Obviously the ideal thing to do would be to stop using them entirely, but if you’re like me and you still have that one subreddit you still need to check on, some of your friends are still there, or you can’t find alternatives to YouTube’s content, then maybe you’re also looking for alternative front-ends that would at least remove the ads and trackers while you look at those sites.
So I was wondering, what alternative apps do you use on Android for those services?
As for me, here’s my small list (all of these are FOSS apps, and with the exception of OldLander, it is better to install them from F-Droid to have the automatic updates):
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Reddit:
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Geddit: native Android client for Reddit that allows you only to browse it anonymously, ie no account is needed;
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RedReader: another native Android client that I discovered recently, and it’s surprisingly good. Its UI is simple and sleek (though you might want to disable “link buttons” in the settings), and you can log in to post and comment;
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OldLander: this one is not really a standalone app. Before RedReader, whenever I needed to comment, I used this userscript together with Tampermonkey on Firefox Android. It basically makes old.reddit.com mobile-friendly. There’s also a Firefox extension version of it which should be even better when Firefox Android supports desktop extensions;
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TwitterX:- Squawker: very good app to look at tweets without needing an account. You basically manage your followings locally on your phone, and you can even group them however you want. Overall it gives you an experience that is very similar to that of an RSS reader. (EDIT 2023-08-17: looks like another Elon change took place and Squawker is no longer able to load tweets, hope the dev can find a way around this 🙁)
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Youtube:
- NewPipe: I probably don’t need to present this one. No account needed.
(enshittification pic from The Hustle)
Google Playstore is also in the shittification phase. The amount of ads and sponsored apps is an eye sore. I use F-Droid as an alternative but most mainstream apps are not there.
Aurora Store.
Worth mentioning that this is just a different (better) front for the Play Store. It is not like f-droid a completely different store.
If went downhill from the moment Google disallow system-wide ad blockers on Google Play. They still allow 3rd party web browser to include ad blockers as long as the ad blockers only work on that 3rd party web browsers, but how long until they decide to disallow that as well?
Not wrong. If I search for a particular app it gives me an advert based on that search at the top of my screen that looks mostly like the first search result. It’s begining to remind me of schetchy warez websites I use to not use as a teenager.
It’s really insane. The sponsored app even has a big fat “Install” button next to it! I’ve never actually clicked it, but I ALMOST click it every time.