How to hide Charles from an Android App?

Question

I have configured Charles as a proxy so I can capture all the requests on my android phone.

I am able to capture requests from all apps except one special app. When I set my wifi's proxy to my computer and port 8888, this app can not connect to network. While other apps connect fine at the same time.

I have tried using Packet Capture too and the behaviour is the same.

So my question is how does this app know I am using Charles? And is there any way to hide Charles from it?

`how does this app know I am using Charles` how do we know of how does the app know? Ask the app's developer, or reverse-engineer the app. — Vladyslav Matviienko, May 18 '17 at 07:29
`If I can` - what makes you not to `can`? have you tried (reverse-engineering)? — Vladyslav Matviienko, May 18 '17 at 08:51
@VladMatvienko I mean if there is an existed technology that can be used in Android to know if there is a Charles? — Kingname, May 18 '17 at 08:51
no, there is no technology. I'm sure that the app doesn't know that you are using charles, it just doesn't work through a proxy. — Vladyslav Matviienko, May 18 '17 at 08:52
If I can reverse-engineering, then I do. I say it is a special app, because it is a program in wechat which is a chat tool in China. — Kingname, May 18 '17 at 08:53
Please don't append _solved_ to the title. You can mark an answer as accepted which will tell others that the question has been solved. Thanks. — Bugs, Jul 14 '17 at 09:19

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered May 18 '17 at 07:56

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Have you setup the Charles ssl certificate on the android device? It could be that the app is rejecting Charles' self signed certificate.

Look here for details on how to set it up -> https://community.tealiumiq.com/t5/Tealium-for-Android/Setting-up-Charles-to-Proxy-your-Android-Device/ta-p/5121

answered May 18 '17 at 07:56

Colwin

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And all requests of other app can be captured. So I think it is out of certificate's business. – Kingname May 18 '17 at 08:48
As what you said, the root reason is belong to the certificate. When I upgrade Charles, the old certificate will not be replaced by the latest one, I have to remove it from mac's key chains and reinstall it. – Kingname Jul 14 '17 at 09:16

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 14 '17 at 09:15

I have found the problem. When I upgrade Charles, the certificate will not update automatically. It means that I have to remove the old certificate from mac's Key chains and then reinstall the latest one and then believe it. If not, all HTTPS requests methods will become "CONNECT" method and it will always failed.

If you have the same problem, please try to remove the old certificate and reinstall the latest one both in mac and phone. Hope you can solve the problem.

How to hide Charles from an Android App?

2 Answers2