Startup idea: does this privacy tool/app exist?
Over the last couple of years I've realized how much our lives are tracked online, and I really hate that.
So I've gradually added several layers of filtering on my desktop/laptop browsing : mostly UBlock Origin in the browser, a fine firewall like Little Snitch on Mac, and ProtonVPN.
I'm finding it quite hard to replicate that on mobile, or to apply it to all devices at the same time.
It would be great to have a single device that would act as a relay/router , which all my other devices would access through WiFi (or as a VPN when I'm traveling), and which would:
- allow IP/domain filtering the way Little Snitch or PiHole do it
- send all traffic through ProtonVPN so that I don't have to trust the local wifi/ISP.
It could be a dedicated device, or it could be software that would run on an old laptop or a Raspberry Pi.
Does this exist already? Or do you think there's a need for it?
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I think you could get this going by combining Tailscale and Pi-Hole. Here's a guide that I found: https://tailscale.com/kb/1114/pi-hole/
It requires some technical knowledge, though, so you might be able to sell this as a bundle.
That looks super interesting, thanks for the link @BasilPH!
Could you just add a VPN to the PiHole?
https://vpncentral.com/vpn-pi-hole/
I guess I'm not clearly seeing the value prop, versus just using something like PiHole and adding a VPN to it.
It seems like the type of audience who cares enough about a custom firewall would also know how to setup a PiHole / VPN.
Unless you think there's a layman or non-technical audience that would want this as well?
Hi @derekpankaew, the method you sent above would not work. (The article you linked is an SEO article but doesn't make a lot of practical sense)
I haven't seen online guides that actually show a configuration that allow incoming traffic to a Pi, DNS filtering on the Pi (through PiHole) and then sending outgoing traffic through VPN.
The article you sent looks like it promises that, but doesn't deliver on the promise at all, so I'm still not sure it's that easy.
I definitely think a layman, or even slightly-technical audience, could see the value in having a single filter for their traffic plus VPN encryption. I know I would :-)
Interesting that I’ve been thinking/conceptualising a solution like that… I think it’ll be a strong value proposition. Happy to connect and talk more
I've had good experiences using a paid service: https://nextdns.io/.
It's a hosted private DNS that you can configure your phone/laptop/desktop to use and block ads or malicious requests in a similar way to pihole but without the need to host yourself on a cloud server or home network with VPN.
Easy to use block lists and can handle blocking more invasive operating system level tracking as well.
(No affiliation by happy customer and it's worth the money for me)
Edit: the service can be setup at your router level for default dns for your house as well so there's not a need to configure each stationary device separately.
Source: I ran my own pihole before over a wireguard VPN but prefer to pay a small amount to have someone else run that service.
It seems funny but you can make use of it. You can also use many privacy layers if you want.
Sorry @danielhamphery , I can "make use" of what? I'm not sure I understood your comment Daniel.
https://buildyourdream2124.blogspot.com/2022/03/album-app.html
I am going to launch this Album App.
How about your opinion?
Hi @moon2124, my opinion is that you shouldn't just promote your link in threads that are not relevant. It is frowned upon here as this behaviour is akin to spam.
oh!
sorry.
This comment was deleted a year ago.