Hacker News Reader

You can opt out from the Twitter App. Or enable "Limit Ad Tracking".

Yes. but what enrages me is that this can only be done from the app. after you've installed (/upgraded) it and they have scanned your device.

My current twitter install on android doesn't have the feature to disable it yet, which means that i have to follow an upgrade path that includes updating -> toggling flight mode -> opening the app (if that works) and then toggling the setting.

I cannot disable it from the web interface, or this is put under a very obtrusive description.

Limit Ad tracking is an iOS system setting. For Android you can set "Opt out of interest based-ads" (Accounts -> Google -> Ads). You can set both before upgrading the app and no scan will take place.

I'm pretty sure that Android setting opts you out of Google-interest based ads, ie the same setting you can change via https://www.google.com/settings/u/0/ads

I doubt that changes anything for Twitter. AFAIK it doesn't stop an application doing scanning like this.

It doesn't forcefully stop apps to do this but Twitter reads and obeys that setting.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com