps. This is a simple yet powerful firewall with an easy to use intuitive GUI which allows you to protect your sensitive data.
Ever wondered why lots of apps that have no need for Internet access require Internet Permissions? Its usually either to display adverts or send your sensitive data back to servers in USA, China or Russia. Karma Firewall can block this traffic and protect your personal data. You do not need any technical skills to use, no complicated IP Addressing, Ports, Packet Filtering etc. Simply select the apps you want to block, and you are protected.
Karma Firewall is the safest, most trusted Android Firewall. Karma FW is completely different from all other VPN Firewalls. Karma FW requires NO Internet permissions. Without permissions CANNOT send any data anywhere. We intercept no allowed traffic.
Karma FW app requires no internet permissions! No data or information about you or your phone will ever be sent back to servers in China, Russia or the USA. In fact the app only requires the start on boot permission. This is fully configurable. If you tell the app not to start on boot, it will not start on boot. No other firewall on the market requires so few permissions.
| Permission Required | Very Good Reason |
|---|---|
| RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED | Restart service on boot. Totally optional, start on boot is turned off until you enable it. |
| FOREGROUND_SERVICE | Third party apps require this permission to run any kind of service on Android. Added in API level 28. |
| BIND_VPN_SERVICE | Required by a VpnService, which allows us to run a VPN to black hole unwanted network connections from blocked apps. |
This firewall app uses a dummy VPN to block unwanted traffic. Android requires you to authorise this app to use a VPN.
We do not monitor traffic. If you block an app we send the data to a dummy VPN which is effectively a black hole on your phone. The app will not even be able to establish a full network connection to try to send any private data. Data from blocked apps never leaves your phone. All traffic from allowed app is routed directly to the Internet without any monitoring, inspection, or interaction by Karma FW. Even if this Karma FW did monitor traffic (which it does not!), because Karma FW itself has NO Internet permissions, it cannot do anything with the data! Karma FW is the safest, most trusted Android Firewall.
A recent study found some VPN Firewalls can be dangerous, including popular ones. This is because they have the potential to inspect your app traffic. Karma FW is completely different from all other VPN Firewalls. Karma FW requires NO Internet permissions. Without permissions CANNOT send any data anywhere. We intercept no allowed traffic. The ONLY permission Karma FW requires is start on boot!
Karma FW is the safest, most trusted Android Firewall.
We do not require Internet permissions because of the unique way we handle traffic. If you allow an app, we simply tell Android to allow that app to use the Internet normally. Karma FW does not even get to see that traffic. Karma FW only gets to see blocked traffic, and we block this traffic at the connection phase, meaning we terminate the connection before any proper data is sent to Karma FW. Karma FW sees no personal data.
In fact without Internet permissions Karma FW itself cannot talk to the Internet at all. We do not collect any data about you or your phone. Many apps (even Firewalls that are supposed to protect you!) will often phone home sending your valuable data back to servers in Russia, China or America. We do not. No Internet permissions means our Karma FW cannot communicate anywhere. Karma FW is the safest, most trusted Android Firewall.
To start the firewall simply press the Red Key icon.
If the firewall starts successfully the Red Key icon will change to Green, and a small key icon will be shown in the notification bar at the top.
You are now protected.
You can also start Karma Firewall from the Quick Panel. Just click on the Key icon.
To firewall an app and block its access to the Internet simply press the Green Go icon.
The icon will change to a Red No-entry icon.
The app will now be blocked from accessing the Internet.
To allow an app to access the Internet simply press the Red No-entry icon.
The icon will change to a Green Go icon.
The app can now access the Internet normally.
Disabled apps are shown because they can be enabled at any time. This is especially true for Samsung phones which put apps to sleep (disables). Then enables when you launch the app again.
Dsabled system apps are also shown:
Yes, select "Allow/Block All" from the main menu.
You can change the sort order of apps by selecing View Sort from the main menu.
Apps will be sorted according to your selection. If you have many apps you can also use the search feature by clicking on the magnifying glass.
Yes, Android traffic app counters are unaffected. Other Firewalls will show up in Android as all traffic coming from the firewall app itself! Karma FW does not. We maintain the integrity of Android traffic app stats.
You will not see the Karma FW app at the top of the Android traffic stats. Infact you will not see it in the traffic stats at all. Karma FW has no Internet Permissions and sends no data anywhere!
No. In recent versions of Android Google have restricted the access third party apps to app traffic logs. Don't worry the firewall still works and blocks traffic. If unsure just use Karma Firewall to block Chrome and then try accessing any web site. It will now be blocked and timeout.
Karma Firewall does not see any allowed traffic.
If System apps share the same UID Karma FW will group these apps together. Clicking the app icon will exand the group to show all packages.
The reason we do this is because we have to firewall based on the UID. If apps share the same UID then they can only be blocked or allowed as a group. This usually only applies to system apps. System app groups vary from phone to phone. The example above shows Google services.
Yes, to see System Apps select "View System Apps" from the main menu:
Karma FW will now show System Apps:
Be careful blocking system apps. They may be required for essential tasks. If you do block a system app and find services on your phone stop to work, simply allow the System App again and all will be well.
Yes. Select "Allow Local" from the main menu and enter your local subnet.
As the text says if you do not know what you are doing, please do not use this option.
No. This is a simple firewall, its designed to either allow or block an app from using the Internet.
To implement and port blocking we would need Internet Permissions, and have to inspect all traffic. This is not something we want to do. If you require this functionality try other firewalls on Google Play. But make sure you trust the authors, because they will have full access to all your Internet traffic!
To implement IP address blocking we could use the method we use to allow local network, but we would still be working at an app level. Unless we start inspecting traffic.
No. This is a simple firewall, its designed to either allow or block an app from using the Internet regardless of 2G, 3G, 4G, LTE, 5G, IPv4, IPv6 or WiFi. Adding these extra features would complicate the GUI, require extra permissions, including traffic inspection, and is not a scenario that this app is targeted at.
You can set up widgets to control the firewall:
Including quickly toggle the firewall on or off for specific apps:
Yes just change Notification Catagories as required:
No. Any Android phone with Android 5 or above, can use this app.
Unfortunately an increasing number of mobile phone vendors are killing background apps to save battery and memory. This is a known issue that affects a lot of apps. Nokia phones despite being part of the Android One brand have really agressive background process killers.
If possible exclude Karma Firewall from any background app optimisations.
In Battery setting under App set to unrestricted.
Also check that Karma filewall is set to always on VPN in Android:
Enbable as required.
If you select Copy Logs from the Logs Menu you can copy the logs to the clipboard and paster them into another app, such as email, text editor etc. Or use the Share Logs option.
Keeping Karma Firewall on Google Play became a real headache:
I wrote the app for myself, and released it in case others may find it useful. If you like Karma FW buy me a coffee with the link below:
