142 lines
6.2 KiB
Markdown
142 lines
6.2 KiB
Markdown
**Disclaimer:** This is a free and open source project, but it relies on third-party web-services for some functions to work. This project is not affiliated with any third-party entities in any other sense.
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# Yet Another Call Blocker
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A free and open source application that can block unwanted calls or warn about probable intentions of callers using a third-party crowdsourced phone number database (from some other proprietary app).
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[<img src="https://fdroid.gitlab.io/artwork/badge/get-it-on.png"
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alt="Get it on F-Droid"
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height="80">](https://f-droid.org/app/dummydomain.yetanothercallblocker)
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## Key features
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* Uses offline database.
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* Blocks unwanted calls automatically (option).
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* Displays a notification with phone number summary (rating, reviews count, category) during incoming calls (option).
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* Automatic incremental/delta database updates (option).
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* You can view online reviews for caller's number (provided by 3rd party service).
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## How to use
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* [Install](https://f-droid.org/app/dummydomain.yetanothercallblocker) and launch the app.
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* The option to show caller info notifications is enabled by default, so the app will ask for phone-related permissions.
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* At first start, the app will suggest to download main database which is required for most of the functions. Simply confirm the download.
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(The DB is downloaded from [another gitlab repo](https://gitlab.com/xynngh/YetAnotherCallBlocker_data), so no privacy-related implications.)
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* Check the "Auto-update database" checkbox in the menu (recommended) to automatically receive daily DB updates (these are incremental/delta updates, so they consume very little traffic).
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* Check the "Block unwanted calls" checkbox to block calls with negative rating automatically.
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* You can also check the "Use contacts" checkbox if you want your contacts not to be treated as unknown callers.
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* After these steps everything should just work. Enjoy!
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## [Screenshots](fastlane/metadata/android/en-US/images/phoneScreenshots/)
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<img src="fastlane/metadata/android/en-US/images/phoneScreenshots/2.png" alt="The info screen" width="280"/>
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<img src="fastlane/metadata/android/en-US/images/phoneScreenshots/3.png" alt="Online reviews" width="280"/>
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<img src="fastlane/metadata/android/en-US/images/phoneScreenshots/4.png" alt="Incoming call notification" width="280"/>
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## More on features
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At this point most of the essential features (one would expect from a call blocking app) are implemented. Here's an overview:
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* Showing a notification with some caller info (positive/negative rating, category, number of negative reviews and such) when the phone's ringing. *Works offline.*
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* Loading and displaying a list of reviews for a number (accessed from the notification or the info view). *Requires internet.*
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* Automatic blocking of unwanted calls (may not work on some devices; tested to work on modern Android versions (including Android 10)). *Works offline.*
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* Automatic update of the database (for offline use). *Requires internet.*
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* Displaying a list of recent calls with caller rating and the ability to show more info or load online reviews for the number. The list *works offline*, but loading reviews *requires internet.*
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* If "use contacts" option is enabled, the numbers present in the phone book are never blocked and the contact name is displayed next to/instead of a number throughout the app.
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## Privacy
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Protecting the user's privacy is the first concern during development. No personal data is sent to or otherwise shared with anyone.
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The only known possible data leaks are the following:
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* Database update procedure leaks user's IP address to the update servers.
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The request also includes current database version (base or updated)
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and a country code (either auto-detected or set manually).
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* Online review requests leak user's IP address coupled with the phone number in question.
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The request also includes country codes (either auto-detected or set manually).
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Shouldn't be a big deal unless you request it for numbers in your phone book.
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If the "use contacts" feature is enabled, a confirmation dialog is shown if online reviews are requested for a number present in your phone book.
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No other identifiable information is sent with the requests.
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## Available data
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The following data is available in the main offline database:
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* a phone number,
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* a category (telemarketers, dept collectors, scam, etc.),
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* a number of negative reviews,
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* a number of positive reviews,
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* a number of neutral reviews.
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The main database may receive delta updates from third-party servers.
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The "featured" database provides "names" (company names or short descriptions) for some (presumably) subset of numbers in the main database.
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The third-party servers can be queried for a list of detailed user reviews for a specific phone number.
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A detailed review contains:
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* A rating: positive, negative or neutral.
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* A category: each review may have a different one.
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* A title and a comment: the actual description the user left for the number.
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## Rationale
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Some may find the original application (whose DB and servers are used) hard to trust because of its proprietary nature (and also the use of firebase analytics and the like).
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But since the database behind that application is crowdsourced, some may find it acceptable (in a moral sense) to use that database in a separate open source application.
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Also, this project is meant to be non-commercial. So, there's that.
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## License
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[AGPLv3](https://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.en.html).
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## Contributing
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Any contributions are very welcome.
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## Building
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Clone the project repo:
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```
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git clone https://gitlab.com/xynngh/YetAnotherCallBlocker.git
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```
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Clone the assets repo (optional step: allows to avoid the initial DB downloading after installation):
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```
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git clone https://gitlab.com/xynngh/YetAnotherCallBlocker_data.git
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```
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Sym-link the assets:
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Linux
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```
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cd YetAnotherCallBlocker/app/src/main/assets/
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ln -s ../../../../../YetAnotherCallBlocker_data/assets/sia .
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```
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Windows
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```
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cd YetAnotherCallBlocker\app\src\main\assets
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mklink /d sia ..\..\..\..\..\YetAnotherCallBlocker_data\assets\sia
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```
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**or** copy the whole directory `YetAnotherCallBlocker_data/assets/sia` into `YetAnotherCallBlocker/app/src/main/assets/`.
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Then you can build the app using Android Studio or using Gradle:
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```
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./gradlew assemble
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```
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