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.

  • Lord_Logjam@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Sync has just updated to allow a one off payment to remove ads. Dawson is also adding a one off payment for lifetime Ultra as well.

    • confluence@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Aren’t they still tracking after that? Simply hiding ads doesn’t make you less of a commodity.

      • SpaceBar@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        No. The data tracking is because of the Google services ads. An app developer gets no compensation for data tracking, only serving ads which causes the tracking.

        • deweydecibel@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          An app developer gets no compensation for data tracking, only serving ads which causes the tracking.

          That’s seriously splitting hairs. The tracking is part and parcel with the ads, the compensation is for the tracking too.

          • SpaceBar@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            What I was responding to was about what happens when the ads are removed by subscribing. If the ads are removed, there is no more tracking.

          • RogueBanana@lemmy.zip
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            1 year ago

            Isnt tracking done by Google service app and not sync itself? I am not an app developer but it doesn’t seem logical for someone to add tracking elements that they have no control over.

      • can@lemmy.ca
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        1 year ago

        It’s a monetization strategy for the work he’s put into the app. I see why people don’t like it but I never intended to see a single ad in Sync anyway

        • makingStuffForFun@lemmy.ml
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          1 year ago

          Ahhh that’s a no from me. I’d pay if I like it, but injecting ads into the feed and I’m out. Just trying liftoff now. Seems solid.

          • Cheems@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            I like liftoff a lot. There are a couple of features I’d like to see (such as an option to automatically hide child comments) however they’ve already added other features I’ve suggested.

          • 9point6@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            I’ve read elsewhere that this app is his full time job, and this is obviously my opinion, but FWIW sync has by far the best UX of any app I’ve ever used and I’ve been using it for about a decade.

            • BlazingFlames6073@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Weird, I remember him having a job and sync being a side thing. Something the moderators mentioned after LJ pushed that big update on sync for reddit and some users attacked him to the point he took a break.

              • 9point6@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                I think that may have been before he went full time on the app, I could definitely be wrong though

      • Lord_Logjam@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        No but the free version of Sync does because weirdly the dev would like to be paid for his work 🤷🏼‍♂️

    • deweydecibel@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Nice of “Dawson” to think to formally add that after people already signed up for subscriptions and others started calling him out on it. There was no reason Sync needed to release today if that option wasn’t prepared, and if it was seriously being considered, maybe he should of notified users in the app before they started spending money.

      • APassenger@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        It’s still in beta. Beta doesn’t mean feature-complete.

        Given the popularity of the app, waiting for perfection wasn’t going to make sense. With sync, I have near parity on features with Jerboa, a smoother experience and what’s lacking will be added.

        Also, why put the dev’s name in quotes? It just makes things look hateful. Full name is ljdawson… but that’s the dev’s name.

        I’m not entitled to another’s labor for free. Some may choose to give it, but I’m not entitled to it. And if I like something, I expect there’s a cost. If it makes me happy enough, I pay.