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1 tracker = 266 classes.

Please be more explicit about the so-called “tracker” reported by exodus here. “Tracker” is a broad term that covers not just actual tracking and ad libraries but also crash detection and error reporting libraries, which can be useful as long as they are opt-in with informed user consent. Without knowing the exact library detected here, and how it is used, one cannot assess whether it is truly spyware or not.

From a cursory glance at the build.gradle I do see ACRA as a dependency here, which is sometimes (mistakenly) considered as a “tracker” but is actually a free software crash reporting library used by many free software Android apps including NewPipe and the F-Droid client itself. A cursory search across the codebase reveals ACRA is not even always enabled (it seems to depend on build configuration) and this dialog appears to be where the user is asked for consent for sharing a crash report.

Of course, Exodus can’t tell how a library is used or even if it’s used at all, it just sees a scary class name and warns about trackers. It might be useful to check if some proprietary app has suspicious behavior but it is by no means an actual malware scanner.

edit: it doesn’t appear Exodus considers ACRA as a “tracker” as it is not included in their list however my point still stands. an Exodus report by itself isn’t proof of nefarious activity unless backed up with more concrete evidence e.g. network analysis or source code analysis.

edit 2: I just installed ClassyShark and ran it on NewPipe, and it does show ACRA as a “tracker” however Exodus itself says NewPipe has no trackers. ClassyShark has not been updated in over a year so I assume it is using an out of date database. Something like TrackerControl which is more actively updated might be a better alternative.

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Amendment; it seems the other FUTO product has a 10 purchase. So it’s not free, but seems to be winrar’s approach. “Please pay, but if you don’t we won’t know”

Assuming my understanding is correct;

By the spirit of the definition, no.

By the literal definition - yes; it’s free and the source is open to look at. You could fork it, but you can’t sell your own version.

No, free in FOSS stands for libre or independent, not the financial definition. Due to the license restrictions, the software is not “free”.

I have no idea if you could redistribute a modified version freely without breaching the license terms - enforcement is key. The language could be there just to prevent any of the big tech companies from just forking and profiting from the work.

This is purely speculation, and shouldn’t be considered fact.

A deGoogled ROM, or if you still need Google services, GrapheneOS.

Apart from the Firefox Google container (that’s available only on PC), all the rest can be achieve everywhere.

Edit: I use Android, I just suppose that an AdBlocker can be used on iOS.

But let’s be practical: if I use th Firefox Google container and all the link I open are just the website I want ro visit, if I’m not logged in any Google service, how can Google monitor me on my PC?

P.s. I also use (along with other) the Cookie Auto Delete plugin.

I’ve always thought of “blob” in yerms of ot being opaque and hard to understand, like a blob of putty with little structure you can dig into to get at it, you just have to take it as one solid barely understandable mass to use it.

Never thought of it as Binary Large OBject ;p