I hate using mobile to read articles

Polpota@lemmy.world to Mildly Infuriating@lemmy.world – 1410 points –

Video playing, ad that scrolls, two lines of a story, the bottom popping up with notifications every few minutes over the top of more scrolling ads.

Yay internet.

Edit: Oh wow! Did not expect so many responses. First let me say, thank you for taking the time to read and respond! To address the biggest response to use Firefox I actually have it on my phone it's just remembering to break the habit. This was more to show what an average user who just uses what they're used to experiences on mobile browsing.

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Firefox is available for Android. You can install add-ons, like UBlock, just as you would on desktop

Also Firefox gives you reading mode which gives you well formatted text without distracting images or ads.

Sometimes help you to circumvent site registration and read the article.

Also supports dark mode.

Also Firefox gives you reading mode which gives you well formatted text

That this is needed, is sad. Not because of ads but feature creep in the web standards.

Chromium browsers offer 'simplified view for web pages'. In the accessibility settings . It does not work on all page though.

But yeah, just use Firefox or one of it's forks like Mull

Chromium offering is limited, mixes text from article with some other text, sometimes made stuff completely unreadable.

Agreed, but it can be useful sometimes. For instance, I'm writing this in the Voyager app, if I tap a link it will open it in Mulch. I also have UntrackMe, with that I can use any app for the link. The simplified view can also sometimes work when an app uses Android System Webview as it's browser engine.

Safari also has reader mode.

Safari also supports content blockers. They are not as powerful as uBlock Origin on Firefox, but still better than nothing.

The last Firefox on android that really worked for me with the about:reader?url=http://... Ability to force pages into it was 68, which I keep around for that reason.

Can 117 do it on all pages?

Most pages. You click the button on the right hand side of the address bar when it's visible and it'll always work. On some pages the button is hidden, so I'm guessing those don't have an obvious way to format for reader mode.

Still works for me. Sometimes I have to hit refresh after putting it in reader mode to load the entire article.

supports dark mode.

By default? I had to install an addon called "Dark reader".

Obligatory mention that Firefox Mobile supports plugins like uBlock Origin. You don't have to suffer this rubbish!

i always open in Firefox, makes life 1000x easier on mobile

Switched not to long ago and the reader mode is a lifesaver as well

I really wish they brought back Reader mode. I kept the old version of firefox side by side just so I can force some pages into it. Makes reading soooo much easier.

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Can Memmy be configured to use this browser when opening links?

uBlock isn't going to block pop-ups that are from the website you're visiting.

u probably donteven need an adblocker.
i bet there is a config to disable popups. (might break some legitimate use cases)

extremely unlikely u would see the trashiest trash if u just had a host blocker (firefox strict, ublock, umatrix, etc..)

Except if you're an apple tard πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚

Edit: deleting my comment because it’s useless to reply to a crypto bro

I have nothing against nocoiners

I use Firefox and Firefox Klar which integrates into Firefox on iOS. I see no ads.

The EU Digital markets Act will eventually be fixing that, for better or worse.

Mozilla are already working on an iOS port apparently, just need Apple to (begrudgingly) open the doors.

The rest of the OS is still a proprietary shithole

Still better then the dumpster fire of nonupdated and unoptimized androids. I bet my old iphone 8 plus still feels smoother with 2GB ram then the new pixel

Safari on iOS supports extensions. Chrome on Android does not. But hey, keep telling yourself that Google are better than Apple at this.

Who cares about Google? Chrome is trash. You don't understand that in the Android world I can install infinite different browsers. I am not dependent on what one company allows. Must be hard to understand for an Apple brain.

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I think all the people who are recommending things like Firefox plus uBlock are missing the point. Mobile internet shouldn't require that to be readable. It's bad design and it should be discouraged. If you want advertising on your site, fine, but don't make it so obtrusive that it makes the site literally unreadable.

Mobile internet shouldn’t require that to be readable.

You're right, but we can't realistically affect web designers directly. We can only control our devices, so we should focus our energy there first.

No, they're not missing the point. We all agree that mobile should have readability, it's just that the reality is we have no way to enforce it. Also, Firefox extensions like "Automatic Reader View" allow you to whitelist websites and force Firefox Reader view by default, as an attempt to create a plage more like what you are looking for without needing top down force that it would require to fix the issue (we all know chrome won't do it)

We know... they don't care. They don't give a shit if you can read their site, as long as they can trick you into clicking an ad.

Even the "story" is a fucking ad.

WELCOME TO THE FUTURE!

As a human race, we have developed such amazing technologies over the last 30 years. It's staggering. My political ideologies don't really skew much near communism, but holy shit. This is the closest I've come in a long time to cracking open my copy of The Marx-Engels Reader in long time

You know what makes me sad? Knowing that the most talented and creative minds on our time are probably working on the advertising industry.

Ladbible gamingbible is a site with no original content it is all copy pasted or stolen packed with ads.

Firefox + uBlock Origin

How do so many people still not do this?

Most apps, including Lemmy apps, open links in an internal browser which does not have those features.

You can usually change that in the settings. If not (at least on Android and on the app I'm currently using) if you open a link in your lemmy app, then click the "..." menu (in Connect and my previous reddit app, it was on the top right) there is an option to "open in Firefox," or "open in external app." This will open the link in your browser instead of having to view it in your lemmy app.

I probably should change it, I just haven't bothered yet.

Umm, change your standard browser to firefox? Works like a charm

IPhone users can't do this. It's actually only available on Android. I was surprised to find this out earlier this year.

I have some friends who think they are superior because they can use ichat... It's pretty sad. Like... Oh no, I'm a green chat box. I guess I'll cry into Revanced and Firefox for mobile. Plus, even if I had an iPhone, I'd still be using Signal.

You may also be surprised to find out that the Safari browser that comes with iOS has extensions support and even special support for content blockers (aka ad blocking extensions) that works great.

The only way to go honestly.

If you wanna get extra comfy, also Dark Reader.

I use AdNauseum. It has uBlock built in but also clicks ads in the background, costing advertisers money, and poisoning your web profile.

Firefox Mobile has uBlock Origin that works on every site, even in incognito mode. Give it a try if this post pains you!

You can also use Fennec (Firefox) or Kiwi Browser (Chrome) forks for Android. Both support uBlock Origin.

IceRaven (based on Firefox) browser has some extra add-ons support than plain Firefox Mobile.

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Fandom wikis are so fucking shit at this

I'm reminded of that Futurama episode where the gang logs onto year-3000 VR internet and is immediately assaulted by a vicious swarm of flying viagra ads.

So when shifting to firefox with ublock origin?

And the cherry on top is that the article is probably AI generated garbage anyways

Firefox + ublock with popups disabled + duckduckgo

What's duckduckgo for in this combo? VPN? Search?

On android, to block trackers.

Like as a browser you mean? Then what's Firefox for?

Sort of. From what I've heard DDG can set up a tracking blocker that will block tracking attempts across your entire phone, but I don't know exactly how it works.

DDG has tracker protection that works like a VPN to protect your phone from trackers, it runs in the background no matter what app you are using.

Search engine.

Firefox instead of Chrome

DDG instead of Google / Yahoo / Bing

DDG has their own browser, which I think is a modified version of Firefox.

the DDG browser can setup a "fake vpn" tracking blocker for your entire phone. Last I checked certain apps were excluded by default as the tech is quite new and some apps don't work right with it. It'll then give you an overview of how many tracking attempts it blocks for each app.

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Using an ad blocker is essentially a requirement these days

There's like an ad every paragraph or two on sites like these. Then apparently that's not enough so they have auto-playing video ads and pop-up ads too. Do they seriously think people will tolerate this and not go off the website?

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phones used to be fun to use, now they're just miserable because advertisers have weaponized the limitations of the format

Uhm, get FireFox with uBlock Origin???

In iOs, how do you get Firefox to open in Private Browsing as default? Going back and forth is a nightmare.

Oh no in iOS you're prettyy much stuck with Safari, as every browser is basically a safari reskin.

I'd recommend Safari and AdGuard, the free version of AdGuard works well enough. Brave browser on iOS also works well.

To address the biggest one to use Firefox I actually have it on my phone it’s just remembering to break the habit.

Set FF as default then hide the icon for chrome in a folder.

I went from 100% chrome fanboy to Brave, and finally Firefox because I couldn't look past the way Brave sold out it's users for a very small amount of money.

FF is probably where I'll stay. FOSS forever!

Firefox; load the page and then view it in Reader Mode.

Can't believe some websites think this is ok somehow... Today I've been trying to find some recipes and so many websites have endless popups and annoyances as you scroll through the page. It's seriously awful. I don't know how people cope without adblocker!

justtherecipe.com

Go there, paste the URL to the recipe, and it'll extract it from the bullshit for you.

I have adhd. When I can internet on my laptop, I read fast, massive info processing, able to rapidly research vast amounts of data, mind can work high speed.

Right now, I have no internet. Trying to accomplish anything on my tiny phone, brain can't compute, carving on stone tablets slow.

We estimate we can sell up to 80% of an individuals visual field before inducing seizures.

I've been encountering adblocker-blockers more frequently these days. Just a race to the bottom, isn't it?

It's an endless game of cat and mouse, like many other tech "battles". Ad tech blocks the ad blocker, ad blocker unblocks the blocking, rinse and repeat.

Ultimately it's hurting the media industry a lot more than the ad blockers. All of those resources spent on fighting ad blocking could be used to make better content. Ad blocking, however, if often developed by volunteers who enjoy the challenge.

Ublock origin is your friend or use brave browser

Edit: scratch that

Even adblockers on iOS don’t fix this problem. Maybe there is a better adb locker now.

What iOS adblocker is everyone using?

iOS is not made to give you freedom and choice. If you value that, I would throw the iPhone away as soon as possible. Don't even sell it, just put it in the trash

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If you want or need something chromium based, a good alternative IMHO is Vivaldi, although partially open source.

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The ads make it impossible to even read articles any more. It's parasitic. The purpose of going to a site gets thwarted by extreme ads creating so much visual clutter I just nope right the fuck out of there.

It's crazy that they're trying to use ads to make money but all they're really doing is making sure nobody sees their ads because you click on the site once and never again.

Mobile Firefox + Adblocker add on.

Ublock origin don't use adblock

Can confirm, mobile Firefox experience is amazing these days. There is a curated list of addons you can install, which includes uBlock Origin, but if you want access to every desktop extension, you can use Firefox Nightly.

Nightly or Beta, with custom add-on collection

Too crash prone for me. I use a foldable phone and it's a 50/50 chance of crashing when I'm transitioning from the cover screen to the inner screen. Even the stable version has dodgy foldable support.

I'm on a fold3 and it's never once crashed when moving to the inner screen?

Nightly or stable build? On stable it doesn't crash for me but the dodginess is when I'm transitioning from inner to cover screen and the layout will be stuck on the cover screen and I'll need to restart the app and it'll use the correct layout.

stable, app store version 117.1.0 on OneUI 5.1.1

I think the transitioning difficulties would be website dependant, but most work just fine seamlessly for me.

People who don't use ad blockers get a MUCH different experience. Especially on mobile. I made the decision to pony up the cash for an app called AdGuard years ago. It hosts its own VPN locally on your phone and filters traffic through it. The first time I learned how it worked I thought "Damn, that's a really good idea!"

For those who don't know you can also set a custom DNS on most phones now and have it block ads that way or my personal favorite and self host a network ad blocker like a pihole on an old PC and do it potentially for free.

But honestly the companies making it easy for people to adblock and asking for little money are so good and I deeply support them even if it means paying them cause it's almost necessary in modern internet

Welcome to the internet, version 2.0!
Anything those eyes of yours can pay for will be shown.
We've got banners, and pop-ups, and autoplay ads!
If some of it's of interest to you, you'd be the first!

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It used to be "what are a thousand lawyers chained to the bottom of the ocean?"

These days I'd say β€œwhat are a thousand managers and execs chained to the bottom of the ocean?"

It's not the editors doing this shit, it's not the developers deciding this shit.

It's the managers and fuck most (but not all) of them

As a website developer, I can say with certainty that most website developers argue against this shit. We argue until we're blue in the face. But ultimately it's not our decision and we'd like to continue having houses to live in and food to eat. They're arguments that we rarely win, unless we can call on the legal department and get them to balk. Ethics arguments hold no sway for corporate managers, and neither do user experiences.

We argue until we’re blue in the face.

And stop arguing once there are consistently commas in the account.

Show me where they should have gone, please.

I'm not saying it's a bad thing, just that it is what it is. I'm all for people making a living. It's the other idiots here that seem to think capitalism is a bad thing.

Why do you have 61 tabs opened? Jeez

Closing tabs it a lot of work. I have infinity symbol showing there

I would have way more open, but Firefox has a cool feature to put week old tabs into a dormant menu. Then close them after so much time in the menu.

With ADHD it's a godsend.

You call them tabs. I call them instant, ready to load, bookmarks. They are there for a reason. I will make sure to use them. Currently, at 76 tabs after a minor purge.

I have this too, occasionally I'll purge them but having loads open and archived is handy. I look through when I'm flush for what I was going to buy etc

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in fire fox there often is a kind of textblock symbol on the right side of the link. it turns it into very readable text und ignores the banners.

Also Fuck Jk Rowling

Not even with a rented dick my friend. It would freeze solid in seconds.

Mobile internet is hot garbage.

Second comment: use privacy enabled browsers, either Firefox or DuckDuckGo browser

Actually it's your fault for not using ad-block.

Technically you can blame a website, but this is the case with almost all of them. The whole internet is like this and you cannot do anything about it. At least not by yourself.

Instead, you should fix this for yourself:

  1. Use Firefox and install uBlock extension.
  2. Use ad-blocking DNS server.

Cries in iphone…

(But you can install pihole on a raspberry pi, install it on your home LAN, set up a VPN on your home LAN, and connect to that VPN and enjoy a lot less ads!)

No crying required, you can use something like NextDNS for DNS level ad blocking on iOS, and there are plenty of Safari extensions to help with this stuff.

I use 1Blocker for ads, Hush to block cookie notices, and Unobstruct to remove persistent overlays as needed. While we're at it, Noir adds dark mode support to every webpage, StopTheMadness prevents websites doing hostile things (such as preventing copy and paste), and PiPifier makes every web video support picture in picture mode.

Wait hold on, I'm just now learning how to operate my raspberry pi, what is pi-hole?

I installed Rvnc on it last week, is pi-hole similar?

VNC is remote desktop.

This is PiHole, network-wide ad scrubbing. I’ve been running it for years, highly recommend. It’s not perfect, but in conjunction with things like ublock origin on a desktop, it’s a whole different internet.

Is this as difficult as it sounds?

The difficulty is getting the LAN settings right because each router has different setups, especially if you’re not familiar with somewhat more advanced settings like making the Pi/PiHole the DNS for devices on the LAN, then getting the VPN to do the same - I run the VPN on the Pi as well with OVPN. You’ll also need DDNS so you have a fixed IP to use to login to your VPN. Once done though, other than an occasional update, you never really need to touch it again. I’m only modestly tech savvy, FWIW, but it’s been worth it to install the PiHole.

No. You can install PiHole on basically any computer. Old laptop, existing PC, RaspberryPi, etc.

Establish that device as your DNS server inside your router.

Tada.

I guess nobody is going to talk about the 61 open tabs on a mobile phone

Checking in with... checks Infinity tabs

Some people have apparently never heard of bookmarks.

Set one of these providers as your private DNS in phone settings... if iOS allows it. I use the Mullvad. For the rest of you on android use FF+uBlock AND set your DNS.

base.dns.mullvad.net

dns.adguard-dns.com

9b3afc.dns.nextdns.io

Somehow I've lived my life without knowing about mullvad or the other private DNS providers. Albeit, all of my other phones have been rooted and could use a modified hosts file.

Had to come back and thank you, and the others that mentioned mullvad. Sitting in a waiting room right now and I'm and to play this stupid euchre game without a stupid 10 second ad after every hand. Such a better experience.

That's probably one reason why it became a habit to stay on Lemmy, often not even opening the article.

It reminds me of the scene from Ready Player One when Desmond is saying in his board meeting, saying once they get a hold of the Oracle , that then they can put up to 80% adds on the screen before inducing seizures!!! I always wondered if it was a joke or live dark humor about where the internet is going ..

One thing I've learned from history is that there's plenty of examples of things that happened that writers wouldn't use for fiction because audiences wouldn't believe it.

I sometimes wonder who is willing to put up with this shit if I end up on the internet without an ad blocker. I don't need to put ad blockers on a list of essential tools because the internet without ad blockers reminds me very quickly to go get one.

The fight against ad blockers is IMO actually a fight against having a useful www because the more intrusive an ad is, the more likely I'll just go do something else.

Yeah, I will not be a part of being forced to watch ads. Whatever they do to force ads, there will be a way around it and if a site makes you use chrome so they can force ads, then I won't be doing shit with your site.

My local utility company makes you use chrome to pay your bill online. I call every month and waste someones time taking my payment. I refuse to put up with bullshit.

They shouldn't force you to use a specific web browser to use the website properly. Google Chrome shouldn't be the new Internet Explorer 6.

AdBlock and RSS

I haven't used RSS except circa 2000 when I tried adding a feed to my browser one time.

Do you have any recommendations on how to get a newsfeed set up. Are there any recommended apps?

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Thank you for introducing me to RSS!

I’ve never checked it out before now.

Yes its back from the old internet and fixes a lot of the new internet lolz

I wish I could vote you up 1000x for the RSS recommend. I've never stopped using it (even though many people snickered when I mentioned it - "oh, that old thing ?" - but I've never been one to care what is considered "cool" when it comes to technology anyway) only on the desktop, using elfeed, mostly.

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Mobile FF is great but you can go one step further and us adblock dns as well.

Do you have a good recommendation? I've been using DNS66 forever and it works ok but some of the best IP lists are dead

Any of the below, personally using the first one.

base.dns.mullvad.net

dns.adguard-dns.com

9b3afc.dns.nextdns.io

Yeah, and if you press the history back button to get away from that ad-ridden nonsense, they intercept that to "offer" more "articles" to "read" or better said they try to hold you hostage to serve even more ads to you. Should be illegal, but money.

Mobile is garbage. It is a barely controllable platform with horrible UI, horrible ways of doing things, touchscreen that is incredibly irritating to use, etc. I cannot understand how we, as a society, decided this would be our future. I get the idea of basic communication anywhere you go but internet? You can't wait until you get home to do internet? You can't download data and information to a more simple and usable device like we had back in the Palm Pilot days that came standard with a stylus and a sane way to enter data instead of jabbing at tiny squares with our fingertips? No idea how people actually use mobile devices as their primary computing device now. I have to have a real PC to do anything with and my only reason I have a smartphone is for talk/text (no mobile internet) and doing similar things to what I used a Palm Pilot back in the day for, offline data to have on the go for whatever purpose I need it for.

We need to go back.

Ok Grandpa

Ok kid.

Goes both ways, doesn't it? Except my stance makes more sense because there are actual, undeniable issues with mobile devices and thay are demonstrably inferior devices in every single way. The sooner we understand this, the sooner we can stop carrying around a tracking device that monitors every single thing that you do.

Actual, undeniable issues? Sure! However, and you may have heard this before, a tool is just a tool. Technology is neither good nor bad--it depends entirely upon how you use it.

Demonstrably inferior? This is simply and objectively untrue. They are not inferior in any ways whatsoever. How healthy they are, for the user, is not the only metric to consider. There is also the productivity side.

They make phone calls, they make texts, and then on top of the basics, you have access to much of mankind's collective knowledge catalogued at your fingertips. Whether or not that knowledge is actually correct is a judgment call. Whether or not you use your phone for video games, YouTube shorts, TikTok, and porn, is up to the individual user, and is indicative of the lifestyle that they choose to live. It has nothing to do with the tool that was put in their hands, and much more to do with the morality of the companies that serve the content that provides them gratification--and the ability of the individual to resist temptation.

As for tracking, if you are reasonably educated about the technology that you use on a daily basis, it is easy to circumvent the tracking and spying that happens. An example of this would be Calyx OS. Yes, you'll be putting in more maintenance, but do you do your own car repairs? Maybe it's time to advocate for ourselves and make an industry of privacy conscious smartphones.

Addendum: As for mobile UI, yes, it sucks, and companies keep hiring terrible developers that use the wrong tools for the job. That's what happens when you're mostly focused on your bottom line and don't want to pay for the skill that is actually required to make decent software.

it is easy to circumvent the tracking and spying that happens

The fact that using a cell phone for its intended purpose allows carriers (and by extension, the entities that make your phone) to precisely track wherever you are by cell triangulation -- no GPS, no geolocation, no app spying, nothing, all in hardware -- means that it's impossible unless you just keep your phone in a Faraday cage and never actually use it.

You did get me there.

On the other hand, you can make identification difficult.

Use a root app that disables all network hardware while the device is locked, and randomize your MAC on public networks. Also use a carrier (if available) that purports to be ethical.

There are various issues with my statements: your SIM identifies you, there are ways to identify people across different networks even if their MAC is randomized, and even "ethical" carriers still use towers from other providers, which can of course triangulate your position.

That said though, if you take the proper precautions using a smart phone would be no worse than a flip phone.

Because of this I use Pocket by Firefox.

I know that its not Open Source and there are probably better programms but I kinda like it for its simplicity but there are also recommended articles if I have read all my saved ones.

Iceraven + ublock origin and its all gone.

Reader View/Mode saves lives and blood pressure!

I have often seen sites like that, after opening a link from the Google Discover feed that suggests stories of interest to me.

I have just started to block sites like this from showing up in suggested articles. There are almost certainly another site with the same story without shitty pop-in video players.

Also, Pihole on your network and bye bye ads

Good solution if you never leave the house

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Tbh when I got my current phone it gave me the option of installing a duckduckgo browser. Seems to work fine and gives you a 1 button burn option that clears out cookies etc.

Only thing I have noticed is fb doesn't let you log in but tbh that's only a good thing in my book.

For yt I have gone down the route of ff + ublock

YouTube has plenty of third party clients and websites

I know. I have revanced installed but too lazy to recompile it to include autoplay. So lazy option wins

I was actually talking about newpipe. Revanced isn't on F-droid

I couldn't figure out the newspaper I downloaded (it was years ago ghough) revanced I grabbed right off their site rather than using a repo/store

61 tabs

Damn! With Firefox, it will automatically close all those tabs. To add, uBlock Origin is neat, and also available on Firefox Android.

Don't say that. Firefox will not close your precious tabs kept for distant future(which you probably won't open). Firefox keeps older tabs into an inactive tabs section and thats it. It makes easier to scroll through tabs

If you're on Android, check out Blokada. System wide AdBlocker, no banners anywhere.

Oh! I'll check that out. I have Firefox and I use YouTube revanced but I'd like more blocking capabilities for when I oops and open up chrome.

So no one's going to talk about this guy having 61 tabs open? I think that's the real crime here

nOt NoW

How about not ever, you fucks!

Edit: NextDNS will kill the ads on that page.

Brave and speed reader/block scripts usually works for me

I’ve been using a fun read-it-later app called Omnivore. It has a great ad-free reader view, and it even supports saving lemmy posts.

Ok I know everyone has said about Firefox + ublock which is a great option, but another option is Edge. It's built in adblocker is surprisingly effective.

Really, you need some form of adblocker to make the web usable again.

I don't understand why your comment is downvoted. Chromium based Edge on Android is a great option.

Brave has built-in ad blocking, so no need to worry about add-ons. And it's familiar for Chrome users since it's also based on Chromium open source