Block Ads in Apps on Android

I wish the play store would just let me filter based on app intrusiveness. Let me find things that don't use ads, don't have in-app purchases, and don't collect data. Looking at "paid" apps is NOT equivalent. Then I can maybe read reviews and get what I want. Once the quality bar has been raised I don't have any problem paying a few bucks (or more) for an app that behaves the way I want.

Hell, some paid apps have ads which drives me insane.

Agreed. I bet there's quite a bit of money out there waiting for whomever starts making paid, tracking-free alternatives to popular free apps.

On the "don't collect data", I can recommend "exodus privacy" which shows permissions and trackers that are present in your installed apps.

You can search them online [0] or show the analysis of the apps you already have installed [1]

[0] https://reports.exodus-privacy.eu.org/en/search/

[1] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.eu.exodus_...

Fosdem talk that explains all of this in more detail: https://fosdem.org/2019/schedule/event/analysis_of_the_behav...

Yeah, that should be an app store foul.

You can use Yalp Store [1]. It allows to search and filter Google Play Store apps based on (i) Apps with ads, (ii) Paid apps and (iii) Apps using GSF.

Another reflex is to look on the F-Droid Store if an equivalent FOSS application exists before looking for one in the Google Play Store. There are some excellent apps there, such as NewPipe [2] for instance!

[1] https://github.com/yeriomin/YalpStore

[2] https://newpipe.schabi.org/

If the costs are one-off costs, then probably. However, for any services that result in ongoing costs to maintain, it'll mean Yet Another Subscription Service, for which there is already a high amount of fatigue and animosity towards.

It's been a while since I've seen that but would drive me crazy too. I would immediately get a refund for it and review it appropriately.

I second this. Finding apps became a lot easyer and faster with F-Droid/Yalp combo. I can look for a free app on F-Droid and if it does not exist I can find a alternative on Play Store, an all with no GSF installed on the phone.