Appreciation post for Liftoff not collecting user data or injecting ads. - eviltoast

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.

      • grue@lemmy.mlEnglish
        162·
        1 year ago

        I, for one would rather actively work to de-normalize it!

        There, is that written accurately enough for you?

          • Araozu@lemmy.worldEnglish
            112·
            1 year ago

            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

              • Araozu@lemmy.worldEnglish
                76·
                1 year ago

                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.

              • dx1@lemmy.worldEnglish
                12·
                1 year ago

                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.

                  • dx1@lemmy.worldEnglish
                    12·
                    1 year ago

                    What API isn’t loaded for subscribers? Firebase?

                    And no, for me using Google Photos isn’t a problem - it’s a really nice solution.

                    “It’s not a problem because I choose to ignore the downsides”

    • Laticauda@lemmy.caEnglish
      224·
      1 year ago

      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.

        • Classy@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          141·
          1 year ago

          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.)

    • randomperson@lemmy.worldEnglish
      125·
      1 year ago

      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.