Since my last subscription (I had a one-year sub), nothing has changed. When you go to the website, you can still only buy Blokada Plus, with no hint of the existence of Cloud. The button on the main page is therefore mislabeled, as it says Blokada Cloud not available (the sub is gone for a few days now), but you can’t even see any option for Cloud on the site it takes you to.
So the only way is still to download the app and get the sub through the Play Store instead of just visiting the site and buying it there with a direct SEPA Payment or at least PayPal etc as you offer for Plus. Why do I have to go through Play Store and the app when it then takes the money from PayPal what takes the money from my bank account instead of just opening the site and make a SEPA transfer from my account with the option to renew it automatically every year or month by granting you acccess to the direct debit process (Google Translate said it is called that way in english, I am talking about the option where sites like Amazon and PayPal can directly grab the money from my account without the need to transfer it manually or using another service like PayPal).
In addition to that, when I go into the my account page inside the app, it only shows that my account is inactive. But when tapping onto the status, nothing happens. I would expect it to open the panel to purchase a subscription. Instead, I have to tap onto the “power button” on the main page. Only then the panel appears and I can choose Blokada Cloud. I will do that and renew my sub, but not until I know if you will add it to the website as well. It makes absolutely no sense to only offer the Plus version there, tricking people into buying the more expensive option. And I don’t want to have the app installed only to buy the subscription.
Blokada Cloud can only be purchased through Google Play/ App Store at the present moment, there are multiple reasons why we wanted to offer subscriptions there only, but here are a few:
Provide a simpler way to restore purchases by using Apple/Google in-app purchases, there’s no need to keep track of the account ID
Keep blocklists configuration even after account expiry and app re-install
*Pay in local currency with easier management of the subscription
No need to side-load the apk, digitally signed releases on google play
I can understand the first two reasons, but they are no problem for me as I have the account ID saved in my browser passwort stuff. I also don’t care about local currency, PayPal automatically converts it and so does my bank account, even though it wants a fee for credit card in that case.
And about the app, I don’t need it at all, I only have it installed because it is the only way to get Blokada Cloud. So even if I would need to side load it, and that is easy, it would not change anything to me.
I would even say this way even contradicts the benefits of Cloud that runs on a server and not on your phone, as you still have to install the app. Instead, I would like to get rid of the app as well. Not that it hurts to have it installed. But it makes no sense to have everything online on the website now, but you still need to install an app just to get the sub.
I hope you can understand my point. Please tell me if you are going to add it to the site anytime soon, otherwise I will have to renew the sub by using the app again.
I just saw that I can use Credit Card in Play Store as well. So even though that is still not a direct wire transfer, I can avoid PayPal this way. (I want to move from PayPal to at least CC, not because I don’t like it, but because I want to have the company and stuff on my Bank reciepe thing instead of just “PayPal”).
Also, it appears to be a possibility to renew it directly in Play Store in the subs tab. So you still need to download the app in order to even get Cloud, but you can then uninstall it again and just renew it in the PlayStore.
I would still prefer having it on the website, as it is faster to just open the site instead of downloading the app and do it there.
So in the end, I still ask you to add it to the site, but if you tell me that this won’t happen within one or two weeks, I will renew it, uninstall the app and then see if it has been added next year.
It appears you misunderstood me a bit.
I am not asking for any .apk. I am asking you to make it possible to buy Blokada Cloud on the website as it is already possible with Blokada Plus.
Nothing more.
If I would want to get the .apk, I could either extract it myself or download it from any website like apkpure. But then I would still need to use Play Store and the app to get the sub, instead of justing opening the site and purchasing it there like it is (and always was) possible with Blokada Plus.
As for uninstalling the app, I don’t need it at all when using Blokada Cloud, even when using the old approach with the virtual VPN I would have to use the old apps v4 and v5. So uninstalling the app doesn’t mean I don’t use Blokada anymore. But after the sub is unlocked and also shows up in Play Store, you can renew it there and the app is completely useless for me. I only needed it to buy Blokada Cloud initially, but for nothing else.
I understand, I probably didn’t express myself correctly, sorry about that.
We’re not planning on enabling purchases for Blokada Cloud on our website any time soon, it’s only available on Play Store for the same reasons we mentioned above.
We may add it in the future but at this time, there are no plans to implement it.
Thank you for your interest and I hope this doesn’t affect your decision
Sad.
No, it doesn’t affect my decision. I still want to use it and already renewed my sub yesterday. I just did want to ask before I renew it so I could directly use it through the website.
As for the sub, it sadly doesn’t work without the app as I thought. You still have to go into the app and use the restore purchase option to let it synch the new sub with your account.
Thank you for sharing your experience. When you have an active subscription, it’s designed to renew seamlessly in the background. If you’ve set it up for automatic renewal, there shouldn’t be a need to revisit the app each time.
However, if you uninstall and later reinstall the app, the “restore purchase” option helps in synchronizing your subscription with your account. It’s possible that this step becomes necessary to confirm you as a returning subscriber if the app fails to recognize it automatically. It’s also worth noting that Google might cancel subscriptions automatically upon app uninstall, though I’m not entirely sure of this behavior. This could be a reason for the sequence of events you described.
We greatly value user feedback as it helps us refine and improve our services. If you have any other questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out. We’re here to help.
Oh yes, that might be a thing since I got a new phone in the meantime, therefore re-installing the app. But I also used PayPal for Year 1. When I now go into the subscription tab in Play Store, it tells me that the next payment will be on the same day in 2024 when I purchased Year 2. But I also payed with CC now, since I want to avoid PayPal or rather CC is more straightforward to my bank account than a third party app. That does not mean I don’t like PayPal.
So I think it was the payment option since it now appears that it will auto-renew. When Year 1 was over, it just stopped and I had to manually purchase it again. But that makes no sense as I pay for Google Drive storage and it always pulled the money from PayPal every month automatically. Maybe something in the Blokada sub has changed so it now can be renewed. We will see what happens next year.
I just bought a new phone and want to be more aware of privacy and security than I was on my previous device.
Because of this I chose to have as little google on my phone as possible. So that means no Play store, but Aurora instead, which allows you to install play store apps without logging into google.
Another step I want to take towards extra security is using Blokada Cloud. Given the limitations mentioned in this thread, what is the best way for me to pay and activate my subscription?
I am not one of the devs, but I think there is no way to pay for it without using PlayStore. As you have to open it and can’t just do it on the website or PayPal. Another reason why I created this thread.
Thanks. I would hope not! Let’s see what the devs respond because that would be a really silly ethical situation. It would be like organizing a protest march for Black rights but excluding anyone whose skin is too dark from participating. (Sorry for the vivid analogy!) Google is among the main culprits of the exact data tracking that Blokada aims to combat.
Thank you guys for choosing Blokada and for being an active part of our community by sharing your experiences.
Given the ever-increasing concerns related to data privacy and the continual push by companies like Google to monetize their advertising platforms, I fully support your choice to minimize reliance on Google and prioritizing your privacy over convenience.
For power users like you, our recommendation is to opt for the traditional Blokada Plus subscription via our website: app.blokada.org. This approach includes both the ad-blocking features of Blokada Cloud as well as encrypted VPN functionalities, without the constraints of first installing the app. For the VPN functionalities though, you will need to have a WireGuard capable app to establish the encrypted tunnel. While this subscription comes at a higher price point, it’s specifically tailored to meet the expectations of users like yourself.
At present, we don’t have plans to introduce direct Blokada Cloud payments bypassing platforms like Google Play in the near future, though we’re always attentive to user feedback.
Apologies for the inconvenience, I understand if Blokada Plus was not exactly what you were seeking.
It is not easy for us bystanders to know the amount of effort involved in implementing a payment system that doesn’t rely on Google, so we have to respect your decision not to prioritize that at this point in time. Blokada Cloud is obviously meant to be offered at a price point that’s as low as possible, so obviously its features have to be restriced.
Since I am already using a VPN, having Blokada Plus would be overkill for me. So I will go with another company that has an offering similar to Blokada Cloud at a much lower price than Blokada Plus. But I agree with you that when someone chooses to distance themselves from the big tracker companies it is a fair bargain to have slightly higher monthy costs or slightly less convenience.