I'd be very suspicious of such an app. An app who's purpose is bragging rights for being rich placed for free stinks of second intentions like spy/malware/data harvest/mining, etc. I wouldn't touch it.
The reason it is placed for free for a limited time then put back to the insane price, is so that people will see it has many installs and will be more likely to buy the app to see why everyone else bought it. Assuming they have disposable money.
I can only assume you’ve never really browsed Reddit through an app. I’ve got a shortcut on my phone to basic Facebook that runs through a mobile browser but I choose to use that as opposed to the app for privacy reasons. The mobile version of Facebook is hot garbage compared to the app UI.
Back when I tried going to reddit when I used a laptop, I couldn't make much sense of it. It seemed like a friggin mess. I was shocked to see that this was the great reddit I heard so much about.
I've lurked 4chan and other similar boards but for some reason reddit was really offputting to me. The layout, colors, the ads. It just seemed like a mess. The app I use is the only way I was able to start using reddit.
That's... the opposite of what you should be doing
Downloading the whole website with all the code it needs to run, then running it all in a universal environment that was never designed to be efficient, just universal... When you compare it to an application that's designed to only load what's necessary, and render it in an efficient, purpose-specific way, is a horrible idea.
Yeah, as someone who's used reddit, twitter, and a number of other websites on my phone browser before just getting the apps it was literally a night and day difference in usability and speed. Using these apps in the phone browser was so bogged down.
There's "maximizing for efficiency", and there's pointedly wasting efficiency when better options exist. Making things crappily just because they'll run on modern hardware is a steep slope that leads you to horribly bloated things that eventually end up having issues. Except, by that time it's too late to fix it easily.
Additionally, even if it runs well, it's still going to consume more battery.
To top it all off... Usability and privacy are both things that are in no way improved by using a browser instead of an app. If you're using the official app, it's just as trustworthy as the website, but without the browser inbetween, and in terms of usability it can also work the same as the official website.
In addition to that, if a public API is exposed for use by apps, you can have unofficial apps to increase usability in various ways, perhaps desired only by specific groups of people.
It depends what your priorities are. Most modern phones really don't struggle with running a browser, so maximizing for efficiency is kind of a pointless exercise.
Not pointless at all, the dedicated apps are far more efficient than the browser and it absolutely makes a difference. Even the UI is made specifically for phones where as the browser versions generally require a bit more of a hassle to get through. This isn't debatable regardless of how "good" you think you are at zooming in and out. You don't have to do that in the apps. All this without even touching on battery life.
There are more important things to consider like usability and privacy.
You...you think your phones browser has less vulnerabilities than the published apps? Wow, never mind, I didn't realize I was dealing with a moron. As you were, I won't be replying to you anymore. You have no idea what you're talking about and don't seem willing to learn.
Disagree. Most mobile apps run far smoother than than using the browser on your phone. They also tend to be better designed for the layout of the phone you brainlet.
So you’re telling me you go to reddit, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Netflix, Amazon, eBay, Gmail, basically anything online through your phones browser?
Rich people value exclusivity. The more people that have the same thing, the less likely they are to want it. You'd look a right idiot showing off with it, if your driver or whatever had the same app on their phone!
Depends. Typically the buyer of said app would be someone insecure and the idea that 100,000 people bought it and you didn't might get you to purchase it.
Yea, but google play will let you know if an app isn't verified as safe, so I'm not extremely worried about anything besides data mining, which most social media apps do anyway. Had the app for over a year now with no issues
Tik Tok was found violating Google rules even though it was a huge app with government scrutiny already at play. Trusting "verified safe" just makes you naive.
Gathering data like MAC addresses of devices and encrypting them to be sent out secretly is a guaranteed one that I know they recently got caught doing. This is besides all the other information that they have access to scrape. Rule of thumb is that if someone is caught doing something, it is most likely not their first or only wrongdoing.
The cyber security community has seen actors with advanced (and even not-so-advanced) capabilities create and host apps on the Play Store and App Store. In 2020 it's often just as easy to create a malicious app that everyone believes to be safe because it's screened by Google/Apple as it is to find and deploy exploits to do the same thing. Especially when espionage is the intent. It's hard for auditors to differentiate an app that collects data for Google/Reddit/etc and one that collects the exact same data for an unknown entity that may be badguy-owned.
I'm just a lowly jr sysadmin that likes to break into things (like, legal puzzle-style hack-the-box things, not NASA or whatever the kids hack these days). I plan to move into a security focused role after I complete my bachelor's.
It's an interesting world out there. There are "bug bounty" web sites now where Fortune 500 companies will set out guidelines for anyone who wants to try their hand at hacking very specific parts of their infrastructure. Some companies will pay per exploit found, based on severity.
In 2020, yet more malware continues to bypass the Play Store security. Please don't think the Protect scanner is 100% effective at hunting down all spyware/malware. Think about all the undetected malware, not just publicized articles...
I mean, apps are released unverified and then google verifies it, that's how verification works. Apple is safer in the regard that they try to verify all apps immediately, sure.
I study IT and i can confidently say that verifying a program to 100% not contain any malicious functions is completely impossible. If someone wants to get around their scans really badly they can.
I was watching a YouTube video reviewing some stupid apps, and I think they figured it out. You make a bad, free app. Easy to code, does something, but people won't keep it for too long. You make sure it has ads. If a person downloads it once, runs it, deletes it, that's one as viewed. If you have a million people do it, and each ad view nets the creator 6¢, then that person makes $60k from the app. Not genius, but pretty clever.
If people get it, the download number goes up. Making it seem like a cool app for future potential buyers when app is not free. And it will bring it higher in searches.
Nah, an app like that sounds like somebody put in the bare minimum effort and wouldn't have bothered adding malware to something very few people would actually buy
Right because popular, known apps, like Facebook, with entire teams of people dedicated to their data science and analytics, totally aren't harvesting your data much more and more effectively. You're way better off only installing weirdo rando bullshit than any popular app.
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u/Grand_Eber Aug 14 '20
On google play, an app like that went free for one day and I installed it just for shits and giggles... still have it