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Ads are just a fact of life in mobile apps. You can't completely avoid them, but there are some ad implementations that are so annoying that Google has explicitly disallowed them from the Play Store. Remember Airpush? The current advertising scourge is ad-infused lock screens, which have shown up in previously safe apps like ES File Explorer, Peel, and Hotspot Shield VPN. Google has finally listened to our pleading, and lock screen ads are no longer allowed in the Play Store.
Technically, the new policy is a bit more nuanced than "no ads on the lock screen." Here's the new section on Google's developer monetization page.
Lockscreen Monetization
Unless the exclusive purpose of the app is that of a lockscreen, apps may not introduce ads or features that monetize the locked display of a device.
So, an app that bills itself as a photo editor, VPN, or file explorer cannot also cram a new lock screen on your device that's infested with ads. However, an app that is actually a lock screen can still monetize with ads. Presumably, you know what you're getting when you install a lock screen app.
Source: http://www.androidpolice.com/2017/11/30/google-finally-bans-apps-include-shady-lock-screen-ads/
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Thursday December 07 2017, @03:13PM (4 children)
Just checked through my running apps, not a single ad, and that's on canola iOS. Built in ones don't have ads (including the safari pages I have open - bbc, hackernews, sn, trekbbs, work jira). No ads on Spotify, or the two games (which I bought). The only one that comes close is google maps.
If I want an app, I will buy it (Catan, TTR, SkyView). If it's free, they make their money from me buying their services (ihg, virgin Atlantic, slack, IRCCloud, Spotify) or selling me to others (google maps).
(Score: 2) by TheRaven on Thursday December 07 2017, @05:15PM (2 children)
sudo mod me up
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Friday December 08 2017, @07:45PM (1 child)
Nope, didn't realise it existed. I go to specific websites for news (typically bbc for day-to-day, and buy magazines like economist for more in depth)
Advertisers pay about 50p to destroy your browsing experience. I'd rather pay. Same with TV. Ads cost me more than the site gets from selling my eyeballs.
(Score: 2) by TheRaven on Saturday December 09 2017, @10:42AM
sudo mod me up
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 07 2017, @05:57PM
^ same here, I just don't download garbageware that wants to spew ads / invade my privacy. Browser works great for most everything, and F-droid has a lot of good open source apps with sane permission requests!