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 not the app. It’s links you’re visiting from within it.
That’s not how DDG’s app tracking protection works. It doesn’t trigger on websites. It’s not the links. It’s the ad service in the app. That’s why when you pay, the attempts stop. The dev himself said that the ad library doesn’t load when you’ve paid to remove ads (beyond doing an initial check to see if you’ve paid). Since paying stops the trackers in Sync’s ad library from loading, it no longer makes attempts and you won’t see it on this screen in DDG. If it really was the website, you’d still see it AND other Lemmy apps would show up here too, but they don’t.
That’s a very good point. Did you click any links?
You see a lot of links to Microsoft and google pages on the fediverse? I’m literally not sure I’ve ever seen one. Also isn’t the D double click?
Yes? Almost every page on the Internet has a sign in with Google/FB/Apple button or some other big companies API involved.
What are y’all getting linked to from here?
Just about any and every news site has a sign in that you can use Facebook or Gmail to log in, probably AppleID, but I don’t use Apple products so I’ve never noticed, as well as creating a site specific account to log in.
ETA: Look at the pic, it’s saying
GmailGoogle pulled data from within eBay.Sure but if you’re not signing in to each and every site, which, like, nobody does on this site I’ll tell you that much, does it still track you? Wouldn’t be surprised either way
It doesn’t matter.
Those little login buttons make a call to their host (google/fb/etc), and that is what shows up in these shitty tracking apps, even if you don’t press them.
Using a Google fonts font? That’s a call to Google.
This is the norm on the Internet. You’d be hard pressed to find a site that doesn’t send some data to somewhere else for some service.
If I click a link in Sync, and I have an account for that site, I log in for my view preferences, and to save something to read later.
You also don’t need to log in for a site to track who’s visiting it. It’s like website 101 now, that every site tracks how anyone interacts with it.
I just opened sync after installing Duck Duck Go. From within sync, Google requested 33 pieces of data. Google. Not sync. Google requested the data from within Sync. I’m fairly certain the only link to Sync that Google has, is the app store.
The ads that sync serves aren’t google?
we seriously need some kind of disclaimer for what duck duck go is doing on y’all’s phones. i don’t even use the app and i’ve seen a dozen posts exactly like this.
TLDR: ddg includes data from ANY website you visit from within the app’s built-in browser in its results. since basically every modern website is also a privacy nightmare, this will show up in ddg’s statistics
I find these sort of apps are so alarmist.
Speaking of alarmist. This reminds me of the app called “Zone Alarm” back in the day people would install it as a “firewall” it would then periodically pop up saying it blocked some hacking attempt from a foreign country. Obviously it was all a scam to get the person to buy the pro version, I wonder if that’s kind of what we are going through with some of these apps that “block” tracking attempts
I’ve got nothing to add to the ddg discussion but today is the first time I’ve heard of ZoneAlarm. But I saw a post to a Firefox community about the latest update that included support for it and a couple people mentioned it. Just an amusing coincidence
Try it and report back. I’m genuinely curious to see if it’s what you’re claiming it to be on your end, cause I have yet to see any FOSS Lemmy apps getting triggered in DDG, no matter what links I click. Maybe I’m just lucky?
The biggest alarm in this thread is everyone thinking that apps are at the whim of advertising companies and completely innocent on their part. They are not. Ads can work without trackers and devs can prevent users from being tracked within embedded browsers.
Thank you for this
I’ve seen this exact post on every app’s community.
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!
This is the problem with ads. That’s where this is coming from. Reddit serves it’s ads differently, so you don’t see the same glut of attempts.
Anything using admob throws up a shit ton of stuff like this.
Now, whether you choose to pay to remove them, or abandon the app is up to you (though I guess ad blockers are another option). But it isn’t sync directly doing this, it’s ads and sites you go to within the app.
Ddg really needs to add some granularity to how they label this stuff. It’s misleading
That’s like saying it’s not the bouncer who left the door wide open but the underage kids’ fault for being in a club. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s fair that the bouncer refuses to do their job until they get paid, but in this case it feels almost like the unpaid bouncer is actively inviting underage teens into the club.
nah its more like saying that bar over there does the same thing, but has painted their windows black so you can’t see at a glance that it too is full of kids.
No, they’re saying Reddit’s bouncer also left the door open, you don’t realize it because the entrance is hidden and you’re the only who doesn’t know where it is, that’s all.
But it isn’t sync directly doing this, it’s ads and sites you go to within the app.
It is though, since the Sync dev is the one that added the ads in.
Look, you can play around with the wording all you want, but there is a difference between an app having trackers and an ad service having trackers. Since blocking the ads blocks the trackers, and paying to stop the ads blocks the trackers, the difference is obvious since that’s the source of them, and the only source of them.
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The dev of sync put ads in his app…….he even specifically says that unless you pay to remove the ads you will be “tracked”.
These were the only (tracking) connections sync made in the past hour.
For the past 24 hours for 2k requests, it apparently made 64 requests for ads and 6 requests for trackers.
I’m not saying you are wrong or anything, but the stats may be more nuanced than you think so.
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Adguard for android: https://adguard.com/en/adguard-android/overview.html
is that foss
It works quite well, but no it isn’t FOSS.
The great lengths people will go to just marginally improve their user experience. Just use a FOSS app that’s 99% of what Sync is but doesn’t have this BS
Or just use the web front end, which really does it all anyway.
Honestly, I would suggest NextDNS to block ads within the app, so maybe you wouldn’t have to pay for blocking through Sync.
Or do not consent to the GDPR request form. Only for EU citizens though.
huh… how does that work ? would using a VPN allow me to see that form ?
I don’t know for sure but it would not surprise me. It could also be a localized distro in play store, but could still be a way to trick that with VPN or region settings in Google.
What are the actual urls? A lot of this stuff is often completely harmless, especially google… on an android phone
what app is this
DuckDuckGo app, it’s got a feature to block trackers across your phone. It isn’t a VPN but you turn it on as such. I use AdGuard’s DNS in my phone settings to block ads and trackers instead. Paste this link in your custom DNS field
How do I use this without disabling my firewall app? (NetGuard) I get an error saying that Android will only let me use one VPN at a time.
I’m not getting rid of NetGuard unless DDG can block apps from accessing the internet completely by default, like NG does (including system apps cause they spy on you too).
Not sure you can unfortunately :/
Just use Hagezi or 1Hosts HOSTS ruleset file in NetGuard.
I have no idea what this means, but I will google it. Thank you.
Adguard DNS Is pretty damn great, I was amazed when I used a friend’s phone and realized Viber had ads!
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Get ready for the “let people enjoy things” brigade.
Eh, I guess the results depend a lot on situational things. I only get a fraction of those trackers for Sync for example, and only from Google.
Tried Sync for the first time yesterday (after switching to Lemmy from rif)… Between sync and the official reddit app: so many ads. Switched back to wefwef.app and was very happy ☺️
I’m honestly surprised when I encounter people on Lemmy who … don’t block ads, but also hate them?
May I introduce you to NextDNS/AdGuard. All it takes is a simple change in your phone’s DNS settings and boom, no ads in your phone.
Weird, I barely see any ads but then again the app is still in beta so consistency might not be there yet.
