Downgrading RethinkDNS

rainforest

RethinkDNS was recently updated several times. Unfortunately the newer versions are more
instable as the "old" one of Jul. 2024.
I deinstalled the newest version I had installed after I backup the settings via the app itsself.
But installing the older version failed.
I tried
adb install -d <RethinkDNS-App>
and got this:
Failure [INSTALL_FAILED_VERSION_DOWNGRADE: Downgrade detected: Update version code 45 is older than current 30000049]

Since I deinstalled Rethink beforehand I don't understand the error message.
Additionally: While doing so my Pixel 6a became quite warm (it was in Airplane mode), which is unusual.

I am at the newest patchlevel.
Any ideas, how I can downgrade RethinkDNS to a less error prone version?
What pulls that much amperage from the battery and causes the warming up?

Cheers!
Rainforest

Dumdum

rainforest Any ideas, how I can downgrade RethinkDNS to a less error prone version?

Yes. Install an older version via an APK from the Github releases instead of using adb.

ignoramous

rainforest RethinkDNS was recently updated several times. Unfortunately the newer versions are more instable

That's what we get for accruing a year worth code changes without releasing it. 🥶

v055r, the next version due today/tomorrow, hopefully gets rid of most if not all of that instability.

froggy4711

rainforest
Did you have any trouble with restoring the backup of a newer RethinkDNS version into the older version?
I didn't dare so far ...

rainforest

That does not work.
After giving the "OK" to install the app with network permission a dialog pops up
saying:
App not installed as package appears to be invalid.
(The package is ok, since I installed it the same way as it was the newest release back in Jun.2024)

How can I get out of this?

n3t_admin

it sounds like you have RethinkDNS still installed in some other user profile/work profile/private space.
Make sure that it's uninstalled globally.

rainforest

Oh yeah! That helps a lot! Thanks!

Cheers
Rainforest

phone-company

ignoramous thank you.... Still try to understand the whole function :)

chinook

ignoramous uh, it's still terrible in terms of stability (stops working several times within one hour of using phone normally (I even added the persistent notification hoping it would improve it) - I'm on 0.5.5q (maybe I should go back to v0.5.5n, it was stable; q is listed as pre-release)

froggy4711 v0.5.5n always crashes after restoring backup from 0.5.5q

ignoramous

chinook 0.5.5q (maybe I should go back to v0.5.5n, it was stable; q is listed as pre-release

On some Android versions, "Block connections without VPN" doesn't work with v055q, on some it does (like on our test devices running Android 13/14). This is one reason it has been hard to track down and fix it as the root-cause is elusive (and feels like, one or multiple bugs in various Android versions have been triggered by code in v055o onwards).

Though, from what I'm hearing from folks who reported issues over email or GitHub is v055r and v055t work just fine, where previously, v055q / v055p / v055o didn't.

froggy4711 Did you have any trouble with restoring the backup of a newer RethinkDNS version into the older version?

This is not supported, it won't work. There's multiple open GitHub issues to make this possible, but it isn't trivial. Let's see.

user

chinook

You could try the latest pre-release 5.5t
https://github.com/celzero/rethink-app/releases

chinook

user thanks, maybe another time when I have some more time ;)

ignoramous thanks, I'm using the latest Android 16 as I'm running GoS on this handset ;D Thanks for the assurance, I'll probably try in a couple of weeks.

BTW, thanks for the brilliant app - RethinkDNS + upstream wg tunnel hits the spot for me. Overall it feels better than AdGuard that I used on my old phone.

marq2

@ignoramous

is it possible to do something about Android Auto not working with VPN?

ignoramous

marq2 possible to do something about Android Auto

Not unless we explicitly test and see why it is failing. But my guess is, especially if it is doing WiFi P2P stuff or IP multicast / broadcast etc, it'll probably never work with a VPN (as APIs on Android are very limited to support those usecases).

marq2

ignoramous

thanks. just to be clear, i did not mean "real" vpn but rethinkdns' vpn. i currently stop rethinkdns every time i want to use android auto. i get error 21 like in this article described:

https://www.comparitech.com/blog/use-a-vpn-with-android-auto/

Some VPN clients like ExpressVPN are able to do tunnel splitting. I tried excluding Android Auto in rethinkdns, but without success. Probably correct solution would be to exclude fully AndroidAuto from rethinkdn filtering

ignoramous

marq2 just to be clear, i did not mean "real" vpn but rethinkdns' vpn.

I see what you're saying, but as far as networking APIs apps use ... on Android, there's not much difference between a public VPN (like Windscribe/Mullvad) or a private VPN (like Tailscale/Innernet) or a local VPN (like Rethink/NetGuard).

marq2 ExpressVPN are able to do tunnel splitting. I tried excluding Android Auto in rethinkdns, but without success. Probably correct solution would be to exclude fully AndroidAuto from rethinkdn filtering

Rethink supports split-tunneling too. You can "Exclude" (that's what its called in the English version of the app) Android Auto (from Configure -> Apps) if you are not running Rethink in Android 10+'s "Block connections without VPN" (aka VPN Lockdown mode), enabled by default on Graphene, iirc.

n3t_admin

ignoramous enabled by default on Graphene, iirc.

I think it's not enabled by default, but most users choose to run it that way since it's the general recommendation to prevent leaks.

GrapheneOS

VPN lockdown is enabled by default when adding a VPN on GrapheneOS since a while ago.

ignoramous

GrapheneOS VPN lockdown is enabled by default when adding a VPN

A good default!

Can Graphene make changes to also route localhost / lo traffic into VPNs? This will help with scenarios like Yandex/Meta app2browser bridges.