I updated Avast 3 days ago. I found out that Avast allows apps to connect to the Internet even when the interface shows the firewall is enabled and the app is denied acess to the Internet on wifi, data plan and roaming.
Checking or unchecking the app block doesn’t always trigger SuperSu’s toast notification (it’s set to not prompt every time). In its current state, it’s impossible to tell the firewall will actualy block Internet connection to a given app.
The firewall is the only reason I’ve kept this app on my phone. A firewall that works sometimes is useless. It’s time to consider other options.
My specs: Samsung S3, ICS 4.0.3
App that connected to the Internet with the firewall on: Fragger. Without knowing how Avast sets the order of apps to block, it could have been any app.
Avast updated to 2.0.4400 a few days ago. All my downloaded apps are set to be blocked on wifi, data and roaming right after installation.
Until the update all apps were effectively blocked (no ads, no notifications). I kept using my apps thinking the firewall rules and status were still in effect. On the day of the update, I started getting notifications. This meant my phone number was sent out by one or more apps that are supposed to be blocked by the firewall.
I checked the suspected app status in the avast firewall and it was checked to be blocked. I unchecked it to reset its status and noticed SuperSu wouln’t show the usual toast notification (SuperSu is configured to show the toast). It’s only after checking/unchecking the Wifi and data checkboxes of the app in the firewall that SuperSu would show the toast notification.
I restarted my phone a few times and noticed SuperSu won’t always show the same toast notification on phone startup. It’s almost as if Avast didn’t request SuperSu for root access. This happened on 2 out of the 3 reboots.
Once the SuperSu toast notification appears, apps are indeed blocked.
With the latest Avast update, it seems the only way to make sure apps are effectively blocked is by forcing Avast to request root access until SuperSu displays the toast notification. How long that state remains without rebooting is unknown.
I don’t think there is a problem with SuperSu because other apps that require root access get root acess and respond as expected.