Questions, answered.
Common questions about packet capture, HTTPS decryption, mobile app traffic capture, SSL pinning, and whether it’s free — answered one by one.
Captured traffic is all ciphertext and gibberish, now what?
Trace Eagle decrypts on capture: session keys match their flows automatically, ciphertext becomes plaintext, and you read the request and response directly, with no keys to export.
Recent Android / Android 14: how do I capture, and do I need root?
Android 7+ distrusts user certs and Android 14 is stricter, but Trace Eagle has several cert-free methods. Whole-device capture needs root, and there are no-root methods too.
Mini-programs / proxy-blind apps (Flutter etc.): how?
That traffic ignores the system proxy, so proxy tools miss it. NIC capture grabs it at the wire, and auto-decrypt shows the plaintext.
Can it capture an app with a pinned cert?
Yes. Read plaintext straight from inside the app, or clear the pinning; it can’t block you.
How do you capture and decrypt HTTP/3 (QUIC)?
Three ways: downgrade-capture, high-fidelity passthrough, or true H3 decryption, so QUIC shows plaintext too.
Does iOS need a jailbreak? A certificate?
iOS needs no jailbreak, captured via a connected computer. Most methods need no cert; only proxy decryption does, and the wizard covers every environment.
Java / Python apps won’t decrypt even with a system cert?
They ignore the system trust store, so ordinary proxies fail. Trace Eagle decrypts them too.
Will it affect my normal internet?
No. Stopping a capture restores network settings automatically, with recovery even after an unexpected exit.
Does my data go to the cloud?
No. Local-first — the traffic you capture stays on your machine, and we never upload or access it. Only anonymous feature-usage and error codes are reported to help fix problems; they contain no captured content, and error reports can be turned off in Settings.
Is it really free?
Yes. Capture, decrypt, rewrite, replay, load-test, codegen, MCP: every feature is free, and free for the long term.
Can I plug it into an AI (MCP) workflow?
Yes. A real built-in MCP server lets an AI agent call capture, flow search, decryption, replay, code generation and more.
How do you capture Flutter apps or other apps that ignore the system proxy?
Use NIC or transparent capture instead of a proxy. Flutter and similar apps ship their own network stack and never read the system proxy setting, so an ordinary proxy-based sniffer captures nothing; Trace Eagle grabs the traffic at the wire regardless, then decrypts it automatically into plaintext.
How do you bypass SSL pinning / certificate pinning to capture HTTPS traffic?
There are two ways: read plaintext directly from inside the app, or remove ("unpin") the app’s certificate check so it trusts the capture certificate. Either way, certificate pinning doesn’t block Trace Eagle — the request and response body stay readable.
Is there a free alternative to Charles or Fiddler?
Yes. Trace Eagle is a free, cross-platform (macOS, Windows, Linux) alternative to Charles and Fiddler. Beyond proxy capture it adds NIC capture, in-app plaintext extraction, SSL-pinning bypass and true HTTP/3 decryption, so it captures traffic that proxy-only tools like Charles or Fiddler can’t.
Which cross-platform packet capture tool is best, and is it free?
Look for one tool that covers every platform and capture method you need. Trace Eagle runs the same workflow on macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android, combines proxy and NIC capture with automatic decryption, needs no cert install or jailbreak for most methods, and is completely free.
How do you capture and decrypt HTTPS on Android or iOS without jailbreaking or rooting?
Yes, it’s possible with no jailbreak and no root. iOS traffic is captured through a connected computer without a jailbreak, and Android has several cert-free capture methods; whole-device Android capture needs root, but per-app and proxy methods do not.