A new frontier for the BDS movement
  • ZebraGoose@sh.itjust.works
    52·
    6 months ago

    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)

      • ses hat@lemmy.ml
        5·
        6 months ago

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

        • pogmommy@lemmy.mlEnglish
          4·
          6 months ago

          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.

      • plootEnglish
        16·
        6 months ago

        Google Maps in Android Auto does it, but I think they use Waze data.

      • Ilandar@lemmy.today
        7·
        6 months ago

        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.

  • Armand1@lemmy.world
    17·
    6 months ago

    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.

    Play store page for Simple Gallery

    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.

    GitHub page for Simple Gallery, showing a October 2023 release

    Play Store page for Simple Gallery, showing an October 2023 release

    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.

  • surph_ninja@lemmy.world
    6·
    6 months ago

    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.