[@piracy](https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/c/piracy) Do cracked apps still send data to Google/Android or they bypass them?

Riccardo_M@mastodon.uno to Piracy: ꜱᴀɪʟ ᴛʜᴇ ʜɪɢʜ ꜱᴇᴀꜱ@lemmy.dbzer0.com – 42 points –

@piracy Do cracked apps still send data to Google/Android or they bypass them?

I was wondering if while using (trusted) cracked apps they still send data to Google, Android, Meta, etc. or to the app owner.

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Some crackers remove network features from apps but most leave them intact so YES, it will send your data to all of them.

I've also personally seen two people get threatened of legal action after installing a cracked copy of solidworks, the company used the cracked software as a trojan to get identifying information from their computers, so ALWAYS USE A FIREWALL.

@Riccardo_Mar It depends on the crack I guess, but most likely yes. The crack is usually there only to bypass license check.

Which in some cases means also disabling trackers. Adobe Photoshop comes to mind - you need to disable communication with Adobe servers for the crack to work, essentially disabling telemetry as a byproduct.

All cracked software normally still sends data. You would have to block via Windows Firewall (Windows), use a no-inet group and iptables/ufw (Linux), or use a tunnel interface/root access to block (Android).

@Morgikan And what about unofficial client apps in relation to the serviced used? For instance using an unofficial client for a big service, do you still send personal data? (I guess it depends case by case, in general?)

Pretty much in any case, PII is sent but what exactly gets sent may differ. For example, Revanced I believe just acts as a wrapper for the YouTube platform. YouTube is still collecting information it's still just you interacting with it just minus the ads. For something like Invidious, YouTube would still be getting information in regards to your IP address in the case of self-hosting or if the connection's proxied that information, but not the same amount or type of information is being collected.

On android with root what's the best firewall to use? The 'rootless' ones using Android VPN features are really inefficient.

It really depends on how it was cracked and the use case of the app. Some of them may have it patched out but others won't. Play it safe unless you know for sure.