6 ms·

In 2019 I got sick of mobile websites offering me their apps again and again. Facebook, LinkedIn and endless others. Stop it.

securityfreak 7y ago
They won’t, at least not for now, I assume. They can put far more intrusive tracking inside an app compared to a web browser. There is also no way to do content blocking or ad blocking inside apps, at least not on iOS. I use Facebook in Safari - can’t be happier (well, I mean it’s Facebook, but I am not able to pursue all my friends to cancel it).
- cprecioso 7y ago
  You can use a adblocking DNS server. Either a pi-hole in a VPS you control, or something like NextDNS (which I am really happy with). It doesn't block everything, but almost nothing is getting through for me.
  - heavyset_go 7y ago
    With the shift towards DNS implemented at the application-level as DoH gets rolled out, apps will ignore your adblocking DNS servers.
    - panpanna 7y ago
      I am starting to believe this is why Google is pushing aggressively for DoH...
xtracto 7y ago
This makes me think something intereating: Back in the late 1990s I used to have all sorts of software in my computer which I downloaded and installed. Some of it was purchased and other free or open source. As the time passed, more and more services became "web based" including mail, music, calendar, note taking, etc. I was part of a small group that did not like that. My reasoning was that there was no need to hack all that functionality in the web browser as it was highly inefficient. That it was better to code the network features into the desktop clients. Web caught on and nowadays seldomly you get a client program in the desktop. But now in mobile, we are returning to the clinet software first approach. And for some reason we resist the installation of client software and prefer browser based functionality.
- Multicomp 7y ago
  > But now in mobile, we are returning to the clinet software first approach. And for some reason we resist the installation of client software and prefer browser based functionality. IMO for any given program or 'app' today, the better it functions offline directly correlates with the desire I have to use it natively on a given platform, as opposed to web access. Slack is just about useless offline, hence my strong preference to use it in the browser.
- TeMPOraL 7y ago
  The height of the desktop era was before surveillance capitalism was a thing. With web came the on-line ads, which, being a cancer[0], infected the business models of increasing amount of software. Then the mobile exploded, and the new breed of native software - apps - were designed to be user-hostile pretty much from the start, and continue to be so. -- [0] - http://jacek.zlydach.pl/blog/2019-07-31-ads-as-cancer.html http://jacek.zlydach.pl/blog/2019-07-31-ads-as-cancer.html
- marcosdumay 7y ago
  Back in the 1990's you installed those applications when you wanted, upgraded them when you wanted, moved whatever data you wanted between them and in and out of the computer as you wished. Also, you were pretty certain those applications were not spying on you. You can reverse each of those statements for a current mobile app.

securityfreak 7y ago

They won’t, at least not for now, I assume. They can put far more intrusive tracking inside an app compared to a web browser. There is also no way to do content blocking or ad blocking inside apps, at least not on iOS. I use Facebook in Safari - can’t be happier (well, I mean it’s Facebook, but I am not able to pursue all my friends to cancel it).

cprecioso 7y ago
You can use a adblocking DNS server. Either a pi-hole in a VPS you control, or something like NextDNS (which I am really happy with). It doesn't block everything, but almost nothing is getting through for me.
- heavyset_go 7y ago
  With the shift towards DNS implemented at the application-level as DoH gets rolled out, apps will ignore your adblocking DNS servers.
  - panpanna 7y ago
    I am starting to believe this is why Google is pushing aggressively for DoH...

xtracto 7y ago

This makes me think something intereating: Back in the late 1990s I used to have all sorts of software in my computer which I downloaded and installed. Some of it was purchased and other free or open source. As the time passed, more and more services became "web based" including mail, music, calendar, note taking, etc. I was part of a small group that did not like that. My reasoning was that there was no need to hack all that functionality in the web browser as it was highly inefficient. That it was better to code the network features into the desktop clients. Web caught on and nowadays seldomly you get a client program in the desktop. But now in mobile, we are returning to the clinet software first approach. And for some reason we resist the installation of client software and prefer browser based functionality.

Multicomp 7y ago
> But now in mobile, we are returning to the clinet software first approach. And for some reason we resist the installation of client software and prefer browser based functionality. IMO for any given program or 'app' today, the better it functions offline directly correlates with the desire I have to use it natively on a given platform, as opposed to web access. Slack is just about useless offline, hence my strong preference to use it in the browser.
TeMPOraL 7y ago
The height of the desktop era was before surveillance capitalism was a thing. With web came the on-line ads, which, being a cancer[0], infected the business models of increasing amount of software. Then the mobile exploded, and the new breed of native software - apps - were designed to be user-hostile pretty much from the start, and continue to be so. -- [0] - http://jacek.zlydach.pl/blog/2019-07-31-ads-as-cancer.html http://jacek.zlydach.pl/blog/2019-07-31-ads-as-cancer.html
marcosdumay 7y ago
Back in the 1990's you installed those applications when you wanted, upgraded them when you wanted, moved whatever data you wanted between them and in and out of the computer as you wished. Also, you were pretty certain those applications were not spying on you. You can reverse each of those statements for a current mobile app.