[HN Gopher] Show HN: I made a privacy friendly and simple app to...
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Show HN: I made a privacy friendly and simple app to track my
menstruation
Hey HN, after the app I actually used to track my period wanted me
to log in and save my data in the cloud, I decided to write my own.
Most apps in this area are based on a subscription model and
display far too much information anyway. For me, a simple calendar
is enough where I can add a few notes if necessary. So that is the
result of my work - a simple design and the data is only saved on
the smartphone.
Author : stormqueen
Score : 98 points
Date : 2024-04-29 15:35 UTC (7 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (play.google.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (play.google.com)
| lionkor wrote:
| That's awesome, thank you! So many of the existing women's health
| related apps are creepy like that (cloud).
| fransjorden wrote:
| Very good! These apps are really valuable in a world where many
| of these apps get really bloated
| gary_0 wrote:
| To help drive home the privacy angle, you might consider open-
| sourcing it and also making it available on F-Droid. Also, why
| does it say "in-app purchases"? If this is a simple calendar I
| don't see why any purchasable extras should be necessary.
|
| (While many in the HN crowd lack the requisite equipment to make
| use of your project, we do have girlfriends, wives, sisters, and
| daughters who might benefit from a privacy-respecting app like
| this.)
| gowld wrote:
| What's the status of trustworthy reproducible build systems for
| deploying open source code to apps on Android?
| 1oooqooq wrote:
| well, zero. just like apple. since there's no convenient way
| for the user the validate anything they are installing other
| than "the app store said so"
| RIMR wrote:
| The in-app purchases are a dealbreaker. Not only is there no
| reason for it, but it necessitates the integration of Google
| Play Services.
|
| If the goal was to be privacy-centric, it already fails at that
| for this alone.
|
| And if the goal was to profit off of women's need for privacy-
| centric period tracking, then there is absolutely no reason not
| to find a proper FOSS alternative that cares about its users
| more than making passive income for the developer.
| dangus wrote:
| An in-app purchase is an automatic dealbreaker? Doesn't that
| depend on what it actually is?
|
| It could be an in-app purchase for themes or something like
| that. It can be a "thanks for supporting the app" cosmetic
| badge, completely optional, just there to buy a coffee for
| the author. But you're dealbreaking it before you even see
| it?
|
| In-app purchase != data collection
|
| Also, regarding FOSS alternatives, you should know that FOSS
| does not mean "free from payment." It technically doesn't
| even mean "free from data collection." It just means that the
| source code is available under a free and open source
| license. FOSS isn't necessarily "free as in beer" and the FSF
| explicitly defines it that way. It's more important that
| you're offered the freedoms of the open source license and
| ability to get the source code. Whether or not you pay is a
| separate issue entirely.
| 1oooqooq wrote:
| it is the moment google allows you to target who have spend
| on that app.
|
| but yeah, you already have:
|
| - system apps for play service which run all the time and
| can access all apps' storage.
|
| - all apps can ask the OS for a list of other
| installed/recently open apps. whats app request that list
| every minute.
|
| - etc. not going to list all the crap you can use to target
| individuals on apple and android. there's plenty.
|
| my point is, in the end. apps with purchase option are the
| least worse from the official stores. chill.
| dangus wrote:
| Are you responding to the right comment? What you're
| saying seems completely unrelated to what I was
| responding to RIMR about.
|
| If your issue with this app being posted to HN is the
| mere existence of the app on the Play Store (including
| all of the store and the OS' existing flaws), I don't see
| how that's supposed to be a constructive or useful
| discussion relevant to this app.
| nozzlegear wrote:
| Don't tell someone to chill just because they take an
| opposing viewpoint. It's disingenuous and attempts to
| paint them as emotional and irrational.
| distalx wrote:
| It's unfair to expect someone to work for free. In-app
| purchases are a common and reasonable way for programmers to
| sustain themselves while providing a valuable service to
| users. After all, programmers, like everyone else, need to
| make a living.
| analog31 wrote:
| Indeed, given the legal complications of reproductive health in
| some states, privacy would be at the top of my mind if
| considering to use an app like this.
| felsokning wrote:
| OP seems to embrace Google Analytics, as stated on their own
| site.[1] So, you might be barking up the wrong "if you want
| true privacy, avoid Google" tree, here, sadly.
|
| (I agree with you but OP probably thinks/feels differently
| about Google - itself.)
|
| [1] - https://www.siekmoeller.com/ladylog/impressum.html
| simple10 wrote:
| Well done! It's great to see more female developers building apps
| for women. I agree with other commenters that you'd get a lot of
| mileage out of open sourcing it and doubling down on the privacy
| / local storage angle. It would help you get press coverage if
| you want to grow the user base.
| sshine wrote:
| > _you 'd get a lot of mileage out of open sourcing it_
|
| I'm not sure. Maintaining an open source project requires even
| more time than a closed source project. You can have a
| community-oriented closed source project, too.
|
| > _and doubling down on the privacy / local storage angle_
|
| Yeah!
| kristianp wrote:
| This is cool, I always thought ovuview was a little too public,
| with its notifications. Are you planning on features that track
| likely ovulation time for fertility purposes?
| grey_earthling wrote:
| If you want to avoid Google, F-Droid also has options:
| https://search.f-droid.org/?q=period
| d--b wrote:
| Congrats! Adding 2 cents here: my wife only used a menstruation
| tracker when we were trying to conceive. Having the app
| predict/notify the ovulation day was useful.
| LouisSayers wrote:
| The opposite can also be true - at least for knowing the
| relative risk of getting her pregnant.
| infodrop157293 wrote:
| Other options that are open source include:
|
| drip. https://dripapp.org/
|
| Bluemoon https://gitlab.com/ngrob/bluemoon-android
| https://www.nilsgrob.ch/work/bluemoon
|
| Periodical https://arnowelzel.de/en/projects/periodical
|
| Log28 https://github.com/wildeyedskies/log28
| russdill wrote:
| Sorry to hijack a bit here, but have any good links to open
| source baby tracking apps that allow sharing between partners?
| The popular options out there on the app stores are a privacy
| dumpster fire.
| infodrop157293 wrote:
| No experience but Alternativeto.net might help.
|
| The sharing part makes that a little less common.
| warunsl wrote:
| I used this for our newborn recently and was very impressed
| with how flawlessly the partner sharing worked -
| https://mangobaby.app It is not open source. But didn't look
| suspicious like the other apps on the store. The privacy
| labels on the iOS App Store seemed acceptable too (for us).
| sshine wrote:
| I'd recommend FindMy, but it only works for iBabies.
| yahayahya wrote:
| My wife is a big fan of Euki which is privacy focused and
| developed by a non-profit.
|
| https://eukiapp.org/
| politelemon wrote:
| I think it's such a great name, simple and endearing. Thanks for
| sharing it I'll be sure to have a look.
| toomuchtodo wrote:
| Doing necessary work. How can one sponsor or otherwise provide
| compensation for this work? https://buymeacoffee.com/,
| https://ko-fi.com/, https://github.com/sponsors, etc.
| 2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote:
| Planned Parenthood produces one too
|
| https://www.plannedparenthooddirect.org/spot-on-period-track...
| pelagicAustral wrote:
| > _In-app purchases_ > New account > Show HN but not open source
| > Eldrazzi, indestructible, cannot be countered, female developer
| trope...
|
| Mmmmkey...
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