Ghostery for Android

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When will we be able to get Ghostey for Kindle Fire HD? I understood it was currently available, and downloaded it...or atempted to! Please put a rush on it and as soon as it's available, send me a PRIVATE email. Thanks, Ty

The android version of Ghostery works within Firefox for android. Are you experiencing issues within Firefox?

Hi Rodney,

Since you said please... :-)

We are working on an Android solution. not sure of a timeline yet.. but we ARE working on it.

Thanks!

What's more important? The Android ecosystem, or a tablet form factor? If it's the latter, I suspect a less-crappy Firefox and Ghostery are closer than you think.

• https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Nexus7

Hi Tony,

Thanks for your interest in Ghostery!

Currently the only mobil version of Ghostery is for IOS. We have an android version on the roadmap. Just not there yet.

Thanks!

Ok, we wait impatiently. I hope I will be released very soon. Thank you!

Hi C.C.

Thanks for your interest in Ghostery!

Currently the only mobile version of Ghostery is for IOS. Android version is on the roadmap.

Greetings!

Thanks for using Ghostery!

An Android version of Ghostery is on our roadmap!

These guys have been saying this for so long, the carrot on a stick approach is getting tiring. Screw your map.

Greetings!

Thanks for your interest in Ghostery!

Well if all mobile applications used the same code base.. sure! But since they don't.. we can't... We had to create a a standalone application in IOS since mobile safari does not support extensions.. So.. this is the closest thing we have to an "app".. Ghostery works with the browser it is installed on.. they all work a little different..

Hi Andy,

Thanks for using Ghostery!

YES!!! We hope to have it out soon!

We want it to be right the first time.

same with us. :-)

Neither Maxthon nor Boat Browser provide any means for third parties to create add-ons, so it's just not possible at this time. Some sort of partnership with Maxthon might be viable in the future, but I think Boat Browser is dead in the water.

Hi Tony,

Ghostery for Android Firefox is due out in a few weeks. Stay tuned!

Hi Anon, thanks for posting. Eric here often hosts "explain like i'm five" so please forgive his in-depth response.

On the official note, he is wholly correct, Ghostery team is relatively small and we specifically try to implement our software in such a way that its portable across browsers and operating systems. iOS build we've made, while a great effort, is somewhat outside of the scope of what were tasked with doing.

To be more specific, we did review available API stack for Android and it turns out that the only "right" way of doing it there was to go alllll the way back and re-implement your own transport and your own browser so you could examine actual requests under the hood. There were alternatives akin to what ABP ended up using, but for Ghostery we did not feel that it was a good approach. That said, we did implement initial release of Ghostery for Firefox Mobile, and that build is available for preview if you wish to play with it. We're planning to release it early August, but if you feel like trying it out earlier, please let me know via email: felix at evidon d0t com

Ghostery started out on Firefox because, at the time, that was the only practical choice. As other popular browsers introduced extension architectures with web request monitoring (and blocking) APIs, it became possible to support them as well. Today, Firefox is still the only browser that really works well — the rest are each deficient in some way that limits their functionality and/or reliability. Conspiracy theorists will tell you this is because all the other major browser vendors have an inherent conflict of interest, and are thus unwilling to facilitate something that could diminish their own advertising and tracking revenue streams.

Up until about a year ago, Apple's hardware was markedly superior to pretty much all of the Android-based devices in circulation. The iOS user experience was also much better in side-by-side comparisons. With the 4.1 "Jelly Bean" release, Android finally managed to catch up. One of Apple's strongest competitive advantages — being able to control their own software, rather than letting carriers call the shots — saw a challenger in Google's Nexus-branded devices. Then the Android camp started to pull ahead, and Apple began to stumble. It's somewhat coincidental, but it's how we got to where we are now.

Ghostery isn't about trying to pit groups of users against each other; that's driven by external forces. When you're in a raft heading down a fast-moving river, there's only so much you can do. You're going to go where the current takes you. Focus on keeping your head above water.

Writing a browser is hard. Writing a good browser is really hard. Companies like Mozilla and Google have the financial resources and the manpower to attempt this — and they're both struggling at it. Yeah, I think I'll leave this one to the professionals.

If something doesn't make obvious business sense, you need to look for some other justification, which can be engineering or marketing-driven. I can't make a strong case for the former right now. I'm just glad something's happening. I hope it doesn't suck too badly.* We won't know until it's deployed on an assortment of mobile devices. In the iOS case, there weren't many to worry about. The Android ecosystem is considerably more diverse.

Some form of Ghostery on Android has been eagerly anticipated, and some people have very high (and probably unrealistic) expectations.

*Yes, it's going to suck. The first release of any new product is going to suck. The best we can hope for is a public beta that's mostly feature-complete, followed by a couple of rounds of minor upgrades before it's declared stable. A lot of people will test it, and there will be plenty of complaints. Some problems will be corrected, but not everyone will be happy. That's just the way it is.

Given the choice, I'd gladly sacrifice memory to improve performance and battery life.

You are always welcome to ask questions and post suggestions. They do get read, and they do factor into management decisions. Of course, they still have to pass some basic sanity tests. Some ideas will be dismissed because they're fundamentally incompatible, duplicate other products' functionality, or seen as bikeshedding.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkinso...

Even relatively noncontroversial requests can take a while to fulfill (*cough* language translations *cough*). Personally, I'd rather see more time taken to do a better job, than trying to rush something out the door half-baked. But, yes, I understand your frustration.