[AdGuard for Android] Beta build 3.2.98 breaks Sky Go app.

[Pentlands]

Hi,

As the subject line suggests, the latest Android Beta build is stopping the Sky Go app from working/playing videos.

i.e. Though the app loads okay the problem surfaces when a programme or movie is selected to play, it simply stops at an error screen when the movie or programme should start playing.

Uunfortunately i can't screen capture the error message because Sky have disabled that function in their app, i doubt it'd be of much use any way.

FYI, the only ads that i've ever seen in the Sky Go app are immediatelly before a programme plays (no pop-ups, adverts in TV style only... i.e. mini video's, if that makes sense?) and only run for a minute or so before the 'main event' starts.

I see this on my Samsung Galaxy S8+ phone and my Amazon Fire HD 10 tablet.

A simple workaround that works is to turn off AdGuard Protection in AdGuard's App Management for the Sky Go app.

cf: What is Sky Go?... Sky are a Satellite TV supplier in the UK and Sky Go is their online catch up etc product:
https://www.sky.com/shop/tv/sky-go/

Apologies if this is a known issue.

 

[Blaz]

Please check filtering log for blocked requests when the issue happens. Without a login I cannot check it myself sadly.

 

[Pentlands]

I cleared my log, re-enabled AdGuard protection for the app and tried again... there's plentyy i'm sure will be useful but how do i save the log so i can post it here?

 

[Pentlands]

A quick count suggests there are at least 30 blocked requests, possibly as many as 40

 

[Pentlands]

BTW, i'm trying this on my Galaxy S8+ phone

 

[Blaz]

Try manually unblocking the top ones until you find the problematic one ( only the ones which belong to Sky App).

 

[Pentlands]

Blimey! That will take some time to work through!

Blocked entries are:

I'm seeing one ssl-google.analytics.com entry at 21:04:17
Followed by 34 (at least!) entries for bskyb.demdex.net between 21:04:17 & 21:04:24
Then an entry for 604fc.v.fwmrm.net at 21:04:32

There are other Google Analytics entries but i'm not sure if they're relevent because their timing's are two minutes later so don't fit the timescale when i cleared the log and tried again.

If there is no option to save/extract this information to file perhaps this needs to be looked at in the future.

I'll work my way through each of the entries and get back to you, it won't be tonight though.

Thanks.

 

[Pentlands]

I've now had time to try unblocking the blocked Sky App entries (surprisingly easier than i thought it would be) so that they are whitelisted and no longer blocked but the issue remains, i.e. the App works as expected until i try to play a movie or programme, the App stops at an error message.

FYI, bskyb.demdex.net is apparently now dpm.demdex.net because the bskyb variant is not seen at all since i first reported this, and where the dpm variant wasn't there before it is now.

To put that another way: dpm.demdex.net & 604fc.v.fwmrm.net are now whitelisted and there are NO other entries being blocked that belong to the Sky App.

Any other thoughts?

 

[Blaz]

If HTTPS is enabled for the app, please disable it.

 

[Pentlands]

HTTPS is not enabled, if an attempt is made to enable it AdGuard flags a pop-up Warning saying:
"This app does not trust user certificates, so HTTPS filtering can break its secure connections."

For that reason i have avoided trying to over-ride the AdGuard warning.

 

[Pentlands]

A quick heads-up, i thought i'd try playing around with the Sky Go app settings in AdGuard's "App Management".

If i leave "AdGuard protection" enabled and disable only "Ad blocking" then the app works as it should...

Not sure if that helps but i thought i should mention it.

 

[Pentlands]

As no further comment appears to be the best advice offered i guess i'll just leave Ad Blocking for SkyGo disabled and carry on.

 

[Boo Berry]

It's might one of those instances where ad blocking will break the app, so filtering would have to be disabled.

 

[Pentlands]

Apologies for the long delay in replying... i'm surprised that that should be an acceptable solution "It might be one of those instances...".

For years AdGuard and Sky Go worked hand in hand... now sadly they do not.

Something changed, sadly i don't have the skills to understand what, all i can do is flag the issue and try and find a workaround in the hope that someone else can confirm they have the same issue so that the issue can be investigated and resolved.

That Sky TV is a subscription only satelitte tv suppier, that also doesn't help.

There are almost 10 million Sky TV subscibers in the UK, surely releasing a flawed Beta version as a stable release onto an unsuspecting public is not a good idea?

Not all 10M will use AdGuard, and not all will be privvy to Sky's SkyGo catchup service, but many might... should this not be investigated more thoroughly?