As you know developers are rarely provided clicks through banner ads imbedded in free apps. This has prompted many to engage in Push Notification ads as an income source. This has caused a great deal of anger and has generated negative feedback, claims of malicious intent and banned apps.
I have a proposal which might be equaly beneficial for users and developers. Being upfront with users is essential. The arrangement that I suggest is to provide an opening message stating that by clicking 3 banner ads the user will have paid for the app and all additional ads will be removed. At this point a fully functional application will exist.
Does it sound like a plan?
Please use the Q&A Forum for questions Thanks
Moving to Q&A
interesting idea, but i think most of the banner ad networks have a 'can't incentivate users to click the banners' clause in the terms and conditions. at least Admob does.
if you want to do this i think some ad providers have 'content locking' advertising - i've never used it before so perhaps someone else can comment.
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I think everybody is well aware of the pain that software thieves like DavinciDevelopers and Chris Burchett is putting us through. Until Google cleans up their market policy and starts implementing some basic regulation, these robbers are going to continue stomping upon the intellectual property of the developers here.
As we all know, software thieves almost always exploit a very simple loophole: they delete signatures off the apks and then publish them to the Android market as a paid app under a different name, and everyone will be none the wiser. They make a quick buck from unsuspecting users who chance across the app and purchase it, and thus they profit off the labours of hardworking developers here. It matters little to them whether a thousand or a million users pass by their application page without choosing to install it, because every single user conned into paying for the app is a profit to them.
I strongly recommend that developers who publish their APKs here insert a pop-up into their application that appears on the first boot, stating very clearly that this app is freely published here (insert thread URL) and instructing the user to immediately seek a refund if he has paid for it, and to report the issue to Google.
In other words, probably something along the lines of:
PLEASE TAKE NOTE
This app has been freely published on XDA-Developers, and can be found at .
If you have paid for this app, PLEASE SEEK A REFUND IMMEDIATELY AND REPORT THE SELLER TO GOOGLE.
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Additionally, you might also want to insert this in the "About" section of the app, if applicable.
Software thieves may be capable of deleting signatures, but they can't remove app elements. With users alerted to these dishonest actions, they will not only distrust them but send a flood of complaints pouring into Google, and sooner or later they'll have to pack up shop and think of actually doing something productive for society.
I'm sorry if this has already been suggested, but given the severity of this issue, I thought that it would be important to highlight this to all developers in here and out there. Not everyone may be aware of the dangers making the dive into application development, and fewer still might actually think of doing something about software pirates and intellectual property thieves.
Remember, this is only a short-term measure to help starve these software thieves of their ill-gotten gains (and perhaps also to create awareness for you and your thread). It does not preclude the usage of other anti-piracy measures, and it could be circumvented by the more tech-savvy of the thieves. In the long haul, we will still need to get Google to overhaul its Android Market policy to respect the intellectual property rights of developers.
Mods, please feel free to delete this or lock this thread if I am repeating what others have already proposed.
Madrenergic said:
Software thieves may be capable of deleting signatures, but they can't remove app elements. With users alerted to these dishonest actions, they will not only distrust them but send a flood of complaints pouring into Google, and sooner or later they'll have to pack up shop and think of actually doing something productive for society.
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Just wanted to point out that this is not true. I've also seen people say that the package name cannot be changed. That's not true either.
A skilled developer could often easily delete app elements (Using obfuscation like proguard is a good deterrent). A crappy one might still manage, pirates do (Sure they'll add bugs in the process, but they don't care because they don't have to deal with the bug reports, you do).
A non-malicious example of hacking the internals of an app is how I enable long-press of Search on the Droid X/2 in my HomeSmack app (https://market.android.com/details?id=com.teslacoilsw.homesmack). Motorola hard-coded long-press of search to launch com.google.android.voicesearch/com.google.android.voicesearch.RecognitionActivity. So my solution replaces Google's VoiceSearch.apk with a modified one where I renamed Google's RecognitionActivity to RecognitionActivityReal and created my own RecognitionActivity. I kept RecognitionActivityReal functional so VoiceSearch can still be used.
It'd also be possible for the theifs to upload using your app signature. The disadvantage of course is that they can't modify it at all, even in the future.
Wondering if I part with 10 euros, will it get rid of some these (new?) ads when I surf here? Just curious. If so, for how long? I have zero problem giving back in this manner, because I've gotten tons of great ideas as a member, I am simply curious to see if directly giving money gets one anything more than a user who doesn't cough up receives.
No. Add block extensions in your browser will though. As will any number of dedicated shareware ad-block programs available online, i.e Ad Muncher.
Donating to XDA would be nice if you do this though as it's the ads that help finance the upkeep of the site. I feel if you block the ads you should at least donate.
I'm thinking of removing the app and just going through a little annoyance just to help the developers. I'm not sure how ad blockers work on the financial end so can someone please help me know.
Thanks in advance.
they do
that's why i don't use them. ads are tolerable, i would rather pay the devs in this way for their amazing works
I think there are two types of ads. One only pays the developer if a user clicks on it, and two prepays the developer just for the spot. If you're the type of person who never clicks on ads, I think developers are unaffected. Just a guess.
I wish there would be a version of AdFree that would just block them in the browser. I don't mind ads in apps and want to support the devs, but too many of the sites I visit are plastered with ads.
Yes, devs are not being paid the money they would otherwise be paid if you use an adblocker. In theory it might be possible to design an application that downloads the images and then subsequently deletes them (I know this is possible in browsers) which would remove the ad while also paying the dev, but that is not how AdFree functions and I'm not sure if it's even possible to do with an app; such a thing might require modifying the app's source code.
Yes, that is why I believe ad blockes are wrong and I never use one. If you use someone's free app they deserve the small amount of revenue they get from ads.
Leadbolt is provides ads in the notification of andoid similar to airpush. In order to opt out you go to their website where they request your mei imei id. Is it safe to provide this?
Thanks
JeffATL said:
Leadbolt is provides ads in the notification of andoid similar to airpush. In order to opt out you go to their website where they request your mei imei id. Is it safe to provide this?
Thanks
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Yea, it's just a unique identifier for these networks to add to their list so those IDs never get served ads.
truste.com/developer/?p=86
cLin407 said:
Yea, it's just a unique identifier for these networks to add to their list so those IDs never get served ads.
truste.com/developer/?p=86
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Cool. Your thanks meter just went from 0 to 1 =)
JeffATL said:
Leadbolt is provides ads in the notification of andoid similar to airpush. In order to opt out you go to their website where they request your mei imei id. Is it safe to provide this?
Thanks
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I don't know who Leadbolt is, but that aside if you are wondering about whether they (or anyone for that matter) are or not. I would suggest researching about them first via third party reviews, and/or whois domaintools, wikipedia, types of resources. The reviews that are not generated by sites that do not bias their reviews due to being erm bribed for want of a better word will obviously be more accurate as to their legitimacy so sticking to well known and trusted review sites is a good start. I use WOT (web of trust ff addon) to help weed out the bad sites, it's not perfect, however it is far better than using nothing at all. This way you can get an idea if they are trustworthy or not. And if they are new new new I would be more careful as malicious groups start again with new names etc... once their old ones are burned out and no longer provide the gains they are looking for. Hope this helps
Generally speaking, you should never give out your IMEI to anyone.....especially an ad company asking for your IMEI tempting you with not receiving anymore ads? Sounds extremely fishy to me.
Unfortunately I did give my number before seeing other posts.
I do have a problem that may be a result of the foolish move or it may be unrelated. So far I see the problem with one particular website.
If I go to the a particular restaurant's website Eclipse D Luna found by google search, it is hosted by dudamobile. I believe the website is legit as it looks legit from a computer and I think dudamobile is a legit site that transform peoples websites for mobile phones. However when I navigate to the restaurants menu the page is filled with spam (i.e levitra, viagra ads) ?
Leadbolt is a notification ads provider (they also do banners and others). They use IMEI not to show you the notification ads. They are legit, you can give them your IMEI.
'ad.leadboltads.net' is Malware
JeffATL said:
Leadbolt is provides ads in the notification of andoid similar to airpush. In order to opt out you go to their website where they request your mei imei id. Is it safe to provide this?
Thanks
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LEADBOLTADS IS MALWARE! DO NOT GIVE THEM ANYTHING!
My browser started popping open on reboot/start up to their page with advertising.
This behaviour is known as malware.
Lookout Security & Antivirus found mine in ChargeBar Free Edition,
ChargeBar came embedded in the NottachTrix 2.3.0 ROM.
I installed it (NottachTrix) and it (ChargeBar) didn't update for 3 months, then, BANG.
I've deleted ChargeBar's update, moved it from system apps to apps, deleted it, and the browser pop open 'ad.leadboltads.net' still persists.
Lookout Security & Antivirus can not find the new location of the malware, they do not have a forum.
By the very definition and behaviour, this is malware, and, ChargeBar (Asgard Casino Apps) is involved in the distribution of malware.
Asgard Casino Apps distributes 34 apps that behave this way.
They are using Google Play Store to distribute this malware, abet, that app is benign in its origin, its a pipeline, or conduit for malware.
Sneaky F##kers aren`t they.........
#1) I would like to get this crap off my phone.
#2) I need to bring this to Google's attention, and have the developer and apps banned from the Play store.
Sooo, starting with #1,,,how do I get this crap off my phone!
NOTE:
I will be linking to this post in the NottachTrix post, I'm asking the developers to to move ChargeBar from the ROM zip.
My MBAM forum post: https://forums.malwarebytes.org/inde...06#entry764184
My 2 apps got removal with same reason
REASON FOR REMOVAL:Violation of section 4.4 of the Developer Distribution Agreement.
After a regular review we have determined that your app interferes with or accesses another service or product in an unauthorized manner. This violates the provision of your agreement with Google referred to above.
All removals are tracked. Repeated removals will result in app suspension, at which point this app will count as a strike against the good standing of your developer account and no longer be available on Google Play.
Can some one please share what is happening ?
Please describe what your app does