Editor's Review
Shelter is a Free and Open-Source (FOSS) app that leverages the “Work Profile” feature of Android to provide an isolated space that you can install or clone apps into.
About Shelter
Shelter (Package Name: net.typeblog.shelter) is developed by Paper Airplane Dev Team and the latest version of Shelter 1.9.1 was updated on September 28, 2020. Shelter is in the category of Tools with the feature Security & Privacy and Privacy focused, etc. You can check all apps from the developer of Shelter and find 200 alternative apps to Shelter on Android. Currently this app is for free. This app can be downloaded on Android 7.0+ on APKPure.fo or Google Play. All APK/XAPK files on APKPure.fo are original and 100% safe with fast download.
This app requires Device Admin permissions to work. If you question what it does with the permission, please read or audit the source code, you can also build from the source code on your own.
Shelter is a Free and Open-Source (FOSS) app that leverages the “Work Profile” feature of Android to provide an isolated space that you can install or clone apps into.
Shelter comes with absolutely no advertisement / statistics / tracking SDKs bundled with it. All source code is available in at https://git.angry.im/PeterCxy/Shelter or mirror https://github.com/PeterCxy/Shelter and the sources are licensed under WTFPL.
This app depends on your Android system’s implementation of Work Profile. Some vendor / custom ROMs may have a broken implementation that may cause crashes and even bricking of your device. One such example is MIUI from Xiaomi. I currently provide no support for such ROMs because I personally do not own any of these devices. If you are running Shelter on these ROMs, you are on your own. If any developer out there own these devices and could make Shelter run on these ROMs, please send pull requests and I’ll be happy to merge them.
Features / Use Cases
===
- Run apps inside the isolated profile so they cannot access your data outside the profile
- “Freeze” (disable) background-heavy or seldom-used apps when you don’t need them. This is especially true if you use apps from "some company".
- Clone apps to use two accounts on one device
Caveats
===
Shelter is not a full sandbox implementation. It cannot protect you from:
- Security bugs of the Android system or Linux kernel
- Backdoors installed in your Android system (so please use an open-source ROM if you are concerned about this)
- Backdoors installed into the firmwares (no way to work around this)
- Any other bugs or limitations imposed by the Android system.
Also, Shelter cannot create more than 1 work profile on one Android device, and cannot co-exist with any other apps that manages a Work Profile. This is due to the limitations of the Android system, and I can do nothing about this.
FAQS
===
Q: Why not use Island by OasisFeng, the creator of Greenify?
A: Simply because it is not an FOSS app and it bundles with non-free SDKs. Note that this doesn’t necessarily mean that Island has anti-features like tracking (and I don’t think it has either), it’s just that I wrote Shelter as an FOSS replacement of it. There is no other reason why one would prefer Shelter over Island except for this one.
Q: Why does Shelter always run in background?
A: Please try removing Shelter from “Recent Apps” every time you close it. If it still persists in your notifications and eating up battery, you might have encountered a bug. Please file a bug report.
Q: How do I uninstall Shelter from my device?
A: 1) Go to Settings -> Accounts to remove the work profile; 2) Go to Settings -> Security -> Advanced -> Device admin apps to remove Shelter from Device Admin apps; 3) Uninstall Shelter normally.
Q: If I encounter bugs, how do I report them?
A: You could file an issue on either the main repository at https://git.angry.im/PeterCxy/Shelter or the mirror repository at https://github.com/PeterCxy/Shelter. Please include your system information as well as a logcat if possible.
Shelter is a Free and Open-Source (FOSS) app that leverages the “Work Profile” feature of Android to provide an isolated space that you can install or clone apps into.
Shelter comes with absolutely no advertisement / statistics / tracking SDKs bundled with it. All source code is available in at https://git.angry.im/PeterCxy/Shelter or mirror https://github.com/PeterCxy/Shelter and the sources are licensed under WTFPL.
This app depends on your Android system’s implementation of Work Profile. Some vendor / custom ROMs may have a broken implementation that may cause crashes and even bricking of your device. One such example is MIUI from Xiaomi. I currently provide no support for such ROMs because I personally do not own any of these devices. If you are running Shelter on these ROMs, you are on your own. If any developer out there own these devices and could make Shelter run on these ROMs, please send pull requests and I’ll be happy to merge them.
Features / Use Cases
===
- Run apps inside the isolated profile so they cannot access your data outside the profile
- “Freeze” (disable) background-heavy or seldom-used apps when you don’t need them. This is especially true if you use apps from "some company".
- Clone apps to use two accounts on one device
Caveats
===
Shelter is not a full sandbox implementation. It cannot protect you from:
- Security bugs of the Android system or Linux kernel
- Backdoors installed in your Android system (so please use an open-source ROM if you are concerned about this)
- Backdoors installed into the firmwares (no way to work around this)
- Any other bugs or limitations imposed by the Android system.
Also, Shelter cannot create more than 1 work profile on one Android device, and cannot co-exist with any other apps that manages a Work Profile. This is due to the limitations of the Android system, and I can do nothing about this.
FAQS
===
Q: Why not use Island by OasisFeng, the creator of Greenify?
A: Simply because it is not an FOSS app and it bundles with non-free SDKs. Note that this doesn’t necessarily mean that Island has anti-features like tracking (and I don’t think it has either), it’s just that I wrote Shelter as an FOSS replacement of it. There is no other reason why one would prefer Shelter over Island except for this one.
Q: Why does Shelter always run in background?
A: Please try removing Shelter from “Recent Apps” every time you close it. If it still persists in your notifications and eating up battery, you might have encountered a bug. Please file a bug report.
Q: How do I uninstall Shelter from my device?
A: 1) Go to Settings -> Accounts to remove the work profile; 2) Go to Settings -> Security -> Advanced -> Device admin apps to remove Shelter from Device Admin apps; 3) Uninstall Shelter normally.
Q: If I encounter bugs, how do I report them?
A: You could file an issue on either the main repository at https://git.angry.im/PeterCxy/Shelter or the mirror repository at https://github.com/PeterCxy/Shelter. Please include your system information as well as a logcat if possible.
Read More
Previous Versions More
Shelter
1.6-google
APK
September 30, 2020
1.8 MB
Requires Android: Android 7.0+
Screen DPI: 120-640dpi
SHA1: ee95f64228215ae4fb262594e69f5b4c50a169e5
Size: 1.8 MB
What's New:
- Added support for Android 11
- Allows blocking contacts access across profile boundary
- More translations; you can now participate in translating Shelter at https://weblate.typeblog.net
- For the full changelog, please see https://cgit.typeblog.net/Shelter/tree/CHANGELOG.md
- Allows blocking contacts access across profile boundary
- More translations; you can now participate in translating Shelter at https://weblate.typeblog.net
- For the full changelog, please see https://cgit.typeblog.net/Shelter/tree/CHANGELOG.md
Shelter
1.5.1
APK
August 7, 2020
1.7 MB
Requires Android: Android 7.0+
Screen DPI: 120-640dpi
SHA1: 9a184c3439dd7597b41c12ac36643773bb641a4c
Size: 1.7 MB
What's New:
Shelter is now back in business! In this version I have fixed most of the annoying bugs, and new features / Android 11 support will be in development soon.
1. Fixed cloning support for apps with split apks (e.g. WhatsApp from Play Store)
2. Fixed the installation / cloning process being stuck sometimes
3. Added a reminder in the initial setup screen about disabling Do Not Disturb before setting up Shelter (only in en_US and zh_CN)
1. Fixed cloning support for apps with split apks (e.g. WhatsApp from Play Store)
2. Fixed the installation / cloning process being stuck sometimes
3. Added a reminder in the initial setup screen about disabling Do Not Disturb before setting up Shelter (only in en_US and zh_CN)
Shelter
1.5
APK
February 18, 2020
1.52 MB
Requires Android: Android 7.0+
Screen DPI: 120-640dpi
SHA1: 00594200c1d8c38dfcdc58ce00bed275640bb8c2
Size: 1.52 MB
What's New:
Initial support for Android Q (10). This version may have also fixed the setup on some Huawei / Xiaomi devices, but there is no guarantee that it would work.
Note that the initialization process has changed. The app will show a notification that you should click on during initialization. If it is not clicked, the initialization process cannot finish.
Please also be aware that FileShuttle isn't currently available on Android 10. It needs a total rework, which I do not currently have time to do.
Note that the initialization process has changed. The app will show a notification that you should click on during initialization. If it is not clicked, the initialization process cannot finish.
Please also be aware that FileShuttle isn't currently available on Android 10. It needs a total rework, which I do not currently have time to do.
Shelter
1.4.1
APK
March 11, 2019
1.45 MB
Requires Android: Android 7.0+
Screen DPI: 120-640dpi
SHA1: 0ecdd42fb132c3bb7818a8d9ad154ece46c0e79a
Size: 1.45 MB
What's New:
- Fixed crashes (Shelter cannot detect work profile) on some devices introduced by the last release
More Information
Package Name:
Update Date:
2020-09-28
Latest Version:
1.9.1
Need Update:
Requirements:
Android 7.0+
Report: