LinkGuard 0.4.0

LinkGuard 0.4.0 checks links it used to miss, explains warnings better and adds tools for checking a link before you trust it. It also adds five global languages, partner confirmations and managed settings for organisations.

Install or update

• Updating from an earlier version: download linkguard-0.4.0-foss.apk below and open it. It installs over the old version, and LinkGuard stays your default browser.
• New install: open the APK (allow "Install unknown apps"), then open LinkGuard → Set as default browser.

Android 8+.

What's new

• More links are checked. Google Messages, Gmail and other apps that open links in Custom Tabs used to send them straight to Chrome. LinkGuard now checks them too.
• Check with LinkGuard in the share sheet. Share a whole message to see a verdict for every link in it, including wa.me, t.me and UPI payment links. The message never leaves your phone.
• Closer look at UPI requests. Automatic-payment mandates, and payee names that use a brand like SBI while the money goes to someone else, now get the strong warning. The payment card shows the payee, the UPI ID and the amount the Indian way (₹1,25,000).
• Check what this app can do. On an app-download warning, one tap lists in plain words what the app could do on your phone (read your SMS and OTPs, control your phone, …). The file is deleted straight after and never installed.
• Look without opening. On a Be careful warning, you can see that one page in a locked view first: no JavaScript, nothing you type is sent, no downloads, and it closes after a minute.
• Listen reads the warning aloud with your phone's own voice, in LinkGuard's language.
• Better warnings:
  • When a warned link came by SMS, the warning says so.
  • When a bank or telecom fraud team confirmed a scam, the warning names them: "Confirmed as a scam by …".
  • Websites that are part of a group of scam websites get the strong warning.
• After Go back on a fake bank or brand website, LinkGuard tells you that brand's real website.
• Learned on this phone:
  • A website you said was fine no longer gets the mild warning.
  • A fake of a bank or app you use often gets a stronger warning.
  • Both are kept only on the phone as scrambled fingerprints, and you can clear them in Settings.
• For organisations: device-management consoles can set websites to warn about, websites to trust, and keep all checks on. A website the organisation listed gets the strong warning, which still offers Open anyway.
• Five global languages: Chinese (Simplified), Spanish, Arabic, French and Portuguese (Brazil), alongside English and India's 22 scheduled languages.
• Fixed: on Android 15 and newer, the keyboard no longer hides Send report, and every screen draws correctly edge to edge.

Privacy

• Check what this app can do and Look without opening contact the link's website, so they run only when you tap them, never by themselves.
• Learned on this phone is never backed up or sent anywhere.
• Managed settings from your organisation stay on the phone.
• Messages you share to LinkGuard stay on the phone; only the links in them are checked, the same way as a tapped link.
• Everything else is unchanged: LinkGuard never logs, stores or sends the links you open. Policy: https://dwarpallabs.com/linkguard/privacy

Known limitations (why this is still a pre-release)

• All languages except English are machine-translated; corrections welcome
• On Android 8–12, LinkGuard can only use a language your phone itself can be set to
• Links opened inside an app's own built-in browser, or by apps that name Chrome directly, never reach LinkGuard

Verify the download

• SHA-256 of the APK: bd6cfa4d5b8c9325ac6d8b16ff3d8669d27e3de9ea1386c5ff1860619b22c2bd (also in linkguard-0.4.0-foss.apk.sha256)
• Signing certificate (Dwarpal Labs) SHA-256: 3b7a7bc8b029e60667a269c9298067f64922f79ec6e8e1ebbf69569795405cee (same as earlier releases)

apksigner verify --print-certs linkguard-0.4.0-foss.apk