There have been multiple accounts created with the sole purpose of posting advertisement posts or replies containing unsolicited advertising.

Accounts which solely post advertisements, or persistently post them may be terminated.

kibiz0r ,

I mean, it’s Google. What did you expect? Android is free because having it on a ton of cheap phones helps Google collect data and sell ads.

Side-rant:

Apple’s got plenty of problems and anti-consumer behavior, too, don’t get me wrong… but it’s incredible how far they’re able to enforce privacy, down to the hardware level, while still giving devs almost the same level of control over OS features as Android.

Like, look at how ARKit does point cloud sharing vs ARCore. iOS limits sharing scanned AR environments to peer-to-peer local connections, and it’s a totally opaque object. Android meanwhile uploads your scanned room to a Google server, and the privacy terms for that data are the same as the ones for Youtube, search, maps, etc.

It drives me crazy how many FOSS nerds will rail against Facebook’s data collection and chokepoint capitalism, but then go on to praise Android for standing up to that no-good Apple. They hear “I can sideload apps” and they drop all of their recent cynicism about why they’re getting nifty stuff at a hefty discount.

marmo7ade , (edited )

deleted_by_author

    •
    nottheengineer ,

    Google has much better software and they charge for it in data/ads instead of money, but there’s a much better reason to choose android over IOS: It’s open-source, so people have created free software variants of it that retain compatibility with existing apps while respecting your privacy and freedom.

    In case you care about that, give grapheneOS or calyxOS a shot on your pixel.

    TheCraiggers ,
    @TheCraiggers@lemmy.world avatar

    If you install a custom build, doesn’t that break OS verification (or whatever the name of it was)? Meaning things like Google wallet, but more importantly some banking apps, will fail to work?

    snor10 ,

    I mean, FOSS nerds run android de-googled (or more specifically never install google services on a custom ROM).

    Sir_Kevin ,
    @Sir_Kevin@discuss.online avatar

    That’s not an Android problem, that’s a Google Play Services problem. You can run Android without all the Google bullshit.

    filister ,

    Not to mention that you can at least install third party app stores like f-droid. For me Apple is the epitome of evil giant corporation that is consistently abusing it’s market power and getting a pass from regulatory bodies.

    Don’t get me wrong, Google aren’t great either, but if I have to choose between them I would pick Google any day.

    squozenode ,

    I’ll give apple this one thing.

    They are really, really good at backup.

    I recently had to wipe my dad’s iPhone, I manually backed up his pictures just to make absolutely certain they were all saved but everything else I didn’t even bother.

    I logged him back into his apple account and everything immediately started downloading again.

    With Google, you’ll get your text messages. Your contacts, your pictures, your videos. Maybe your YouTube history and subscriptions but any random app probably uses Google backup services but it might not.

    Anomalous_Llama ,

    I’ll give Apple another thing

    I was on Android for years. Galaxies and Pixels. Around the 2 year mark they were always barely working and with a battery that needed to be topped off several times a day. Slow, hot, poor battery, glitchy. Always

    I got a 12 pro at release and it’s rock solid as the day I got it and I have no intentions of upgrading it. I’ve used it since launch with no case and yeah it’s for a few scratches here and there but despite all the drops etc it has no cracks either. It’s a tank. A tank that just keeps fucking working as it should.

    magic_lobster_party ,

    Apple makes money by selling expensive devices.

    Google makes money by selling ads.

    You can figure out the rest of the equation.

    deweydecibel , (edited )

    but it’s incredible how far they’re able to enforce privacy, down to the hardware level, while still giving devs almost the same level of control over OS features as Android.

    I don’t give a shit about devs. I want that control for users. Until they allow users to do what they want, they can get fucked.

    Privacy through the use of user restrictions is not acceptable either. It’s my god damn phone, don’t you dare tell me what I can’t do on it “for my protection”.

    It’s like saying a security firm is the best in the world at keeping clients safe, because they lock those clients in a vault and don’t let them leave.

    Privacy for freedom is not a good trade for those enthusiasts your frustrated with. They will accept Google’s shit because the alternative is getting in a fucking cage.

    Snapz ,

    Apple does objectively suck for many reasons though.

    Also, important to note that what you’re describing as their privacy focus is a deliberate rebranding exercise after a huge ,global failure with icloud and things like police access to their systems/data and public backlash.

    They are only here now, in this brief moment, because of necessity and like any of this, it’s typically a pendulum. As soon as they don’t have to do this (which probably sounds a lot like users like you defending their security bonafides publicly on their behalf), they will start to creep away and de-prioritize privacy and security.

    gila , (edited )
    @gila@lemmy.world avatar

    I can’t scrobble my music to last.fm on iOS without some janky workaround. The “almost same level of control” part of what you said relies on an assumption that only the set of use cases explicitly determined by Apple as ones that “matter” are worth supporting. That it’s more important to prevent the user from explicitly allowing a scrobbling app permission to read the music player app’s now playing notification than for the device to be able to perform this simple function.

    This point of difference doesnt have any meaningful impact on collection of my data. It just stops the device from being able to do the function I want. So that what, I can sleep easier knowing that Apple designed a slick interface to point out data vectors which were already implied to be collected? It used to feel like a smartphone with training wheels, now they’ve just locked up the handlebars so that it’s easier to go straight.

    Acid ,
    @Acid@startrek.website avatar

    I’m with you on this, I used to avoid using apple products at all costs due to the way they are so anti consumer and lock you in heavily to their ecosystem.

    But in terms of security and privacy they aren’t even playing on the same level. Android will never be as privacy or security focused as apple due to the way google runs its business so long term a Linux mobile operating system would be the dream.

    Until then I stick with what I can use which is the apple products for now.

    qwertychomp ,

    Everytime I open google play, I play a little game where I try to find a gacha anime game in the ads as fast as I can

    Hextic ,

    Mine is that damn screaming face that all mobile games have.

    stackPeek ,
    @stackPeek@lemmy.world avatar

    Mine is worse: oftentimes it’s just filled with ads for an online loan servicesand I feel like most of those are just scams. It’s disgusting how they allow this.

    StealthToad ,

    They’re everywhere

    PipedLinkBot ,

    Here is an alternative Piped link(s): piped.video/XPGgTy5YJ-g

    Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

    I’m open-source, check me out at GitHub.

    sol ,

    don’t use that shit

    Vlhacs ,

    I’m not exactly sure when it started, but Play Store now has “Limited time events” that further block what I’m actually looking for. I don’t give a damn about some gacha/loot box promotion some soulless pay2win app is advertising, I just want to browse for apps I might like.

    ultratiem ,
    @ultratiem@lemmy.world avatar

    🤢

    shrugal ,
    @shrugal@lemmy.world avatar

    Just leaving this here: Aurora Store

    kennyboy55 ,

    What is the difference with F-Droid?

    SomethingBurger ,

    It’s an alternative client to the Play Store. It does not access F-Droid repos.

    samsy ,

    F-Droid has special FOSS Apps only. Aurora Store delivers the same Apps like Play Store.

    fushuan ,

    Others answered you, but aurora also has an F-Droid replacement called Aurora Droid.

    squozenode ,

    Aurora store is basically anonymous access to the official Google Play store.

    You can download any app because unlike the Google Play store Aurora doesn’t send your phones hardware ID, so if for example your phone is rooted you can get the Disney Plus app anyway.

    Fdroid is an alternate app store. They have different things than the Google Play store. They respect your privacy and will let you download any app that is ever been uploaded to them, Even old versions of an app.

    majestictechie , (edited )

    Ok this is actually pretty cool. So I gave this a try and what I found in the first few mins of using it:

    • you can login anonymously or with your own Google account (anonymous logs you into one of their shared Gmail accounts which personally I don’t like the idea of)
    • it manages all existing apps too, so you can use it as a drop in replacement for the play store.
    • Updates aren’t as well, there doesn’t appear to be a background update option as android requires you to confirm if you wish to install the update for each app.

    Overall solid app. I don’t spend a lot of time in the PlayStore so the ads themselves don’t bother me. The moment though I begin getting pop up ads / notifications I’ll be jumping to this full time though

    redcalcium ,

    Just be careful when using your own google account on Aurora Store. There are reports of people getting their account banned by google. Do not use an important google account there.

    Sir_Kevin ,
    @Sir_Kevin@discuss.online avatar

    Another cool feature is you can spoof your device’s name. This can allow you to install apps that daddy Google does not approve of for your device.

    XEAL ,

    Aside of the lack of ads, I now depend on Aurora Store for batch app updates because the cocksuckers at Google Play have allowed devs to force app version updates even when you have disabled automatic updates for that specific app.

    Boinketh ,

    How do you deal with waiting for and then pressing “Install” for every app? It’s so tedious. Is there no way without root?

    XEAL ,

    IDK… I root all of my devices ¯_(ツ)_/¯

    Boinketh ,

    That’s pretty gigachad, but I’m scared to because it voids the warranty :(

    XEAL ,

    Agree, there’s a risk even if you don’t break anything.

    Lev_Astov ,
    @Lev_Astov@lemmy.world avatar

    Isn’t that one of the things the FTC says can’t void warranties? They’ve been going after companies for those lousy warranty void stickers lately.

    Boinketh ,

    Oh you’re right, TIL. I guess I’ve fallen victim to the corporate propaganda.

    TwinTusks , (edited )

    Um … can I sign in with my google account?

    It appears that I can, wonderful.

    Koffiato ,

    Also, the frame drops. Oh the frame drops. Searching and app and scrolling down always drops frames since Google switched away from Android Market. I can’t imagine how does it still happen to this day lmao.

    Holyhandgrenade ,
    @Holyhandgrenade@lemmy.world avatar

    Without exception, whenever I search for a specific app I need to Google it because the App Store search function is so utterly shit.
    It never just shows me what I’m searching for, it’s always shitty predatory apps with a million ads that show up first.

    Sabin10 ,

    When I search two dots, it’s the first thing at the top of the results with ads underneath it. Possibly a regional difference?

    svotay OP ,

    Copying a response I made to a similar comment:

    I, too was not able to reproduce the same result again.

    When I tried to do the same search again, I had one column more dedicated to non ad space, namely, showing the description of the game. Dont know how I got that particular spread of ads galore at that particular moment.

    Screenshot taken later with the same query:

    postimg.cc/JtjHLG9Z

    My version of android is, indeed, an older one, and my region is India, I suppose all these factor into what I see when I search for stuff.

    Legge ,

    For me, the first search result started being an ad a few months ago. I accidentally clicked them a couple times before realizing and then paying more attention. Android 13 and Android 11 (2 different devices) both in US

    kratoz29 ,

    Your ads has a bit of store.

    JasSmith ,

    Europeans will be able to take advantage of the DMA early next year. Google will have to allow us to install competing app stores without extra steps. No special security warnings or restrictions. I expect some solid competition soon.

    noodlejetski ,

    no ads in Aurora Store (:

    Mr_Buscemi ,
    @Mr_Buscemi@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

    The ads are so fucking bad now on Google play.

    Now the top part of my search menu shows ads whenever I’m looking for apps.

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • [email protected]
  • random
  • lifeLocal
  • goranko
  • All magazines
    •