Blocking Facebook Messenger
Hi experts, just want to ask if I can possibly block facebook messenger? I recently block all the social network using OpenDns and its all blocking, but the facebook messenger wasn't block. Any help would appreciated.
Thanks.
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You have flushed browser and local resolver caches after blocking Social Networking?
Chat and/or Instant Messaging categories may apply here. You may investigate your stats for related domains to block.
If this is an app, then it may not use DNS at all when connecting to the server for this facebook messenger.
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No matter, one has to find out if the application uses DNS, and if so, what domains are being queried. If you're lazy, you leave this reseach to other people, if not, you do it yourself.
As maintenance said, your OpenDNS domain stats is a good starting point. If you want to catch it more precisely, you'll want to use a sniffer like http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/dns_query_sniffer.html
This exactly shows in real-time what domains are being queried.But to make your life easier, these are the domains being queried when using the Facebook Messenger for Windows:
www.facebook.com
orcart.facebook.com
fbstatic-a.akamaihd.net
api.facebook.com
orcart.facebook.com
fbexternal-a.akamaihd.net
fbcdn-profile-a.akamaihd.net
graph.facebook.comAs far as I can see, these are exactly the same domains as queried when using the Facebook Chat with a browser. That said, you are out of luck with blocking the messenger without blocking most of Facebook.
Whatever, you may want to block fbcdn-dragon-a.akamaihd.net which is where the messenger is downloaded from. If it cannot be downloaded, it can't be installed and run.
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How can I block Facebook Messenger apps on an iPod or Android? I managed to block Facebook itself after certain hours, but messenger is still available - as is another messaging program (Message Me). These should be come under "social networking" or "Live chat", but somehow have slipped through the net and I would like to know how to resolve this.
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No need to copy & paste. I read it, but unfortunately it was just jargon to me.
Perhaps I posted in the wrong forum; I use the Netgear Parental Tools which do not have options for customising. I don't want to permanently block Facebook Messenger, I only want to block it at certain times, just like I do with Facebook.
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"I read it, but unfortunately it was just jargon to me."
Then this is what you should have written, including what exactly you don't understand and needs more explanation.
"Perhaps I posted in the wrong forum; I use the Netgear Parental Tools"
Yes, you better posted in the Netgear Live Parental Controls support forum. The questions and answers above were related to OpenDNS Home. And it was about blocking the Facebook Messenger without blocking Facebook as a whole.
"I use the Netgear Parental Tools which do not have options for customising."
This is definitely not true. Your dashboard for LPC is (only) at https://netgear.opendns.com/
"I don't want to permanently block Facebook Messenger, I only want to block it at certain times, just like I do with Facebook."
Scheduled blocking of individual domains is not possible with LPC. You can block only categories by time. For Facebook and probably their Messenger that would be "Social Networking".
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Any updates on this?
Still I'm not able to block FaceBook Messenger app after adding the following domains to block list:
api.facebook.com
b-api.facebook.com
facebook.com
fbcdn-dragon-a.akamaihd.net
fbcdn-profile-a.akamaihd.net
fbexternal-a.akamaihd.net
fbstatic-a.akamaihd.net
graph.facebook.com
m.facebook.com
orcart.facebook.com
www.facebook.com
blog.facebook.com
apps.facebook.com
login.facebook.com
mobile.facebook.com
touch.facebook.com
0.facebook.com
mqtt.facebook.com
mqtt.t.facebook.com
chat.facebook.com
channel.facebook.com
facebook.netDid I missed something?
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Your Android / iOS devices may not use OpenDNS at all, as Patrick said, i.e. you don't send the DNS lookups to OpenDNS from these devices.
Check it on these devices by visiting http://welcome.opendns.com/
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@rotblitz: I have checked that! I have attached a screen-shot of the phone.
Screenshot_2014-09-22-04-49-50.png -
PS. sorry, wrong screen-shot
Screenshot_2015-02-21-20-13-14.png -
Yes, the browser seems to be using OpenDNS, but also the "FaceBook Messenger app"?
Nobody but the author can know what domains this app queries if at all. Your best bet is to contact the author to ask if the app makes use of DNS at all, and if so, what domains are being queried. If not, you would have to ask the author what suggestions about blocking it (s)he may have.
If you can't contact the author, then your only chance is to work down the domain stats at https://dashboard.opendns.com/stats/all/topdomains to hopefully find an unblocked domain this app may be querying. You may not succeed in case the app doesn't use DNS but maybe IP addressing instead.
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Ah, here is a highly relevant thread for you:
http://community.spiceworks.com/topic/437857-blocking-facebook-messengerYou may try with blocking mqtt.vvv.facebook.com and c10r.facebook.com. Does this work?
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"I was wondering how you come up with domain names for the app."
- Searching the internet for related information
- Looking what domains are being queried from my son's iPod and Android smartphone.
https://dashboard.opendns.com/stats/all/start/
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I'm actually trying to get the opposite: I use Facebook Messenger to talk to my family abroad and when my smartphone is connected to my home wifi Facebook Messenger says there's no Internet connection. It works only when I disconnect from wifi. But any other service or app access the Internet from my phone, via wi-fi with no issues.
Looks like only the FB messenger can't reach the Internet from my phone through my wifi.
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@wandersw You didn't even say if, let alone how, you think this is related to OpenDNS, rather than just something related to your WiFi.
If you think it's related to OpenDNS then the solution would be similar to what has already been said to those who want to block Facebook Messenger with OpenDNS. You will need to research the domains that the app uses, either by searching the internet or looking through your OpenDNS stats to see what is being blocked. The big difference is that you'd need to whitelist those domains rather than blacklisting them.
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@mattwilson9090
Apologies. I forgot to tell that all the traffic on my wifi goes through OpenDNS. And I did search for blocked domains but didn't find anything that could be potentially related to facebook. I added facebook.com to always allow in OpenDNS configs - hopefully that will do. Otherwise I'll do an additional research to identify precisely the domain that FB messenger uses.
Thanks.
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