Privacy Cell vs Roaming Info
Side-by-side comparison of two open source alternatives
Privacy Cell
Privacy Cell is a small app that displays the cell phone protocol information. At the time of this writing, many cell phone networks are switching from 4G (4th Generation) to 5G networks. The 5G network protocols were specifically designed to protect against some of the known insecurities of the older protocols, including those that allowed stingrays (IMSI catchers) to perform man-in-the-middle attacks on cell phone networks. To ease deployment and backwards compatibility, 4G and 5G networks can run together in what is known as 5G NR (New Radio) NSA (Non-Standalone) mode. This uses the 4G network for the control channel and the 5G network for the data communication. However, 5G NR NSA does not provide protection against stingrays. Android has access to all the information it needs to know if it is connected to a 5G NR NSA or a 5G NR SA (Standalone) network, but it doesn’t display that information to the user. The purpose of Privacy Cell is to make that information easy to access. Privacy Cell can also warn you when you are connected to antiquated 2G and 3G networks.
Roaming Info
Displays a notification with current operator's name and in case of roaming it also shows the original SIM's operator name. If you swipe (dismiss) the notification, a new one will be displayed when a change in the conexion occurs. To remove the service from memory and avoid further notifications, just tap the notification.
| Feature | Privacy Cell | Roaming Info |
|---|---|---|
| License | GPL-3.0-or-later | Unlicense |
| Install sources | DirectF-Droid | F-DroidGitHub |
| Categories | ProductivitySMSMessaging | SMSMessaging |
| Features | Ad-FreeOpen SourceNo Tracking | Ad-FreeOpen SourceNo Tracking |
| Platforms | Android | Android |
| Website | ||
| Source code |