this post was submitted on 16 May 2026
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Privacy

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Fauxx is an open-source Android privacy tool that poisons data broker and ad-tech profiles by generating continuous, plausible, off-demographic synthetic activity from your device. The goal is simple: make your real behavioral signal statistically indistinguishable from noise.

https://github.com/digital-grease/fauxx

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[–] Malyca@lemmy.zip 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] ArchsageRamases@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

Not really, works fine on my google pixel 5a with LineageOS.

[–] WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works 16 points 3 days ago (1 children)

this seems to be a heavily vibecoded project, the readme has at least one contradiction and weird statements and formatting.

I mean now is it clicking ads or is it not? and what's the reason for including the "tech stack"?

[–] washington_irving@lemmy.ml 13 points 3 days ago (1 children)

This issue was raised on github, the dev admitted to using AI (but probably still underplayed it's role in the project) but closed the issue and didn't bother to disclose it in the readme.

https://github.com/digital-grease/fauxx/issues/8

[–] traxex@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 3 days ago

Yikes! It’s really not hard to be upfront about it. Or do these dweebs understand that nobody likes this bullshit?

As a software engineer who absolutely uses Claude for all his dumbass ideas, these “developers” don’t know the difference between a toy app and something production ready. Maybe this will get people to start reading source code (like the issue you linked above) and understand what they are deploying way more.

[–] Zerush@lemmy.ml 6 points 3 days ago (1 children)
[–] ArchsageRamases@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

Another good one that has I2P

[–] utjebe@reddthat.com 6 points 3 days ago (1 children)

It kind of looks good on paper, but this might single you on the other side of a spectrum. Say, now you are that weird user running Firefox on Android - you give out some data, but with adblock you don't see majority of it. With this tools, you kind of poison the data, but you could still get singled out because the bad guys just have more money to spend.

[–] ArchsageRamases@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago

No I'm using brave I only use firefox tor browser

[–] SocialistVibes01@lemmy.ml 11 points 4 days ago (1 children)

The dev's doing Che's work

[–] washington_irving@lemmy.ml 11 points 4 days ago (1 children)

The concept is very interesting, I used the app for a while but I don't get one thing. Why would you want to randomize fingerprints? If the goal is to pollute your profile with random data then it does the exact opposite thing and makes it harder to assosiate the noise with actual user activity.

[–] crandlecan@mander.xyz 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

So much noise, you're just that: noise. It's all about statistics

[–] washington_irving@lemmy.ml 12 points 4 days ago (2 children)

yes, but when you spoof fingerprints the only thing connecting the noise generated by the app to the user is then the IP address and ironically the README recommends using it alongside a VPN to hide your IP, which means that the queries made by Fauxx are, like you said, "just noise", not noise associated with your profile, the noise could as well be generated by any other device

also, I think that the extensive use of LLMs should be stated in the description, not burried in a closed issue, as it is an important matter especially when creating a privacy oriented project

[–] crandlecan@mander.xyz 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)
[–] washington_irving@lemmy.ml 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Still, browser fingerprints are most commonly used and spoofing them seems counterproductive. If the goal is to maximize confusion about users interests and search history it should mimic actual users' behavior as closely as possible.

[–] crandlecan@mander.xyz 0 points 3 days ago (1 children)

You've lost me here I'm afraid. Care to elaborate?

[–] washington_irving@lemmy.ml 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

ahh, sorry what I meant is that the app shouldn't randomize identifiers, such as browser fingerprints or even cookies, because the goal is to make the noise associated with the user's profile, otherwise it's just random requests and it becomes pointless.

[–] crandlecan@mander.xyz 0 points 3 days ago

Yeah... I think we are disagreeing here, and I don't fully understand your point, or your point is wrong from my point of view :) ✌️

[–] sem@piefed.blahaj.zone 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Maybe it is because the data brokers will still identify you buy your device fingerprint even when using the vpn

[–] crandlecan@mander.xyz 2 points 4 days ago

Yep. They look at way more than your IP. The one I can't tackle yet is window sizes... I have asked a dev to see if he can slightly randomize new browser window sizes just for that. Otherwise I have a bunch of anti fingerprint extensions. And I often find myself unable to pass captchas or services because of it. But most of the time, that works. That and using a non-tracking search engine. I like presearch. And their browser on android supports extensions, just like Edge.

[–] BehavioralClam@lemmy.world 6 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Any ELI5 on how to run this for someone that is a zero on Android code?

Edit: nvm found the app on F-droid and it just installed and now running it

[–] WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works 3 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

It's on fdroid

edit: oh you just edited it

[–] crandlecan@mander.xyz 7 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

Fauxx isn't responding for the last half hour when it started to query ad networks what they knew about me. I am using a vpn so maybe if it's querying that public IP... It might get overloaded. I have a reasonably modern and beefy phone.

Update: and after closing it and starting it again the service starts as disabled, yet the app still crashes with a not responding warning. There is no time to even go into the settings.

[–] ArchsageRamases@lemmy.world 5 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Just found out they use Ai to code 🙄 so no womder it crashes. Yeah it crashed for me but seems fine now.

[–] crandlecan@mander.xyz 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Alright I'll try again with the next build

[–] Cherry@piefed.social 8 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Where would this be ran at device level or can it be ran at server router level to generate activity at full property/users level?

[–] MidnightMarauder@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I would love to run this type of software in a container or on my router to spoof my entire home network data traffic. That would be awesome.

This sounds great.

[–] WorldsDumbestMan@lemmy.today 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Guess it's almost time to make the jump to all FOSS.

[–] ArchsageRamases@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago

Yes 100% Join us.

[–] FauxLiving@lemmy.world 5 points 4 days ago (1 children)
[–] crandlecan@mander.xyz 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)
[–] FauxLiving@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

You called me, friend. Who is this?

[–] crandlecan@mander.xyz 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

May I have a moment to talk about your car insurance? We at Geico can change your life in less than a minute of your time 🙌

[–] FauxLiving@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago (2 children)
[–] ArchsageRamases@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)
[–] FauxLiving@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] ArchsageRamases@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Sidenote: I miss movies like these 😢

[–] eldavi@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

same here, except that i'm learning that i'm losing touch enough with pop culture that i don't get the jokes from other newer movies like this.

but on the flip side, the scary movie series has become a delightful time capsule of the 90's and 00's because of it. lol

[–] crandlecan@mander.xyz 3 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (2 children)

Oh wow!! You really went above and beyond! Any chance non coders get this on their phone? And does it need a local vpn connection? Or can I keep DuckDuckGo anti app tracking too?

Edit: thanks repliers

[–] matelt@feddit.uk 4 points 4 days ago

I just got it off F-Droid, dead easy to set up.

[–] guymontag@lemmy.ml 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Holy shit this tool does way to much. My god

[–] crandlecan@mander.xyz 2 points 4 days ago