According to the tracking scanner Exodus (can be found on F-Droid), which keeps an updated database on trackers and runs your installed app against its register, you can track what apps are tracking you and clues of how. Saw that Boost is tracking me and uninstalled it and went straight to Jerboa. Jerboa is pretty similar to good ole’ RedditIsFun-app and easy to use, so I am personally recommending it.
From F-Droid:
Exodus (Exodus show you trackers and permissions in apps installed on your device.) https://f-droid.org/packages/org.eu.exodus_privacy.exodusprivacy/
What about “Eternity”? I love it for Lemmy and no ads
Awesome and smooth UI
I’ve seen this kind of post about boost several times now. It’s just sad that people are just maliciously uninformed. It made me want to support the dev even more. Paying for the ad free version now.
-complains about people being uniformed.
-Does nothing to inform them.
Because other users in this thread have already given the relevant info.
I love how this post just contributed to more people paying for the paid version lol
I also just paid for no ads to support
i mean, it’s just ads. you’re blowing this way out of proportion just because of some unintrusive ads.
devs gotta eat. if you prefer FOSS, that’s great! i love FOSS software too! but boost is like home to me, even with the ads.
I like the dissent towards ads. Pushes more folks to FOSS.
Voyager is the best Lemmy client on iOS or Android both, with Jerboa being a close second.
I tried and disliked both of those. They worked fine they just felt bad. Bad to digging around for clients.
This reads like a paid advertisement.
I remembered Boost from the good old days a while back and am using it alongside voyager. It’s not as great as I remembered, so I’ll probably stick with Voyager. My home network keeps me safe of ads though 😉
Nice, I’m on the same boat. Voyager is superior to boost
i use lemmy on firefox browser mobile and desktop?
Try the Photon WebApp client, there is public instances but you can self-host yours ! Still early but enjoying it so far !
Yeah that’s why I use the duckduckgo app tracking protection
Interesting
Edit: Doesn’t work alongside VPN
if you have a VPN, check to see if they offer an option to block trackers and ads. many of them do.
Or you can buy Boost and get rid of the ad/tracking.
Boost is brilliant and other apps still have catching up to do but the competition is getting better and better.
I’ve used boost for forever in reddit, I used it when it came to lemmy.
But voyager is better.
Will give it a shot, thanks! Though I’m very happy with boost currently - what does voyager do better?
Yes give it a try.
I’m not saying that boost lacks anything. But it’s the feel that I get when using Voyager. I know it’s weird, but, it’s my enjoyment that made me switch.
It really whips the llamas ass
Big fan Of Sync, but idk if it has tracking
God damnit, I use this app
Consider paying the one-time fee if you enjoy the experience, it will remove ads and tracking. You can also consider other client such as Voyager which is FOSS.
Oh, I paid for it from the start. Guess I’m fine then
you guys are not blocking trackers?
Or just use a browser, ffs.
everything doesnt need to be an app.
especially when its nothing but a goddamn webbrowser, wrapped in an app, with less protection.
They’re not just browsers, they’re accessing the posts via an API and presenting it in a bespoke manner with purpose-built controls.
That’s good because it’s faster and lower-data than a webpage, and it’s easier and faster to use on mobile.
Not every app is just a web browser, that’s a particular kind of lazy app created by the app hype bubble like 20 years ago.
I really don’t know anything about the technicalities of apps, but you should try http://phtn.app/ on mobile, it’s UI is pretty good.
That being said if there was an app for it I would totally prefer that over a webpage in my browserThat’s very laggy for me, whereas my lemmy app, voyager, is extremely smooth.
It’s building a general purpose UI as a webpage which then has to be interpreted via your browser which then serves the UI up to you. Because this browser has to handle literally whatever is being thrown at it at all times, there is a lot of overhead and extra processes running to make it work correctly.
All of the graphics are equivalent, every line between every element, every button, every image is represented in the same data that the text is, so the phone is interpreting and rendering many times more stuff.
In contrast, a native app takes the bare text & media data and renders it in native controls, so the phone is able take a tiny amount of data and fit it into a template that renders natively on the phone. It’s doing orders of magnitude less work.
I use it on desktop, despite some bugs from time to time I really enjoy the experience and slick design ! It’s still in early alpha so honestly I am impressed !
Why use a browser?
Just learn how to parse raw HTTP responses. That’s all a browser does, with less protection.
Nope, you can’t actually do that anymore since there’s SSL in the way. I tried anyway, though, just for giggles:
drath@machine:~$ telnet lemm.ee 80 Trying 2606:4700:20::681a:5f3... Connected to lemm.ee. Escape character is '^]'. GET / <html> <head><title>400 Bad Request</title></head> <body> <center><h1>400 Bad Request</h1></center> <hr><center>cloudflare</center> </body> </html> Connection closed by foreign host.Of course I can curl and wget, but that feels against the spirit of hardcore reading the raw data.
An up front paid app for devs trying to make money off of the lemmyverse? Sure, okay. A free version by devs trying to make the world a better place? You’re a literal hero. Devs doing shady tracking like this? Never ever.
i so want to downvote you
It’s an imperfect world and I don’t blame you.
But they’re not? The first time you install/open the app it tells you that to be able to serve ads it has to track you to some extent. And if you get the paid version it doesn’t even load the apk for the ads
to be able to serve ads it has to track you to some extent
Yeah but this is just a lie, they just choose advertising providers that work like that
This is a rather sensationalist headline.
Every so often software developers need to eat food and live beneath shelter.
The developer of Boost @[email protected] provides a free version that’s supported by ads, or you can purchase an ad free experience for a one time cost. That’s been a standard business since forever.
There isn’t any grand conspiracy here.
As someone who uses this daily, I had no idea there were ads… So I’m being tracked without knowing it. I’m… Not into this.
That’s literally not the case. If you’ve purchased the app the ad logic isn’t loaded, your porn habits aren’t being tracked.
I didn’t pay for the no ad addition. I just have never seen one. I am likely being tracked, though.
Next time, don’t assume. Adguard dns may be blocking it. That makes this situation a problem.
Yup, the dev commented on this a while back here:
https://lemmy.ca/post/6072534/3382664
Dev here.
The dialog and its content is not created by me, it is a standard solution from Google to comply with GDPR and other laws. More info here: https://support.google.com/admob/answer/10114014?hl=en
The consent dialog is also required by Google AdMob to show ads, and it is shown when the ad network is initialized.
When the app launches, first it checks for the remove ads purchase, and if it is not present, it will initialize the ads sdk. The ad network is not initialized if the remove ads purchase is detected.
Boost for Reddit was using the very same ad networks and consent dialog.
(In fact they’ve commented on this a few times)
I personally liked Boost, and paid for the ad free version to support the development. For what it’s worth, I’ve also donated to / bought a few others for similar reasons, and I keep a few Lemmy apps installed so I can test things out on the admin side.
Without recommending any particular app, I’d recommend this site, which lets you compare and filter by the factors that are important to you: https://lemmyapps.com/
If you want a guide for new users, we have one here (tldr it links to the site above): https://fedecan.ca/en/guide/lemmy/for-users/mobile-apps
https://www.lemmyapps.com/ is a neat comparison site, but I’m not seeing any criteria around use of tracking data; is that just implied with the free vs paid column?
As long as there is transparency, users can choose. Personally, I would rather not use a service at all than have ads or tracking.
It is an excellent app, I just paid for the version without ads, that’s all you have to do.
Exactly, we both get what we want, everyone is happy. I’m just saying that it’s important for both of us to have the relevant information so we can make our choices. Which this app provides. So that’s good.
then don’t use it
They probably aren’t using it lol
Developer’s needs are pretty simple, however. Keep clean straw for bedding, fresh coffee, and unimpeded access to an Ethernet jack. Your developer can have gummy worms or beer in small quantities, as a treat. Of course, the bulk of their diet should be ramen/developer chow. A simple correction, such as deleting system32 or not properly shutting down Linux, is usually all that is needed. They’ll provide you with years of faithful service.
Adopt a developer today!
I prefer to feed developers “flat food.” Just slide it under the door!
Pizzas and pancakes!
What if we want red bull instead of alcohol?
Red bull, in moderation, is acceptable. In fact, when you expect exceptional effort from your developer, such as ‘crunch time’, Red Bull supplementation is encouraged.
A productive developer is a happy developer!
I paid for the product, I encourage and support products i like instead of seeing ads, whenever i can.
Just bought the ad-free version. It’s easy to forget developers need to eat too
I agree with you however I think we can built a better internet and the fediverse is in my opinion part of it. However I understand that it’s hard to live on providing a free service, hoping for users to make donations to cover your spends and making a fair revenue is dellusional. I don’t have the magic recipe for making great revenue from a free apps without sacrificing users digital integrity. However I think it’s fair for Lemmy users to know that some clients could behave like proprietary closed and centralized plateforms such as X and Reddit.
The author should have noted that users could pay a fee to disable ads and analytics because you can. He certainly didn’t knew this and that’s making it unfair.
Honestly I don’t like extended analytics such as this and that’s one of the reasons I’m not using Boost. I rather send some sats (bitcoin) to free and open source projects I rely on. Not everybody is like that and I can imagine that many projects I’ve financially contribute to aren’t sustainable businesses, I wish there was another way than enabling global surveillance for people that couldn’t afford paying. Privacy shouldn’t be a privilege yet it is.
TLDR ; Yes it’s standard business but Lemmy users and devs making great free product deserve better !
