duckduckgo / duckduckgo/Android

[Bug] App causes connectivity issues through tracking protection

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#3,023 1 comment 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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Dominant language
Kotlin
Stars
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Forks
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Avg merge
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Description

Steps to recreate this aren't clear. Possible it is a router miscommunication, lost internet momentarily and regained internet. Also happens after connecting to several locations at a time, i.e. several web page searches in a short time, entering and quickly exiting a game then reenter again, skip through streaming movies, etc.

Duckduckduckgo tracking protection will say enabled, android will say full connectivity, but nothing will get through to the internet. Turning wifi off/on does not solve this. Airplane mode off/on does not solve this. I have to manually disable tracking protection and enable it again for the internet to work, for any communication between phone and internet.

It is an issue with the local VPN itself, I assume. Seems to happen most under heavy switching traffic, going between apps quickly or loading things quickly. This is a daily occurrence.
Possible there is internet traffic "sticking", an app trying to connect to a tracker and not stopping sending data, causing the internet to freeze via app. This would still be affected until turning off duckduckgo tracking protection and re enabling it. I'd be ok with a kill timer coded as a shutoff for continuous tracking, just kill data sent to that address for 10+ seconds may solve this if possible. For example... pluto tv.. tracking protection will block 30 attempts a second from them. This very much weighs down phone resources with the constant connections. I very much assume this is partially the issue. An app relentlessly sending data.

Samsung galaxy note 10+ on Verizon network.

Contributor guide

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First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

No files, tests, or entry points are named. Start by reproducing the connectivity failure on the stated Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ and documenting precise steps, logs, and whether the local VPN or blocked tracker traffic is responsible. Done means the cause is isolated and a specific, testable fix is defined.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
android, kotlin
Domain
mobile, networking, security
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
18/100

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