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Show HN: Dull – Instagram Without Reels, YouTube Without Shorts (iOS)

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Re: Show HN: Dull – Instagram Without Reels, YouTube Without Shorts (iOS)

#111

Post by soared »

adrianhacar wrote: post #90

I built some time ago ScrollGuard ( https://scrollguard.app ) that tackles this same problem from two different angles for Android and iOS. On Android has been on the Play Store for over a year. Instead of injecting CSS/JS into a webview, it uses Android's AccessibilityService to detect reels/shorts directly in the native apps and block them. You keep using Instagram, YouTube, etc. normally as native apps, no WebView…

The app works great, but my god the dark patterns are wildly aggressive. I was very close to uninstalling when setting up YouTube because a pricing page pops up that gives no free option, but if you click the hidden x on the top left you can continue as a free user. I like the functionality (finally restricted my YouTube to subscriptions only), but the app feels super scummy. I’d be more inclined to pay $2/mo if it didn’t seem sketchy.

Re: Show HN: Dull – Instagram Without Reels, YouTube Without Shorts (iOS)

#112

Post by walletdrainer »

trinix912 wrote: post #110
walletdrainer wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is disinformation. IG/Youtube will not even consider doing that. The wording is telling: > Instagram/YouTube could just try … Yes, of course they can try anything . That statement is pretty much always going to be true regardless of what you replace the … with.

How can you be sure that they “will not even consider” doing that? (That’s a disinformation from your side!) If this app were to gain traction and start to be seen as a real problem by IG/YT, they would have all legal grounds to act. They can totally sue the app creator and they would very likely win the case under the CFAA. How exactly is this disinformation? It is speculative, but calling it disinformation is disho…

It’s something the US Supreme Court has explicitly rejected.

Re: Show HN: Dull – Instagram Without Reels, YouTube Without Shorts (iOS)

#114

Post by qq66 »

latexr wrote: post #81
qq66 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why does it have to work long term? Claude Code probably built it in 2 hours. Sell it for as long as it works. If it provides some value to some people during that time, good for them.

What a rotten state of affairs that we’re now openly suggesting producing garbage with the least effort possible and selling it until caught. We used to criticise those who did that, calling them spammers and scammers and worse. Now, “telling some LLM to take a dump and trying to sell it to some chumps without a sense of smell” is viewed as a smart business model. Anything for an extra buck.

Why is it garbage? If you want something to block YouTube shorts, here's something that does it. It won't work forever, but you won't pay forever. Not all software needs to be high-craft and high-quality. Sometimes it can be just something a guy sells you off the back of his truck.

Re: Show HN: Dull – Instagram Without Reels, YouTube Without Shorts (iOS)

#115

Post by latexr »

qq66 wrote: post #114
latexr wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What a rotten state of affairs that we’re now openly suggesting producing garbage with the least effort possible and selling it until caught. We used to criticise those who did that, calling them spammers and scammers and worse. Now, “telling some LLM to take a dump and trying to sell it to some chumps without a sense of smell” is viewed as a smart business model. Anything for an extra buck.

Why is it garbage? If you want something to block YouTube shorts, here's something that does it. It won't work forever, but you won't pay forever. Not all software needs to be high-craft and high-quality. Sometimes it can be just something a guy sells you off the back of his truck.

> Why is it garbage?

You misunderstood. I’m not criticising this specific software, I’m criticising the attitude suggested by the parent comment. It was a general commentary, it has nothing to do with this particular app, which I have no idea if it was built that way.

Re: Show HN: Dull – Instagram Without Reels, YouTube Without Shorts (iOS)

#117

Post by joshmn »

trinix912 wrote: post #70
altmanaltman wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It might not be illegal (criminal) to use a tool like Dull or an ad-blocker, but it is almost certainly a violation of the platform tos. This means the platform (Instagram/YouTube) can legally ban your account or block your IP address for using such tools, even if they can't successfully sue the tool's creator in court.

Given how broad the CFAA is, Instagram/YouTube could just try framing it as accessing their systems without proper permission, as the ToS disallow such usage.

In my vast personal experience, https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1030 is the most absurdly vague law in existence.

Re: Show HN: Dull – Instagram Without Reels, YouTube Without Shorts (iOS)

#120

Post by e12e »

hmokiguess wrote: post #88
e12e wrote: post #72

Not sure what this app does for Facebook - but I'm a quite happy user of: https://www.beeper.com/ Allows me to use Instagram messages without the app - as well as (Facebook/meta) Messenger (and others). I do wish they had a "support us" subscription tier, as I think the base price is a little steep - and I don't really need any of the paid features. Maybe something around the third or quarter the price. I would hope…

how does beeper handles things like discord threads/channels etc? and rich previews of stuff like links, embeds, and whatnot? I'm curious about it!

Discord is the only app I still run with notifications enabled along with beeper - beeper handle dms, discord handle the rest.

Allows me to check only beeper for dms across services - and keep discord for channels etc.

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