VanguardLH <V...@nguard.LH> wrote
>> Do you have new "advertising" switches recently inserted into your phone?
>> Settings > Google > Ads > Ad privacy >
>
> Is this the settings navpath for Pixel phones? I don't have a Google
> phone. Or is this available on some recent Android version?
Thank you for answering the question as these are brand new to me!
Much appreciated your help and advice, as always.
To answer your questions...
I have no idea what the navigation path to Google settings are in any phone
other than the one phone that I have updated to Android 13 which has this.
<
https://i.postimg.cc/Kj4JdNLL/adprivacyshortcuts.jpg> Ad privacy switches
I never saw these before - and yes - I've checked - so my initial
assumption is that Google is fucking with us again by adding this.
But I don't know for a fact that anyone else has these settings.
I just know I never had them before - and now they're there.
I only found them accidentally when I was resetting all my switches which I
do every Sunday night because Google has a way of turning them back on.
I was shocked to see I had an "Advertising ID" for example, which I had
deleted long ago - so Google is inserting all sorts of sneaky stuff lately.
I wiped out the "Advertising ID" the instant I saw that Google had added it
back - and of course I immediately wiped out those 3 "Ad privacy" switches.
But I'm just curious if anyone else has the same ad-privacy new switches.
>> Do you have these "advertising" switches recently inserted into your phone?
>
>
https://source.android.com/docs/core/ota/modular-system/adservices
>
> Introduced in Android 13. Hard to tell if users want this. The "spin"
> in the document makes it sound like something beneficial to users, but
> we've before seen marketspeak that was nasty in disguise.
Thanks for digging up that this is brand new in Android 13, which is sad.
I asked what was new in Android 13 and nobody told me about these switches.
<
https://i.postimg.cc/KvBw2tYT/adprivacyshortcuts01.jpg> Ad privacy Switch
These three new switches should have been compiling data since I updated to
Android 13 I guess, which was about a month or so ago, so that's bad.
Luckily, when I looked at the data that it had compiled, there wasn't any.
That may be due to my other settings or it may just be that it's a new
feature which isn't being taken advantage of by apps just yet which report
back to Google.
That's why it's important that I ask _others_ if they have their switches
turned on and if their switches have been reporting data back to Google.
BTW, just in case these switches get reset back on, I made 3 new one-tap
shortcuts for my homescreen folder which unsets them if they do get reset.
<
https://i.postimg.cc/DZ0Pw3dD/adprivacyshortcuts02.jpg> one-tap shortcut
1. One-Tap *Apps Activity* Homescreen Dock Shortcut
Package Name = com.google.android.adservices.api
Activity Name = com.android.adservices.ui.settings.activities.AppsActivity
Allow app-suggested ads = off
2. One-Tap *Topics Activity* Homescreen Dock Shortcut
Package Name = com.google.android.adservices.api
Activity Name com.android.adservices.ui.settings.activities.TopicsActivity
Allow ad topics = off
3. One-Tap *Measurement Activity* Homescreen Dock Shortcut
Package Name = com.google.android.adservices.api
Activity Name = com.android.adservices.ui.settings.activities.MeasurementActivity
Allow ad measurement = on/off
In summary, it seems like Google sneaked in these new advertisement
switches in Android 13, which are on by default - and which I turned off
and which I created three new one-tap shortcuts to keep them turned off!
<
https://i.postimg.cc/KvBw2tYT/adprivacyshortcuts01.jpg> AdPrivacy setting
<
https://i.postimg.cc/DZ0Pw3dD/adprivacyshortcuts02.jpg> one-tap shortcut
I suggest others do the same.