this post was submitted on 15 Jun 2024
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AskBeehaw
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I wouldn't care that much either that it's not FOSS, however I do care that it's filled with trackers, similarly to Boost for reddit
From what I understand they are removed from the paid version.
Isn't that the same app (in the store), though?
From my understanding apps are able to have versions for their free and pro apps without having to keep them separate. The dev has stated that all of the trackers present in the app are google trackers for him to get revenue from ads and are stripped from the paid version. I only know this cause over the years on his reddit app it would come up from time to time, one memorable example when someone was complaining about getting NSFW ads in the app and how any self-respecting user would use an app that showed those ads... Turns out they had ad personalization turned on and their history shared some light about the sorts of sites they were searching for lol.
What, yeah, definitely points against having tracking. But also small time developers don't have to follow FOSS when they just want to provide a good service for free with ads, and Google Play Store is the easiest way to make that happen for him. He made enough from Boost for Reddit monthly that it negatively impacted him during the API change. Maybe I'm a fool for having some trust here and there, but I also just don't care too much.
But, I know others do so that's why I always mention that as a possible shortcoming and let people decide from there.
Sorry about the late reply.
I don't have access to an apk of paid Boost for Lemmy, but this is what Exodus Privacy has to say about it: https://reports.exodus-privacy.eu.org/en/reports/com.rubenmayayo.lemmy/latest/
The app does not have Lemmy in the name, but I assume it is the Lemmy version because of its package name
You can also check it locally by
a) installing App Manager from F-droid, and when they boost app's details are opened, use the Scanner feature. It is a larger action button in the vertically scrollable button bar below the app name
b) export the APK to your computer, and use JADX from github to disassemble the APK. you should be able to see the layered packages and source code of the embedded trackers.
Yes, what you described is app flavors, and is a feature of the android sdk. However, the dev probably didn't remove the dependency incisions. Even if they now don't issue a specific initialization call at app startup, the tracking frameworks have registered their own content providers and broadcast receivers in the androidmanifest file at build time, which will be started at app startup before other components of the app.