this post was submitted on 02 Aug 2023
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Android

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[–] schwim 47 points 1 year ago (5 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 63 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Connect dev here. I can promise Connect will never have ads or subscriptions.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

One time remove ad and lifetime ultra were added this evening into sync.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I sincerely don't know why would someone downvote your comment.

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago

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.

[–] Izzy 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] SpaceNoodle 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

People are willing to pay for a better experience.

[–] Izzy 3 points 1 year ago (3 children)

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.

[–] zik 10 points 1 year ago (3 children)

The ads/subscription support the developer, who works on this as his full time job. This means we get a better app.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (4 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

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.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Yeah, connect is good, I'm using it right now. Wish it could be open source though.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

don't like the excessive padding and lack of stuff everywhere tho, feels so empty.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 year ago (8 children)

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.

[–] A_Toasty_Strudel 27 points 1 year ago (2 children)

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.

[–] zaph 18 points 1 year ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago

There is now a one time payment option to remove ads

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

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.

[–] jungekatz 2 points 1 year ago

Same , i was not using it previously , but i can see the privacy policy is not good ! There are good open source apps !

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It says it'd collect "device information" and "Usage data". What does that even mean?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Where you look, what you look at, how long you look, and where you ~~click~~ tap.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

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

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Probably for the ads?

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Am trying it and I like it a lot so far !

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

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

[–] allroy 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

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. 😁

[–] TheKingBee 14 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I'm disappointed in it and will go back to one of the ad free, free apps...

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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.

[–] CosmicSploogeDrizzle 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

He's still debating a pro tier with ad free IIRC

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago (1 children)

No longer a debate, he said in the announcement thread a pro one time in app purchase will be coming.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Great, that's what I immediately went to look for since it's what I had back when it was reddit sync.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

How the heck do you log in? Cant find it anywhere.

[–] KingOfNexus 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Thanks. How the heck did I not see that "add account". I think because it looked like a title, not an item.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

I keep getting a perpetual loading visual and it just states pending =(. I can't wait to get my sync back!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Cancel and restarting the download did it for me.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Yes, I finally figured it out about 3 m8n ago! Thanks for the help!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

@sma3in not everyone, sadly. Doesn't work on my device. Expected, but still saddened.

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