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Telegram without ads? (lemmy.blahaj.zone)
submitted 3 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

So, Telegram has launched horrible ads that look a lot like spam to me. At least in my channels it's typically some crypto bullshit. So, I wonder if people know about alternatives to the subscription service for blocking them? Sadly, Forkgram won't offer that option and it doesn't seem to be allowed. However, I wonder if there are still forks out there which block the ads? Or do people know of alternative options?

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[-] [email protected] 1 points 3 hours ago

Do know why you use Telegram but you shouldn't use it...

[-] [email protected] 2 points 21 hours ago

Telegram has launched horrible ads that look a lot like spam to me.

Ads and spam are the same thing...

[-] [email protected] 47 points 3 days ago

It won't take long for clients to pop up. But ultimately people shouldn't rely on telegram or any billionaire backed software for pretty much anything.

[-] [email protected] 18 points 3 days ago

100% agreed, but it's so hard to get everyone to move to signal or simplex or something.

[-] [email protected] 10 points 2 days ago

It'll be easer when you point out they don't have adds.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago

My only problem with Signal is the inability to manually sync conversations. Even if I have backups from my phone. They can't be used on the desktop. I have seen some third party tools, but even those state that they might not work.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

I use telegram mainly for info channels and tickers. To my knowledge that's not possible in Signal, because you can't restrict participants to be read-only (right?)

[-] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago

I saw people using signal for announcements only by restricting posting messages to group chat admins. Is that similar to what you're looking for?

[-] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

Ah nice, I didn't know that was possible

[-] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago

You can do that, but Simplex has a limit on the amount of users in a group due to encryption. There is no point in using an e2ee messenger for public announcements

[-] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago

True! But then Simplex / Signal are no real alternatives to Telegram, are they?

[-] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

The problem with Signal is that the UX isn't up to par aesthetically and the problem with SimpleX is that the UX is overly complicated. People want a great chat app first and foremost, privacy is an afterthought.

[-] [email protected] 9 points 2 days ago

What about Signal's UI isn't up to par aesthetically?

[-] [email protected] 6 points 2 days ago

Same question. I checked out Signal not a long time ago and it was really good looking. The only thing regular users may not like is the encryption key verification thing but it's not really a UI issue.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago
[-] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

Set the navigation bar size to compact and this looks much better.

[-] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago

Going from WhatsApp to Signal there's literally no problem with Signal UI.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago

Many people use TG specifically because it has unlimited cloud storage. Signal doesn't offer this (don't know about SimpleX).

[-] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

For the average person, the ability to run it on seamlessly on multiple devices is more important than storage.

[-] [email protected] 24 points 3 days ago

It's just a joke. I don't want you to actually feel bad.

But you should do some research on Telegram, and the fact that they rolled ads out on its own should be a giant Red Flag waving you down. They're not a good company, and their homespun encryption is dubious at best.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago

I know! But I don't really have a choice currently; which app would you suggest for tickers / info channels? Mastodon would be an option, but it's not quite the same. Abd I'd first have to convince everyone to use it :/

[-] [email protected] 1 points 21 hours ago

Just be more like me and refuse to talk to people who aren't on Signal. Works for me sometimes.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I just saw one in fdroid and I can't remember it now, lemme see if I can find it.

EDIT: it was zulip

[-] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago

I feel that. That's why I said it was a joke. If I could get all my people off Discord and on Matrix I would but oh well.

Matrix/Element would be my preferred as I could self-host, but I don't have better suggestions that are more like Telegram I am sorry to say.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

i kinda wanna quit nowadays but android customization channels (custom roms, gcam etc) are moving there from xda nowadays so no choice :(

wish there was some read only tg scraper.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

Where can I find links to join these? Been wondering why everything is dried up.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago

I would also like the link to custom roms channels. I never used Telegram but may check it out since its something I am interested in.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago)

they are usually about a specific device. These are the few I'm in.

t.me/eureka_roms (Exynos 7884/5 Galaxy phones)

t.me/eliteroms_sexynos (Exynos 5443, 8890, 8895, 9810)

t.me/exynos9820oss (Exynos 9820)

t.me/LGG7V40Customs (LG's SDM845 devices)

[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

usually when you look at a rom threads' first post you can find a telegram link

[-] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago

Huh, I clicked the link and it’s blocked by my DNS content blocker. Have you tried using an adblocker on your phone?

[-] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago

Which one? There's three in my post. And I do use an ad blocking DNS, but this can't block message-like ads from Telegram. Otherwise it would have to somehow read the encrypted message content...

[-] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago

The first one (ads). I’m not a heavy user, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen ads or sponsored messages even in unencrypted chats. I use Mullvad’s DNS blocker.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

Nekogram and Mercurygram (both from F-Droid) may be the option? Using them both now and so far I dont see any ads popping up.

[-] [email protected] -1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

AyuGram is ad-free and also has a little more TOS-breaking features. Use at your own risk!

Mobile: https://github.com/AyuGram/AyuGram4A
Desktop: https://github.com/AyuGram/AyuGramDesktop

[-] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I'll give it a try, thanks! Sadly it doesn't seem to be well maintained though :/

[-] Peruvian_Skies 0 points 2 days ago

I was under the imoression that Telegram was a better alternative to WhatsApp but even WhatsApp doesn't have ads. What should I be using, then?

[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago
[-] RmDebArc_5 10 points 2 days ago

WhatsApp kind of has ads, in the form of advertised channels and still sucks up your data. For simplicity use Signal, for decentralized and number less registration use Simplex, and if you want the maximum privacy use Briar (Briar has huge trade offs for more privacy, so unless you gotta leak some documents or something I wouldn’t use it)

[-] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

Telegram was never a better alternative. It's not even encrypted. All your chats go straight to Abu Dhabi where everyone can freely access them.

Signal is a viable alternative to Whatsapp. Threema is too, but less popular.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago

Why were you under that impression? No default encryption, no group chat encryption. Data on the servers, meta data, company resides in UAE and many more. Wenn don't know what's und er the hood of WhatsApp but what de know about Telegram is nauseatic

[-] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

We know WhatsApp uses the Signal protocol for encryption, but it also collects a lot of metadata. Arguably still better than Telegram that collects everything. Its secret chats may be e2ee but nobody uses them even for discussing sensitive matters, and they don't work on the Desktop.

[-] [email protected] 0 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

While I'm not using telegram (and you should neither, it sucks and it's bad for privacy), here are two options:

Change your DNS. If that's the way they're distributing their ads, they'll be gone

Maybe Telegram FLOSS (F-Droid-Store) can help?

[-] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago

Telegram FOSS doesn't remove ads anymore

[-] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago

I already use an ad blocking DNS, but that's not how they distribute ads, sadly

this post was submitted on 04 Jul 2024
28 points (86.8% liked)

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