Help How to allow only specified web sites??

[Venkat Nori]

Hi

We're using Android based scanners. I've a requirement to block internet and allow only few named sites.

Is there a way to achieve this? I've tried NOROOT Firewall and others all of them are connecting to a vpn which I dont want.

any other solution for this??

Thanks
Venkat

 

[mikedt]

The only other way AFAIK is to modify and add the blocked URLs to the device hosts file. But you don't have access to the hosts file unless rooted. That's why Android no-root site blockers, and ad blockers, etc. always use a VPN or remote proxy to do it.

If your devices are rooted and/or you can modify the firmware, specifically the hosts file, this is the way to go.

 

[svim]

Using any firewall app as a content blocker won't work, that's not even a function of a firewall. A firewall is used to control background processes and their online access -- i.e. you can block a web browser app from any online access but content filtering is a completely different matter. (... and as a side note, the VPN service non-root firewall apps use is not an external VPN service, it's using the internal VPN service that's already included in Android itself).
Instead of attempting to re-purpose a firewall app to do something it's not intended to do, you might have more success at using a parental control app to do content blocking (like restricting access to certain web sites). There are several to look into on the Play Store, like this one:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kiddoware.kidsafebrowser