61–70 of 322 posts
This approach is not possible on iOS. Instead, I built a safari extension to block shorts from the feed https://apps.apple.com/nl/app/shorts-stopper/id6745517488?l=...
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Not that I suspect maliciousness in the case of digipaws or OP, but does the app's code being open-source actually guarantee any security? Is there anything forcing the app I download to be consistent with the repo on Github?
The readme clearly directs the reader to the F-Droid package, which are built on their buildservers and signed with their APK keys. This does not answer the security question directly, but it's the same model as say Debian repos. There are eyeballs on it by an independent third party packagers who use code scanners and manual review to detect malfeasance, and often have to tweak builds and code to get rid of unwanted…
It feels a bit silly to need guardrails for something as trivial as scrolling.
Shameless personal plug: I wrote about it here. https://nabraj.com/blog/swipe-scroll-repeat-addiction/
As others have said, the permissions required to make this work are scary and require a lot of trust. The fact YouTube and Instagram don't allow you to disable endless algorithmic short form content is straight up evil.
I end up going through that feed in a few minutes and it insulates me from the endless scrolling.
> I wanted to find a way to use Instagram without ending up scrolling for two hours every time I open the app to see a friend's story. Why not just Chrome/Firefox/Safari to open the link instead of the Instagram app?
I deleted the YouTube and Instagram apps and I still end up scrolling / watching shorts - it doesn't matter, browser still lets you scroll
www.instagram.com##article:has( > div > div > span:has-text(Suggested for you)):style(opacity: 0% !important;)
www.instagram.com##div:has(> span > div > a[href="/explore/"])
www.instagram.com##div:has(> span > div > a[href="/reels/"])More power to you, but I don't understand the psychology of this kind of thing. If I have enough willpower to block a feature why not just use that will power to shut off the app after a while? I understand you're saying it's addictive, but if I were addicted to something then I'm going to be inclined to just remove the blocker. Anyway, this isn't a critique of your work, just my personal perspective.
They push the short form content really, really hard and for me it's not a willpower issue, it's an "I don't ever want to see this feature again because I'll never use it" issue.
> I wanted to find a way to use Instagram without ending up scrolling for two hours every time I open the app to see a friend's story. Why not just Chrome/Firefox/Safari to open the link instead of the Instagram app?
I deleted the YouTube and Instagram apps and I still end up scrolling / watching shorts - it doesn't matter, browser still lets you scroll
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I got locked into my (100+ y/o) house due to a smart lock soon after purchase. It got promptly removed. I'd much rather leave the door unlocked.
A lot of discussion is about the security of these devices (resistance to false open states). But most of the time the safety (false closed states) has even higher stakes associated to it. Having to wait because some api server is slow is annoying but can quickly become life threatening in a different context. Fail-Safe vs Fail-Secure is (imo) often overlooked and probably just as important as the actual implemented…
I just can't authorize an app to have full control on my phone if it's not open-source. What guarantee do I have that you are not selling all my user data?