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.
Thank you Liftoff 🙏🙏
You are my app of choice!
It’s seriously a great app, so I don’t get the fuss about Sync either. I’ve been a Sync and Boost user before but I’m very content with the apps we already got for Lemmy so I won’t throw in another one to choose from.
I’ve been switching between Liftoff, Voyager and Thunder because they all seem to good to just lose them right now lol
To me, it’s that these apps are established and developed into a clean user experience, many with like a decade of fine tuning. These new apps are, to me, not as good for that reason alone.
Of course it’s all preference, but that’s my input on the subject.
I found boost a great app and I was one of the first people (if not the first, my post on his sub is the first instance of it) to tell Ruben to make a lemmy app. I like Ruben because every single time I’ve ever had an issue with Boost for reddit, he responded directly to me and either helped me solve a user error or he would literally patch the app and push an update that included my issue. He’s a great dev and I’m glad he’s decided to continue development else where, and I’m glad to support him in this. While I could easy patch ads out using lucky patcher, I will pay for premium of boost for lemmy as soon as it’s ready
Sync looks super clean and is probably a fantastic app, but I’m just a little put off by the data privacy. It’s like a month or so in the fediverse has spoiled me, and I can’t go back to being a product.
Yes, thanks for pointing that aspect out. I get the motivation to collect data to serve ads but I wish to stay with privacy respecting options too and I hope the contributors to those clients see enough donations to make their efforts worthwhile as well.
The data privacy stuff is all related to the plumbing required to serve ads.
If you pay for the ad-free version none of that stuff gets loaded.
And how exactly do you know it, is it open source?
Because people have run analysis on the activity of the app already and the trackers don’t fire if you aren’t on the ad supported version.
All of the listed stuff is also required for serving ads through services like Google and pretty normal for ad-supported apps.
“trust me bro”
His dad works at Sync for Lemmy
thats a shitty blackmail
I have tried a couple different apps but Liftoff is the best so far. Quite disappointed in the direction Sync is taking. Developpers obviously have a right to be paid for their work, but I despise the choice of targeted ads or subscription based software.
So both ways for someone to be paid?
Would you agree to buying one version with no updates (except for bug fixes) ?
I would. Is it a perfect model? No. Is it better than ads or a monthly subscription? Absolutely!
Sync just added an option for that.
no they didnt.
Sync has a lifetime ad free option. That removes the Google tracking as well, since it’s tied to ads. Subscription it for extra features you probably dont need. Based on comments about reddit sync, it also doesn’t track usage statistics. But that is mostly a guess from my side.
The price is a steep 20 USD, but the app is new and the Dev is well known. You also know what you are getting if you have used Sync before.
You can make a one time payment to remove the ads forever
That’s welcome. It has to be added very recently though because it wasn’t possible when I checked.
I’m using sync and they have an option to remove ads that isn’t a subscription. I’m not sure if that would prevent tracking but another commenter said it would. I’ll probably see if I can get a response from the dev and find out.
considering you dont get to see the source code the dev could tell you theres a pumpkin pie in the code for all you know
Thunder’s UI is so close. Sticking with FOSS.
Infinity for Lemmy is out too!
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.
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.
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.
But lemmy doesn’t have ads?
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
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.
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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.
Shouldn’t some of the ad revenue be going to the Lemmy servers? Seems kinda wack.
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.
🤮 🤮
Aren’t they still tracking after that? Simply hiding ads doesn’t make you less of a commodity.
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.
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.
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.
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.
It’s been confirmed that if you pay to remove ads, the ad sdk doesn’t even get loaded
How much is it to remove all ads?
It’s $20 to remove ads but there are also ultra features you have to pay extra for
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20$
I’m very impressed with liftoff and lemmy too actually. Honestly it feels like I’ve struck gold with installing liftoff. I’m not looking for anything else to browse lemmy with, liftoff is all I need. I’m really happy with it!
“I’m impressed with the rotary telephone and Ma Bell too actually. I’m not looking for anything else to make calls with, the rotary phone is all I need. I’m really happy with it!”
So liftoff being a rotary phone and lemmy a bell. Care to elaborate? What feels like “in no time” apps like liftoff have filled the RIF void for me with much success. I like to give credit where it’s due.
I like that liftoff has a desktop application. I use it a fair amount and it has a pretty good experience. You can tell it’s optimized for mobile but it still does well with a mouse.
desktop
You mean mobile?
There are Linux and Windows builds of Liftoff.
The race to make a Lemmy app has made some solid contenders step up. There are a lot of legitimately good apps.
which is why i dont understand why some are wasting money in subscription and ad removals…
Because I want to support the developer? Sync has had a ton of work put into it over the last few years, it’s a non trivial task for a developer to commit that much time to a free app. I also hate patreon, so $17 a year is a steal. It’s also literally like a chipotle burrito every 12 months. I think I can fit that into the budget.
Definitely. It’s like we’re the prettiest girl at the dance!
Liftoff is one of my Favourite Lemmy Clients. Currently, I’m on Infinity for Lemmy (yes, it’s now a thing) but I still keep Liftoff around because Infinity for Lemmy is in a very early stage.
You have other free and amazing options that sync has no advantages over. They are all just as good, if not better.
- Liftoff
- Thunder
- Jerboa
- Connect
- Voyager (my favorite so far)
- Infinity for Lemmy. Early development, but still free and no ads
I don’t get why I would go for sync, get tracked, watch ads or pay a monthly subscription!
Summit (#1 in my heart), also lemmotif is in early development but has promise.
Whoa summit is pretty nice. I’ve been using Connect but maybe not anymore.
Lol, claiming that Jerboa is just as good if not better than sync is wild!
Isn’t that down to what one individually consider “good”?
I find notepad-style text editors better word processors than Microsoft’s online Office system. It’s not because notepads are technically better or more visually appealing. It’s because I value not being tracked more.
And for me, font is just too smal and hard to setup in Sync. And slow.
Jerboa wins again.
You can edit that in settings, but I appreciate that a new app has a learning curve.
Tell me you haven’t gone through Sync’s settings without telling me you haven’t gone through Sync’s settings
Disagree with Thunder it also contains user tracking code. The developer said said he might consider removing it someday.
Liftoff and Jerboa are solid choices however.
I thought you could just disable it from the settings? I mean, it is open source, so anyone can just fork it if the dev starts fucking around
Fucking love Infinity. Amazing what the devs are doing in a short amount of time
I used Sync for a long time on Reddit, but there didn’t seem to be any free clients (with no ads) there.
I like “no ads” a lot more than I like “a very slightly better UI”, and the free ones for Lemmy offer enough for what I need. I don’t know what a paid one could offer over that to convince me to buy it.
Hard disagree. I find Sync the best user experience so far, including the best looking UI hands down
I prefer Infinity
(Sadly the Lemmy version is not stable yet)
I’ve been using Voyager until today. It was a fine app, but anyone who thinks it holds a candle to Sync is off their rocker. Sync has more features, runs far more smoothly, and looks a hell of a lot better.
Same with Jerboa.
Exactly. I don’t think many of the people who are claiming Sync is no better than others have actually used and thoroughly explored Sync, even for Reddit.
The customization options are incredible. Beautiful UI. Backup options. Filters. Settings that are fine tuned, and separate per account. It feels like years of work and polish, compared to weeks or months for others. Others work fine (fan of Liftoff), getting better, but I’m blown away with Dawson and Sync. The “ad outrage” is disappointing and silly to me at this stage (literally day one).
Well the years of work is literally that. Sync for lemmy is based on sync for reddit base. Or so it seems
What does liftoff have that the others don’t?
For one, it handles account switching much more smoothly than most apps I’ve tried.
While viewing a post, commenting, searching, or posting, you can choose your originating instance from a drop-down. Most other apps have to reload your feed and/or relaunch.
It’s been really helpful for me whenever an instance is bogged down or acting funny, and I can just hop over without losing my place.
Does Liftoff offer keyword filtering or blocking instances at the account level?
Liftoff is great, it’s true. Sadly, it lacks the only feature I’m after : hide read posts on scroll. Saw requests for this not being answered, so I guess it’s not coming.
Great app I admit, but a hard pass for me because of this.
I’d love this to be added too.
I want it to scroll to the comment in the post. I’m always manually trying to find the context of a comment by scrolling and looking.
I mean when you get a notification about a response and it takes you to the comment. It just shows you the comment. And then you click on Show Context. And here I was hoping it would scroll to the location of the comment in the post.
Yes, this is really handy every time world gets attacked. I still have my world account set as my main, but it’s super easy to just switch over.
Oh man I didn’t even see that in the menu. That is handy.
A better question is, what does Liftoff lack that others don’t?
I miss being able to hide posts, for example.
In Sync settings under View Type, you can enable the option to hide a post from the main feed view. In fact, there’s a lot of additional features that can be enabled and customized, the options menu is enormous and it really can be customized to your personal preferences.
I hear you, but nothing matters after ads, trackers, and money. Which is why I should also say that if you download and use TrackerControl from f-droid, you wont see ads on Sync, which is neat. My heart still lies with liftoff, they added double tap home button to scroll to the top and I about lost my shit in excitement, lol.
Infinity is coming? Is it similar to the reddit version? And where can I see updates for it?
Yep! Here’s the website where you can find it right now: https://codeberg.org/Bazsalanszky/Infinity-For-Lemmy
You can download it from the Releases section manually or install and keep it updated with Obtainium
It’s already out, but it still has lots of references to reddit. There’s even still a ui for giving out awards
ROFLCOPTER
claiming these are just as good as sync just tells what you expect the apps to do
but what I’ve seen and (a lot of the other posters) is that sync is a whole lot smoother than all these apps and is the most feature-rich client
if getting tracked is your main problem in using sync, just use nextdns or pihole to block connections to google servers or pay up (currently only using google, I wish there was some other way)
I’ve read sync for reddit stopped connections to google after paying upYeah, the free apps have really raised the bar. I think there’s a lot of passion out there for the fediverse and non-corporate social media.
I haven’t tried Voyager yet, but it sounds like I should give it a shot!
Liftoff is superior
Bro, of course it has a data safety section, it offers a paid version so it will need to be able to collect your financial information, and any trackers are removed if you remove ads or turn off personalized ads. That doesn’t mean it’s stealing your data, those are regular app functions for apps that have iaps or show ads.
download camera app
App requirements: Access to files
OMFG THE CAMERA APP IS STEALING ALL OF MY DATA
Chinese apps do most probably
Sync VS FOSS thing isn’t over yet? Let everyone use what they like the most. Let everyone be the judge of their own data and how it is being used. For god’s sake, live and let live folks
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You like eating shit?
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Christ, closed source is not the devil, and if you treat it like it is then it shows you don’t actually know how open or closed source works, or the pros and cons of both types of software.
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God forbid a developer wants to own the code they write and be able to pay their bills doing it.
A fork “can be used” to stab someone in the jugular but it doesn’t mean we need to get rid of all forks to ensure it never happens. People need to be smart with who they trust and who they give their money to. LJ isn’t putting a gun to your head and forcing you to buy his app, but I’m gladly paying for it because I feel like he’s an upstanding guy and frankly he’s just better at building a good UI than anyone else on Lemmy (and yes, I’ve tried at least 5 different apps. Second best was Connect.)
I would rather not normalize software that looks and works like a high school project made by someone who doesn’t know what UI or UX are.
UI UX Can be fixed tho.
I dont get you people. Making those apps is maybe a hobby for some but a job for others. People asked for Synch for Lemmy and the dev WORKED on it and will continue WORKING on it.
Love to see how many of you guys will work for free. And you probably all work for places that NEVER collect any data.
Could I use a free app for Lemmy? Sure, but I want Synch, because I know what Synch has to offer is what I want. I don’t need to settle for an “almost” solution. I can use Synch and I gladly paid for it.
I think OP doesn’t mind paying for an app, it’s the “collect data” that was his issue. If the free version collects data to send you ads, and there is an option to buy and remove the data collection and ads, then that’s probably fine with most people.
I don’t you should be forced to pay for it to stop collecting data assuming it does. Just give them non personalized ones instead. Unless that’s also what you meant then nvm.
That’s the way it is being reported. Buy to remove ads and the tracking goes away.
Yeah, I’ve been really disappointed in Lemmy’s response to sync. I thought this community was supposed to be technically minded but in every thread on Sync, the top comment is repeating disinformation about tracking and there’s tons of people tearing down the developer.
I get not wanting to use an App that has ads, but people are getting downright toxic over an App that no one is forcing them to use lol.
Where are the disinformation? Show me how I can have the ad-free version on my phone that doesn’t have Play Services and I’ll be very happy.
The fediverse has a very high percentage of users who are FOSS zealots. These people would rather drink rancid gnu piss from Richard Stallman’s sweaty jock strap than deal with commercialized software. After you’ve been around them long enough (1996 in my case) you learn to tune them out.
Liftoff is also very frequently updated. Any complaint I’ve had has been addressed 2-3 patches after posting about it. They work fast, and they do good work. Big +1 for liftoff.
