The latest update for the popular Nova Launcher app includes Facebook Ads and Google AdMob.

Compare 8.2.4: https://reports.exodus-privacy.eu.org/en/reports/698198/

With 8.1.6: https://reports.exodus-privacy.eu.org/en/reports/673643/

From 2 trackers to 6 trackers. From 30 permissions to 36. And two of the "trackers" are for ad stuff, like Facebook Ads.

I believe the owner also changed. It's no longer Branch, but something called Instabridge Sweden.

EDIT:

More tracking added. "Moloco": https://old.reddit.com/r/NovaLauncher/comments/1qq1x9c/deep_dive_nova_launcher_beta_830_the_adtech/

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[–] [S] 3 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Keep an eye on your battery life. I blocked Nova on my firewall app and it was retrying a connection to Google's Firebase every minute or so. I assume because it was failing.

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  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    Nah, battery life is 30+ hrs, not bad for a Pixel 7 (no Google services helps a lot), did change the battery 18mnths ago.

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  • [–] [S] 2 points 9 months ago

    It's crazy how much longer battery lasts after removing Google Services from Android.

    Unfortunately for me, not only some of my apps require Google Services, but I also use a Samsung... I don't even have LineageOS available. Even if I did, custom ROMs on Samsung can't use VoLTE, which is a problem as they're shutting down 2G/3G where I live.

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