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How to redirect entire phone traffic (including all apps) to a proxy (with out rooting the phone)

We are developing a parental control app for Android, in that we have requirement to capture all out going traffic from Android phone for categorization. Is there a way to achieve this in Android with out rooting the phone.

Thanks, Gopi.

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It sounds like you are describing a VPN (virtual private network). A VPN directs all traffic (whether http or other tcp/ip protocols) through a specific server, usually with the intent to encrypt traffic between the device and the VPN server.

However, encryption isn't necessary, and a VPN would have full control over routing, which means you could customize a VPN server to block specific requests. Or you could redirect requests to unsafe/undesirable websites to a 'block' page of your choosing.

Almost all android devices have VPN capabilities built-in. You should look into that technology. In order to force the user to go through the VPN, you will need an app that can be set as a device admin (a built-in, almost-root privilege that prevents the app from being removed) that would also set the VPN to be always on.

See this Android.SE question and answer for more details.

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  • Thanks Stephen for your valuable answer. Is there any other possible solution than VPN? Since Android 4.0 they included an API called VpnService, through this I can directs all traffic but I see some challenges in that approach. Below are the challenges I see, - User action is required to create a VPN connection. - A system-managed notification (in notification bar) is shown during the lifetime of a VPN connection. - A system-managed dialog gives the information of the current VPN connection. It also provides a button to disconnect.
    – Gopi
    Commented Nov 8, 2013 at 9:11
  • How can we overcome above mentioned challenges?Any body have any idea on this please help me. We are doing this for an ISP not for individual users.Thanks in advance. Thanks,Gopi.
    – Gopi
    Commented Nov 11, 2013 at 8:33
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By design proxy isn't to be set system-wide, it's to be used on per-connection basis by every app individually. However it's possible to enforce the proxy on whole traffic e.g. by modifying routing table or NAT rules at OSI Layer 2 or 3; either by rooting the phone (which you don't want to) or making use of VPN (as answered by Stephen Schrauger). However you can't redirect all TCP/UDP traffic to a proxy server, there are limitations. For details see Why proxy set on Android does not work when used as hotspot?

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