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by agile-gift0262 372 days ago
I used to use many apps from Simple Mobile Tools and migrated to Fossify's forks when the whole acquisition thing happened. I just went back to check the Simple Mobile Tools to see the effect form ZipooApps' acquisition [1]. What a calamity. Most of them require way more permissions than they used to before the purchase, have trackers, ads and scam-feeling weekly subscriptions. Also probably in breach of the GPL licence they used to have, unless they have removed all the code contributed by third parties, as their GitHub [2] hasn't been updated, but the apps in the Play Store clearly have. And I seriously doubt they distribute the source code in any other way.

1: https://play.google.com/store/apps/dev?id=821434617619498026...

2: https://github.com/SimpleMobileTools
3 comments
squigz 372 days ago
WEEKLY subscriptions?!
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kej 372 days ago
I just checked, and according to the reviews on the flashlight app the weekly subscription is $14.99 to remove ads. For a flashlight.
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emaro 372 days ago
That's so unhinged it's almost funny again. I mean someone who pays 60$ a month for a flashlight app almost deserves it. Almost.
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agile-gift0262 372 days ago
I assume they trick people with dark patterns and free trials so that they don't even know they are susbcribing or what's the price
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extraduder_ire 371 days ago
Was there any setup required after switching to the forked version? There's a lot of settings I've tweaked in the SMT apps over time, and I'm sure I'd miss some if I migrated over.
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em-bee 371 days ago
they are new apps with a different name, so i don't think they would be able to access to existing settings unless there is an export/import feature.

but given that SMT apps are now effectively malware you really should switch anyways.

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extraduder_ire 370 days ago
I've always used the ones from fdroid, so the only change I noticed was them not getting updates anymore.
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raaron773 372 days ago
I switched to Goodwy. Granted they arent the best since they lock a lot of basic features behind paywall it does the job and their themes are actually decent and feel modern considering they use Material.
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