Hey Boost, could you maybe vet your ads a little better?

Pretty sure that's Google's deal. I don't think the dev gets to decide which ads they show you.

ETA: Also, just buy the app. It's a few dollars, it helps pay for the development, and you never have to see any ads.

187

Fr. Buy the app. Make your life better.

35
- Non-Play Store Tablet. Bought the app, still get the ads... Pi hole for the win!
  
  14
The are so many awesome free Lemmy apps, it's weird that some people pay for them...

-3
- It's weird that you guys cannot seem to comprehend the idea of devs being paid for their work. Free stuff is great. I put my own shit online for free but you know something I don't do? Maintain an app with 100k+ downloads. Maybe the guy deserves to make some money off his hard work...
  
  24
- Those free Lemmy apps cost time and effort to create and maintain; if people want to give their stuff away for free, that's their business. In any case, I tried those other apps, and I didn't like them (likely because they've put hobbyist levels of effort into them rather than a paid-worker's amount). And because they're free, I would never dream of asking for more features (which is tantamount to saying, "Yo, dev. Give me more free shit!").
  
  Besides, we're talking about a few dollars to support a single dev. Not like Ruben has teams of people working for him in some faceless megacorp making billions of dollars.
  
  Boost has the features I like with the layout I like, and I paid a few dollars mainly as a tip to the dev, which just happens to come with the added benefit of no ads.
  
  5
- Im sure for many it is to support a developer who remains dedicated and has built rapport with their users.
  
  It's why I bought Sync Pro (twice), and Synfonium, despite there being plenty of FLOSS alternatives.
  
  4
Why the fuck do we buy apps when the mobile website should work the fucking same for free?

-15
- The app offers different functionality and designs, which someone has to spend time making or maintaining
  
  Lemmy has a lot of different options for how you can access it between the different front ends, open / closed source, or free / paid. You're encouraged to find the options that work best for you
  
  I like Boost, and I'm happy to do a one time payment for it
  
  36
- You are welcome to use that if you prefer.
  
  13
- The mobile website and its functionality depend on the admins of each instance. I don't expect server admins to also be UX designers, and neither of those things are free. Lemmy is a free software platform, but it costs time and effort to run it.
  
  Also, native apps can take advantage of system resources without needing the overhead of the browser. I'm fine paying for someone to undertake that additional burden.
  
  3
- Yikes, only Voyager offers a good mobile web interface, and it is definitely a slower experience than Boost, Sync, Summit... Heck even Voyager standalone app.
  
  2

If you don't like ads and don't want to pay to remove ads on a Lemmy app, use Voyager, Jerboa, or any of the other many FOSS, ad free, Lemmy apps.

75

I don't understand why people are using apps with ads. What is the reason? Is connect selling my data and boost isn't? Why would you pick an app that has ads when so many don't?

24
- Because apps with ads (specifically Sync that I use) have better UX and more features than anything open-source. Sorry but that's it.
  
  19
- I'm legitimately confused because I use Boost and don't see ads.
  
  I assume my PiHole stops them on my home network, and maybe DDG does elsewhere? Not 100% sure, but it works for now.
  
  5
- A lot of us here came from Boost for Reddit, where we had bought it there so we bought the Lemmy version too and never seen ads.
  
  I'm a big fan of open-source but sometimes it's worth throwing the $3.50 for a proprietary app that works well, especially with how the Lemmy app landscape looked a year ago. It's better now, but I like how Boost works and have used it for years on Reddit.
  
  The only free app that's somewhat close to Boost's presentation is Jerboa, and Jerboa is just a bit too buggy for my taste.
  
  3
- I started using Boost since it has user tagging. Didn't want to pay for the full version until I'm sure I want to stick with it, so ads it is.
  
  I should stop being lazy and buy it asap tho. I've been happy with it for a while now.
  
  2
Or Thunder!

7

Imagine believing that Boost specifically developed their own ad network and dictate what is/isn't on it...

63

If you're not capable of dictating what appears in your own company's product, maybe that's something to rethink?

14
- Should Ruben vet the entire Lemmyverse while he's at it so he can "dictate what appears in his product?"
  
  As a solo developer with limited resources, one has four choices:
  
  • Choose an existing ad network and do the best you can within its content preferences,
  
  • Put a paywall on your app's features and hope enough people will actually buy it,
  
  • Work for free, sacrificing your own livelihood, or
  
  • Don't develop the app.
  
  Clearly they all involve a compromise of one form or another, and I trust that Ruben put a lot of thought into the decision.
  
  7
- It's not a choice you get. There's only a handful of ad networks out there, and you get to choose one. If you don't do that, the only other option is to make people pay for your stuff - which most won't do because they're so accustomed to ads.
  
  4
- You can't force the ad networks to rethink. As a dev, your choice would be to completely paywall the app.
  
  2
- And do what? Reinvent the universe?
  
  0

You get... Ads?

47

Whilst developers can ban specific ads, they can't really vet them beforehand. I think you can opt out of political ads (or maybe could at one point), but technically the ad you see is just for another app.

As an alternative solution to the ones already posed by others, you can use "Google Opinion Rewards" to get enough play store credit to buy the app. Every so often it'll just ask if you googled "Ninja Coffee Bar" (literally), and give you 10-25 cents for answering, and typically a good bit more for any follow-up questions ("How helpful were the results", etc).

36

I use that money to pay for YouTube. It used to reduce it to paying every other month, but I don't get nearly as many as I used to. Now I barely get anything. I think don't of mine about to expire actually, since it's been so long since I've had enough to cover it (and it won't do partial payment afaik)

1

Honestly the ads are why I quit using boost when it came out. Jerboa is completely ad free with a similar enough UI that it's not that hard of a transition.

28

Connect is simple and ad free as well. I've been using it since I joined Lemmy as it was the closest I could find to RIF.

Regardless, there are plenty of options out there.

10
- I don't get the tribalism around apps.
  
  Somme are good, others less-so.
  
  None are worth putting up with ads for.
  
  13

Truth social is a FOSS social media. The app is just, based on you liking other FOSS social medias, recommending apps in the same category.

(Also, would anyone on lemmy use truth social seriously?)

24

Maybe if they were some kind of political or psychological researcher...?

4
It's open source? Maybe I'll make some PRs... But honestly that's shocking to me and huge. Do I support Truth Social now? Wild.

3
- They are open source because(as far as i know) they copied the code of mastodon, slightly changed it, almost got sued and released a zip file of the code on their website to respect the terms of the AGPLv3 license
  
  But details dont matter
  
  4
I wouldn't use Truth social seriously, but I might use it for trolling purposes.

But all the bots on these kind of sites takes the fun out of trolling.

1

Siphoning money from truth social seems like the best case for an ad you were never going to click on anyway

23

Even better you should click it in case they are billed by click

12
- Ads are billed by click, you're correct.
  
  8
This is a good point

5
This is also how I feel every time I scroll by it. Positive thinking lol, although I'll probably get the paid version soon.

2

Buy the app or use a DNS adblocker. There is no relationship between advertisers and developers. That's the technology world destroyed by marketing that we live in now.

19

https://pi-hole.net

1

still don't see why google haven't included politics or political ads under their sensitive ad topics opt outs. :/

13

Oh I know the answer to this one! It's because $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.

29
You really dont?

Without political ads their mind shaping powers would be severely reduced. Same as with your data in general, google doesnt want you to keep that to yourself. Sometimes they have to allow you for legal reasons, but they make it as hard as legally possible for you to do.

5

It's been a while since I've done mobile ad dev, I believe you can blacklist specific ads, but it's like a full-time job to monitor them

10

Just block the ads

8

I block ads network wide without having to pay anyone lol

4

adaway works well if you are rooted

4

Can't you pay a $3.99 one time fee to remove the ads??

1

Haven't got that yet, Google tracking is still pretty sure I will play junk mobile games that look nothing like their advertisements. I guess if it gets bad I can switch though (I got tired of HeGetsUs back in Reddit, but at least here we have better choices).

1

Muahahahhaaaa

-3