this post was submitted on 07 Feb 2025

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Those YouTube ads everyone hates made $10.4 billion in just three months (www.pcgamer.com)

submitted 21 hours ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] pedz 9 points 20 hours ago (3 children)

My pet peeve about ads everywhere now is on Android.

Your Android phone doesn't come with a voice recorder? Download one, with ads every time you record.

You want a different calculator? Ads!

Flashlight app? Ads!

Notepad? Ads!

And people just apparently accept ads in nearly every app, even the most basic ones.

I don't remember the Sound Recorder, or Notepad having ads. But because people are now used to ads everywhere, it's certainly coming as MS is trying to jam ads in everywhere possible in Windows too, now.

I'm so grateful for Linux. The apps I get through apt-get don't make me watch ads. Unfortunately even if based on Linux, the Android world is so infuriatingly crammed with ads.

I wish I could find a "phone" or portable device in that format, with an OS that works like "true" Linux.

[–] masterofn001 19 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Use f-droid. The apps may not always be as polished (hell, some play store apps look like they came out of 2005), but you can filter apps by anti-features such as ads, tracking, permissions, etc.

As for what you've mentioned:

The fossify repo of apps is privacy friendly, no ads, etc.

Fossify Voice Recorder (Record anything with this Open-source and Ad-free recorder) https://f-droid.org/packages/org.fossify.voicerecorder/

[–] [email protected] 2 points 18 hours ago

Since I found out about fdroid from Lemmy I pretty much only look at fdroid and install apps from there. I have to set a reminder to open play store and update my other apps.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago)

Uh, may I introduce you to F-droid, the FOSS "appstore".

Edit: adding a link and also the community:

https://f-droid.org/

[email protected]

[–] GlassHalfHopeful 8 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago) (3 children)

Fortunately, you can block all those ads on Android. Check out Tracker Control: https://f-droid.org/packages/net.kollnig.missioncontrol.fdroid

TrackerControl allows you to monitor and control the widespread, ongoing, hidden data collection in mobile apps about user behaviour (tracking).

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago)

or just use DNS servers from Mullvad, no additional app required https://mullvad.net/en/help/dns-over-https-and-dns-over-tls#android

[–] [email protected] 3 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

You can also just set your private DNS to something like dns.adguard.com and block almost all ads in every app, no installs required

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

I'm personally using p2.freedns.controld.com for anyone looking for an alternative.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

I actually use adblock.dns.mullvad.net, I just recommend adguard for beginners as it seems more stable (though I've not had a stability issue with mullvad for years)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 hours ago

Always good to have options. People need to find whatever works for them.

[–] GlassHalfHopeful 3 points 18 hours ago

Yep, that can work per device or per network. I'm a big fan of Tracker Control because it's going to work on any network. It's also highly customizable.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Nice tool, thank you ! However I'm bit confused

If you're interested in blocking tracking, then best download TrackerControl from here, from F-Droid, or from the IzzyOnDroid F-Droid Repository. If you're interested in analysing tracking and generating factual evidence of it (e.g. for research), then choose the version from Google Play. The analysis results from this version will usually be more accurate.

That's strange... Why have different versions doing different things?

[–] GlassHalfHopeful 4 points 18 hours ago

The short answer is that the Google Play version won't actually block anything because it breaks their terms of service. So that version just tells you how many trackers and what the trackers are. I still use some of those apps and even respect them (e.g. AP News, AccuWeather), but it completely boggles my mind how they've loaded so many trackers into their applications... 🫤

Longer answer: To actually block trackers and ads, you need to use a third party source to download the app so that it's fully functional. By providing the app that way, they don't have to abide by Google Plays rules.

The link above is for the F-Droid "app store" version, which is one of the more well-known "stores." I highly recommend F-Droid. They host free and open source (FOSS) applications. For most everything you use, there is a FOSS alternative which will be ad and tracker free.

https://f-droid.org/

Want a simple ad-free calculator, go there. Want to watch YouTube ad free, go there. Want to download an ad free Lemmy client, go there. Etc etc.

Hurrah for high quality FOSS software!