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] 154 points 1 month 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] 6 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Glad I stick with Thunder.

I have no problems with devs making money on their work. But ads are a privacy violation for me.

If Thunder ever went this route I'd immediately fork.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Voyager is pretty good but mr. Voyager developer, for the love of god, add some left-right margin! I don't know why but this makes me irrationally angry to the point I simply can't use Voyager

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

As long as it's toggleable, cause I like the no margin

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

I find it funny that one app is called Jerboa which is a local delicacy in Najd and other parts of the Arabian Peninsula.

I am personally happy with the web app.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 month ago

Jerboa is better apps

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I recommend Thunder. Always been slick and good.

I tried the others and stuck to it. But I think all the apps are great and it just comes down to personal preference on which someone likes to drive most.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 month ago

Would like to throw [email protected] in the ring as an alternative

[–] [email protected] 82 points 1 month ago (4 children)

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

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[–] [email protected] 354 points 1 month ago (13 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] 184 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month 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

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[–] [email protected] 50 points 1 month 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] 16 points 1 month ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] -5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Stop using boost ages ago. The lack of updates makes the app ~~unusable~~ hardly usable anyway.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 month ago (5 children)

News to me. Boost is not only extremely usable, it's more so than the others I tried, which was basically all the android apps.

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

Jerboa is very cool and works great

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Ooh, that app is fun! I also recommend Eternity for a Lemmy app (or just Fennec and ublock- not that my lemmy instance has anything to worry about)

I also love the difference in apps I got from the Play Store vs Neo store.

Also, ExpressVPN with 2 trackers? Shame. Mullvad wins again.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Raccoon is also a great alternative for trackerless Lemmy browsing, I personally prefer it over Jerboa and Voyager.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 month ago (4 children)

Good work bringing this to the attention of others.

I agree that Jerboa is good. If anyone wants another option, then Connect For Lemmy is clean, simple, and updated frequently. I'm nothing to do with Connect, just someone that has tried loads of Lemmy apps on Android, and has settled on Connect.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Isn’t it possible to provide an ad supported version without tracking?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago (2 children)

How would that work? You want the Boost dev to create their own "ethical ads" network?

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Ads generally come with tracking, since the advertiser wants to know their ad was seen / effective. Some ad systems might be better than others, but I don't have experience there

I know Mozilla is working on 'Privacy respecting ads', which was also controversial: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/foundation/annualreport/2024/article/a-privacy-first-solution-that-meets-advertisers-needs/

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

I’ve not found a similar service to Exodus for iOS devices (yeah, I know, but that’s what I’ve got) but to the best of my knowledge Mlem is a pretty good alternative to Boost on apple devices, and the best user-experience I’ve so far found

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[–] [email protected] 53 points 1 month 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.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 month ago

It's also built into the Aurora Store (frontend for Google Play Store)

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago

That's great info! Thanks for replying

[–] [email protected] 62 points 1 month ago (4 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 35 points 1 month ago (5 children)

You're being downvoted for providing true information that disputes sensationalism. This place is truly fucking weird

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

I get that lemmy userbase in general dislikes ads, i dislike ads too but not every dev can go without it on their projects. There has to be some income from somewhere after all.

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

You’re not wrong but.. gestures broadly at the other available apps that don’t do stuff like this

It would also take some huge scandal before voyager ceases to be the absolute king of lemmy apps.

Performance alone i have yet to see anything get close.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago
[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Do you get a tracker-free software version, or just an ad-free experience?

[–] [email protected] 38 points 1 month ago

The Dev confirmed that the trackers which are part of the ads plugin are not loaded when purchasing the app.

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