Lesser Known Mobile Adtech Domains Where Data Is Sent

Posted4 months agoActive4 months ago

ddxv

107 points

24 comments

jamesoclaire.comTech Discussionstory

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AdtechMobile PrivacyData-Privacy

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Adtech

Mobile Privacy

Data-Privacy

Delving into the world of mobile adtech, a recent blog post uncovered lesser-known domains where user data is sent, sparking a lively discussion on the intricacies of mobile advertising. Commenters chimed in with their own discoveries, such as unity3d.com, which operates an ad network called Unity Ads, and shared tips on how to log API calls from Android apps using tools like pcapdroid. The conversation also touched on Unity's history with adtech, with some pointing out its acquisition of Applifier in 2014, long before its merger with ironSource in 2022. As users exchanged information and resources, the thread revealed the complexity and opacity of the mobile adtech ecosystem.

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Aug 28, 2025 at 1:30 AM EDT
4 months ago
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4 months ago
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Discussion (24 comments)

Showing 24 comments

ddxvAuthor

4 months ago

2 replies

Just wanted to share a quick blog about figuring out who owns the lesser known adtech domains since most of these I couldn't find anything about when I did quick searches.

If you found this interesting, let me know!

qingcharles

4 months ago

2 replies

Good info!

What's the best way to log the API calls from an Android app? I want to document the undocumented API calls the Reddit app makes.

ddxvAuthor

4 months ago

1 reply

You can follow my tutorial here: https://github.com/ddxv/mobile-network-traffic

Overview: I use Waydroid + MITM

Feel free to contact me for a call if you need help. Additionally, I'll scan the Reddit app, the new API calls should show up in a day or two on AppGoblin: https://appgoblin.info/apps/com.reddit.frontpage/data-flows

You can see some of the SDKs Reddit's Android app uses from a decompile in October 2024: https://appgoblin.info/apps/com.reddit.frontpage/sdks

Let me know if there was something specific to look for for the API calls, usually I don't interact with the app, but I can do it manually if there is something interesting to check out.

Happy to share the raw MITM logs with you as well.

qingcharles

4 months ago

Thank you so much!

adithyassekhar

4 months ago

Without root, pcapdroid might work.

6LLvveMx2koXfwn

4 months ago

1 reply

Just an FYI your link to this conversation actually goes to: https: //appgoblin.info/apps/com.adidas.app/sdks

ddxvAuthor

4 months ago

Thanks, my bad, will fix.

netsharc

4 months ago

1 reply

I've started noticing unity3d.com, I thought it was a game... oh, nope, they also operate an ad network called Unity Ads, I guess they like their reputation!

miohtama

4 months ago

1 reply

It's spyware they acquired some time ago, discussed here

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44334167

anttiharju

4 months ago

Unity Ads have been a thing long before (2014) ironSource merger (2022)

https://unity.com/news/unity-technologies-acquire-applifier-...

https://unity.com/blog/news/welcome-ironsource

politelemon

4 months ago

1 reply

Nice work on the author to do this digging. Thanks for sharing it.

marketingcloudapis.com has namesevers on salesforce.com and I see it in their documentation too, so it's Salesforce integration?

https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/marketing/marketing-cl...

ddxvAuthor

4 months ago

1 reply

Wow! That's it! Docs match and each app has a SalesForce SDK as well: https://appgoblin.info/apps/com.adidas.app/sdks

Did you just search that and find it or did you recognize it? I tried searching but not sure what I was missing.

PS: I'll update the article to say it's Salesforce and give you a shoutout, thanks again!

tux3

4 months ago

1 reply

Nit: You updated the wrong line in your table at the end!

ddxvAuthor

4 months ago

Well that was a good nit, fixed.

DownGoat

4 months ago

2 replies

Would be interesting to snatch one of these domains should the ever be available. If the author has a list of the domains 40k different apps called, there must be some requests going out to domains that are no longer registered.

mxuribe

4 months ago

1 reply

So, the mischievous part of my brain is activated....what could be done with such domain names? :-)

DownGoat

4 months ago

Depends a lot on what they were used for. Maybe they are downloading some HTML to render in a view, images, icons or other assets, or just posting some form of telemetry.

ddxvAuthor

4 months ago

That's pretty interesting! I was surprised how many domains like this show up as fairly recent registrations.

usernomdeguerre

4 months ago

1 reply

qa-analytics.com's oldest entry in Internet archive redirects to www.qwickanalytics.com, so not sure if that domain changed hands?

ddxvAuthor

4 months ago

Given it's sending an internal Unity app id it must have become available and later purchased. It looks like qwickanalytics still exists and is selling analytics for bankers, so unlikely it's working so closely with a game engine?

ectospheno

4 months ago

This is the first site I’ve encountered that caused Obsidian Web Clipper to fail.

raffael_de

4 months ago

Seems like none of those 8 domains is denied by my Pi-hole :/ Added them manually but I'd prefer to rely on Pi-holes blacklists.

noja

4 months ago

Reminder that a website you are visiting may be proxying your data to the adtech company through their services a domain.

Check out the Facebook Conversions API Gateway.

mmsc

4 months ago

It'd be nice to have a feature in uBlock origin where you can block certain websites' ip addresses, with a requirement to re-resolve the ip address every few days to ensure the ip hasn't been rotated (blocking unnecessary websites due to the cache).

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