u/GameArchitech

App Name: Snaphook

What it does: Runs in the background and monitors nearby cell towers, flagging suspicious ones that refuse to identify themselves. Also scans your SMS locally for phishing attempts without sending anything out.

Key Features:

• Detects fake cell towers and tells you which tower you're connected to
• Scans SMS for phishing on your phone, nothing leaves your device
• Reports potential fake towers anonymously to a community map

Goal: Testing

Giveaway: DM me your Gmail and I'll add you to the Play Store beta

Link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gerant.snaphook

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So I've been noticing something weird with my phone's signal for a while whenever I'm in some specific spot in a mall nearby. You won't notice it while using FB or IG since videos would still play partially, but if you are using YouTube or online games, you'll notice your phone would appear to be disconnected from the internet.

Turns out there's a fake cell tower nearby and my phone automatically connects to the tower with the strongest signal. And after a few minutes, I will receive some phishing SMS.

I got tired and built an app for it. It's called Snaphook. It runs in the background of your phone and:

• Reviews nearby cell towers and tells you which one you're connected to
• Flags suspicious towers with no identity or unknown towers not in any database
• Scans your recent SMS for phishing attempts entirely on your phone, nothing gets sent out
• Reports potential fake towers anonymously to a community map
• Advises you to switch to airplane mode if it thinks you're connected to a fake one

App Permissions:

• Phone: To review signal and towers nearby
• SMS: To assess phishing SMS locally in your phone. This is optional and nothing is sent out.
• Location: Approx. location only to report potential location of fake towers.

No registration, no login, completely anonymous, and free. Still in beta so looking for people to test it across different areas. Especially if you often encounter phishing SMS.

DM me your Gmail if interested and I'll add you to the Play Store beta. Drop a comment if you have suggestions, still early days and would love to hear what features would actually be useful. Unfortunately, I prefer to not discuss the algorithm here as fake towers may adjust how they operate to avoid detection.