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Apps that use google APIs (and similar) vs the webpage version - which is more private? (aussie.zone)
submitted 2 years ago* by to c/privacy@lemmy.ml
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If I look at a news app on my iPhone, for example, I can see in iOS’s privacy report that the app is using various Google APIs for analytics, amongst others. I understand why (it’s free and easy for them) but means that despite the app not collecting data on me, Google still is.

In this case, is using the web version of the app (which is often an option) more private?

Here I’m assuming mobile Safari with privacy relay, plus some extensions to stop trackers etc.

Thanks in advance.

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[–] 1 point 2 years ago (1 child)

For news in particular, RSS feeds are a great option if you can find them. No ads, no Javascript, purely chronological sorting of articles. Here's some feed links for SBS, for example: https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/feeds/nbv1rs3kw I highly recommend the open source app NetNewsWire for iOS.

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  • [–] [S] 2 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Yes! Excellent advice!

    I am a big fan of RSS and have been using it as my primary source of info for at least a decade.

    I actually already had SBS but only just now realised that ABC pages (eg “just in”) can be entered directly and it’ll find the RSS version (using Reeder at least).

    Do you have advice about how to centralise/organise RSS? I use Feedly as a cloud source that I point Reeder at (have also been playing with Fiery Feeds). But I can’t help but think there’s a better way that doesn’t involve a third party (again, privacy).

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago

    Nice! I actually didn't know they had RSS feeds at all, so I'm going to help my news junky friend get set up with them. Thanks for the tip on the ABC RSS! :)

    Right now I've got NetNewsWire configured to use my iCloud account (which uses CloudKit under the hood), so that syncs my iPhone and iPad. This still involves a 3rd party - Apple's magic hosted database service thing - but I'm ok with this for now.

    Ideally I would set up something like FreshRSS and host it on one of my own servers. FreshRSS exposes the old Google Reader API which NetNewsWire and Reeder can use to sync feeds. Personally I'm not interested in the FreshRSS web interface and I'm not too keen on running a PHP app either. So I'm considering writing my own service which serves the bare minimum required to be able to point apps like NetNewsWire and Reeder at.

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