MatsuriDayo/NekoBoxForAndroid
Kotlin No license Single maintainer riskNekoBox for Android / sing-box / universal proxy toolchain for Android
21.4k
Stars
1.7k
Forks
161
Open issues
23
Contributors
AI Analysis
NekoBox for Android is a universal proxy application built on sing-box that supports multiple protocols (Shadowsocks, VMess, Trojan, WireGuard, and others) for Android devices. It serves users who need flexible VPN/proxy capabilities for network access, particularly those in regions with network restrictions. This tool is specialized for advanced users and developers who require fine-grained proxy protocol support rather than a general VPN app.
Inferred from signals mentioned in the README (tests, CI, type safety) — not a review of the actual code.
AI's overall editorial judgment — not an average of the bars above, can weigh other factors too.
NekoBox for Android: a sing-box-powered universal proxy client with broad protocol coverage
NekoBox for Android is an open-source proxy client built on the sing-box core, targeting Android users who need to route traffic through censorship-circumvention or privacy-preserving proxy infrastructure. It supports an unusually wide range of protocols (VMess, VLESS, Trojan, Hysteria 1/2, TUIC, WireGuard, Shadowsocks, and more) and accepts subscription formats from ClashMeta, v2rayN, and sing-box. Its primary user base appears to be in regions where internet access is restricted, particularly mainland China and surrounding areas. With 21k+ stars and a Telegram channel for announcements, it has established a visible presence in the proxy tool ecosystem.
Created in March 2023, NekoBox for Android emerged as a spiritual successor to SagerNet (which was discontinued), adopting the newer sing-box core. It fills the gap left when SagerNet's author stopped maintaining that project.
Growth was likely driven by the discontinuation of SagerNet, the maturation of the sing-box protocol library, and ongoing demand in censorship-heavy regions. The Google Play version being hijacked by a third party in May 2024 created friction but also raised awareness. The 86 stars/week rate as of mid-2026 suggests continued but not explosive organic growth — steady demand from a persistent niche.
GitHub release download badge is present and likely reflects substantial download counts given the star count and niche demand. A Telegram channel for updates suggests an active user community. The Google Play hijacking warning implies prior meaningful distribution through that channel. Concrete download numbers are not stated in the README excerpt, but adoption in censorship-affected regions appears real and ongoing based on community signals.
Likely a Kotlin Android application using the sing-box Go library as a native core (via JNI or similar bridge), with a GUI layer derived from shadowsocks-android and SagerNet codebases. Plugin architecture is used for additional protocols (trojan-go, naive, mieru). Appears to use a VPN service model for system-wide proxying.
Not documented in README
Last push was February 2026, approximately 4.5 months before the evaluation date. This represents a notable gap — not necessarily abandonment, but the project has not received public commits recently. The Telegram channel (t.me/Matsuridayo) appears to serve as the primary communication channel. Given the historically active development cadence, this pause warrants monitoring.
ADOPT IF: you need a feature-rich, multi-protocol Android proxy client with sing-box as the core and support for ClashMeta/v2rayN subscription formats, and you are comfortable sideloading APKs given the Google Play situation. AVOID IF: you require a Google Play-distributed app with commercial support, or need guaranteed long-term maintenance — the recent 4+ month commit gap introduces uncertainty. MONITOR IF: you are evaluating it for organizational or large-scale deployment, or want to track whether the maintenance pause is temporary or signals project wind-down.
Independent dimensions
Mainstream potential
4/10
Technical importance
7/10
Adoption evidence
6/10
- The last public commit is ~4.5 months old as of evaluation date, which raises concerns about whether the project is entering a low-activity or maintenance-only phase.
- The Google Play version was hijacked by a third party in May 2024; users who downloaded from Play may be running a non-open-source, potentially malicious fork — a significant trust and safety risk for the broader user community.
- The project serves a use case (censorship circumvention) that is legally sensitive in certain jurisdictions, which may limit ability to distribute through mainstream channels or attract contributors.
- Dependency on the sing-box core (an external project) means protocol support and security fixes are partly outside this project's control.
- Documentation appears primarily in Chinese with partial English, which may limit contributor diversity and slow response to issues from non-Chinese-speaking users.
NekoBox for Android will likely persist as a meaningful tool in the sing-box Android client space but faces uncertainty around long-term maintenance velocity. If the author resumes active development it could consolidate further as v2rayNG's primary alternative. If the hiatus continues, community forks may emerge.
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Languages
Information
- Website
- https://matsuridayo.github.io/
- Language
- Kotlin
- License
- NOASSERTION
- Last updated
- 5mo ago
- Created
- 41mo ago
- Analyzed with
- anthropic/claude-haiku-4-5
Stars over time
Contributors over time
Top 100 contributors only — repos with more will plateau at 100.
Open issues
希望增加导入订阅时为节点增加显示国旗emoji的功能
BUG: Can't update subscription
Please update sing-box to the latest version to support hysteria realm
Security Vulnerability: Local unauthenticated SOCKS5/HTTP inbound allows third-party apps to bypass VPN and leak server IP
BUG: 一些网络问题
Top contributors
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| Repository | Stars | Week Δ | Language | Score | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
MatsuriDayo/NekoBoxForAndroid
this
|
21.4k | — | Kotlin | 8/10 | 5mo ago |
|
shadowsocks/shadowsocks-android
|
36.7k | — | Kotlin | 7/10 | 4w ago |
 2dust/v2rayNG
|
59.3k | — | Kotlin | 8/10 | 3h ago |
|
yonggekkk/sing-box-yg
|
9.5k | — | Shell | 7/10 | 2d ago |
 SagerNet/sing-box
|
35.9k | — | Go | 8/10 | 8h ago |
v2rayNG has nearly 3x the stars and broader name recognition, using the v2ray/Xray core rather than sing-box. NekoBox targets users who prefer sing-box's protocol breadth and the subscription format flexibility, particularly ClashMeta-style configs.
shadowsocks-android is protocol-specific and more limited in scope. NekoBox is a strict superset in terms of supported protocols, targeting users who need multi-protocol flexibility.
The official sing-box client for Android exists but NekoBox provides a more feature-rich GUI with subscription management and multi-format support, appealing to users who want a managed client experience rather than raw config editing.
sing-box-yg is a shell-script configuration toolkit, not a standalone Android client — serves a different layer of the same ecosystem.
With Clash's open-source clients discontinued, NekoBox has absorbed some of that user base due to its ClashMeta subscription format support.
