I was looking forward to trying Sync today now that it’s live, but my enthusiasm was immediately dampened after seeing the “Data Safety” section on the Google Play store.
Liftoff has been great, and want to say thanks for making an awesome app. This will continue to be my daily driver.
Edit: for clarity, because the post got way bigger than I expected.
Sync looks like a fantastic app, and the dev/s should charge whatever they feel is fair for their efforts, even if that’s through the usual ads + ad tracking.
My intent was just to post here in /c/Liftoff to thank the Liftoff devs for managing to somehow offer an awesome app without any of that.
I think it’s a little uncharitable to Sync to characterise it like this. Yes, it collects personal data to show ads. However, you have the choice to refuse or pay a one time fee to get rid of it entirely. It’s the nonconsensual nature of data collection that robs users of their agency that makes it problematic.
Devs need to eat and donations are not always a realistic revenue scheme. With the one time fee, Sync has signalled it cares about its users and not just value extraction like Big Tech. I will probably pay that and be happy.
I like Liftoff, I also like Sync. I use both atm.
If you’re in the EU, of course.
If you already have spyware called Play Services on your phone.