They’ve started inserting a subtle ad as the first result instead of the actual app you’re searching for.
This has to have been a change over the last month or two I feel like?
I’m having to reprogram myself to view the first result as irrelevant. Really makes me want to increase the F-Droid alternatives that I use.
Always have been
Almost all ads are icky
makes me want to increase the F-Droid alternatives that I use
Just go this way, and if you’re fed up with the Play Store switch to Aurora Store: same apps, no ads.
Can you link it please?
Edit: got it now and it looks great! Thanks to all those who linked.
that
And/or set up something like Obtainium for those apps you can pull directly from their source.
Gets you updates a lot faster, too
I dunno how anyone uses Aurora Store. Every time I try it says I’m rate limited or just has a permanent loading icon.
It had problems with the rate limited accounts for the last months, but I think they’re fixed now. I haven’t had any problem in the last weeks. If you keep getting these messages I’d recommend clearing app data and starting a new anonymous login session.
I have never seen that once.
I definitely didn’t know about Aurora store until this post. Currently have it downloaded on my tablet and phone now, thanks for the great advice!
Working as desiged. The revenue from deceptive ads is higher then relevant ads.
Hearing this week how they purposefully made Google search results worse so that people would be shown more ads feels like another blow as of late. Have you no sense of decency Google #ShakesFistAsAConsumer
Yes.
I don’t mind suggested or even sponsored apps, but trying to get downloads via misclicks is underhanded.
The layout is very confusing. It makes it look like Excel is also an ad.
I’m glad I basically never use the play store.
It’s not surprising, that’s how their search engine has worked forever. But yeah, icky is a good word for it.
With that user name I’ll see you as a pro of icky
Probably easier to tell if there were images. Why are they missing
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I have no idea why you are being downvoted. It isn’t even deceptive as the post implies. Scummy? 1000%. Deceptive? No.
Because Lemmy is full of insufferable entitled assholes.
Says the insufferable entitled asshole.
You sound awfully like a google lawyer.
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Nobody fucking reads text. Its muscle memory. Google trained people to expect the correct result. It’s fucking bullshit that people like you point out “iT SaYs SpONsorED!”
Then it sounds like a you problem…
Play Store search is horrible. You can literally search for the exact name of the app you want and NOT have it anywhere in the results.
Not quite. If your currently connected devices are not (supposedly) compatible because then it will not show up even if it is still on the store.
Google doesnt even tell you that way and you might assume it’s not there.I tried it multiple times and had no issues installing the apk from apkmirror and using the app.
Yeah, I’ve been geofenced from certain apps for forever for some reason. Google knows I’m German, Google knows I’m in Germany and yet I can’t download the official German gov Covid tracking app because “it isn’t available in your region”. So I’ve gotten quite familiar with the aurora store instead 🤷♂️
Living near the border so your Geo-IP is outside of Germany?
I wish, then I’d have at least some explanation. Although it’d be kinda weird still seeing as how I have a German IP address
No, it did really happen. Usually with apps that didn’t have very high installation counts. I have first hand experience with it as the author and publisher of an app. People could literally search for the exact name of my app and get all kinds of other results, but not my app. I’d have to send them a direct link to the listing.
I’ve clicked the “install” button on the ad by accident, more than once. The ad precedes an exact match, super dark pattern.
I always imagine you people as the boomers on infomercials. Accidentally clicking shit, installing zero days from random sources, and just heavily fighting to practice cyber hygiene with commission unsuccessful results.
“You people”, very kind. As if people doing things on autopilot isn’t universal and implementations like these aren’t meant to trigger that exact thing. Read up on UX, and implementations of dark patterns. Perhaps have an attempt at empathy too.
“People like you” make the internet such a bad place sometimes. Generalizing, exaggerating, calling names…
As a person that has a muscle memory for pressing the first row. I disagree with you here. I had to relearn pressing the actual app. For iOS I do not have this issue even though they also practice this as I had no muscle memory since I rarely use iPhone.
Copying Apple then. I wonder who did it first.
At this point it’s a circlejerk of who copies the others idea better.
Play Store doing this since September, at least in my region (SE Asia). If you disabled personalized ads on your Google Account, Play Store homepage displays ads that are frequently installed from your country/state.
Play Store homepage displays ads that are frequently installed from your country/state.
Speedrun to get spyware.
Indeed. Most apps I got on the homepage, mostly fast cash lending apps, were developed from China, and then outsourced its customer-based services to my country.
I’ve always been amazed by how unusable the play store was. I’d actually like to browse apps sometimes, but it always was choke full of useless ads pushing the worst apps possible. I only go there once every blue moon when I exactly know what I want, download it and get out of there.
Same. It’s actually impressive how bad the play store has gotten in last 12 years as per my experience.
I’ll just point out this isn’t only an Android issue.
If there any IT person here who has had to direct an employee to download the Microsoft authenticator app from the iPhone App Store, you’ve almost certainly seen that it promotes a deceptively similar looking authenticator above the Microsoft one, and you have to make sure the user knows not to download it.
I work IT and I hate having to help people with that. I usually bring up a pic of the app’s icon so they can compare it.
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this f droid ad
Wtf
Did I stutter?
It’s not icky for a literal advertising company to advertise, no. Can it be annoying at times, sure. I’m getting more from them than they are me, so I’m good.
But Im not stock and they don’t have their super power over my phone.
