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"This community is available in the app"

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Re: "This community is available in the app"

#161

Post by thewhitetulip »

JshWright wrote: post #152
clort wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Which of those things can the official Reddit app do currently? Looking at https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.reddit.fro... , scroll down and click the 'View Details' under Permissions. It shows that the app can read your contacts, network connections, approximate location, contents of your USB storage plus much more which would cover all of codedokode's points adequately I think? (I'm not sure of th…

Many (though certainly not all) of those things require explicit permission from the user (particularly the storage, location, and camera related stuff).

When all an app needs to do is connect to a website and cache a few images why does it need microphone access?

Also if it has 100s of dialogs popping up users get a fatigue. They tend to say yes to everything and that's how default Android permissions are

Re: "This community is available in the app"

#162

Post by thewhitetulip »

newscracker wrote: post #135
thewhitetulip wrote: post #84

I gave up on read Quora when they forced logins I will give up on reddit if they do the same. Isn't visits a valid criteria? Why force a mobile app?

> I gave up Quota when they forced logins If you were using it just to read answers, you can still do that with a tiny bit of effort and avoid logging in. Just put a ? at the end of the URL (it’s originally a parameter called “shared”, which would be added as ?shared=1). It will then assume you’re coming from a search engine link and let you in without the login popup.

I use this trick once in a while when only Quora has what I am looking for

But it doesn't work for 2 consequitive requests

Luckily, Quora doesn't have quality content these days, like it used to back in the day when experts wrote answers

Re: "This community is available in the app"

#163

Post by JimDabell »

luma wrote: post #156
lathiat wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe you should try iOS :-) it’s quite different here honestly. I’m not saying there aren’t holes they’ve had to patch [like recently adding a popup for Bluetooth LE permissions] but they are pretty good at closing them.

I don't see how the permissions requested here would be substantially different in IOS. This isn't a matter of the OS, both Android and IOS offer fine-grained controls that are accessible to the user. It's up to the application developer what they request and what they do with it. I think people are right not to trust Tencent with this kind of access.

> both Android and IOS offer fine-grained controls that are accessible to the user.

iOS doesn't allow apps to read the user's phone number or scan local Wi-Fi access points. The only files sandboxed apps can read on iOS are ones created by the app, explicitly passed to the app, or made available by the user, which is also possible on the web.

The only thing mentioned that has the slightest bit of merit is being able to spam push notifications, and this is something that a) requires the user to grant permission, b) is easily disabled by the user if it's annoying, and c) explicitly forbidden by Apple:

> 4.5.3 Do not use Apple Services to spam, phish, or send unsolicited messages to customers, including Game Center, Push Notifications, etc. […]

> 4.5.4 Push Notifications must not be required for the app to function, and should not be used for advertising, promotions, or direct marketing purposes or to send sensitive personal or confidential information. Abuse of these services may result in revocation of your privileges.

Re: "This community is available in the app"

#164

Post by bla3 »

lathiat wrote: post #148
labawi wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's not kid ourselves about the safety or comprehensiveness of android permissions, or people clicking without reading. To be clear, I'm not claiming it does those things, but are you claiming it does not? And will not or could not?

Maybe you should try iOS :-) it’s quite different here honestly. I’m not saying there aren’t holes they’ve had to patch [like recently adding a popup for Bluetooth LE permissions] but they are pretty good at closing them.

App permissions may be better than on Android, but browser choice just doesn't exist on iOS. So suggesting iOS to people who'd rather use the web page than the app seems a bit strange.

Re: "This community is available in the app"

#165

Post by doubleunplussed »

J_cst wrote: post #54
doubleunplussed wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there any app that can essentially open threads in a new tab like in a browser? This is the one thing keeping me in the mobile browser. Well, that and my girlfriends reddit app seems to fail to load GIFs a decent fraction of the time.

I use boost for Android and I find it enjoyable and flawless. I have no business with boost, I'm just an happy user.

Doesn't have tabs :(

Re: "This community is available in the app"

#167

Post by judge2020 »

Jupe wrote: post #159

With ~400 employees [1] and ~$100m in ad revenue [2], that's only about $250,000 / employee (seems like a lot, but take out unemployment taxes, health care contribution, corporate taxes, etc.). And then there's infrastructure, which I'm sure is relatively high given ~500m users per month. I'm sure there is MUCH more revenue to be extracted from an app (with access to so much on-device data) I guess, if the informatio…

I don't see device data being worth anything unless you mean being able to serve ads based on that data, or at most being able to sell location data [again, for ad purposes].

Re: "This community is available in the app"

#168

Post by heartbeats »

dang wrote: post #3
heartbeats wrote: post #2

This is the future you chose.

Maybe so, but could you please stop posting unsubstantive and/or flamebaity comments to HN?

I wouldn't think I am - I've had a bad run with the last few, but I do endeavor to post seriously, I'm not rude in comment threads, and what I am posting is not unrelated to the topic.

If you disagree, please let me know and I'll take a look at them.

To elaborate on my comment, which I think is neither insubstantive nor flamebait: It's absurd to suggest that users are not to blame here. On one hand, they complain about it, but on the other hand, they obviously use the app, or else they wouldn't bother maintaining it. Being subject to all of this tracking nonsense is what within economics is known as a 'revealed preference'. In other words, it is the case that the users chose this future, or as the meme goes, this is the future you chose.

Re: "This community is available in the app"

#169

Post by frosted-flakes »

bad_user wrote: post #37
fireattack wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reddit is one of a few websites that I feel dedicated app works much better than browser, but I use 3rd party one(s).

I don't agree, for one b/c Reddit is a links aggregator and opening links works best in a full browser instead of a shitty in-app web view, plus it's the little things like ability to copy/paste or go back to a previous page, that are sometimes emulated in native apps, but never work well. But even if you think Reddit works better in a native app for you, that's by design. Reddit is making the web experience shitty o…

You missed one critical feature: tabs.
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