Notification ads

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Like another user, I started getting daily notification ads after installing 
Battery Indicator.

I upgraded to the paid Battery Indicator Pro version specifically to make the 
unwanted notification ads go away.  But I'm still getting a daily notification 
advertisement.

I have no way to prove that Battery Indicator Pro is the source of the ads, but 
it sure SEEMS that way.  Perhaps I should uninstall the App to find out if the 
ads go away.

What do you suggest?

Original issue reported on code.google.com by w...@charter.net on 11 Jul 2012 at 11:27

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I absolutely promise that the Battery Indicator (both free and paid) that I 
build and distribute does not have ads.  That means if you're getting it from 
the Market ("Google Play Store") and it is showing you "Darshan Computing, LLC" 
as the developer, or if you downloaded it from this site, there are no ads 
coming from this app.  I solemnly swear it.  If you pirated it or otherwise got 
the app through some other channel than "Darshan Computing, LLC" in the Play 
Store or this website, then I have no idea what you're running, because those 
are the only two channels I distribute through.

By all means, feel free to temporarily uninstall the app to prove that that 
doesn't make the ads go away.  That's probably the quickest and easiest way to 
verify what I'm saying.

The app is open source, so it's perfectly possible someone built an ad-laden 
version of the app and started distributing it somewhere (I have no idea if 
this is true, but it's certainly possible.)  If so, I'd love to know about it 
and see what I can do to stop it.  Again, though, the versions I build and 
distribute under my name here and on the Market are clean; this is only about 
if you got it elsewhere.  If this is the case, any info you can give me about 
tracking it down would be very much appreciated.  (Honestly, I don't mind a 
little piracy, but I *do* mind someone putting ads in my app, especially if 
they make it look like the app is coming from me.)

Original comment by andr...@darshancomputing.com on 12 Jul 2012 at 1:42

• Changed state: Answered

[GoogleCodeExporter]

[deleted comment]

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I downloaded the free and pay versions of Battery-Indicator from Google Market. 
 I downloaded a few other apps that day, none of which use Notifications for 
their normal operation.  That's why I suspected Battery-Indicator.

I really like the Battery-Indicator app, so I will remove the other new apps 
first, to see if the Notification ads stop coming.

Original comment by w...@charter.net on 12 Jul 2012 at 2:34

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Be sure to post back once you figure it out.  More important, be sure to leave 
a review on the other app letting people know the deal.

Personally, I acknowledge that ads have their place (I'm glad I don't have to 
pay to use Google, and I don't mind the ads on Google) but I don't plan to ever 
finance my apps through ads; I dislike them too much.

Ads in the notification tray, on the other hand, are utterly despicable.  It 
just feels outright dirty to me that anyone would do that.  In the "live and 
let live" spirit, if it were really easy to tell which app was causing the 
notification ad, it would be fine, so the people who really don't mind them can 
have them, and everyone else can just not use apps that do that.

Thankfully, Jelly Bean (Android 4.1) which just came out makes it fairly easy 
-- by long-pressing a notification in the tray, you get an "App Info" pop-up 
menu that takes you to the app info page for whichever app is causing the 
notification, where you can uninstall the app or turn off notifications for 
that app.

Anyway, that's my opinion on the matter...

Original comment by andr...@darshancomputing.com on 12 Jul 2012 at 5:39

[GoogleCodeExporter]

The source of the Notification ads was an entertainment app called Cat Sounds, 
by Mobile Apps For Fun.  Reviews of this (and most other similar apps) 
indicated that it has Notification ads.

Yesterday I uninstalled the offending app, and I haven't received any 
Notification ads since then.

Original comment by w...@charter.net on 13 Jul 2012 at 6:39

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Thanks for the update.

Original comment by andr...@darshancomputing.com on 13 Jul 2012 at 10:27