Connecting to multiple Google domains

Volen

Hi guys,

I noticed that my phone connects to literally hundreds of Google and Maps domains (google.* (basically every country domain you can imagine), maps.google.* (basically every country domain you can imagine).

Is this expected?

To troubleshoot, I disabled all 3rd party apps (including Google Services), leaving only stock apps but the phone still makes these connections. Google Services do not have Network access in my main profile, only in Work profile (which is also disabled).

Can disabled apps still make connection requests?

Really keen to narrow this down. Thanks.

f13a-6c3a

Volen

https://grapheneos.org/usage#app-link-verification

Volen

matchboxbananasynergy

f13a-6c3a

Folks, this is not App Link verification because:

It is turned off on my device + the Intent Filter Verification Service has Network access revoked
The phone specifically connects to multiple google domains, for example:

google.com
google.uk
google.tw.
google.ch
google.ch
google.fr
etc, etc, etc.

maps.google.com
maps.google.uk
maps.google.fr
maps.google.ch
etc, etc, etc.

So its specifically connects to Google domains, no other domains, which also indicates that its not App Verification Link

matchboxbananasynergy

As @f13a-6c3a indicated, the connections you're seeing are part of app link verification.

If you want to stop these connections from being made, please refer to the documentation.

https://grapheneos.org/usage#app-link-verification

If you don't want automatic app link verification, you can disable the Network permission added by GrapheneOS for the Intent Filter Verification Service system app. In the future, we may provide a way to disable verification directly instead of stopping it from working. It will make heavily throttled attempts to verify a domain after the check failed which won't negatively impact battery life due to the conservative JobScheduler-based implementation.

You should always prefer robust solutions over firewalls like NetGuard. The Network permission is very robust. If you don't want an app to have network access, use that.

GrapheneOS

This is app link verification. GrapheneOS doesn't connect to those at all itself. Please read the documentation available at https://grapheneos.org/faq#default-connections and https://grapheneos.org/features#network-permission-toggle. Permissions are per-profile including for system components that are per-profile.

GrapheneOS

NetGuard is off-topic for this thread. It's not at all needed to block network access from apps. Our Network permission toggle does strictly more than NetGuard is able to do. It's not useful if you're only using it for that functionality.

Conjure6589

Kinda random but do you have OsmAnd+ maps installed? I once had a very similar issue with random google domains in different countries and it turned out it was from that app.

Volen

Conjure6589

Nah only Google Maps installed but it seems it is causing the issues (even though its disabled most of the times).

I need to do some experiments but sadly Android resets some of thw permissions on reboot (a known AOSP issue) so might do it on next system update.

GraphyGraphy

Same here. Link-verification for OsmAnd or another Maps-App could be accountable for that.
Deinstalling OsmAnd solved it for me. After reinstalling OsmAnd the problem did not came up again on my phone so far.

Volen

GraphyGraphy

Thanks for this - seems to be applicable for me (I have Google Maps installed but disabled link association for it).

Such a shame there is no real Google Maps alternative with reviews of nearby places.

f13a-6c3a

Volen (even though its disabled most of the times)

From what I read, it does not matter for app link verification if an app is enabled or disabled as it will verify its domains regardless.

Volen

f13a-6c3a

Yes, it seems thats the case.

I don't mind it doing it as long as its anonymous (and its seens to be, according to documentation)