https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/wipr/id1030595027
no issues, works great.
For system wide (including apps) ad blocking, Lockdown has a "local VPN".
But, conversely, the way we interact online also changes to accommodate these trends. Twitter was an early example of that, and so is the focus on audiovisual content over text for the more recent social networks.
As for myself, I use both regularly but for serious work the PC/large screen predominates. In recent years I've often found myself working on the PC with a collection of phones about me all with different but related information on them. It's akin to having multiple textbooks open on one's desk for reference. It's also a handy way of not cluttering up my PC screen with multiple windows/tabs open.
On a related point, the push to the cloud is befuddling when everyone has a phone with "free" (from the developer's point of view) computing power sitting there unused. Everyone's wasting money on centralizing compute despite more distributed compute being available than ever before.
Similarly, I use Firefox on Linux but I also regularly browse the web or post to HN on a phone that's been heavily deloused of Google using Firefox and other browsers—but never Chrome.
When I say register, I meant sign up for the wireless service. I did not already have an account. I was on my wifi and browsed to the wireless provider to activate my sim card and get a phone number. I could have done this on my PC but doing that on my cell verified with the vendor that my phone was supported since I am using an off-brand device. It was easier to copy the IMEI that way.
For Googles app store I used a throw away Gmail address that is not used anywhere else. I would love to put a new image on the phone but AFAIK there are no custom roms for my make/model of device. I would love to install GrapheneOS but they have sadly limited device support to Pixel. I am learning more about using adb since this is my first smart phone and with time I will neuter Google without replacing the rom, hopefully. It's mostly harmless for now since I rarely have the phone on.
Though I seem to recall GPS shim that's available and which I really should swap in on my BOOX tablet.
That said, I know many can't.
I may be hallucinating that shim, though I'm pretty sure it actually exists...
Clearly you're right (sometimes I'm overcautious). :-)
My initial caution arose from my experience some years back with several F-Droid apps that seemed to fail on Android 5 with GPS disabled. These apps weren't that important as I try out many F-D apps so I never bothered to confirm the fact.
Since then however with later Android versions I've not noticed one F-D app fail because GPS is disabled (for example, this phone has A. version 12 with GPS and the Play Store disabled and has 88 F-Droid apps installed and all work).
Incidentally, I occasionally install Play Store apps via Aurora Store and it's worth noting that some state that they require GPS but in fact do work without it.
I've not bothered to research why but I presume it's the reporting mechanism that's not working, the core operation of these programs being independent of GPS (presumably this would simplify programming if the programmer is also coding the program for iPhone).
I'd be most interested if anyone else has more info about this.
Later thought. I also occasionally install Play Store apps via Aurora Store and it's worth noting that some state that they require Google Play Services but in fact they do work without it (I normally have GPS/Google Play disabled or uninstalled).
I've not bothered to research why but I presume it's the reporting mechanism that's not working, the core operation of these programs being independent of GPS (presumably this would simplify programming if the programmer is also coding the program for iPhone).
I'd be most interested if you or anyone else has more info about this.
It's just not possible to use an Android phone as Google intended (and as the vast majority of users actually do) without that tracking mechanism taking center stage.
My solution is to disable or uninstall Google Play Services/apps and I never create a Google account. Also, wherever possible, I use a rooted phone.
The penalty for this course of action is that many of the attractive so-called free services are unavailable to me. However, the benefits of closing down and uninstalling all unnecessary services and apps and disabling JavaScript are that my battery now lasts for days, ads are a thing of the past and the phone and internet access are much faster.
I accept however the vast majority of users either aren't capable of making such a tradeoff or aren't prepared to do so and Google knows that—that's why it's a winner. For Google, users like me are just insignificant noise.
These things are not as tightly woven into the OS as you make it seem.
It is very much possible. GrapheneOS, CalyxOS, roll your own AOSP-based image.
A completely degoogled Pixel series is even practical and realistic for casuals. As you say you miss out or have to fiddle a big for many apps which break without SafetyNet and other malware.
I know that but try and tell it to the average user. Even many of my techie colleagues aren't game to make changes to their phones for fear of losing some beloved feature. Frankly, I'm amazed at how tolerant people are to this level of surveillance.
That said, much can and does go wrong, resurrecting bricked phones seems to be a pastime of mine. As you know, whether one can decouple Google's spyware subsystem easily or not depends on the phone. If you can't gain access to the OS then it's not possible to roll one's own ASOP-based image or use some other one.
These days, many manufacturers are making it harder and harder to bypass security features, unlock the boot loader and install custom ROMs. Nevertheless I won't buy a phone without first checking whether I can install a custom ROM and it's definitely harder now than it was say five years ago.
Buy an iPhone, install an ad blocker, disable all the tracking, and be done with it while still being able to use the features of the phone you bought.
2. When I make phone calls I use a feature phone, it's incapable of doing anything else. That is, it has no Internet access—not even Bluetooth.
3. I wouldn't be seen dead on social media or using a Gmail account, and I've no need of Apple's store or Netflix, etc. so the functionality you refer to isn't an issue.
4. My Android phones are for limited internet use only and or portable computer use. Similarly, the functionality you speak of just doesn't apply. They are hacked and tailored specifically for my requirement and they do exactly what I want. Right, I'm in control (unlike iPhone users).
5. Even then, as a rule, my Android phones don't use SIM cards, they connect to the internet wirelessly via separate pocket routers which further isolates them from internet gumpf and garbage.
1.https://sneak.berlin/20230115/macos-scans-your-local-files-n...
The user isn't in control but Apple is.
At least on Android there's a way to use a custom rom even if it's difficult.
Will be interested to hear if you've tried it out and what may have been missing?
The only things we don't block at the moment is some non-English content and Adult sites. With a small team these haven't been the primary focus for the time being. Other than those though we should stop pretty much everything else.
If you use an ad blocker for a long time, it's easy to forget how bad the web can be without one.
We recently moved to a paid app model with a 30-day free trial available (from a freemium app model).
Understand that this is not as appealing as a free-forever product. We found that we had hundreds of thousands of free users and not enough paid users. After developing the app for many years under this model, we had to make some changes so that we could continue to fund the ongoing app development and updates.
The notification prompt can also be declined in the alert that appears; though we could make this more obvious with a clear 'Skip' button.
Have you tried advertising? :)
I know you have your reasonings, but I’ll give you my raw unfiltered train of thought of why I wouldn’t sign up in case it helps you in your business:
“It’s only 30 bucks a year” say 100 other apps. I get it, you’re trying to make money, but there are many other ways of doing this for free. You’re not offering that much product to me that’s worth a subscription. Netflix? I actively use it every night. Spotify? Several hours a day. Blocking ads? Maybe a one time fee.
I was super excited until I noticed that caveat. Now I'm thinking it might not be for me. I really want something quality like uBlock and freely available to all, without feature gating.
To be clear, no hard feelings here. Working for free is reasonably unappealing.
I clearly need more sleep...
Chrome iOS app is just a skin over safari with some of the history/bookmark/etc syncing.
I geek out a bit and use Surge for iOS (pricey and not for non-techie users) and run a few proxies. It'll also allow for DNS override, which I use NextDNS's DNS over HTTPS.
And bonus points - my ad blocker works with embedded web views
Carrying a smartphone is incompatible with privacy. Unfortunately, so is using a credit card (https://www.fastcompany.com/90490923/credit-card-companies-a...) and having a face (https://www.wired.com/story/get-used-to-face-recognition-in-...).
We're all doomed, so you may as well just use the software that makes you happy.
https://sneak.berlin/20230115/macos-scans-your-local-files-n...
1Blocker is fantastic.
AdGuard for iOS is fantastic.
MagicLasso is free.
You can even run uBlock on Kagi Orion if that's your thing.
I use one of the above + NextDNS* and am entirely ad free all the time everywhere.
* See also the new AdGuard DNS.
magiclasso isn't free
This is because the desktop browser uses the full "Gecko" renderer, but mobile uses "GeckoView", that doesn't have that implemented yet.
The actual thing is that simply each app embedding Gecko needs to be brought up to speed separately, and if Android is lagging behind, it just is, "GeckoView" or not. (Even before the invention of GeckoView, due to understaffing Android Firefox used to lag behind in terms of multi-process capability, so nothing new under the sun…)