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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[–] [email protected] 3 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

God damnit, I use this app

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Yeah that's why I use the duckduckgo app tracking protection

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[–] ProxyZeus 229 points 2 days ago (17 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.

[–] kameecoding 35 points 1 day ago (20 children)

Lemmings have a huge obsession with shit being both free and adfree, youtube is the most baffling one, they refuse to pay for it, then bitch about the ads, it seems they are entitled to having VoD delivered to them anytime anywhere in the world got completely free.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 21 hours ago

Well yes, I'm just gonna watch Youtube videos ad free, how did you know

[–] [email protected] 35 points 1 day ago

Youtube shouldn't be baffling to you if you pay attention. Youtube still hoards tons of data and tracking on top of its ads. And paying doesn't stop that. Also, they removed the option to pay to remove ads but skip all the other stuff. They removed that option right at the same time they started their war against ad blockers. Combine those points with the typical enshittification and we wind up with a service that doesn't deserve your pity.

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

Counterpoint I think there's a lot of lemmings who put a lot of money into hosting the very server you just posted this comment on.

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[–] [email protected] 342 points 2 days ago (9 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 179 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

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

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

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?

[–] [email protected] 51 points 2 days ago (3 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.

[–] [email protected] 46 points 2 days ago (1 children)

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

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[–] Machinist 38 points 2 days ago (4 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!

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 day ago (9 children)

ive been on Voyager and i like it very much. is there a known better option, or my first choice was a solid? thanks

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

I always come back to voyager

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[–] M137 59 points 1 day ago (3 children)

OP, you suck. This has been (falsely) reported before, and every time it gets shut down as fear-mongering. I really doubt you learned of this, did any kind of source checking or just looked it up without seeing the MANY disproving replies that are always there.

I've seen this enough times, this exact post, to where I'm certain it's consciously done false sensationalist crap. There are several other posts like this about other apps and services that get posted every couple of weeks/months and just like here they always get told off for their idiocy. I wouldn't be surprised if it's a group or person doing much of it, it's the exact same every time.

[–] MortUS 32 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

What's the explanation? AWS sounds like ad trackage.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

The tracking is still a thing, it's just transparent about selling your location and purchase history data to Amazon and the like... So that makes it OK I guess?

[–] MortUS 13 points 1 day ago (1 children)
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[–] TrickDacy 154 points 2 days ago (8 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?

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[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 day ago (5 children)
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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 day ago (3 children)

I use Sync. Does it track my data too?

[–] mooglepom 3 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

I too use it, I was curious as well and it seems (having installed duckduckgo because of another comment on this post) that there is tracking.

Given lack on maint I guess will look elsewhere regardless

[–] rektdeckard 2 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

I'm not familiar with this interface, but it looks to me like it is saying Google was doing the tracking. Could this be tracking attempts made from a web view opened while using Sync, and not the actual Sync app itself? I want so badly to believe they are more privacy conscious than that. Love the app, been using it since it first came out for Reddit. Solo dev IIRC.

[–] mooglepom 1 points 17 hours ago

I am not either lol, and the web browser tracking you suggest is a decent possibility.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago)

For what I can see, no. At least, not more than normal apps. A lot of apps comes up with the blocking tracking attempts (duckduckgo) by the company Google. Google is the only one with sync.

Edit: I have paid for the app.

[–] Raiderkev 8 points 1 day ago

Judging by the fact that the dev hasn't bothered to do anything with it in months, I doubt that it matters.

[–] [email protected] 82 points 2 days ago (4 children)

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

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[–] A_Random_Idiot -5 points 18 hours ago (6 children)

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.

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[–] Darkhoof 15 points 1 day ago

You will only pry Boost from my phone over my cold dead hands.

[–] [email protected] 62 points 2 days ago (19 children)

You can do a one time purchase to remove the ads and tracking you know, monetising an app without ads is hard.

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