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The type of ads are really frustrating (lemmy.blahaj.zone)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by MayaHorsewoman@lemmy.blahaj.zone to c/syncforlemmy@lemmy.world

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I get the reason for there being Ads in the sync app. I don't have the funds to pay for ultra and that's also fine.

But what I find concerning is the type of ads I see. I live in Germany for clarification and most of what I see are websites acting like news sites (right leaning at times). When I accidentally tap on them my browser immediately blocks the website for unsafe practices on their end.

Now I really don't mind the ads in apps if it's the usual app ad, random products or Amazon type of things. But I hate it when every ad is a boomer ass clickbait ad about how solar energy is definitely worse than anything else.

This is my main complaint about sync right now and it might push me to stop using it again as the ads are also very frequent...

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[-] Mr_Blott@lemmy.world 31 points 1 year ago

NextDNS is free, and blocks all the ads on Sync as well as most others elsewhere

[-] ShadowCat@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 1 year ago

doesn't hide the empty spaces though, but oh well

[-] Cabeza2000@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I am using the non-rooted AdAway blocker and I am not seeing any empty space, in case you want to try.

EDIT: Or maybe I am not being served adds because my location, so I cannot be 100% sure about the spaces.

[-] CheshireSnake@iusearchlinux.fyi 5 points 1 year ago

I'm on rooted Adaway. No ads but spaces are there. Not a lot, though, so it's easy to overlook.

[-] kratoz29@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

Same setup, I hardly doubt his setup works better than this.

[-] TheInsane42@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I'm running on a rooted android, magisk, lsposed and minminguard as chain to block ads and remove the ad spaces. I still have to see one ad I didn't want. (And those in games for 'goodies' just run unwatched)

I'll check if sync has ads here, but I doubt I'll see them.

About the type of ads, no app developer has any control over what is shown, as they offerl the space to ad providers and they select the junk they place there.

Edit: Installed sync, added to lsposed list to run the minminguard module on, opened it and 'sponsored content' blocks, but no ads. (Saw one ad when I opened sync without the lsposed config change) I'm guessing I need to restart the device to get rid of the blocks which should hold the ads. (Or those blocks are standard and the regular content is replaced by sponsored content)

Edit 2: those sponsored content blocks are just standard blocks with either the ad or "sponsored content" as text. Uninstalled it again, as I prefer Liftoff.

[-] kratoz29@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

Are you using another adblocker?

I installed minminguard because of your comment, but I can't see it is helping at all, I had AdAway rooted version before so I never saw ads but the empty squares.

So both working have the same effect for me, is there any reason to have them both running?

I even enabled URL filtering but it still reports that no ads are being blocked.

[-] TheInsane42@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I installed minminguard because of your comment, but I can’t see it is helping at all, I had AdAway rooted version before so I never saw ads but the empty squares.

Minminguard is an xposed module that I run via lsposed (xposed development halted, lsposed is a magisk module that needs you to activate minminguard for the app. (and then in minminguard either add the app to the blacklist or use the whitelist and don't add it there) It's a lot of hoops you need to jump trough.

However, the empty squares stay even with minminguard, as the app uses the same 'message block' for posts and ads. (at least that's how it looks) WIth both running, it could well be possible that adaway already filtered before minminguard. Here it also showed 0 ads blocked (no other ad blocker), but I saw already several empty ad blocks. (so that counter isn't to accurate) You could try with adaway temporary disabled to see what it does (and check if you missed one of the hoops).

[-] kratoz29@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

I tried with AdAway off and using minminguard and now I got ads 😅

I think it is safe to assume it is doing absolutely nothing then.

I have it on in Lsposed and "System Framework" selected, I don't know if I am doing anything wrong.

[-] TheInsane42@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

I have:

Magisk (26.1) with zygisk enabled
Zygisk - LSposed v1.8.6 (6712) installed and enabled in Magisk
MinMinGuard 2.2.0 ('fixed' version from xda) installed and enabled in LSposed for all apps via hide uncheck everything and then active for every app I have (you can just activate for the app you want to test with, but ymmv, maybe it uses a system app to get the ads)
in MinMinGuard I've used the whitelist option with 2 games activated in the list as I want to have ads there to get more goodies

It could be the version you use. I totally forgot I had a 'fixed' version for Android 11+ (it's been running almost a year without issues/ads getting trough).

[-] kratoz29@lemm.ee 0 points 1 year ago

Oh yeah, that definitely should be the case why it is not working for me, I am using the GitHub version which is 2.1.1...

But I think now I'm confused did you actually manage to get rid of the Sync ads blocks?

Or you have the block with the "empty" ads?

In the Lsposed app within the MinMinGuard section you have selected Sync for Lemmy there too or only within the MinMinGuard settings?

I am a bit lost in your third point, maybe can I see some screenshots?

[-] TheInsane42@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Oh yeah, that definitely should be the case why it is not working for me, I am using the GitHub version which is 2.1.1…

On 11 and later that could be the case indeed.

But I think now I’m confused did you actually manage to get rid of the Sync ads blocks? Or you have the block with the “empty” ads?

The ads is gone, but the block is still there with only the text "Sponsored content" in it.

In the Lsposed app within the MinMinGuard section you have selected Sync for Lemmy there too or only within the MinMinGuard settings?

I've selected every app in the MinMinguard section in LSposed. That is where you specify for which app LSposed should activate the module. In the MinMinGuard settings (open the app itself) I selected whitelist as mode (block everywhere except where specified) and I whitelisted 2 games, so they can run ads for in-game goodies and the rest get their ads blocked.

I am a bit lost in your third point, maybe can I see some screenshots?

When you open MinMinGuard you see 3 tabs at the top, auto, blacklist and whitelist.

auto: you can't select anything and the app decides for you when to block ads and when not.
blacklist: everything gets to show ads by default and you select which apps get blocked.
whitelist: nothing gets to show ads by default and you select which apps are allowed to show ads.

Select the option you want. I went for the whitelist mode. Alas, LSPosed doesn't have that option, there you need to activate MinMinGuard for every new app you install, but at least after that you're safe from ads when using the whitelist mode..

[-] kratoz29@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

I see, well, sadly it wasn't working for me, it didn't block ads (I'm using A13) and at the end of the day it didn't block the Sync squares which was what I was looking for, hopefully this apps gets another revision or update to make it working again as intended in newest Android release, because the concept is more cool than just blocking ads DNS/host file based for sure!