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Twitter not being blocked on iOS

I have NextDNS installed with a configuration profile on an iOS device and have set up Twitter to be blocked. However, the blocking does not seem to work. Bot in Safari and the Twitter app Twitter is available.

10 replies

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    • Nick_Name
    • 2 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Just to add some information: running iOS 15.3.1 . When I enable logs and go to Twitter nothing appears

    • Hey
    • 2 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    I don't know about iOS but running the app on Android and it seems like they don't need DNS for basic tweets and messages to function. For me, using the Twitter option on parental controls blocks, images, videos and profile pictures that are from their CDNs and that's probably why they do a lookup. Seems like they either bypass or hard code all the other connections.

    So it still brakes functionality but doesn't really block it completely.

    I'd say doing a search for something or clearing the apps cache should show similar results on your end.

    Overall, if they are getting past DNS, there is nothing to do really.

      • Nick_Name
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      I reinstalled the Twitter app but the issue persists. For me everything works including images and videos.

      • Hey
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Nick Name I'd say that they are probably either bypassing it through some sort of a proxy or having the IPs hardcoded. There really isn't much a DNS can do since the app isn't using DNS lookups.

      • Hey
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Nick Name Hopefully another iOS user confirms this but I'd say it would be a logical guess as they are made by the same company so using a bypass at one app would probably apply to the other.

      To explain why this is the case, NextDNS or other DNS services answer questions. An app or browser asks, where is YouTube, where is Twitter, Instagram etc and the DNS says here is let's say Instagram. It's a bit more complex but in basic terms it asks a question and receives an answer. What happens when it's blocked is, the App asking for the direction to the site doesn't get an answer, DNS simply says it doesn't exist. That's how Ads are blocked for the most part. What some apps do is bypass that entire process and have the "answer" IP address inside their app, so it's connected directly instead of using DNS.

      Since you're saying that Tiwtter doesn't show up on the logs, I'd think that its doing somthing similar.

      • iOS Developer
      • Rob
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      I did not block Twitter, but I did check its traffic using Proxyman on my iPhone (running iOS 15.3.1) and I see request to these Twitter domains:

      • api-*.twitter.com
      • *.twimg.com
      • *.t.co

      I do see the same domains in my NextDNS logs.

      But I don't see any requests to hardcoded IP's in Proxyman's log.

      • Pro subscriber ✓
      • DynamicNotSlow
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Rob on iOS you can use iOS privacy report which also can list IPs

      • iOS Developer
      • Rob
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      DynamicNotSlow  Indeed (I forgot about that), but I see the same domains and again no IP addresses.

      • Hey
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Rob Interesting, for me on Android even when all the domain lookups are blocked, it connects without a problem. It simply blocks images, videos and pfps and makes it less usable but seems like Twitter gets through DNS when it's blocked.

      • Pro subscriber ✓
      • DynamicNotSlow
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Hey sounds like hardcoded DNS, at least as fallback. 
      That may the reason why no IPs are listed in logs. 

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