Google's iOS app now injects advertisements for Google Search on third-party websites

Privacy
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Fresh off the news that Google search is a monopoly, they are now using their iOS browser to add links to Google Search on any website visited.

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The Google App for iOS can automatically convert some website text into links to Google Search results, as announced in a community post that SERoundtable spotted.

Google calls the feature “Page Annotations” and says it “extracts interesting entities from the webpage and highlights them in line,” which can then take you out to Search results when you tap them — inserting links without explicitly asking the user or the site owner first. It seems like a curious move for a company embroiled in antitrust fights over both its search and advertising businesses.

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A good reminder not to have any Google apps on your mobile device.
Really the only app that makes this somewhat hard for me is Google Maps … but I shall remain strong. :wink:

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Why? Organic Maps are great, it does everything apart from traffic data.

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Google Maps has way more POIs and is generally faster (albeit more ugly). It also has reviews which can be helpful choosing a place to eat at for example.

On holidays my girlfriend uses Google Maps while I use Organic Maps. She is always able to find better restaurants. (On Google Maps you can search by cuisine) Usually the places she finds aren’t on OSM or don’t have links to their website.

(Still won’t be using Google Maps though lol)

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Off Topic

For finding places, you can always use Google Maps in your browser.

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I hope this can be used against them in court!

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Exactly because of that part. :wink:
I use both Organic Maps and OsmAnd - but the live traffic data in Google Maps can be really, really useful.

Apple Maps has it too but it’s not quite on the same level.

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That’s exactly why I still have Google Maps/Waze on my phone. Traffic in my city can be very busy, so I would always use it when I’m driving. Otherwise, I use Organic Maps.

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I still use Google Maps/Waze and Google Play has to be enabled in stock Android for some apps to work, but I’ve given up on Google for everything else.

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I’m not sure how this fits in the course of an anti-trust lawsuit against Google.

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I’m not sure either, but one can only hope.

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It’s also YouTube for me. EU should enforce Google to make YouTube and Google accounts separate.

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I’ve been using NewPipe (Android) and FreeTube (PC) and prefer it so much more over YouTube because I have more control over the content I watch, with no ads (even skips sponsored ad-reads). The only issue is that it doesn’t always work, with or without Tor proxy, but the workaround is to connect your VPN to other EU countries (e.g. Albania, Lithuania, etc.). I still have YouTube on my phone for when NewPipe stops working, but right now I hardly use it.

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Traffic is very important if you drive a car and are anywhere near a big city.

Also missing:

  • good public transport guidance (it seems to give very limited info around here)
  • good search (like try to search for stuff like “gym nearby that’s open now” or “rome to sw1a 1aa” - Google Maps can do it) [SW1A 1AA is the postcode for Buckingham Palace]
  • current info on shops and POI (OSM data hasn’t been updated in years where I live and I’m not going to do it all by myself)
  • shop/POI reviews and photos
  • satellite view
  • streetview