Add option to disable usage tracking

[IzzySoft]

Our scanners reported the Aptabase library in your app, which is for mobile analytics. As I could not find any hint in your Readme: is the collection opt-in, or is it enabled by default? Are users informed what data is being collected? Is the Aptabase server self-hosted? Thanks in advance for clarification!

[licaon-kter]

Added AFs for F-Droid https://gitlab.com/fdroid/fdroiddata/-/commit/123e7e9fb1a5086c04c14e913d6908377a4e62f2

[IzzySoft]

At IzzyOnDroid, AFs have been updated now too, effective with the next sync around 7 pm UTC. We (F-Droid and IzzyOnDroid) will of course "clear up" should the situation change – e.g. Aptabase becoming strictly opt-in.

AntiFeatures:
  NonFreeNet:
    en-US: The app connects to Github.
    de: Die App baut Verbindungen zu Github auf.
  TetheredNet:
    en-US: The app depends on transfer.sh and uses Aptabase.
    de: Die App hängt ist auf transfer.sh angewiesen und verwendet Aptabase.
  Tracking:
    en-US: The app uses Aptabase analytics, which cannot be disabled.
    de: Die App verwendet Analytics von Aptabase, die nicht deaktiviert werden können.

[roozbehzarei]

Our scanners reported the Aptabase library in your app, which is for mobile analytics. As I could not find any hint in your Readme: is the collection opt-in, or is it enabled by default? Are users informed what data is being collected? Is the Aptabase server self-hosted? Thanks in advance for clarification!

Aptabase

While Aptabase is not self-hosted, they're very transparent about what they do with user data which can be found here. It's an open-source alternative to Firebase. All analytics collected are anonymous and cookieless, making it impossible to identify users based on the collected data.

Transparency

While users are not able to opt-out from the analytics, Filester is very transparent about this process. Users can see the Privacy Policy section in-app, accessed via the About section. You can also read it here.

Why analytics?

The analytics is vital because we log what percentage of files are uploaded successfully and what percentage of them have failed. We change the file-hosting service from time to time according to this data.

[IzzySoft]

Thanks @roozbehzarei! Yes, we know that Aptabase is FOSS and can be self-hosted. We also know that it is rather privacy oriented (and agreed, in all mentioned concerns to be much preferred over Firebase). But the crux is: it's enforced, and without consent. And there's no such thing as "impossible to de-anonymize" – the best you can get is "very hard to" (agreed again: if it's worth to try also depends on what data is collected, which the Aptabase team seems to take good care of keeping as "uninteresting" as possible by collecting only what's needed).

TL;DR: While we really welcome your choice of Aptabase over Firebase/Crashlytics/whatever, it remains enforced without consent and without even a way out – which is considered "Tracking". To avoid the Tracking AF, it must be an informed decision to opt in. You have a strong interest in the analytics (for good reasons) – some people have strong interest in avoiding such data flow. And as long as there's no informed opt-in on your end, we need to inform so people can decide whether to opt-in to an install 🤷‍♂

[roozbehzarei]

@IzzySoft Thank you for taking users' privacy seriously and also notifying me of these changes. In later updates I will add an option, allowing users to disable analytics.

[IzzySoft]

Thanks @roozbehzarei for taking this seriously! For now, the Tracking AF is active. Please let me know once it is opt-in, so we can remove that AF again (and add Aptabase to the app's "green list").