Issue Summary

This section compiles some common issues along with their solutions or handling methods. You should always use the latest version to verify and resolve problems, rather than struggling on outdated versions.

  • Issue: Python interface or packet capture keeps showing “Service Unavailable”

Ensure you have completed all relevant configurations described in the Installation Preparation section. Then try restarting your device multiple times (~3 times). If the issue persists and your device has other modules installed, disable all other modules, restart the device, and try again.

  • Issue: After starting the service, the app fails to open, crashes immediately, or is flagged as abnormal.

This may be due to certain apps using app-zygote to detect Frida. You can bypass this issue by setting enhanced-stealth-mode=true in the properties.local file. The side effect is that Frida’s spawn-related functionality will no longer work.

  • Issue: FAQ about packet capture functionality.

Don’t ask whether packet capture works or if something hasn’t been set up properly. FIRERPA handles everything automatically. Unlike many third-party tools or even some commercial packet capture software, FIRERPA is fully configured out of the box. If your current packet capture tool fails, FIRERPA will definitely succeed. If even FIRERPA fails, no other software using the same logic can succeed either. There’s no need to worry about certificate trust issues—FIRERPA automatically installs system-level root certificates into target apps during packet capture, without requiring any manual operation from you. For QUIC downgrade: startmitm automatically disables UDP protocol. Therefore, under normal circumstances, if an app cannot use UDP, it will automatically fall back to non-QUIC protocols—all handled automatically without user intervention.

  • Issue: Ran the packet capture script but captured no data.

Several possible causes exist:

  1. The app itself implements certificate pinning or verification mechanisms.

  2. Pre- or post-processing steps were not correctly performed.

How to determine if certificate pinning exists: Enable global packet capture and test with other apps such as browsers. Try several different network-connected apps. If some apps can be captured while others cannot, the problematic ones likely use custom protocols or certificate pinning (often indicated in startmitm logs with messages like Client TLS handshake failed). This is usually not the main focus. If certificate pinning is confirmed, you must bypass it dynamically via reverse engineering or similar techniques to proceed with packet capture.

Regarding incorrect pre/post-processing:

  • Some users may forget to disable the system firewall, preventing the phone from accessing the proxy port, resulting in no response.

  • Another scenario: the app has already established essential network connections before you started capturing. Thus, after launching the capture, traffic continues through the pre-established connection instead of going through the proxy. To fix this, after starting startmitm, manually force-close the app completely and reopen it.

  • Issue: After using one-click packet capture, the phone appears to lose internet connectivity.

Please check whether your firewall has been disabled.

  • Issue: Packet capture script shows: “Client TLS handshake failed, does not trust the proxy’s certificate”

If you can successfully capture packets from the intended app, you can safely ignore this message. It might originate from other system apps or third-party SDKs within the app performing certificate validation.

  • Issue: After running the service, some detection tools report suspicious behavior or anomalies.

First, configure enhanced-stealth-mode=true in properties.local, restart the service, and retest. If anomalies are still detected, confirm whether the issue only occurs after FIRERPA is launched. If confirmed, please contact us.

  • Issue: I installed the auto-start APK, but the service didn’t start properly and is inaccessible.

Due to variations across Android systems, the auto-start APK may not launch automatically upon boot. If the service is inaccessible after reboot, please manually start it via the Manual Start button in the app, wait one minute, then attempt access again. If it still fails to start, consider trying manual installation or module-based installation instead.