I was looking forward to trying Sync today now that it’s live, but my enthusiasm was immediately dampened after seeing the “Data Safety” section on the Google Play store.
Liftoff has been great, and want to say thanks for making an awesome app. This will continue to be my daily driver.
Edit: for clarity, because the post got way bigger than I expected.
Sync looks like a fantastic app, and the dev/s should charge whatever they feel is fair for their efforts, even if that’s through the usual ads + ad tracking.
My intent was just to post here in /c/Liftoff to thank the Liftoff devs for managing to somehow offer an awesome app without any of that.
It’s a bit weird. I installed Sync yesterday but I don’t get any ads. I don’t have a system wide ad blocker or anything. Note that I don’t have GApps.
Ads are bugged
I don’t get ads either, and I don’t even get placeholders. Idk if it’s a bug thing or a regional thing for me.
Maybe he uses adsense? I don’t know for sure, but i guess that’s not implemented into microG
😁 ads implemented in microG would absolutely crack me up
He’s using adsense afaik.
Yeah, the sync dev has learned from Spez.
Thanks Liftoff!
Ok ok, was a bit harsh here :)
Just because he’s trying to earn a living doesn’t mean he’s ‘literally spez!’ or whatever lol
idk putting ads in a platform that doesnt have ads and then asking money to remove them is pretty scummy
idk just dont use the app then ffs
wtf how is it ‘scummy’? He needs to make money too.
Huh? Not really, you can’t compare a badass good dev with a poor whiney CEO.
I am just really disappointed.
What did you expect?
Users literally asked for this since the very beginning of Sync for Reddit death, remember other apps were not as polished as Sync for Reddit was.
Now we have some good options, so I don’t understand why you are disappointed.
What a crazy and unjustified comparison
It’s seriously a great app, so I don’t get the fuss about Sync either. I’ve been a Sync and Boost user before but I’m very content with the apps we already got for Lemmy so I won’t throw in another one to choose from.
I’ve been switching between Liftoff, Voyager and Thunder because they all seem to good to just lose them right now lol
Sync looks super clean and is probably a fantastic app, but I’m just a little put off by the data privacy. It’s like a month or so in the fediverse has spoiled me, and I can’t go back to being a product.
Yes, thanks for pointing that aspect out. I get the motivation to collect data to serve ads but I wish to stay with privacy respecting options too and I hope the contributors to those clients see enough donations to make their efforts worthwhile as well.
The data privacy stuff is all related to the plumbing required to serve ads.
If you pay for the ad-free version none of that stuff gets loaded.
And how exactly do you know it, is it open source?
Because people have run analysis on the activity of the app already and the trackers don’t fire if you aren’t on the ad supported version.
All of the listed stuff is also required for serving ads through services like Google and pretty normal for ad-supported apps.
“trust me bro”
His dad works at Sync for Lemmy
thats a shitty blackmail
To me, it’s that these apps are established and developed into a clean user experience, many with like a decade of fine tuning. These new apps are, to me, not as good for that reason alone.
Of course it’s all preference, but that’s my input on the subject.
I found boost a great app and I was one of the first people (if not the first, my post on his sub is the first instance of it) to tell Ruben to make a lemmy app. I like Ruben because every single time I’ve ever had an issue with Boost for reddit, he responded directly to me and either helped me solve a user error or he would literally patch the app and push an update that included my issue. He’s a great dev and I’m glad he’s decided to continue development else where, and I’m glad to support him in this. While I could easy patch ads out using lucky patcher, I will pay for premium of boost for lemmy as soon as it’s ready
Thanks for your input! To me the three I listed feel very similar to what I had with Boost/Sync, probably because they were inspired by them in their main aspects. Admittedly though for me it’s just some tweaks and I’m happily scrolling away whereas B/S offer a litany of settings to customize every aspect of your browsing and posting experience which is very attractive, especially for more heavy users.
Nice to hear about your positive interactions with the dev. That sounds awesome and certainly is a good argument for supporting him in particular but also other developers delivering quality software be it open source or not.
I have tried a couple different apps but Liftoff is the best so far. Quite disappointed in the direction Sync is taking. Developpers obviously have a right to be paid for their work, but I despise the choice of targeted ads or subscription based software.
I’m using sync and they have an option to remove ads that isn’t a subscription. I’m not sure if that would prevent tracking but another commenter said it would. I’ll probably see if I can get a response from the dev and find out.
considering you dont get to see the source code the dev could tell you theres a pumpkin pie in the code for all you know
You can make a one time payment to remove the ads forever
That’s welcome. It has to be added very recently though because it wasn’t possible when I checked.
So both ways for someone to be paid?
Would you agree to buying one version with no updates (except for bug fixes) ?
I would. Is it a perfect model? No. Is it better than ads or a monthly subscription? Absolutely!
Sync just added an option for that.
no they didnt.
Sync has a lifetime ad free option. That removes the Google tracking as well, since it’s tied to ads. Subscription it for extra features you probably dont need. Based on comments about reddit sync, it also doesn’t track usage statistics. But that is mostly a guess from my side.
The price is a steep 20 USD, but the app is new and the Dev is well known. You also know what you are getting if you have used Sync before.
It’s an amazing app, very clean and fast.
And for “clean” I feel the UI cluttered up.
As are lots of others free ones?
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I think it’s a little uncharitable to Sync to characterise it like this. Yes, it collects personal data to show ads. However, you have the choice to refuse or pay a one time fee to get rid of it entirely. It’s the nonconsensual nature of data collection that robs users of their agency that makes it problematic.
Devs need to eat and donations are not always a realistic revenue scheme. With the one time fee, Sync has signalled it cares about its users and not just value extraction like Big Tech. I will probably pay that and be happy.
I like Liftoff, I also like Sync. I use both atm.
I totally get that, and the sync dev seems like a good guy who should charge whatever he feels is reasonable for his time. To an average end user like me though, it feels a bit like there are 5-6 booths offering bananas for free, but then someone set up a booth right next to them selling bananas for $20 a pop or requiring me to sit through a sales pitch.
I just wanted to show my appreciation for the guy at my favorite booth who is doing it for free when they really didn’t have to.
Okay, but in this scenario one guy offers it for free because he helps to grow bananas as a hobby with a bunch of other guys who also help, and he doesn’t need to sell the bananas to make a living, while the guy offering bananas for money grows bananas himself or just with his family for a living and so selling them is how he can afford to make more and also put food on the table. You can also have his bananas for free too, as long as you’re okay with the bananas having stickers with sponsored brand names on them. I can understand not wanting to pay for something when there are free versions available, and the prices can be a bit high for some people atm, assuming they don’t change in the coming days, but the guy selling bananas for money isn’t forcing you to buy his bananas instead of getting the free ones from other booths, he’s offering his bananas for people who are willing and able to pay for them or willing to tolerate ads on them to support him. Presumably you didn’t feel the need to thank liftoff before the stuff with sync happened, so it doesn’t come across like you’re just thankful to liftoff in general, more like you’re doing it because you’re unhappy with sync.
Man, that’s Ferrari. That’s how they operate. You can buy lots of cars, but you can’t just walk into a dealer and buy a Ferrari.
You can sit and be fucking mad at Ferrari, or just choose to say “that’s an expensive thing for a dumb privilege”, … and drive an Audi instead.
And look what you’ve done. You brought the crazies out. The extremists.
I think @[email protected] has already made a good point regarding your example.
I’m not judging you or anything, just that the appreciation could have been shown without comparing it to Sync. It can come off as a bit combative, when you didn’t mean it like that.
you have the choice to refuse
If you’re in the EU, of course.
pay a one time fee to get rid of it entirely
If you already have spyware called Play Services on your phone.
I just used a VPN to the EU and refused. Yeah it sucks that governments don’t care, but nothing I can do about it right now.
As for Play Services, most people will never run a degoogled phone. So, that’s that.
More like malware, revoke too much access from it and it insta-reboots your device
I’m really happy you love Liftoff and it’s great that we have so many options.
See how easy that is?
The race to make a Lemmy app has made some solid contenders step up. There are a lot of legitimately good apps.
Definitely. It’s like we’re the prettiest girl at the dance!
which is why i dont understand why some are wasting money in subscription and ad removals…
dev’s gotta eat
They do
Because I want to support the developer? Sync has had a ton of work put into it over the last few years, it’s a non trivial task for a developer to commit that much time to a free app. I also hate patreon, so $17 a year is a steal. It’s also literally like a chipotle burrito every 12 months. I think I can fit that into the budget.
Just tried Liftoff. Really enjoyed the interface. Grateful there are plenty of FOSS options out there for people who prefer using them.
I was using Liftoff before today, but I finally got fed up with the comment box bugs. I hate to say it, but Sync is the only Lemmy app I’ve used that isn’t a buggy mess or missing core features.
🍻👍⛏️ Rock and Stone, Brother!
I just wish more apps would allow blocking instances. I don’t want to hide all NSFW content, but hot damn there is a lot of different porn communities in @lemmynsfw and it is a pain to block each individually.
Sync has this feature. Liftoff does not and voyager(my old daily use) did not.
Sync also does feature markup settings that voyager does not like bold hidden text ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Thunder has this and so does liftoff (at least the latest versions I am using through obtainium).
Connect allows this, great app.
Connect has the option. There is also the option to block comments, but it seems to be a toggle for all blocked instances instead of a per-instance basis. Currently I’ve only blocked feddit.de because I don’t speak the language. Don’t know what I’ll end up doing if I want to block an instance and its comments though.
Connect blocks the comments of blocked instances by default, at least it does for me. They still show up and you can click on them to show the content if you want. There is a setting to not block the comments of blocked instances. I too blocked feddit.de cause of ze german.
Liftoff just implemented blocking instances based on words contained in the instance name, it should be out on the next version: https://github.com/liftoff-app/liftoff/pull/372
So you will soon be able to solve that issue.
Instance blocking would be really nice. There are also some bot instances that mirror content from reddit, and while I get the appeal, I’d rather not have it in my feed. I’ve just been blocking the bots individually.
Sync and connect both have block instance options.
BTW if you have blocked communities, that is account level and will travel with you when you install one of the other apps.
I’m pretty sure instance locking is app based and not tied to your account.
Hm… not sure whether it’s app or account based, I think Mastodon has it as account based… or does it? 🤔
I care a bit more about Lemmy’s future and growth that to fuss about an app collecting information. I don’t think anyone complaining about the privacy actually read their privacy terms.
Sync VS FOSS thing isn’t over yet? Let everyone use what they like the most. Let everyone be the judge of their own data and how it is being used. For god’s sake, live and let live folks
I would rather not normalize closed source software. Might as well just go back to Reddit.
Christ, closed source is not the devil, and if you treat it like it is then it shows you don’t actually know how open or closed source works, or the pros and cons of both types of software.
Let’s break it down this way. Let’s look at incentive structure’s.
An Open Source application can be forked, and has no incentive to use data in a maligned way.
A closed one can earn tons of money by doing just that.
As I argue with most things, Capitalism is the main issue and it permeates through all facets of life by having backwards incentive structures
God forbid a developer wants to own the code they write and be able to pay their bills doing it.
A fork “can be used” to stab someone in the jugular but it doesn’t mean we need to get rid of all forks to ensure it never happens. People need to be smart with who they trust and who they give their money to. LJ isn’t putting a gun to your head and forcing you to buy his app, but I’m gladly paying for it because I feel like he’s an upstanding guy and frankly he’s just better at building a good UI than anyone else on Lemmy (and yes, I’ve tried at least 5 different apps. Second best was Connect.)
I would rather not normalize software that looks and works like a high school project made by someone who doesn’t know what UI or UX are.
UI UX Can be fixed tho.
You like eating shit?
Closed source enthusiasts sure seem to.
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I should clarify. I don’t want to normalize it… In the FOSS sphere (Lemmy).
But also you really shouldn’t flout how frequently your data is pillaged and sold out. Its an embarrassing look.
I for one use exclusively FOSS software outside of my banking app.
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Do you know yourself for a fact that no data is being taken by Sync itself?
And its a fact that Google and Firebase are taking your data. Even if Sync itself doesn’t collect any data, it uses Google products (as stated in their Privacy Policy which I’m 1000% you did read), and any and all google products will take your data.
That’s the point of using a FOSS client, if it collected data people would know, the code is public. And the data collection can be removed, since the code is public.
Even outside of data collection or privacy, which clearly you don’t care about, we should avoid giving Google more power. Look at manifest v3 or the web integrity API. That affects not only your privacy, but your security and ability to use the internet. And not only yours, but the whole world
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Firebase is typically a dependency for key app features. If the app still works 100%, you’re probably not even blocking the traffic.
Using Google Drive/Photos is just another problem. Amazing to me people keep bringing that up like a “you’re a hypocrite” trump card.
Well, you are just one of the (majority of) people who apparently don’t care about being tracked by google. Me personally, others in the comments and maybe OP don’t use anything google related, have custom ROMs without gapps and avoid Google like the plague. So it is a concern for us, using Sync would open the door to google tracking.
Others have pointed out that even if you pay for pro, Sync still requires Play Services.
You seem to happily Google products, so my point wouldn’t apply to you. I just thought that most people would be concerned about google and tracking and fingerprinting and all that stuff, since we are in Lemmy and the Liftoff sub.
Morals have nothing to do with it. Im, quite plainly, saying that is is pretty stupid to put your data into closed source apps.
Only ignorant people do that.
The only reason I use my bank app is because its literally required to exist in America. If it were up to me, it wouldn’t be.
But you don’t actually know what code is running on a given lemmy server. Just because the source is open, doesn’t mean that any given server is using the reference implementation, admins could be running whatever they want on their backend.
That’s why it’s imperative that the app which communicates with the server via Lemmy’s api, IS open and auditable. That’s how we prevent maligned actors from using data they shouldn’t have. You can audit what is being sent from an open source app.
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Most of the world is by definition ignorant of data privacy.
Absolutely.
It doesn’t take a genius to understand it, just someone who is not ignorant.
But, by all means, continue to give your data to whoever you want to.
I, for one would rather actively work to de-normalize it!
There, is that written accurately enough for you?
We’re on the Liftoff community. And it’s his opinion.
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Bro, of course it has a data safety section, it offers a paid version so it will need to be able to collect your financial information, and any trackers are removed if you remove ads or turn off personalized ads. That doesn’t mean it’s stealing your data, those are regular app functions for apps that have iaps or show ads.
