Please note this is just a beta and there are going to be bugs, but it works and it works nicely. Have fun.

  • @[email protected]
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    23411 months ago

    My excitement is tempered by two things, the ultra cost being a subscription (I get the “why” I just hate more subscriptions) and also the pretty crappy targeted adverts “consent” whereby you have to scroll through page after page of third party vendors to turn off the “legitimate” interest which is, let’s be honest their way around consent by just ignoring what you want. That’s put me right off in all honesty sorry.

    • @[email protected]
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      9811 months ago

      Man, when the Pro lifetime comes out I’m there but at this point I’m not going to engage at all with either being tracked by advertisers or being forced to go through all that. There are other open source apps that don’t do any of that which may not be quite as good but the difference is worth it. Lemmy doesn’t have any ads. Why should I subject myself to ads or being tracked to use what is already free?

      • @[email protected]
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        3611 months ago

        Because you know what sync provides and why it’s worth spending money on it. I get these arguments and they are valid but no one forces anyone to use an app. You can just ignore it. I also prefer open source apps and don’t like subscriptions but I bought the Ultra even if I just want to remove the ads. Also the price is not that big so i think of it as a donation.

        • Dettweiler
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          4411 months ago

          It’s a nice app, but so is Jerboa, which does not have ads. If there was a one-time ad-free purchase; I would strongly consider it; but I’m not going to pay a subscription to avoid ads on an already ad-free website.

            • @[email protected]
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              211 months ago

              That makes me nervous for how much he’s going to charge… I paid like $8 for the last one I used on reddit for ten years.

            • Dettweiler
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              211 months ago

              It’s out now, and it’s $20. Way too steep of a price for me.

            • @[email protected]
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              -1011 months ago

              How is it “in the works”? It’s not hard to implement, seeing as how he already did it.

              And no timeline when it’s coming just a promise it will?

              Sounds more like he just wants to test the waters and see what he can make.

              • @[email protected]
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                11 months ago

                The dev don’t want to charge money while the app is still buggy. The subscription option is there for the die hard fans who keep pestering him to let them send their money. If it weren’t for people pestering him, the option to subscribe is probably not even offered right now.

                • @[email protected]
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                  211 months ago

                  I don’t know. Going by that logic, there should not be any ads in the beta as well as the app is not officially finished. That way people can use and try the app until the official launch and then buy it when the one time ad free purchase options are added without being exposed to our tracked by ads.

                  • @[email protected]
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                    111 months ago

                    Can’t argue with that, I’ll go that route if it were me, but ultimately it’s the app creator’s decision.

              • @[email protected]
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                111 months ago

                Because he prioritized his time in getting the application usable rather than implementing various tiers of payments instead.

                One of the messages to the discord this morning seems to indicate he’s planning on adding the one time ad-free unlock today.

                • @[email protected]
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                  211 months ago

                  He literally already has all the other tiers of payment, though? You can select “per month” or “per year”, you just don’t have an option for one-time.

                • SRo
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                  211 months ago

                  Honestly a third sub option for lifetime wouldn’t have been a timesink. Just like the old version had. I guess it was more of a time waste removing the third option.

              • @[email protected]
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                -111 months ago

                If it’s not so hard then why aren’t you making your own awesome app in your free time and giving it away without ads?

          • @[email protected]
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            811 months ago

            I believe the developer is working on a one-time payment Pro version that removes ads. Ultra has additional features for a subscription fee.

          • @[email protected]
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            11 months ago

            This is also the dev that got really hurt over his paying customers not liking when he completely changed the app they paid for under their nose with no option to roll back, and quit pushing updates for a while after that. It was a whole thing.

            I’m not paying a dev that can’t handle feedback and has an entire fanclub cheering on literally every single decision.

        • @[email protected]
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          711 months ago

          I like sync and spend most of my phone screen time on it so I’m all for buying lj a case of beer once a year.

          • @antizero99
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            711 months ago

            This right here. I had ultra for reddit and was paying monthly out of my Google rewards earnings. I’m going to do the same again.

            I’m never surprised by the lack of understanding as to what it actually costs to run the servers and the time that goes into services and apps like this.

          • LifeBandit666
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            311 months ago

            Haha I was the same and didn’t know what to do with myself when I deleted the other app when the blackouts started. Like I would take my phone out, stare at it for a few seconds and put it away again.

            Anyway I found other things to do instead of Reddit, and now I’m wondering if it’s a good idea to get Sync again lol. I’ve done so well!

        • ShittyKopper [they/them]
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          311 months ago

          Also the price is not that big so i think of it as a donation.

          idk man 530 TRY is kinda not that small of a donation

          • @[email protected]
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            111 months ago

            yeah it was 185 try in sync for reddit although it was probably last updated when try/usd was 20 or so

      • @[email protected]
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        11 months ago

        Yeah, Sync is a great app but it’s basically subscription or ads+tracking for a really slick UI.

    • @[email protected]
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      11 months ago

      Same, I’m ok with a subscription but I would want it like Sync for Reddit where I pay 5-6-7€ to remove the ads and the rest can stay on Ultra.

      Edit: Also the per vendor “legitimate interest” toggle without the option to decline all at once is pretty scummy and also illegal.

    • @[email protected]
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      1811 months ago

      It’s amazing how many cookie consent banners aren’t compliant. There has to be a button where you can clearly reject all, where it has equal look and feel as accept all. By default all non required cookies must be disabled, but the fact we can turn off the legitimate interest options shows they’re not required, and so they’re not compliant.

      Basically every banner should have a reject button that’s just as clear as the accept. I’d you’re going through any extra effort to reject then it’s not compliant.

    • @[email protected]
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      1511 months ago

      Then there’s me, who actively went hunting for where I could pay for this app as soon as I opened it

      This dev has never been anything but respectful of his community. I have no qualms paying him the equivalent of 2 beers a year for something I have used for multiple hours a day every day for more than a decade. Easy value proposition.

      The targeted ads thing I guess I get, but I haven’t had ads on Sync for so long it honestly didn’t really phase me because I planned to buy ad free anyway. Hopefully that bit gets streamlined.

      • @[email protected]
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        311 months ago

        Well, if you need to tell people that, it’s not clear enough and thus breaks the law. I don’t know what it looks like and I can imagine you used a third party to provide it, but for user friendliness it could be a good idea to change it. I doubt you would get into legal trouble though since a lot of websites use this same format, but I always hate it when I see it.

      • @[email protected]
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        17 months ago

        Not for me, in fact, my one doesn’t seem to save the preferences and I’m not using beta.

    • Firestorm Druid
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      611 months ago

      Thanks for pointing that out. Big no for me. I shuddered when I saw Facebook mentioned there.

    • @[email protected]
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      311 months ago

      Would be good to have both options. Someone prefers to have a subscription to cancel whenever, and someone wants to not think about it anymore after purchasing.

    • @[email protected]
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      311 months ago

      I bought the yearly subscription.

      One, I want to support devs making top tier clients for lemmy. Two, this stuff isn’t free to do or maintain, as a dev, I recognize and appreciate that.

      If someone comes out with a better client for cheaper, then I’ll switch, otherwise, these terms are acceptable.

      • @[email protected]
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        111 months ago

        Sure, development isn’t free, but $2 a month per user? That seems excessive for a free website that doesn’t charge an API fee…

        And does any of that make it over to the instance hosts? I’m genuinely asking.

    • Madbrad200
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      311 months ago

      Ads are blocked if you use something like NextDNS

    • AphoticDev
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      111 months ago

      I didn’t even notice that at first, because ProtonVPN blocks ads and all that’s left is a blank grey square.

    • @[email protected]
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      11 months ago

      Using Adguard Home on network and Adaway on my phone I have no ads in apps.

      I do not get ads in any apps on my phone, nor YouTube on phone/desktop/Firestick, nor Twitch on phone/desktop/Firestick, nor even on the Firestick launcher because I replaced the stock launcher. I will take the time to make sure I don’t ever get any ads on any of my devices and I can’t tell you how much of a quality of life improvement it makes. If you’re adverse to ads, there are ways to block them. It takes a little bit of effort, but it is so very much worth it in my opinion.

      With that said, I also do not support subscription services, but I like to support developers that make good apps. When the option to remove ads is made available for purchase, I will still purchase it even though I gain nothing from it.

    • @[email protected]
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      -1711 months ago

      It’s a service, why should you pay once? It’s like water and electricity, ongoing cost needs to be balanced by ongoing revenue. Especially when the utility is also ongoing.

      If you prefer paying once, get some dividend ETFs and use the dividends to pay for the service. Yes, it’s expensive, but you can also sell the etf again when you stop using the service.

          • @antizero99
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            111 months ago

            No they can’t. You make a good point. The lifetime purchase model is great for the consumer but not always for the business offering it. Larger companies like Siriusxm can afford it because they have enough money coming from other sources like manufacturers, monthly subscribers, etc but little operations like lj would be fucked if everyone paid for it once.

            Do yourself a favor and block/ignore the idiots that don’t understand what you are talking about. They either won’t to troll or they will never understand what it costs to run a business.

      • @[email protected]
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        311 months ago

        I get why subscriptions exist but everything right now is trying to push you into a subscription. I really don’t need yet another subscription in my life.

        I’m all for paying for Sync but it won’t be via a subscription. Sorry.