Pixel Tablet with GOS contacting android.clients.google.com

DontTrackMeBro

I have a brand new Pixel Tablet that I've installed GrapheneOS on.

When inspecting my AdGuard Home logs, I see the Pixel Tablet is periodically making calls to android.clients.google.com.

I've started disabling suspected apps (I haven't installed many) in an attempt to determine who/what/where is making this call. So far, disabling the suspected apps has not stopped it.

I do not have sandboxed Google Play Services insalled.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

23Sha-ger

Some apps, actually many, ping it for notifications even if you don't have GPS installed.
You will probably see mtalk.google.com and *.googleapis.com as well.

DontTrackMeBro

So it turns out it was the Aurora Store app.

Someone elsewhere recommended using the Rethink DNS app (available on F-Droid) for on-device DNS logging, and sure enough it worked.

If you ever need to track down an app that's making unwanted DNS requests, Rethink is pretty handy.