331–340 of 465 posts
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Yeah, be careful doing anything like that on the Play Store. You can get your account randomly locked out with no explanation (I haven't been able to review apps, leave comments or contact the developer for like 3 years, and I never got an email or notice about this)
If you have a gsuite account, that might be the reason. This started somewhere in 2018.
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FWIW I've not had an Android phone lacking a flashlight in the OS since... ever, I think. At a guess, the apps are preying on customers not aware of the OS-level functionality. QR scanning seems a little more complicated. FF for Android integrates a QR scanner, but chrome does not. Google's default camera also opens links, if you allow Google Lens.
About four years ago, when I had a low end Android phone, some kind of "make the screen white" app was really useful. I remember the play store being scary but I think there was something in fdroid. I am not so sure on this, but I do not recall my nexus 5 having flashlight in the OS.
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https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25492855 and https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25263876
why is nebulo not on fdroid?
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Yeah, it's always in the flashlights, the barcode scanners, the background packs. They all address super basic functionality that many, many people seem to want (if I could just set a ringtone from YouTube, it'd save me from going through a bunch of shady apps, if I ever needed a ringtone that is). Yet they just aren't included in the base OS (or weren't always, my lineage OS has a flashlight currently). Therefore, t…
> Yeah, it's always in the flashlights, the barcode scanners, the background packs. Why are Google afraid to release a free non-harmful version of those popular apps. Is it to keep the illusion the app-store is a vibrant market place where tons of developers get rich? It just seems nuts to allow all those harmful apps (that does virtually nothing) to float among the top downloads.
They already did; these have both been built-in for years. The flashlight was added in Android 5.0 (https://www.androidauthority.com/android-5-0-lollipop-offici... I'm having a harder time figuring out when the barcode scanner was added, but my phone does it automatically in the camera app now.
(Disclosure: I work for Google, speaking only for myself)
1. https://www.softwaretalks.io/v/4047/black-hat-usa-2013-how-t...
Even legitimate app developers have no incentive to keep their apps sterile. Someone just has to approach you with your 10+ million users barcode scanner app and offer you +50,000$ in order to install some automated ad clicker for them. Don’t be naive, the majority will accept the money and gladly. I believe that particularly makeshift applications such as e.g. barcode scanners are susceptible to this kind of overtak…
> Apps that offer what should have been offered by the OS vendor in the first place. This is really it. The Google/Android team have already made the "Zebra" library that actually reads barcodes; why on earth do they not include this as a standard app. Instead we get this myriad of different barcode scanner apps with all sorts of harmful features. All the heavy lifting is done by the Android team anyway (the actual b…
When we sit down they just say, "use your camera app to scan the barcode". It seemed to work for everyone at the table. Samsung, Pixel, and iPhone.
This is possibly tied to the recent assault on the ZXing Barcode scanner app[1]. This is a legit open source app that's been recently flooded by 1-star reviews claiming that the app contains malware, probably in order to get users to switch to the other apps. The funny thing is this app has not been updated since 2019 on the Play Store, so those reviews are clearly bogus. It takes a special kind of scum to slander an…
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I'm terrified of browser extensions for this very same reason (and yes, I still use them). I wish the browser vendors supported some kind of pinning to source code for open source extensions. Right now I have at least 2 extensions running that I know could access my passwords on any website as I enter them. One of those is Lastpass, which I use for storing/generating those passwords anyway, and the other is AdBlock P…
Alas the Great Suspender just fell prey to malware after its creator sold it off: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25846504 I think Apple have the right idea with app review on browser extensions for Safari.
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Yeah, be careful doing anything like that on the Play Store. You can get your account randomly locked out with no explanation (I haven't been able to review apps, leave comments or contact the developer for like 3 years, and I never got an email or notice about this)
If you have a gsuite account, that might be the reason. This started somewhere in 2018.
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> Apps that offer what should have been offered by the OS vendor in the first place. This is really it. The Google/Android team have already made the "Zebra" library that actually reads barcodes; why on earth do they not include this as a standard app. Instead we get this myriad of different barcode scanner apps with all sorts of harmful features. All the heavy lifting is done by the Android team anyway (the actual b…
"Google creates barcode scanning app, replacing popular app with 10m+ downloads". Platform providers are also criticized when natively offering features that apps offer. You sort of can't win.
People doing low effort apps can only just whinge when the floor shifts under them. i have no sympathy - they just need to adapt and improve, and create new value to sell.