I re-downloaded app & reactivated account on an older Apple device after seeing I missed some pretty interesting & important neighborhood group posts last night, but this afternoon I wanted to make sure it was blocked it when not in use and set it up in Adguard DNS including using a specific Facebook list to block that I could turn off and on easily.

In past with split or full tunnel this would end up blocking updates on app outside of cached data that I just hadn’t seen yet and also limit most settings (app size also not bloated with cache yet like it gets after awhile), but that is not case right now with either even though everything FB related in DNS requests seem to be blocked (a few deep settings didn’t work but tried some random profiles & saw them fully along with getting all recent updates for hours). I have DoH profile set up at device level which with iOS 14 was supposed to force apps to use my selection for DoH requests instead of allowing them to use their own encryption for DNS requests (not sure on 15), but that also did not show any requests. I also set up something on Wi-Fi to catch traffic and didn’t catch any FB traffic avoiding actual dns/vpn or VPN connections, but there were attempts with FB app when active & dns/vpn had to restart connection (were named FB domains & blocked with WiFi set up but still avoided device’s DNS profile which I have only seen a few Apple domains & regular VPN apps do). Also device has no cell service at all and only connects to internet with WiFi. Just in case I also turned off private relay, and nothing changed.

After awhile I checked the app privacy report, and FB app had 12 unnamed domains contacted a lot in 12 to 16 hours after downloading app which also looked more like a VPN app connecting to various servers (but over a much shorter time period and not due changing locations or virtual servers like VPN app). No DNS record for these unnamed domains were seen on any of set up I did for DNS requests. Domains connected on every use of app while I checking this issue. These domains are also contacted when using a regular full vpn connection. They start with 185, 157, & 31 so far, and the ones I checked list Facebook in one way or another.

Will probably move to using a browser to check neighborhood group, but is Apple iOS’s VPN & DNS this leaky with apps and/or is Facebook abusing an allowed bypass for certain types of apps again and with both Apple doesn’t audit app like it should relying more on harsh words in guidelines and 3rd party reports?