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Latest Update to ES File Explorer Android App Brings Adware To Your Lockscreen (xda-developers.com)

Posted by msmash on from the Android-app-goes-rogue dept.

An anonymous reader writes: ES File Explorer (Google Play link) is one of the handiest file manager apps in the post-Android Gingerbread era, and it continues to ride up on its popularity (Editor's note: Google Play listing suggests the app has been downloaded between 100,000,000 and 500,000,000 times) and functionality. Recent changes to ES File Explorer, however, are signalling its decline. The newest update might just be the last straw that breaks the camels back, as ES File Explorer now bundles in adware. This adware comes in the form of DU Battery Booster, which adds in a lockscreen on your phone and brings ads directly to your lockscreen, irrespective of your choice. There was no intimation, no choice, no changelog to mention the same; all features which are characteristic of such deceptive "Booster" apps.Plenty of users have taken it to the Google Play listing of the aforementioned app to express their grievances. "This software is getting some major bloat with a lot of features that has very little to do with file browsing in general, so going to look elsewhere for a simple file explorer without all the 'extras'," a user wrote.

12 of 249 comments (clear)

  1. Not Surprising by jesseck · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I used to use this, because it was the best out there... but these days, and with all the pointless (to me) updates, I am close to removing it.

    1. Re:Not Surprising by MightyMartian · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Their promotion of other products means it's a lot bigger pain in the ass to use. Frankly, I think Google should just do the right thing and put a proper file browser in Android. But if it's going to start throwing ads on my lockscreen, then whatever utility the app may have, it's going to be deleted. There's a level of assholeishness that I just won't tolerate.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    2. Re:Not Surprising by macs4all · · Score: 5, Insightful

      BULL. SHIT.

      Ads within the app, WHILE I'M USING IT, are one thing. Going for the lame money grab of spamming my lockscreen with worthless, bandwidth robbing shit. Well, they can rot in the hottest, smelliest part of hell.

      What is being missed here, and is of FAR MORE CONSEQUENCE, is that Android allows the SILENT REPLACEMENT OF THE LOCKSCREEN.

      It's hard to imagine a more "one stop" way to direct someone into a "fake OS" that lures the user seamlessly from the FAKE Lockscreen right into a FAKE Password Screen, and then???

      I can't even begin to fathom the security implications of being able to simply REPLACE A LOCKSCREEN with NO USER INTERVENTION!!!

    3. Re:Not Surprising by AmiMoJo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      They have hit the same problem that many, many apps have. The basic concept, a file manager, is actually fairly trivial and has been duplicated hundreds of times. Often it's a practice first app that new developers crank out and throw in the app store for free.

      These guys got in early and made a name for themselves, but that's all they've got. A generic product that was feature complete years ago.

      Other examples of this are any number of office suites, and my personal worst Nero Burning ROM.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    4. Re:Not Surprising by TsuruchiBrian · · Score: 4, Insightful

      When I realized my neighborhood mechanic was sprinkling nails in the street to make money on tire repairs, it made me realize how important it is to support small local businesses. /s

      Maybe it would be better to be motivated to support all the developers, who don't do stuff like this.

  2. dammit, filesystem, you had one job by Pseudonymous+Powers · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ES File Explorer is one of the handiest file manager apps in the post-Android Gingerbread era, and it continues to ride up on its popularity

    ES File Explorer's slogan should be "Because for some reason Google has some sort of policy against including a decent file manager with Android by default".

    That decision has always made perfect sense to me. Just because you're writing an operating system, that's no real reason to get bogged down messing around with "files" and "directories" and stuff. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go write some audio-processing software for my printer.

    1. Re:dammit, filesystem, you had one job by iampiti · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Well, it's pretty obvious that Google doesn't want a file manager in Android because it doesn't fit their goals. They want you to store everything on the cloud so they can datamine the hell out of it
      I hate that mobile OSs give the user so little control over their own devices, they should be like a PC only smaller. And, no, that doesn't mean they should be hard to use for regular users just that they shouldn't prevent power users to use their devices as they see fit

  3. Thanks! by ArhcAngel · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I got up this morning and looked at my phone and saw the ad screen and was WTF!? because I had no idea what was generating it. I was late so I didn't have time to investigate further. Now I know what it was.

    --
    "A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K
  4. Re:Alternatives? by QuietLagoon · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ...Maybe you should have tried the ad-free version of ES File Explorer?...

    Sorry, I don't support jerks, no matter how good the product is.

    .
    And ES Global has just leaped to the top of my "jerks" scale with this latest antic of theirs.

  5. Re:Alternatives? by farble1670 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Were you paying for it prior to this "jerk" move? No? Oh I get it. This your latest excuse to not compensate the software developers that produce the tools you use. I understand now, thanks.

  6. It's not about the money by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    For me at least, it's not about the sticking ads in there. They're developers and they have (until recently) made a great application that was my go-to file manager for years.
    The problem is that they have, without any notification whatsoever, silently added a 3rd party app to theirs. Not only that, but the app they have bundled is totally crap. It "claims" that it will boost your phone's charging rate by 20%, which is just total and utter rubbish (in my, admittedly short test, it lengthened the charging time significantly, 2hrs 50m with app running, 1hr 39m without it)

    Had they:
    * Chosen something less dubious, less "malware" looking/behaving
    * Made any kind of notice about it on the Google Play store, or when you ran the app, or when you upgraded.
    * ASKED me if I wanted to silently change my phone's lock screen

    Then I'd have at least had a choice about it. As it is, this piece of crap "charging booster" screams malware, that, plus their shady install tactics shatters the trust I genuinely felt for this app and the developers. Bear in mind that the file manager itself has access to all files and folders and if you have rooted your phone it will have root access as well, this is an unbelievably poor decision from the developer(s).

  7. Re:Alternatives? by Cley+Faye · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Other translation: I'm more than willing to pay for an app that I use regularly and is produced by people that have a fair amount of trust, and strangely enough force-feeding my phone with bloatware, adware and replacing basic functionalities with junk got them out of this fairly exclusive group.