PingKing: Game Mode & Ping

Ahmad Abu Saloum

Contains adsIn-app purchases

About this app

PingKing gets your phone ready to play: it pauses notifications while you play, shows your ping right over the game, and gives you a report on your connection after every session. If you want, it also stops other apps from using the internet while you play, so their updates and messages don't crowd your game.

Game Mode
• Do Not Disturb turns on by itself during a session, then your phone goes back to how it was.
• The screen stays on, and you can lock the brightness and the rotation (optional).
• Starts by itself when your game opens and ends when you leave it (optional).
• Optional firewall: a local VPN that runs on your phone only keeps the internet for your game and the apps you pick, and cuts everything else off until the session ends. Google Play and Play services always stay online. You can decline it on first launch or turn it off any time in Settings; the rest of the app works without it.

Ping while you play
• A small meter over the game shows ping, jitter, packet loss and phone temperature. Drag it anywhere or hide it.
• A live screen with a ping gauge and charts for ping and temperature.

A report after every session
• A connection stability score out of 100, with a gold, silver or bronze crown.
• Ping and phone temperature charts for the whole session, plus memory use.
• Your session history and a weekly summary. Share your result in one tap.

Light on your phone
• Runs in the background only during a session, and while optional auto-start is on; it measures just once a second.
• The app's motion stops by itself when you're not using it and on Battery Saver.

Honestly
• Looking for a game booster? PingKing promises no fake boosting: it does not speed up your internet or change your game's server. It gets your phone ready to play and shows you how good your connection really is.
• The firewall runs on your phone only: there is no VPN server, and we never inspect, log or keep your traffic.
• The app is free and shows Google ads outside the session only, never while you play.
• No accounts, no sign-in.

Permissions
• VpnService: the optional local firewall.
• Notification policy access: Do Not Disturb during a session.
• Display over other apps: the ping meter over your game (optional).
• Usage access: auto-start and auto-stop when your game opens or closes (optional).
• Modify system settings: brightness and rotation lock (optional).
• Special-use foreground service: keeps the session, the ping meter and the firewall running while you play.
• Close background apps: at session start, on Android 13 and older, off until you turn it on.

Use of VpnService
PingKing uses Android's VpnService to run an optional local firewall on your phone during a game session only. When a session starts, apps you have not allowed are routed to a local interface on the phone and their traffic is discarded without being inspected. There is no VPN server: nothing is forwarded anywhere, and nothing is inspected, logged or collected. Your game, the apps you allow, PingKing itself and Google Play services never pass through the interface. The firewall starts only after you agree in the app and in Android's VPN dialog, and it stops when the session ends, when you tap End, or when you disconnect it in Android's VPN settings. You can turn it off for good in Settings.

Works on Android 7.0 and later.

What’s new

Game Mode improvements:
• A clear message if Game Mode does not start, with the fix.
• The session screen always shows the real state.
• After you end a session, it no longer restarts by itself.
• A notice if Game Mode stops unexpectedly, with a guide.
• "Send a problem report" in Settings.
• PingKing no longer disconnects another VPN app when opened.