Aqua Mail is full of ads? What about the privacy policy?

[ksuuk]

Hi,

The privacy policy say's:

"No ads

Also Kostya confirmed ( Aqua Mail is now part of the MobiSystems family )  "-- There have not been any changes to the privacy policy or terms of use (which there was none, actually)"

Neither (free or paid) version of Aqua Mail has in-app ads. Many ad networks will try to identify and track the user for purposes of ad targeting. Not the case with Aqua Mail."

But after I installed first time Aqua Mail yestarday, AdGuard reports today, that blocked 859 Aqua Mail ads. Also other (4pda.ru) users are complaining same behavior.

So the Aqua Mail is full of adware? What about privacy policy?


Edit by Kostya Vasilyev, please see this for news on the "opt out of analytics" setting:

http://www.aqua-mail.com/forum/index.php?topic=5257.msg31039#msg31039

[Cukierkas]

With pro version have none.
Simple advice for future, use host entries instead of the one more bloatware. 
Works easily

Edit 2:
I did remember what I did to not receive an adds.  With my android tools opted out the add server broadcast reciever.  Screen attached.

[ksuuk]

Again:

The privacy policy say's:

"No ads

Neither (free or paid) version of Aqua Mail has in-app ads. Many ad networks will try to identify and track the user for purposes of ad targeting. Not the case with Aqua Mail."

So free and pro should be ad free. Your also screenshot proves that Aqua Mail lies to us. And as I have unrooted device, I can't disable any recievers.

[patrickdrd]

With pro version have none.
Simple advice for future, use host entries instead of the one more bloatware. 
Works easily

Edit 2:
I did remember what I did to not receive an adds.  With my android tools opted out the add server broadcast reciever.  Screen attached.

I read somewhere, maybe in reddit that this service/receiver is used for licence agreement

[Kostya Vasilyev]

We did a "Christmas sale, 50% off" just recently.

This receiver was used to post status bar notifications about the sale, so that users knew about it.

It only showed twice, on the 24th and the 25th, for free version users only.

There are "thank you"'s in Google Play comments from users who took advantage of this and got the at half price.

There are no ads in the app. The "blocked ads: 859" in the first screenshot is some sort of bullshit or mistake.

[ksuuk]

There are no ads in the app. The "blocked ads: 859" in the first screenshot is some sort of bullshit or mistake.

Strange. I'm adding similar screenshots from 4pda.ru forum. Kostya, please check it. I also compared other email programs (K9, Profimail) and AdGuard does not detect any ads in these programs. So what is then the reason?

BTW, AdGuard support said (copy from 4pda.ru forum, translated from Russian > English with Google translator):

"We block not only the ads in applications, but also online counters and analytics, which is transmitted to the application server itself. All of this is also shown in the statistics of "Deleted ads."

So what about analytics and privacy?

[patrickdrd]

is the first screen from adguard?

[Kostya Vasilyev]

Re: 4pda.ru

I haven't gone there in years, thanks but no thanks.

Re: "blocks analytics".

Since 1.7, Aqua Mail uses Flurry. Analytics is *not* ads.

It's misleading for the "privacy protection" app to treat analytics as ads.

But this privacy protection app does what it does, and any questions should be directed to its developers.

Re: analytics and privacy

Flurry developer agreement specifically prohibits apps from collecting any identifiable information.

And broadly speaking, this is a big misconception about analytics -- seriously, a specific user's name or email address is simply not interesting, not to mention that an email app, any email app, already knows those without analytics.

Analytics is for broad statistical patterns.

For example:

Gmail for Android collects information about SSL ciphers (supported by mail servers that the app connects to), presumably so they can quit supporting the less secure ones at some point.

Nobody cares for knowing if the mail server used by "John Smith" or "Charles Cribson" can only do RC4. What matters is when the %% of servers requiring RC4 drops below a certain value, the Gmail team will know they can disable it.

[ksuuk]

I raised this topic, as either Aqua Mail before the MobiSystems time didn't send the analytics or AdGuard didn't detect it.

However, thanks for the clarification and I suggest this explanation to be added also into general privacy topic.

[Bammer]

I don't see any ads.

[Fcasoli]

I have many doubts when a developer maintains a completely free client, without ads, I think a client can be a very important source of addresses, personal info, direct and indirect... Money for the developer.

[nica]

Money for the developer.

That's why serious developers like to offer paid versions.

Btw: In screenshot you see my result of using Adguard (VPN, many filters enabled, DNS filtering, https filtering enabled). No blocked ads, no blocked threats.

Flurry connections I can see with other apps. I would rather using AquaMail without, but it is not a real threatening.

[freeman1975]

Flurry connections I can see with other apps. I would rather using AquaMail without, but it is not a real threatening.

Same here. I asked for the possibility to have a single switch for opting-out from Flurry, but "nobody" replied. So, as the main point of using AM for me was not transmitting data to 3rd parties (ANY data, even usage paths. I don't care if they claim it's not harmful), I switched to K9 and stopped recommending AM. At least until things change (if ever).

[ksuuk]

I switched to K9 and stopped recommending AM. At least until things change (if ever).

Or use latest any version made before 07.11.2016, for example 1.6.4-dev or 1.6.2-stable.

[patrickdrd]

but you miss exchange