I was planning to wait and see what Boost has to offer before deciding if I should pay $20 to remove ads on Sync, but seeing this has convinced me to delete the app for good. Even Reddit isn’t half as bad as Sync when it comes to trackers and shady ads.
It’s depressing how much I see this apps data misread. I feel like DDG needs to implement some sort of disclaimer.
It is misleading for link aggregator apps - any link that you click on or preload that has trackers, will appear, hence why the numbers are so high. It’s not Sync itself that’s doing this, it’s the content that gets posted here…
You will see something similar on any other link aggregator app.
You’re absolutely 100% wrong about this. That’s not how DDG’s app tracking protection works. I’ve tried almost every available Lemmy app on the Play Store and only Sync triggers DDG. Links are handled by the system’s browser, either in an in-app window or a full browser window. They do not trigger DDG because they are not trackers in apps. DDG’s app tracking protection works to protect you from trackers in your… Wait for it… Apps. Not websites. If website trackers caused DDG to trigger, then Chrome/Firefox/your preferred browser would be at the top of that list any time you browsed for even a moment, because most websites have embedded trackers.
That said, Sync has been the most polished and smooth app I’ve used, so I’ve been running it, but I’m hopeful that when Boost launches, it won’t have the same approach Sync does with tracking.
Really. If what he said was true, then Reddit would also have hundreds of trackers. Since it works the exact same way. People need to think before they post.
I’m still trying to wrap my head around this whole thing but I’m pretty sure it’s because Sync allows it to happen. I’ve been using multiple Lemmy apps for months now, and I’m sure I’d have at least accidentally clicked on some links. However, none of the FOSS apps have ever shown up on DDG, not even once. To confirm this, I’ve just clicked on a whole bunch of ads and links (even the shady ones) on all the apps, including Reddit, all of which are only opened in embedded browsers. Apart from Sync and Reddit’s tracking attempts going through the roof on DDG, none of the other apps even showed up.
Devs should, at the very least, have the power to implement privacy restrictions in embedded browsers and pick non-tracking advertisements, none of which Sync has been doing, as they have clearly said so in their Privacy Policy (credits to being honest, I guess?).
Can someone who has paid $20 for the ad-free version confirm that this stops happening (or not) once the ads are gone?
I bought the $20 ad free upgrade a few days ago and DDG doesn’t show any tracking attempts since I bought it.
Thank you! That’s exactly what I’d like to know.
Great feedback!
Thx for this feedback!