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https://github.com/TrianguloY/UrlChecker

URLCheck, an Android app to analyze urls before opening them. With clear urls module, pattern checker module, and a few more.

It got a few points (29) when I posted the "it is now on f-droid" submission (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30256326) but that was it. I've been updating the app since too.



Looks useful. I currently use untrackme, unalix, and link eye (the older version for which source is no longer available, not the new one).

Feedback:

I've submitted some comments on GitHub, but I'll go ahead and include some more here:

- I'm not a fan of this UI; it seems both somewhat cluttered and small. I'm on tablet, fwiw. Consider a fullscreen UI with indicators for modules that can be activated by the current URL, rather than always showing all active modules. At the bottom of the screen, display either a grid or list of apps that can open this URL. This is better than hiding it away behind another tap. Perhaps have a toggle for whether the grid shows share to or open with?

- consider a list of queries that will always be automatically removed from URLs, without interaction. For example, any time I share an Amazon URL, I remove everything after the asin; it would be easier if this was automatic. However these automatically removed queries should be listed in the history, so the original URL can still be obtained.

- there's no option to remove hashes (#tag in the in-app example). Hashes are occasionally used with tracking as well, in combination with javascript.

- Only show the modules if they're able to do something. For example, if no referrers are found, don't display the settings for that. Same for labels, queries, etc.

- the pop-up goes away if I switch apps/open recents. Leaving it open would be nice.

- allow sharing URLs to the app. Not all apps make it easy to directly open URLs in another app (Firefox custom tabs, for example; I use Lynket to open custom tabs, and long-pressing a link only lets me share or copy the URL)


The UI was designed for mobile in mind, but improving the UI is something I try to make when possible (I'm bad with UIs unfortunately). Hiding a module when there is nothing to show could be a good addition, although the newer version does reduce them to a minimum for this reason. As for the grid of apps, that's a suggestion I would like to make in the future if possible.

The Url cleaner and the Patterns checker modules can be configured to apply rules automatically. They are kept in the history module as you described too!

You can create a pattern to remove hashes if you want. Making it available by default is a bad idea since hashes a usually a required part of the url. Note that the ClearURL rules does remove tracking hashes.

As explained above, they are reduced to a minimum, but I can consider hiding them entirely (or at least make it as an optional toggle).

The app is configured to not appear on the history, since it's a 'temporary step' and not a final action. I'll see if I can make it optional for example.

You should be able to, the app is registered to receive text. Isn't it available when you share text?


Wow, thank you very much! I'll reply the Github ones and will probably create the others myself if needed. I'll reply then here too afterwards.




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