Bandwidth Supply

What is Bandwidth-Sharing SDK?

A bandwidth-sharing SDK is a library an app developer embeds so the app can relay proxy traffic through its users' connections, with the developer paid for the traffic carried. Google Play allows proxy services for third parties only in apps where that is the primary, user-facing core purpose, and holds developers responsible for the SDKs they ship.

These SDKs grew up as an alternative to ads: a developer adds the library, the app's users become exits, and the developer is paid by the proxy network. Google's Threat Intelligence Group described the model on 29 January 2026, reporting on SDKs that developers were paid for "usually on a per-download basis", and that once embedded, an SDK would "turn the device it is running on into an exit node for the proxy network in addition to providing whatever the primary functionality of the application was". Google said it found over 600 applications with code connecting to that network's control domains, and that Google Play Protect now warns users about, removes and blocks apps known to incorporate those SDKs.

Google Play's Device and Network Abuse policy now sets the boundary: "Apps that facilitate proxy services to third parties may only do so in apps where that is the primary, user-facing core purpose of the app." The same policy bars apps and SDKs from downloading executable code from outside Google Play. Play requires a separate in-app disclosure that "cannot be in the app description or website", and its best-practice guidance recommends showing it right before the capability is used, with an option to decline. A game, a fitness tracker or a utility whose core purpose is something else does not meet the first test.

The PROXIES.SX Android SDK is open source under the MIT licence and published on JitPack as com.github.bolivian-peru:android-peer-sdk:1.3.2, with minSdk 24 (Android 7.0) and targetSdk 34. It is labelled beta. Its AAR is 139,110 bytes before dependencies. It declares INTERNET, ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE, ACCESS_WIFI_STATE, FOREGROUND_SERVICE, FOREGROUND_SERVICE_DATA_SYNC, WAKE_LOCK and READ_PHONE_STATE, stores credentials with AES-256-GCM through the Android Keystore, and runs as a foreground service with a persistent notification. It does not include a consent screen; the app developer builds the disclosure. On-demand IP rotation is not shipped.

Evaluate any bandwidth-sharing SDK on the same points: whether its source is public, which permissions it declares and why, whether it runs visibly, how a user stops it, whether it fetches code at runtime, and whether the app it goes into is built around sharing bandwidth. At PROXIES.SX, listed traffic also requires a partner agreement signed in the publisher's legal name, an SDK key created in the farmer dashboard, a declaration of the app and installation channels, and informed consent from every device owner. Registration does not guarantee traffic or earnings.

Where you meet it

You meet bandwidth-sharing SDKs in monetisation pitches aimed at app developers, in security reports about apps that turned users' phones into proxies, and in Play Console policy notices. For a developer, the deciding question comes before any integration work: is sharing bandwidth what your app is for, and does the user know it?

PROXIES.SX peer SDK for publishers

Common questions

Can I add a bandwidth-sharing SDK to my game or utility app on Google Play?

Google Play's policy says apps may facilitate proxy services to third parties only where that is the primary, user-facing core purpose of the app. A game or utility built around something else does not meet that test. Other app stores publish their own rules; check each one before shipping.

Does a bandwidth-sharing SDK need user consent?

Yes. Play requires a separate in-app disclosure, not only in the store listing, and recommends showing it right before the capability with an option to decline. PROXIES.SX requires informed consent from every device owner, and its Android SDK leaves the disclosure screen to the developer to build.

Is the PROXIES.SX Android SDK open source?

Yes. The source is on GitHub under the MIT licence and version 1.3.2 is published on JitPack. It supports Android 7.0 and later, targets API 34, and is labelled beta, so its API surface may still change.

Related terms

Informed Consent
Informed consent, in bandwidth sharing, means the device owner understands that their connection will carry other people's internet traffic, what that involves and how to stop, and agrees before any traffic flows. It separates a bandwidth-sharing app a person chose to run from proxyware placed on their device without their knowledge.
Proxyware
Proxyware is software that turns a device into an exit point for a proxy network, relaying other people's traffic through that device's internet connection. The term comes from security research, where it covers legitimate bandwidth-sharing clients the owner chose to install and the same clients planted on machines without the owner's knowledge.
Bandwidth Sharing
Bandwidth sharing means letting a proxy network route other people's internet traffic through your connection, usually by running a small client on a phone, computer or server, in exchange for payment for the traffic carried. To the destination site, that traffic appears to come from your IP address, which is what the network actually sells.
Exit Node
An exit node is the device whose IP address a proxied request finally leaves from, so the destination site sees and logs that device's address instead of the customer's. In residential and mobile proxy networks the exit is usually a phone, computer or router running bandwidth-sharing software; in Tor the same term names a circuit's last relay.
Proxyjacking
Proxyjacking is installing proxyware on a machine you have broken into, so that its bandwidth and IP address can be sold through a proxy network for the attacker's benefit. Sysdig's Threat Research Team defined the term in April 2023, comparing it to cryptojacking: the attacker profits from stolen network access instead of stolen processor time.
Peer Relay
A peer relay is the server that bandwidth-sharing devices connect out to, and through which customer traffic is handed down to those devices. Because each device dials the relay and keeps the connection open, it needs no public address and no open port, which is how phones and home lines behind NAT or CGNAT can act as proxy exits.
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Real 4G/5G mobile and residential IPs

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