Does Google Inserting Deceptively Placed Ads in the Play Store seem icky to anyone else?

macattack@lemmy.world to Android@lemmy.world – 655 points –
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They've started inserting a subtle ad as the first result instead of the actual app you're searching for.

This has to have been a change over the last month or two I feel like?

I'm having to reprogram myself to view the first result as irrelevant. Really makes me want to increase the F-Droid alternatives that I use.

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I've always been amazed by how unusable the play store was. I'd actually like to browse apps sometimes, but it always was choke full of useless ads pushing the worst apps possible. I only go there once every blue moon when I exactly know what I want, download it and get out of there.

I'll just point out this isn't only an Android issue.

If there any IT person here who has had to direct an employee to download the Microsoft authenticator app from the iPhone App Store, you've almost certainly seen that it promotes a deceptively similar looking authenticator above the Microsoft one, and you have to make sure the user knows not to download it.

I work IT and I hate having to help people with that. I usually bring up a pic of the app's icon so they can compare it.

It's not surprising, that's how their search engine has worked forever. But yeah, icky is a good word for it.

With that user name I'll see you as a pro of icky

makes me want to increase the F-Droid alternatives that I use

Just go this way, and if you're fed up with the Play Store switch to Aurora Store: same apps, no ads.

And/or set up something like Obtainium for those apps you can pull directly from their source.

Gets you updates a lot faster, too

I definitely didn't know about Aurora store until this post. Currently have it downloaded on my tablet and phone now, thanks for the great advice!

I dunno how anyone uses Aurora Store. Every time I try it says I'm rate limited or just has a permanent loading icon.

It had problems with the rate limited accounts for the last months, but I think they're fixed now. I haven't had any problem in the last weeks. If you keep getting these messages I'd recommend clearing app data and starting a new anonymous login session.

Play Store search is horrible. You can literally search for the exact name of the app you want and NOT have it anywhere in the results.

Not quite. If your currently connected devices are not (supposedly) compatible because then it will not show up even if it is still on the store.
Google doesnt even tell you that way and you might assume it's not there.

I tried it multiple times and had no issues installing the apk from apkmirror and using the app.

No, it did really happen. Usually with apps that didn't have very high installation counts. I have first hand experience with it as the author and publisher of an app. People could literally search for the exact name of my app and get all kinds of other results, but not my app. I'd have to send them a direct link to the listing.

Yeah, I've been geofenced from certain apps for forever for some reason. Google knows I'm German, Google knows I'm in Germany and yet I can't download the official German gov Covid tracking app because "it isn't available in your region". So I've gotten quite familiar with the aurora store instead 🤷‍♂️

Living near the border so your Geo-IP is outside of Germany?

I wish, then I'd have at least some explanation. Although it'd be kinda weird still seeing as how I have a German IP address

Ads in any kind of app store search should SUPER NOT BE ALLOWED. Microsoft does it, Google does it, even the Apple app store has it. I don't want my grandma to be looking for her bank app and download Fast Cash Transfer Free 2024 Edition instead

Google rocketed past 'icky' long ago, around the time they awkwardly removed 'don't be evil' from their motto.

100% agree that Google is icky/morally corrupt.

But imo, having "don't be evil" isn't a great motto even if it was for the most moral company to ever exist. It's just a really suspicious motto

Just like Google Search results. I don't even really notice those anymore because my brain ignores them automatically.

I used to think the same thing: first three results or so are always ads, so just ignore. And then recently they've changed to be 90% ads even after the initial few. It's hard to find something that someone hasn't paid to display :(

I've clicked the "install" button on the ad by accident, more than once. The ad precedes an exact match, super dark pattern.

Yeah that's the part that is frustrating. It's such an aggressive implementation of a dark pattern knowing the users muscle memory. It's akin to suddenly switching the placement of 'Accept'/'Decline' after years of being in the same place.

What surprises me is that it feels more like a money grab from a struggling app than the company in charge of ads across a large percentage of the world.

I always imagine you people as the boomers on infomercials. Accidentally clicking shit, installing zero days from random sources, and just heavily fighting to practice cyber hygiene with commission unsuccessful results.

As a person that has a muscle memory for pressing the first row. I disagree with you here. I had to relearn pressing the actual app. For iOS I do not have this issue even though they also practice this as I had no muscle memory since I rarely use iPhone.

"You people", very kind. As if people doing things on autopilot isn't universal and implementations like these aren't meant to trigger that exact thing. Read up on UX, and implementations of dark patterns. Perhaps have an attempt at empathy too.

"People like you" make the internet such a bad place sometimes. Generalizing, exaggerating, calling names...

It's not a subtle ad. Google has sold the top slots of your search to companies in exchange for money.

When your search for "Excel", Google doesn't try to find you the most relevant result. They find you the highest paying ad, and then what you're searching for.

You can use the Aurora Store, it's basically the Google Play store but without the annoying ads.

How legit is it ?

It pulls everything (apps, metadata, search results, etc.) directly from Google Play. It's entirely free and open source and recommended by almost everyone in the Android and privacy community, so yes, it's definitely legit.

Sweet so use that over Google play? Why isn't it used instead of gapps and such

Thanks to the suggestions in this thread, I started using it today and it's amazing! Thanks for the recommendation.

Working as desiged. The revenue from deceptive ads is higher then relevant ads.

Hearing this week how they purposefully made Google search results worse so that people would be shown more ads feels like another blow as of late. Have you no sense of decency Google #ShakesFistAsAConsumer

Yes.

I don't mind suggested or even sponsored apps, but trying to get downloads via misclicks is underhanded.

Yeah I think it's pretty wack. If I search doordash then Uber eats will be the first result or if I search Uber eats then doordash will be the first result lol the ads are getting so extreme it pretty much evens out in the end and it's all completely pointless aside from making everything more annoying for the user

Remember, the end user is always the one paying for the ads. Either by the company making you pay more for their products (Apple) or taking bigger cuts from whatever they mediate (Uber, Doordash).

You're telling me that not only am I seeing the ads, but I'm also paying for them??? I think I'm gonna be sick, how do I get off this ride 😭

If you buying their products or paying for their services - absolutely yes. If you are just seeing them, then it's free 🤣

But, seriously - uBlock Origin, AdGuard, PiHole, use FOSS, buy brands that do not advertise (or do not advertise as much), use services that are known because they are good, not because they advertise themselves.

It's not feasible or possible to 100% this, let's be real, but partially possible and helps fbe whole picture.

Same thing on iOS. I just search for the app on the browser so it takes me directly to the app without these ads.

The layout is very confusing. It makes it look like Excel is also an ad.

I'm glad I basically never use the play store.

It's about as icky as looking at my bank account and my bank highlighting a transfer to an investment house and suggesting its' own in the same line.

This has always been the case in Google search (you know the search engine Google started with as a company). Drove me crazy when I would see an old person click the AD link instead of the actual search result

Yes, happens all the time.

Some sort of malware will always pop up before the app you're looking for.

So icky.😱

I literally just prioritise f droid, and a Google App search tool I found a bit ago that let's you sort such to show no Inapp etc

https://playsearch.kaki87.net/

Where it came from: https://www.reddit.com/r/googleplay/comments/9lesfd/my_advanced_google_play_search_engine_webapp/

Thanks for that playsearch link. I'd never heard of that and detest the wasteland that is the Google Play store. Fdroid is good but I use droidify.

If you're against this kind of behavior, you should advocate that Android/iOS are platforms and not products, so that centralized app stores are a medium for developers and not a proprietary product under one company.

It's gross and deceptive. I report them every time.

Can't think of a singular time that type of stuff hasn't been icky and absolutely disgusting.

Yes it is gross, it Apple does the same thing in their app store. So it is nothing that can be avoided with using the major players.

I don't mind it so much as it makes it hard to find the actual application I'm looking for most of the time. Your case here is a perfect example of this.

Google has done crappy "suggested results" for so many years now that I automatically ignore the top results from any Google search, so all this does is make it harder to find things :-(

Play Store doing this since September, at least in my region (SE Asia). If you disabled personalized ads on your Google Account, Play Store homepage displays ads that are frequently installed from your country/state.

Play Store homepage displays ads that are frequently installed from your country/state.

Speedrun to get spyware.

Indeed. Most apps I got on the homepage, mostly fast cash lending apps, were developed from China, and then outsourced its customer-based services to my country.

... and they've removed all images from the site too 🙈

I mean, it's literally a store, this is not a space where you'll be free from ads.

I'm going with--not in the top 10 of terrible things Google is doing lately.

But sure, ok, it sucks.