Apps doing year wrapped gives you a hint on how are you being tracked. There is probably a legal issue in there somewhere like data retention.
Spotify wrapped started this trend seems other apps are following through. Seeing a summary of things you did with there app. Kind of gives you a hint how much other things are being tracked.
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I use the journalling app Daylio, which has a wrapped feature. It's all done locally, on device. Not every implementation of this feature is spying on you.
This app is pretty cool. Just saying this because it let me export my data when I wanted to stop using it. Which is not a common feature in proprietary software so hats off to the devs.
not a common feature in proprietary software
Just so you know, the GDPR mandates that you can at any time get a full export of all your personal data from anyone who's processing it in a common, machine readable format. It is laudable though to have that integrated as a feature in the software, rather than jumping through hoops contacting support etc.
Just to add on, it's not just they let you export data in a cool PDF, it also lets you export the data as a CSV so it can be parsed by other things.
Antenna-Pod does it this way as well.
If it just uses data that is on your device right now, that is okay. But if it keeps track on things, even on your device, it can lead to security vulnerabilities, depending how it is stored how long it is kept.
And most importantly, enshittification and automatic updates could easily change that policy to retroactively hoover up all that precious data. This stuff is insanely valuable too.
Not saying daylio is doing it or going to. Just that keeping data comes with a risk. ideally, there should be clear documentation what is being kept, where and for how long.
You're right, I should just refuse to trust any developers and go back to the paper journal I never used.
Yes to part one. You should not trust devs that do opt out data collection of any kind. If you‘re interested in a funny way to learn about this stuff, check out „security nightmares“ from the recent 38c3 congress.
I suggest you keep track of your thoughts and moods with open source apps.
Daylio does not do "opt-out data collection". IT doesn't even have "opt-in".
Yes, and while that's a fine ideal, it does not always produce well-made or polished applications. For myself, Daylio is a medical/mental health app that assisted with my diagnosis of Bipolar disorder. Unfortunately FOSS apps related to medical stuff are not the greatest or most widely developed.
If they collect any data besides the stuff thats already pleasant in your files (day of creation, user who created it, etc), that is data collection and if you didnt activate it, its opt out. I didnt check daylio, I‘m talking about it in general.
And yes, of course for profit companies will make more polished products. This doesnt even hinge on foss. Nextcloud is pretty polished and foss for example. That said, medical stuff is very niche and less common in foss (although present).
...medical stuff is very niche...
Is it though? I personally feel like it's much more down to the attitudes of people that create and contribute to foss applications. I do understand that for profit companies have more resources, but I genuinely think that foss folks don't do enough to support accessibility, and don't often focus on medical stuff. There are exceptions to that though, drip is an awesome app for example.
Thanks for mentioning this.
Of course it would be a lot better if there were more foss health apps.
But as an open source dev, donor and contributor, it is absolutely impossible to make decent software on a nearly global scale with what usually amounts to one person in their free time without a single cent of income.
I know there are theoretical workarounds like donations but even I (who uses mostly open source) cant donate to every app/library I use. You need to make few big donations instead of many small ones. Otherwise you donate to the banking system and thats it. For example I partly finance this platform we are talking on in larger chunks instead of weekly/monthly as not to pay too much fees.
The issue is systemic. We desperately need something like open source tax which is to be paid by those who profit the most off it (large companies) and especially who dont pay any other taxes (mostly).
And yes, compared to a chat app, a health app is niche. But you are right, that should be no problem.
Please write to your political representative and speak out about us needing significantly more funding for open source. Many issues have been solved that way.
Full time open source work must pay the rent and food, period. Sorry for the rant.