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For those offended by subscription for ad-free experience and data collection, consider Connect for Lemmy. No data collection and no pay-to-browse scheme.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kuroneko.lemmy_connect&hl=en_US&gl=US
Connect dev here. I can promise Connect will never have ads or subscriptions.
Connect is a good app, but it just isn't as polished as Sync yet. I will stick with Connect for the time being though.
Thank you. I'll donate. Would you consider making it open source? I used to be a fan of Sync and had their one time payment for ultra version. But this current release is subscription only and I don't want to any subscription. Again thank you. The app is great so far.
One time remove ad and lifetime ultra were added this evening into sync.
I sincerely don't know why would someone downvote your comment.
I'm okay with paying the subscription fee. I purchased Sync for Reddit Ultra back in the day with a one time payment and that was great, but it was one of the most supported apps I have ever bought in all my years of using computers and phones. For several years, I got a well supported app, and I felt like I got a steal of a purchase. I don't feel that the annual fee for Sync forLemmy is a cash grab by LJDawson, especially if the app just keeps getting better and better. It's already the most polished Lemmy client out now.
People are willing to pay for a better experience.
I think you are missing the problem here. Paying for a good product or extra features is one thing. Paying to remove the ads that you added in the first place is another. Lemmy is funded entirely by donations and doesn't have any ads.
It's a pretty bad look that is fundamentally against the goals of Lemmy as ad free an open platform with a free API. Otherwise we are going to go down the same rabbit hole again and again like what happened with Reddit.
The ads/subscription support the developer, who works on this as his full time job. This means we get a better app.
I'm getting tired of people telling me what Lemmy is supposed to be about.
Every individual instance has their own goals that are completely independent from the core Lemmy project. If the creators of Lemmy don't like that they shouldn't have made it open source.
Lemmy choosing not to serve ads doesn't mean nobody else is allowed to. I have no issues with Sync serving ads at all. Heck, I wouldn't even care if Lemmy served them. People have a right to be paid a reasonable amount for their effort
This is more relevant for Lemmy than client apps, but the problem with relying on ads is that you then become beholden to the ad-buyers.
I think that can be mitigated by operating as a non-profit that is not seeking to launch a multi-billion IPO at some point in the future, however. Decentralization is the answer to the "growth problem" that the last decade of failed tech investments has constantly run into.
Depends on what you mean by beholden to them. Unless you're partnering directly with certain ad providers it's pretty much plug-and-play: you can just choose to not optimize for serving ads.
Yeah, connect is good, I'm using it right now. Wish it could be open source though.
don't like the excessive padding and lack of stuff everywhere tho, feels so empty.
I was not a previous sync user, but it seems to be a beloved app. Although...
I am somewhat surprised at the use of personal data in the privacy policy.
I understand a guy's gotta make a living, but with all the hype, I'm not sure I expected this.
On top of all that there's an ongoing subscription service to use the premium features of the app. I'd happily pay $10-$20 one time for the app, but there's no way in hell I'm paying monthly for a bit of scrolling when Jerboa does the same stuff with no ads for free.
Lj has states he intends to introduce a one time payment for ad removal in the near future. People getting huffy over a 6-pack a year fee can rest easy soon enough.
There is now a one time payment option to remove ads
yeah same here, sticking to jerboa for now. I hope it's not going to be the same for boost for lemmy.
does anyone know if the privacy policy is only for the "free" version of sync? app store says the free version has ads too, I guess you can buy it at some point to get rid of them.
Same , i was not using it previously , but i can see the privacy policy is not good ! There are good open source apps !
Even with ads Sync is a thousand miles ahead of Jerboa in terms of usability and experience. I'll happily have ads to not have an objectively worse experience
It says it'd collect "device information" and "Usage data". What does that even mean?
Where you look, what you look at, how long you look, and where you ~~click~~ tap.
I'm a dev so can shed some light. It's likely linked to a service called Firebase, which gives many tools to track how people use your app. You can run tests against sections of your user base to determine the best way to apply certain features before rolling them out, as well as crash reporting and the ability to see "user journeys." These "journeys" are often used to determine how to better structure an app so that users can get to where they want to go more quickly. It's a way of collecting user feedback without asking for user feedback. It's incredibly useful for feature development and bug fixing
Now, given they have ads, they're probably using Google adsense which is likely linked to firebase, so Google may get some information on how people use the app in order to increase revenue per impression. This is largely automatic
Probably for the ads?
Can't wait to try this out. I understand the apprehension some people have but I was a loyal user of reddit sync for many years.
Am trying it and I like it a lot so far !
now I'll have to double check if I'm on reddit or lemmy, love how similar the experience is :)
edit: jumped ship!!! im now on infinity for lemmy!! didn't know this was a thing. holy moly now I REALLY have to make sure if I'm on reddit or lemmy since I still have infinity for reddit installed
if you're in sync, you're on Lemmy. isn't that why most of us are here?
that said it DOES feel like home. 😁
I can't find it on play store
I'm disappointed in it and will go back to one of the ad free, free apps...
Yeah, it looks like an excellent app, but I refuse to deal with ads on Lemmy. As the app is great I would happily pay a one time fee to remove ads, but it seems that the only option is a subscription, which is a no go for me.
He's still debating a pro tier with ad free IIRC
No longer a debate, he said in the announcement thread a pro one time in app purchase will be coming.
Great, that's what I immediately went to look for since it's what I had back when it was reddit sync.
How the heck do you log in? Cant find it anywhere.
On home page, top left corner the three lines, then top item on the menu it produces. Ive got sidebar enabled fyi, I'm not sure if that effects what I'm seeing.
Thanks. How the heck did I not see that "add account". I think because it looked like a title, not an item.
I keep getting a perpetual loading visual and it just states pending =(. I can't wait to get my sync back!
Cancel and restarting the download did it for me.
It's been an hour since this comment but just in case anyone else has the same, canceling and restarting allowed it to start downloading. For some reason the automatic attempt just hung on my device.
Yes, I finally figured it out about 3 m8n ago! Thanks for the help!