this post was submitted on 15 Jun 2023
243 points (98.8% liked)

Android

27857 readers
263 users here now

DROID DOES

Welcome to the droidymcdroidface-iest, Lemmyest (Lemmiest), test, bestest, phoniest, pluckiest, snarkiest, and spiciest Android community on Lemmy (Do not respond)! Here you can participate in amazing discussions and events relating to all things Android.

The rules for posting and commenting, besides the rules defined here for lemmy.world, are as follows:

Rules

1. All posts must be relevant to Android devices/operating system.

2. Posts cannot be illegal or NSFW material.

3. No spam, self promotion, or upvote farming. Sources engaging in these behavior will be added to the Blacklist.

4. Non-whitelisted bots will be banned.

5. Engage respectfully: Harassment, flamebaiting, bad faith engagement, or agenda posting will result in your posts being removed. Excessive violations will result in temporary or permanent ban, depending on severity.

6. Memes are not allowed to be posts, but are allowed in the comments.

7. Posts from clickbait sources are heavily discouraged. Please de-clickbait titles if it needs to be submitted.

8. Submission statements of any length composed of your own thoughts inside the post text field are mandatory for any microblog posts, and are optional but recommended for article/image/video posts.

Community Resources:

We are Android girls*,

In our Lemmy.world.

The back is plastic,

It's fantastic.

*Well, not just girls: people of all gender identities are welcomed here.

Our Partner Communities:

!android@lemmy.ml

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
MargotRobbie@lemmy.world
Rooki@lemmy.world
Thekingoflorda@lemmy.world
L3s@lemmy.world
_MoveSwiftly@lemmy.world
243
Is this even allowed? (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 year ago by Sleuth@lemmy.world to c/android@lemmy.world
29 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

This crap is completely unacceptable.

The app has 10M+ downloads, and is already filled with ads as it is. I DO NOT want and WILL NEVER want ads as push notifications.

I'm quite sure this isn't allowed on the playstore according to the Play Console Help page. Which states:

Ads must not simulate or impersonate the user interface of any app feature, such as notifications or warning elements of an operating system. It must be clear to the user which app is serving each ad.

And shows this picture:

I now consider GPS Speedometer malware, immediate uninstall.

all 30 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] WaywardFlock@sh.itjust.works 46 points 1 year ago (4 children)

For simple apps like that I usually check out F-droid see if any open source versions exist. Might not be as feature rich but there's two GPS speedometer apps on there

Status Bar Speedometer (Display your current speed as notification) https://f-droid.org/packages/ch.rmy.android.statusbar_tacho/

Blue Square Speedometer (Simple speedometer & GPS viewer) https://f-droid.org/packages/net.nhiroki.bluesquarespeedometer/

[–] BarrierWithAshes@kbin.social 31 points 1 year ago

When it comes to android apps I always look for open source stuff first. Literally just save the headache of dealing with bot-reviews, ads in app, etc.

[–] Sleuth@lemmy.world 18 points 1 year ago

Thanks for the reccs. I don't need it to do much more than give me my speed so these'll work great!

[–] SmugBedBug@lemmy.iswhereits.at 5 points 1 year ago

Yeah, this seems like a sketchy way of pushing adds. I'm fairly sure ads shouldn't be pushed in the notification tray.

Your last statement is probably the safest route.

[–] dustojnikhummer@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

Wish fdroid at least tracked app installs (clicking of the download button)

[–] Anti_Weeb_Penguin@lemmy.world 30 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Serious question, why are you using an app called "gps speedometer"? Anyway, this is why i always download apps from F-Droid.

[–] Contend6248@feddit.de 11 points 1 year ago

This is the way, for every flashlight type of app, F-Droid or nothing. The Play Store is riddled with this easy malicious apps.

[–] 666dollarfootlong@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Could be their cars' speedo is broken or very inaccurate?

[–] Anti_Weeb_Penguin@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

I thought the app was to enhance the GPS connection i'm so dumb 💀💀💀

[–] citable6704@midwest.social 6 points 1 year ago

Ooh! Maybe for a bike courier or something!

[–] Tempiz@sh.itjust.works 25 points 1 year ago

Yep that’s an uninstall and 1 star review for sure.

[–] Lanthanae@lemmy.blahaj.zone 24 points 1 year ago

Bahaha are you kidding me?

This is so egregiously annoying that it's almost funny. Hopefully the app gets taken down for breaking PlayStore TOS.

[–] marciealana@lemmy.world 18 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You can always deny it the priviledge of giving you notifications...

[–] Album@lemmy.ca 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Did you report the app?

[–] Sleuth@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm trying but I keep getting "Error loading workflow. Please try again in a few minutes".

[–] olorin99@kbin.social 13 points 1 year ago

Ahhh selective server errors, my favourite.

[–] SmugBedBug@lemmy.iswhereits.at 15 points 1 year ago

Yeah, this seems like a sketchy way of pushing adds. I’m fairly sure ads shouldn’t be pushed in the notification tray.

Your last statement is probably the safest route.

[–] Sadly@kbin.social 14 points 1 year ago

I think this is outrageous and I fully support uninstalling this app and leaving a bad review.

However, if you really cannot go without this app, android has a very easy-to-use notification control system. Depending on the app, you may even be able to only turn off ad-notifications while keeping all the other proper notifications working. Just long-press on any notification from the app to access the settings

[–] UprisingVoltage@feddit.it 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That app is definitely malware, be careful when donwloading stuff!

If you want an additional layer of protection I strongly suggest using a private DNS like Nextdns.io or adguard-dns.io, which are basically system-wide adblockers. Less ads and less risks to your privacy/security.

If you end up using them I strongly suggest enabling only the regional lists and the OISD list, nothing else (since too many lists could slow down your navigation and/or block stuff you need)

[–] PtitSerpent@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago

And if you like tinkering with things, you can install a Pi-hole on a local Raspberry.

[–] cursive@kbin.social 12 points 1 year ago

Got the same ad this morning. Instant uninstall.

[–] Berserker@programming.dev 12 points 1 year ago

Trash practices. That's a horrible abuse of the user.

[–] ghostblob@sh.itjust.works 9 points 1 year ago

r/assholedesign, or maybe c/assholedesgin instead

[–] Devgard@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

Flag as Inappropriate on the app store and review it 1 star or 2 star to avoid mass deletions due to brigading

[–] nodsocket@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

That is an abomination of an ad, shame on them.

[–] dustojnikhummer@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

Just fyi, Google Maps has a GPS speedometer, but you need to nagivate somewhere

[–] zorrothefox2001@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

I recommend Blue Square Speedometer from F-Droid

[–] M_Reimer@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

I use a firewall app. Netguard in my case. And apps which clearly should not need internet access are blocked there. Usually makes a lot of apps ad free as they fail to download ads.