The Best-Selling Apps Made By Israeli Spies (www.donotpanic.news)
from davel@lemmy.ml to privacy@lemmy.ml on 03 Jul 02:14
https://lemmy.ml/post/32610517

#privacy

threaded - newest

ZebraGoose@sh.itjust.works on 03 Jul 02:21 next collapse

The article lists the following apps associated with Israeli developers or companies:

  1. ZipoApps (also known as Rounds.com):

    • Collage Maker Photo Editor
    • Instasquare Photo Editor: Neon
    • Simple Gallery
    • Various baby photo editing and retouching tools

  2. Bazaart (AI-powered photo editing app)

  3. Facetune (by Lightricks)

  4. Supersonic from Unity:

    • Build a Queen
    • Going Balls
    • Bridge Race
    • Trash Tycoon
    • Conquer Countries

  5. Playtika (gambling apps, specific titles not listed in the article)

  6. Crazy Labs:

    • Phone Case DIY
    • Miraculous Ladybug & Cat Noir
    • Sculpt People

  7. Moovit (urban transport app)

  8. Call App (call screening app)

  9. Gett (ride-hailing app)

  10. Waze (GPS navigation app)

  11. Fooducate (nutrition app)

eldavi@lemmy.ml on 03 Jul 03:06 next collapse

Who else besides Waze can warn me if the police are nearby?!!!

ploot@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 03 Jul 03:37 collapse

Google does it, but I think they use Waze data.

PhilipTheBucket@ponder.cat on 03 Jul 03:47 collapse

Google bought Waze, so at this point you’re probably not making any Israeli spies money if you make use of it. On the other hand, you’re making Google money, which is almost as bad.

Maeve@kbin.earth on 03 Jul 04:34 next collapse

🤣

eldavi@lemmy.ml on 03 Jul 16:37 collapse

google (along with most of tech) is lousy with isreali interests.

Maeve@kbin.earth on 03 Jul 20:24 collapse

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/google-fires-workers-protest-israel-contract-project-nimbus-rcna148333, this wasn't the first or worst

Eta: https://brusselsmorning.com/does-google-support-israel-what-you-should-know/72332/

eldavi@lemmy.ml on 03 Jul 21:34 collapse

i suspect it’ll be a forever thing

Maeve@kbin.earth on 03 Jul 21:38 collapse

Yup.

CatsGoMOW@lemmy.world on 03 Jul 05:35 next collapse

Except for Waze, I haven’t ever heard of any of these apps.

Ilandar@lemmy.today on 03 Jul 06:23 next collapse

And yet, if you look them up you’ll find many of them have tens of millions of downloads. It’s crazy the types of random shit people thoughtlessly download from the Play Store. The North Korean spy agency also had spyware apps on there until recently, targeting South Korean users.

IttihadChe@lemmy.ml on 04 Jul 00:05 collapse

What are these North Korean spy apps. For research…

douglasg14b@lemmy.world on 03 Jul 09:57 collapse

Had to use gett when I visited Tel Aviv a few years back. That’s about it

herseycokguzelolacak@lemmy.ml on 03 Jul 08:58 collapse

Simple* apps were great before they got bought by Israeli spies. The development continues in Fossify: www.fossify.org

lcb@lemmy.ml on 03 Jul 13:23 collapse

So this fossy apps are safe? I have all apps from simple, but now i saw that israel owen them.

pogmommy@lemmy.ml on 03 Jul 16:27 collapse

Yeah, the fossify apps are at least guaranteed to be safer than the simple ones from zipo. if you’re using simple apps, you ought to switch to the fossify forks.

Armand1@lemmy.world on 03 Jul 08:43 next collapse

I’m pretty sure I’ve been using the Simple Gallery app they mention for years.

It looks like it is still open source. However I do see on the Play Store page that their contact details are in Israel.

<img alt="Play store page for Simple Gallery" src="https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/d6508bbc-7ed2-404c-bac7-230ac322be44.png">

The Pro version, the one I use, claims to collect no data at all. Not sure how much I trust that.

Maybe it’s time to look for a new gallery app…

EDIT:

The open source code has not been updated since 2023, and neither has the Pro app. However the non-pro app has been updated in 2024.

<img alt="GitHub page for Simple Gallery, showing a October 2023 release" src="https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/1d300029-a0a6-4a3a-bb67-394766f6350b.png">

<img alt="Play Store page for Simple Gallery, showing an October 2023 release" src="https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/7361deb7-90a2-42ee-ac62-5820600a3d7d.png">

Therefore, it might be safe to use the open source code version on GitHub, but I wouldn’t touch the free one on the play store.

I wouldn’t use the Pro version on the play store as you would be funding these companies and they could push an update in the future.

EDIT 2:

As mentioned here, a popular fork of many of these now abandoned Simple apps is the Fossify project. If you liked the app I’d recommend looking at that if you want to keep getting security updates at the very least.

zqps@sh.itjust.works on 03 Jul 10:29 next collapse

I moved to com.kaii.photos on F-Droid. Works quite well.

Tundra@sh.itjust.works on 03 Jul 12:39 collapse

Aves Libre Is also a great alternative

pineapplelover@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 03 Jul 23:49 collapse

Simple Mobile Sold out to some company. Move over to the Fossify equivalent apps

f-droid.org/packages/org.fossify.gallery

sith@lemmy.zip on 03 Jul 15:13 next collapse

What do you guys think about AnySoftKeyboard? Could it be a “sleeping agent”?

Country of origin is Israel according to: alternativeto.net/software/…/about/

(I know this doesn’t mean anything, but still…)

The main developer seems to live in New York: evendanan.net

He’s probably a good guy. Just got a little suspicious (or curious) when I saw the Israeli flag on AlternativeTo.

autonomoususer@lemmy.world on 03 Jul 23:19 collapse

Does it include a libre software license text file?

surph_ninja@lemmy.world on 03 Jul 22:05 next collapse

Given how many “former” spies from the Israeli Unit 8200 are now in high level positions at Facebook, I’d say any Meta app is a concern for Israeli spying.

DrunkAnRoot@sh.itjust.works on 03 Jul 22:28 next collapse

everything on play and app store is spyware and not safe if you cant audit the source you need to assume its spying

[deleted] on 03 Jul 22:56 collapse

.