[disiplus]

This weekend I needed to send a few PNGs by email. They were huge, so I figured I’d just grab an image compressor from the Play Store.

I checked out five different apps, each with millions of downloads. Every single one was riddled with data collection prompts and stuffed with ads.

Fine, I thought, I’ll pay to remove the ads. But the options were:

- “Free trial” that defaults into a $5/month subscription

- Or a $19 “lifetime” purchase

It’s so clearly designed to trick people into a recurring subscription for what’s essentially nothing. These apps are just wrappers around existing Android libraries. And if you check the reviews, they’re obviously bought.

This was literally the first time in a year I tried to download something from the Play Store, and the experience was so bad I just gave up and solved it faster in the browser instead.

[MayeulC]

These apps do exactly that, but are not easy to find from the F-Droid app (I had to use a search engine to find the first one):

https://f-droid.org/packages/mobi.omegacentauri.SendReduced

https://f-droid.org/packages/com.caydey.ffshare

Oh, and also, specifically for PNG optimization: https://f-droid.org/packages/com.wrmndfzzy.atomize

[FrequentLurker]

Here is another one: https://f-droid.org/en/packages/ru.tech.imageresizershrinker...

It also has a bunch of other features

[tentacleuno]

Obligatory mention: ImagePipe[0]. It lets you compress pictures and edit them. You can share images to ImagePipe and it automatically shows a dialog to share compressed versions with another app (hence the "Pipe" -- it's a pipeline!)

[0]: https://f-droid.org/en/packages/de.kaffeemitkoffein.imagepip...

[brnt]

This is why I find the thesis that Google and Apple are good stewards hilarious if not malicious. There is absolutely nothing safe about their app stores. Certainly not more safe than something like f-droid.

[metadat]

Are Google and Apple's stores safer than the open web? It really doesn't seem like it, in a lot of ways.

[AlienRobot]

I feel like this is disingenuous. I have never used F-droid, but it seems they only publish open source apps and they take the initiative selecting them.

This isn't a good app store for the majority of app developers, since they wouldn't be able to publish there out of their own accord.

[Imustaskforhelp]

Yes browser is a really good tool for utilities like this actually.

But also I suppose that f-droid doesn't have paid reviews or well, everything in f-droid is mostly open source, so I am curious if there are apps in f-droid that could've well suited your need.

I just search on whatever I want on duckduckgo,"open source X android app" or "open source alternativeto Y" or just directly trying to search it in f-droid too.

[d3Xt3r]

Not exactly end-user friendly, but this is exactly why I use Termux so much. I had the same image optimisation requirement so I just installed imagemagick via Termux and converted the images. Feels more easier to me to use standard Linux tools via Termux than go down a wild goose chase trying various bloated apps.

[lenkite]

This is the wonderful state of the App EcoSystem that Google wants to "gatekeep" - so ppl are forced to swallow shit, tug their forelock and smile at the overlord. I wonder whether Termux will be able to renew its developer registration in the future.

[ekianjo]

Next time you can also use magic wormhole.

[vid]

KDE Connect is an open source party pack of system to system tools.

Another option is to block ads using Netguard.