12mo ago

Scammers placing keywords related to a different app, hoping users get confused

I'm pissed that I bought simple gallery pro because it respected my privacy, then because the dev sold his soul for a ton of money, it now rapes my privacy

41 comments

F-Droid can help
- Simple Mobile Tools got sold and probably will go the web extension way of scammers loading it up with malware to extract private info and sell it. Delete it now.
  
  Seriously? I have so many of their apps. I had no idea.
  
  OP is searching for Fossify - the forked set of Simple's projects. That's the point of the post, I think.
  
  Just use the fork
  
  Quick question, I've been using F-droid for like Spottube, I assume I should seek out Spottube for any future updates now correct?
- Yes but the reason I purchased from play store (which has the side effect of donating an undeserved 30% to google) was that I could easily share the access with the family without too much effort, just send a link to them 😢
  
  I believe, Fossify Gallery has practically the same features as Simple Gallery Pro. So, your family does still get full access with just the F-Droid link...

@Moonrise2473@feddit.it There is a fork of simple mobile tools available at https://github.com/FossifyOrg
- Judging by what OP was searching for, they're probably aware. And the scammers are too.

See here for the new permissions the Simple mobile tools apps require after it was sold to an ad-company. I think that speaks for itself: https://programming.dev/post/8634202
- OP searched for Fossify - the Simple fork. That's the point here - the new owner of Simple has added the keyword 'fossify' so they turn up in the search results, which no doubt prioritises apps with higher install counts.

fyi, don't use simple mobile tools anymore, it's basically adware now, the project has been forked and renamed to fossify

This is my general method to find and install apps:
First hit F-Droid
If F-Droid doesn't have it, hit the Play Store through Aurora. Carefully assess each and every candidate returned by the Play Store search by searching for feedback on DDG, as I treat anything served up by Google as adware / spyware even if the Play Store says it's free of ads, doesn't need permissions or it's open source.
If the Play Store doesn't have it (an older version of an APK I specifically need for instance) hit APKPure or Aptoide. Download each promising APK manually, unzip it, look for sketchy things in the archive manually, then run the APK through Hypatia before sideloading it, because I treat anything served up by APKPure or Aptoide as malware.

Fossify is not even in the play store. I searched for it online and found the GitHub repo, it's only available via f-droid and IzzyOnAndroid, so yeah, you can't find it in the Google play store.

I switched to using using Obtainium to install directty from dev repos as much as possible, and am adding Fossify's projects as they release. IMO, It's the best way to ensure you get the app you want, without letting middle-men push their agenda or mine your data.

Most typical android user experience

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