this post was submitted on 24 Feb 2025
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You Should Know

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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/

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[–] ProxyZeus@lemmy.world 75 points 3 hours ago (3 children)

As the other comments are saying, this is made very clear when you launch the app for the first time that it is ad supported, and you can donate a small amount to get all tracking and ads removed.

Love the app and I want the dev to continue development so I paid for the ad free. Devs are people and need money to live too, you know this post was just sensationalized for your own clicks.

[–] PsychedSy@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 17 minutes ago

Same deal with sync.

[–] mechoman444@lemmy.world 1 points 23 minutes ago

Ya... I just bought the app. It was like 6 bucks? Totally worth it since I use it all the time and I want to support the dev.

Same! Boost is awesome and it was a no brainer paying for the ad removal

[–] lemmyausmister@feddit.org 2 points 49 minutes ago

What about connect?

[–] Cataphract@lemmy.ml 11 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

I guess I'm just legitimately confused about how to feel about it all. Lemmy is free, signing up on an instance is free, people are posting/creating content for free, moderators are taking care of the space for free. No one's locking in to get "fed" through the entire chain. The arguments about abandoned apps doesn't really compute since plenty paid and advertising friendly apps go under/stop developing further as well (and the entire Lemmy eco-system is free so silly points of "capitalism better"). There's also the crux of "Apps just replace a webpage", they're really not reinventing the wheel here.

But, if people prefer paid apps, if the developers want to construct the apps in that manner, have at it. I do think spreading awareness of what apps are out there is important, and how they operate (this is YSK after all). I also wouldn't spend time in my day coming into defend organizations that want to monetize on open source community projects either.

[–] Rogue@feddit.uk 7 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

I guess I'm just legitimately confused about how to feel about it all.

The freedom of Lemmy and the fediverse let's people choose how to interact with it.

If a user is looking for a free to use , open source, ad-free experience then that's their choice.

If others are happy to pay for an app because they prefer the experience that app provides them they can choose to do so.

I also wouldn't spend time in my day coming into defend organizations that want to monetize on open source community projects either.

OP read that Boost may contain code used for tracking, then started spewing some conspiracy that "Boost is tracking your data for profiling and more!" without any proof or any actual research.

This isn't a case of defending some giant corporation, it's just stopping tedious drama before it spreads.

If you check OPs profile they've been spreading this for over a week. When I first saw this thread the masses were heavily upvoting the conspiracy and downvoting anyone disagreeing.

[–] TrickDacy@lemmy.world 83 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Yeah there is a dialogue on first launch telling you it's ad supported software and that you can pay a small fee to remove all ads. Your post here is old news about an old strategy and throughout the comments here you claim it's secretive which is false.

It's a charitable reading to say you're uninformed. I would lean more toward you wanting people to be misinformed about Boost, because as others point out, its ad support is called out in multiple ways before you use it, but you don't care. Instead, you choose to call this completely common and standard way of supporting an app "predatory" and "secret", neither of which near truth. Op, is your account the alt of the Sync dev or something?

[–] jballs@sh.itjust.works 3 points 38 minutes ago (1 children)

Op, is your account the alt of the Sync dev or something?

I wish that was the case. @ljdawson@lemmy.world - the Sync dev - has been MIA for over half a year now. Which sucks, because Sync currently has a breaking bug causing it to not show posts as read, making it mostly unusable. I had to cancel my subscription for it that I was happily paying for before to support hamis work.

[–] TrickDacy@lemmy.world 1 points 34 minutes ago (1 children)

wow... subscription and also MIA that long!

[–] jballs@sh.itjust.works 2 points 30 minutes ago (1 children)

It was pretty common for him to disappear for a while and then pop up with a whole bunch of new features. I didn't mind that before and gladly paid the $1.50/month subscription to support his work and make Lemmy more accessible. But yeah, can't justify it now that the app shows all links as unread.

[–] TrickDacy@lemmy.world 1 points 8 minutes ago

Yeah, I remember seeing complaints about that from time to time. Sounds like it's gotten worse.

[–] Harbinger01173430@lemmy.world 3 points 1 hour ago (2 children)

I just wanna use one that has material design/material you, so it looks good in my Android phone

[–] balder1991@lemmy.world 1 points 5 minutes ago

Voyager has two themes: one uses Material design for Android users and one uses the old Apollo look-and-feel for iOS users.

[–] ninjaturtle@lemmy.today 3 points 49 minutes ago

Can check out Eternity

[–] K1nsey6@lemmy.world 18 points 3 hours ago

There is a reason so many Lemmy apps are abandoned, they were free and free of advertising. Devs need to eat. I prefer the paid app model to support the devs as opposed to ads. The dev of boost has always been open about how ads work.

[–] Rogue@feddit.uk 189 points 6 hours ago (6 children)

This is a rather sensationalist headline.

Every so often software developers need to eat food and live beneath shelter.

The developer of Boost @rmayayo@lemmy.world 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.

[–] otter@lemmy.ca 96 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

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

[–] Machinist@lemmy.world 16 points 4 hours ago (3 children)

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!

[–] Telorand@reddthat.com 2 points 1 hour ago

I prefer to feed developers "flat food." Just slide it under the door!

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[–] pmk@lemmy.sdf.org 25 points 5 hours ago (2 children)

As long as there is transparency, users can choose. Personally, I would rather not use a service at all than have ads or tracking.

[–] Darkcoffee@sh.itjust.works 18 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

It is an excellent app, I just paid for the version without ads, that's all you have to do.

[–] pmk@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 1 hour ago

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.

[–] stebo02@lemmy.dbzer0.com 15 points 5 hours ago

then don't use it

[–] FenrirIII@lemmy.world 2 points 2 hours ago

Just bought the ad-free version. It's easy to forget developers need to eat too

[–] Darkcoffee@sh.itjust.works 7 points 4 hours ago

I paid for the product, I encourage and support products i like instead of seeing ads, whenever i can.

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[–] grue@lemmy.world 13 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago) (2 children)

YSK that, in general, you should only ever use Android apps from F-Droid unless you've got a very good justification for doing otherwise. That's especially true for generic/basic utility apps like calculators, calendars, and file managers, classic games like solitaire or tetris, and Lemmy clients.

[–] CarbonBasedNPU@lemm.ee 1 points 15 minutes ago

Weird question maybe but are any of the podcast apps as feature rich and pocketcasts? I really like the trim silence function.

This is completely natural common sense for you and me, but to other people its alien to live with the "guilty until proven innocent" mindset that needs to be applied to software.

[–] vodkasolution@feddit.it 58 points 5 hours ago

YSK also that the paid version does not have ads or trackers

[–] criitz@reddthat.com 2 points 2 hours ago

Aside from what everyone else has said regarding the ads: Boost is an amazing app and I don't browse Lemmy without it!

[–] MedicPigBabySaver@lemmy.world 2 points 3 hours ago

Boost is the best!

Launch the Rocket! 🚀

[–] vaguerant@fedia.io 44 points 6 hours ago (2 children)

What a cool service, thanks for sharing. You can also check the Exodus database via web if you can't or don't want to install the native Android app.

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