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/
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’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.
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.
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.
God damnit, I use this app
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.
ive been on Voyager and i like it very much. is there a known better option, or my first choice was a solid? thanks
No, Voyager is a very solid choice, and def the best option available ATM
I always come back to voyager
I use Sync. Does it track my data too?
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.
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.
Judging by the fact that the dev hasn’t bothered to do anything with it in months, I doubt that it matters.
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.
Lmao.
You talk shit but don’t provide any sources or information.
You’re an ass.
What’s the explanation? AWS sounds like ad trackage.
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?
No sir, I don’t like it.
Then pay for the app. No tracking.
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.
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.
Well yes, I’m just gonna watch Youtube videos ad free, how did you know
YouTube is a little bit different, imo. Ads essentially carpet-bomb you on YouTube, and the money isn’t going to the people who actually create the content. If there were a reasonable number of ads, and they paid creators more, I wouldn’t have nearly as much of a problem with it as I do.
Do you think all those bytes of video data are free to host and get to you?
Did you miss the part where I said “reasonable” and “more”? I did not say that there should be no ads or that they should pay creators everything.
YouTube makes more than $350b annually, and the most liberal operating cost estimate I’ve seen (they don’t release numbers) has put their hosting and distribution costs at about $25b. They pay out $9b annually to creators. They have 122k employees making an average of $117k annually, so that’s another $13b in employee salaries (which is always the biggest cost any company shoulders). To be extremely generous, let’s assume they also spend another $40b for all the other stuff they do as a business (office space, gold for play button plaques, pizza parties for their employees, legal, etc)–to be clear, that’s more than Netflix made in total last year, so while it might be ridiculously high, it’s not ridiculously low.
That adds up to $87b in operating costs annually. To be even more unreasonably liberal here, let’s double that. $174b in operating costs on $350b revenue would be less than half of the total, leaving them them with a whopping $176,000,000,000 in profits annually.
Only about $40b of that is ads; everything else is from subscriptions, deals, etc. And, as noted before, they pay creators about $9b annually. So if they cut ads in half, and doubled their creator payout, they would reduce their total profits to $147b. If they totally eliminated ads altogether and quadrupled their creator payout, they’d still be making more than $107 billion dollars per year above operating expenses.
They can afford to ease up on the gas a little bit.
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.
Definitely a dissenting view but one I can’t help but agree with. Same applies to piracy for me. You don’t want to give Disney money? Fair enough. Very reasonable. You still “need” to watch The Mandalorian? Okay…
I disagree with that, Piracy doesn’t cost anyone anything, it’s people using their own internet connection and hardware to share the data, I also paid way more for my Plex setup than what it would cost to pay for streaming services.
I have everything in one place, conveniently, that’s the big difference, that’s why I am willing to pay more for my own setup.
I used to pay for netflix too, but then everyone started doing their own streaming service and now you need to have like 5-6 and then every country has something different on it, it’s a mess.
Not to mention they did shit like removed a Community episode because I guess that fixed racism?
another thing is that Scrubs is one of my favorite shows, but because licensing deals expired they changed the soundtrack and the original soundtrack was a huge part of that show, so to see it in it’s original version, you have to pirate it.
I don’t think that’s how most pirates, myself included, see it. It’s not about “needing” to see the mandalorian, it’s simply about wanting to see it, but if the only way to see it “legally” is to make a monthly subscription for a service that offers me no other value, offered by a company I don’t want to support, I’m not doing that. And the thing is that it doesn’t have to be this way - I happily paid for Netflix for years, before content started being fragmented. As a wise man once put it, piracy is a service problem, not a price problem.
Same with Youtube - it’s not the ads, it’s the endless amount, the annoying implementations, and non-creator-friendly practices. They’re not doing ads in order to keep the servers running - they simply need to find new ways to squeeze every cent of profit quarter after quarter, and I’m not playing that game.
This only applies to big corps though - if you pirate indie content and don’t even make a donation to the artist, you’re an ass.
I really appreciate you responding to me in good faith, thanks. I know it’s a fine line, but generally for me not liking the terms of the agreement isn’t enough for me to force my own terms. That said, the one time I’ve pirated something in the last few years was when Prime removed a show from the platform when I had 1.5 episodes of 5 seasons left to go. The idea of paying an extra 10 quid to watch maybe 1% of an otherwise ‘free’ show pissed me off haha.
So I’m not following my philosophy perfectly either. If it came to something like wanting to watch The Mandalorian from scratch though, I would wait and buy the DVD/BluRay.
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.
Not sure what that has to do with my point, but okay
Lemmings have a huge obsession with shit being both free and adfree
Not sure thats very accurate. There’s a healthy percentage who donate to instances and developers, because on open source platforms/services/software you don’t have just trust no ones selling your data for their profit and its good to support that.
If Google open sourced their clients, got rid of adverts and all tracking and stopped selling or giving away user data but charged a reasonable fee I’d happily use YouTube.
I am clearly talking about people who continue to use youtube and want to use youtube but also adfree and for free, if you stopped using YouTube all my respect for you for actually standing up for what you believe in.
For me at least, my objection with YouTube is that Google takes a cut. I’d much rather contribute an equivalent amount to some creators via patreon and adblock the site.
Also I’m not saying the host doesn’t deserve a cut, I just think that corporations like Google are a general pest that should be eradicated
Do have any idea how difficult it is to host a video platform? The cut they take is absolutely fair.
Anyone with a cell phone can be a youtuber.
I have close to 20 years of experience in IT and I would need to spend many days to set up an alternative for myself (forget about other people) even using software already made, and it would still cost a ridiculous amount of (partially upfront) money.
So, stop using their service? That’s the best way to eradicate google
I’d pay for Youtube if Google would guarantee to not track me. I donate to open source projects that I use, rotating every month whom I choose to donate to. I even donated to Manjaro recently even though I don’t use it any more, but it was something I had used in the past and I was poor and couldn’t donate them then. But I refuse to feel any guilt for watching Youtube for free.
I reported this post because it hurts the dev for no reason. Hope it gets removed but the damage is already done. People are stupid.
If the devs say it up front then how does reporting it hurt them? It’s just accurate.
It’s being presented in such a way that makes it look like malicious/nefarious tracking is in place, when in reality it has to do with ad analytics.
It’s 2025, ad analytics ARE for malicious/nefarious purposes. Who do you think they’re selling them to, Mr. Rogers?
And if you want them gone, you can pay for the app. It’s not like you’re stuck with them.
Don’t abuse the report system.
Your getting downvoted for an accurate statement.
This really is just redditv2. Discussion to the sidelines over vibes and feels.
Same! Boost is awesome and it was a no brainer paying for the ad removal
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 deal with sync.
Minus the “small amount” part.
Is it significantly bigger? I don’t remember.
The sync dev made the same app that he did for the… other site, and built up loyalty from that. I switched to it as soon as I could get my hands on it and make sure it still worked the same.
People already liked it because they already knew it. Don’t remember now what the paid version cost, but I imagine he gets a lot of loyalty from before.
I’ve only tried one other app for Lemmy though, so I can’t say much about how it compares to others.
It’s $20
Ho leeeeee
I didn’t think it was that high, even for both versions (reddit and Lemmy) combined.
Either way I’m not too upset.
Oh, yeah, fair.
My favorite app is Firefox 😉
(or alternatively: Tor - its also great, many Lemmy instances are Tor friendly)
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.
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.
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?
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!
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
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 !
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?
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 his work.
wow… subscription and also MIA that long!
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.
Yeah, I remember seeing complaints about that from time to time. Sounds like it’s gotten worse.
You were happily paying it before then? He’s done this so many times. I gave up about a year ago when he made markdown work in titles, which no one asked for, and then disappeared again. Everyone who started a title with a hashtag had a giant freaking font for a heading. And spoiler markdown had never worked right. It always used the reddit style. It would even change proper Lemmy spoiler tags into reddit ones when you editted your comment.
I took the time to try out every other app at the time and settled on Thunder. It’s just as good, it’s in active development, and it’s free and open source, so it can never be abandoned like Sync is. Anyone can fork it if they had to, and keep it going.
It pisses me off so much that Lawson had the audacity to charge $20 for a broken port of Sync for Reddit and then disappear with severe open bugs for months at a time. I wish I could get my money back.
I downloaded Sync the first day he released it. It had a few bugs, but he was very active at the time and seemed to clean them up quickly. I made a post in his community about a problem with comment sorting and he resolved it the very next day!
So yeah, I glady paid for what I thought was a pretty good app (still is without the unread issue). Since then I’ve gone back to Voyager, which is ok but still has some quirks that make me miss Sync. Might give Thunder a shot.
It does? I’ve never had this issue on Sync.
It happens when your home instance upgrades to a newer version of Lemmy that changed how one of the variables worked to track read posts. I’m guessing lemme.ee hasn’t upgraded yet? Sh.itjust.works upgraded something like 6 months ago and it’s been unusable ever since. I suppose I could make an account on another instance, but that’s a pain.
Eternity still good
Yep it is. It’s also free with no ads and open source.
Problem is it had no updates in 6 months. I had problems with images and such. For now i am for Voyager app. Its updated regulary
Even though it’s not updated, there’s nothing wrong with it so far.
I think the images not loading issue has to do with Lemmy servers, as I see it on desktop web version all the time.
Well those problems persisted all the time on mobile for me, or some images needed to be opened in webview instead of the app.
You will only pry Boost from my phone over my cold dead hands.
