Best Firewall Apps for Android
Android and iOS – both are equally awesome mobile platforms, but both of them are lacking one single feature. Unlike Windows, they do not have a firewall application on their platforms. Although a power user can understand the need for firewall software, a regular Facebook browsing person cannot comprehend that. Firewall software is a much needed when you use the internet a lot on your Android device. If you have a lot of apps installed on your mobile, you should also install a firewall app that can check every incoming and outgoing connection from a single interface. Therefore, check out these best firewall apps for Android that you can use without thinking twice.
Best Firewall Apps for Android
1] NoRoot Firewall
As the name suggests, you do not need a rooted Android device to install NoRoot Firewall app. This firewall app for Android is available for Android 4.0 or later version. This is very easy to setup and starts using this application on your Android mobile since it comes with few options to manage everything. Talking about available features, you would be able to manage almost all the incoming and outgoing connections based on apps, host name etc. In other words, you can block or allow a particular app from using your internet connection. It protects your personal information from being sent to the Internet.
2] NoRoot Data Firewall
Like the first application, you do not need any rooted device to install NoRoot Data Firewall app on your Android phone. This free application is available for Android 4.0 or later version. Regarding features, you will get a lot of options to manage inbound and outbound connections. You can allow or block internet connection of any installed app. On the other hand, you can find some options like Allow all connections, allow foreground connections only, forbid all connections, enable WiFi, Disable WiFi, and more others. Apart from that, you would be able to check when your phone is consuming most of the data, which app is using your bandwidth, and so on.
3] NetGuard – no root firewall
Being available for Android 5.1 or later version, NetGuard has gained much popularity among the people, who want a classy app that comes with a lot of features to manage every aspect of their privacy. From managing incoming and outgoing connections to disable Wi-Fi or cellular data connection based on the app, everything is available in this free firewall app for Android. Apart from that, you can find options to block Wi-Fi by default, block mobile data by default, default allow Wi-Fi when the screen is on, default allow mobile when the screen is on, block roaming by default, and more. The best thing is you can find a dark theme, which is not available in other aforementioned apps.
4] AFWall+
If you have a rooted Android phone and you want to install a free firewall application, you can start with AFWall+, which is free and available for Android 4.0.3 or later version. Like other standard firewall apps, you would be able to manage all the incoming connections as well as outbound connections. Apart from that, you can block or allow a particular app from using your mobile data or Wi-Fi connection. You can find a detailed log of apps using your internet connections. For example, you can find when it has used a connection, how much data it has consumed and more others with the help of this tool. The best thing about this tool is you can find profile management. You can setup various profiles and use them to apply different settings.
5] Kronos Firewall
Kronos Firewall doesn’t require any root access to work on your Android mobile. This tool is compatible with Android 5.0 or later version. It is popular among them, who want a quick option to manage all the connections and apps. As usual, this is possible to block or allow any app from using your internet connection. Let it be mobile data or Wi-Fi; you can block of allowing that for any installed app that has the capability of using the internet. It doesn’t matter whether you want to block internet connection of a system app or third-party app, everything is possible when you are using this security app on your Android device.
6] NetStop Firewall
NetStop Firewall is quite different than other firewall apps available for Android, and this is available for Android 4.0 or later version. Being available for a wide range of Android system, it is quite popular. Talking about the features, you do not have to go through some complex options to gain the firewall capability. Being said that, you need to toggle the corresponding button to connect your phone to a VPN connection and hence that VPN will take care of everything. You do not have to worry about sharing your personal data since that is not happening with this app, according to the official statement on Google Play Store page.
7] NetPatch Firewall
Although NetPatch Firewall is available for free, if you want to get more features with this app, you can install the PRO version by purchasing it for $4.99. It comes with some options like:
- Create any number of IP and domain groups
- Subscribe IP and domain groups from network
- View all network logs, (include access type, IP, hostname, activity time, duration time, sending and receiving data size).
- View all blocked requests
- View all IPs and hostnames of each app accessed
- Block the access to any domain names you don’t want at any time
- Block or proxy based country IPs
- Support Block/Proxy/Direct rules for every group
- Support root domain name
- Support CIDR network address
However, in the FREE edition, you would be able to block network access per apps, get a notification when a new app is installed, import or export configuration and more. Talking about compatibility, you must have Android 4.0 or later version to install it.
8] Mobiwol: NoRoot Firewall
Mobiwol firewall doesn’t require any root access, as mentioned in the name itself. If you have some time to spend and understand every aspect of a firewall app, you should spend that time on this app since it comes with a lot of filters and options to configure it according to your requirements. From blocking a particular app from using your internet connection to setup proxy, everything can be done by utilizing this app. Besides, you can block background app activity, get a notification when a new app accesses the internet connection and more others. This is meaningless to mention that you can find full data usage graph to check bandwidth usage and more.