Tapatalk Ad Popup

About This Message Board
1

When using my iPad, I’ve been getting serial popups flogging Tapatalk for $4.99 US, with a link in the popup to the Apple store.

Every time I tap a link.

It doesn’t take “Cancel” for an answer. It must use JavaScript.

I use iCab’s iPad browser because of the privacy controls it offers, it’s auto text enlargement and other controls that Apple’s iPad Safari doesn’t provide. One other, especially.

But for all this stuff to work, iCab’s JavaScript can’t be turned off. It’s not unlikely the same serial ad would appear with Safari unless the user turns off that browser’s JavaScript.

Is the Dope aware of this intrusive serial popup? It won’t stop even when I hit Preview on this post.

Edit to add: It popped up again when I hit the post button.

2

It popped up on my default page when I tapped on my Straight Dope bookmark! After I cleared my history, cookies, database and local storage and with cookies turned off.

Tapatalk should be taken behind the barn and shot. With a dull bullet.

3

Same here. Tapatalk just started that with me today (ipad safari), and I was still not defaulting into SD (a problem from a few months ago, which TubaDiva looked into and came up empty–the one cookie I probably would prefer the most to have.

So deleted all cookies via Settings, and, feeling all pure and fresh,

  1. sign in
  2. sign out
    Check safari cookie file:
    No SD
    Should be no nothing, but find twitter.com
  3. Come here, expect to have to sign in
  4. See pop-up
  5. See above post.
4

Hey, I’m defaulting back in to SD!

It is/wasn’t a cookie thing. Cookie file still empty but for twitter, which I haven’t gone to, let alone signed in.

TubaDiva, does this make sense to you?

5

It popped up again with iCab, cookies off, as soon as I hit my Straight Dope bookmark.

So I killed iCab, tuned off Safari’s JavaScript and went to the Dope. No popup. So it’s a JavaScript invasion. No surprise. Cookies on or off, history cleared or not, databases cleared or not are immaterial.

6

I just got that popup, too. I thought it might be from a Chrome upgrade, since “Chrome” was in the Tapatalk message (Does Google own Tapatalk?). I got another Chrome-influenced page change about the same time, so they might be related. I am using Chrome on a desktop PC, XP SP2.

7

I’ve switched iCab’s browser ID to “Firefox 17 (Mac)”, which appears to have stopped the Tapatalk cancer from recognizing the browser as being on a fondleslab. No more popups. But your post isn’t confidence-inspiring, unless Tapatalk is owned by Google.
I hope Satan and his advertising flunkies don’t read this.

8

What would be the point in downloading Tapatalk on a desktop computer?

9

None. But if the Tapatalk owners think the iGadgets’ browser IDs are being spoofed to any great degree, they could rig the popup to appear on anything and everything, desktop or not.
Obviously, with the popup appearing with every single tap, they have no scruples.

10

It’s occurring on other boards, too. I suspect a software update is the root cause.

11

I looked at my AdBlock log - the extension I use in Chrome on Windows 7. It shows this:


	http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/mobiquo/tapatalkdetect.js	script	/tapatalkdetect.js	No	
	http://tap-cdn.rubiconproject.com/partner/scripts/rubicon/alice.js?pc=7184/13018	script	||rubiconproject.com^$third-party	Yes

Note that I don’t see the tapatalk popup, but that may be because of AdBlock. Or because of my OS/Browser setup. Or something else.

12

Do you mean a Tapatalk update? If so, I don’t have it to update. According to my iPad, there have been no updates to anything. The Tapatalk problem began for me this morning, so maybe they tweaked the JavaScript popup.
I’ll be glad when I get my iMac back (the video card died). IPads are cool and all, but system and browser controls are nearly non-existent and typing is a perfect bitch.

13

Since this is a Tapatalk issue (I think), I’m going to ask our old friend Xash to step in on this – he’s been our Tapatalk guy forever.