Should Mudita consider blocking the side-loading of apps that could be used for illegal purposes, or purposes that undermine safety in a civil society? For instance, apps that used are for tracking, doxxing and stalking ICE agents in the USA. Or perhaps it’s not the installing of them that could be blocked, so much as running them.
They’d have to keep track of a multitude of apps, the places where they are or are not legal, watch for new or changed apps, and come up with an entire system to block them based on laws in each jurisdiction, which would also need to be tracked for changes. That sounds infeasible to me considering the associated costs, the size of the team, and the length of time it already takes just to maintain the basic OS, fix bugs, and create new features.
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Not necessary, not practical, arguably not even possible, and it’s not illegal to track the pedo gestapo.
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no, they should not
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This is exactly where censorship starts and democracy ends. WHO decides what is illegal ? Stalking stalkers cannot be illegal. Such manipulative posts only divide society.
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I mean, the other thing is that Mudita’s market share is nothing so it’s not even a place to discuss that. And laws across countries differ too badly, and the goverments abuse their legal powers to a degree… “Best” a govt can do is force Google Play/App Store to ban an app in a country, and/or block an app website availability with some firewalling or null DNS records or blacklist routes - all to be overcome by those who really need to reach it unless you block all VPNs, it’s a rabbit hole that could become too deep to get out of it at some point.
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@Aqua. We understand the concern, but Mudita is not in the business of policing which apps people choose to download or sideload. Our philosophy is rooted in mindful use and personal responsibility. Ultimately, it’s up to each user to decide what they install on their Mudita Kompakt.
It’s also worth noting that apps considered inappropriate or restricted in one country may be completely acceptable in another. For that reason, we believe it’s best to leave these choices to the user rather than enforcing universal restrictions.
At Mudita, our goal is to empower users with tools that support privacy, simplicity, and freedom of choice, not to act as app police.
In the end it’s about the FREEDOM to choose what technology you need and it’s not up to Mudita, a Polish company, to dictate what apps US users can or should sideload.
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I will add that there are quite a few examples where the legality of apps depends heavily on regional laws, cultural norms, or government restrictions. It’s seriously like opening a can of worms that you do not want to open.
For example
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Signal, Telegram, and WhatsApp – Legal in most Western countries, but restricted or banned in places like Iran, China, and sometimes Russia due to encryption and concerns over “unmonitored communication.”
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WeChat –Legal in China (where it’s heavily monitored), but has faced partial bans or security concerns in countries like India and the U.S. over data privacy.
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Uber, Bolt, and Lyft –
Legal in many countries, but banned or restricted in others like Denmark, Hungary, Bulgaria, and parts of Germany due to local taxi regulations and labor law conflicts. -
ProtonVPN, NordVPN, ExpressVPN – Legal and even encouraged for privacy in Europe and North America, but illegal or tightly regulated in China, Russia, Oman, UAE, Iran, and North Korea. Using a VPN in these regions can violate state censorship laws.
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Tinder, Grindr, Bumble – Common and legal across much of the world, but banned in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Pakistan, Iran, and other conservative regions where dating apps violate moral or religious laws.
Grindr, in particular, is illegal in several countries where homosexuality itself is criminalized. -
Binance, Coinbase, Kraken – Operate freely in most Western markets, but restricted or banned in China, Bolivia, Nepal, and Bangladesh due to anti-crypto regulations.
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Robinhood, eToro – Legal in the U.S. and EU, but not allowed in certain countries due to local securities laws.
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Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), Threads, YouTube – Legal across most democracies, but banned or tightly controlled in China, North Korea, Iran, and intermittently Myanmar or Turkey during political unrest.
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Bet365, PokerStars, DraftKings –
Fully legal in countries like the U.K. or Australia, but banned in Poland, China, Singapore, India, and parts of the U.S., depending on local gambling laws.
When it comes to the so-called “Doxxing” or Surveillance Tools
- Certain tracking, monitoring, or “spy” apps (like FlexiSPY or mSpy) are marketed for parental control, but in many regions they’re considered illegal when used to secretly monitor adults, violating privacy and stalking laws.
For example, legal in some U.S. contexts (with consent) but illegal under EU GDPR.
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@Aqua I’m not sure what “Illegal apps” are. There are no universally illegal apps. At most, specific apps may be banned by an individual country’s government, the extent of such banning likely resulting in the app being unavailable from the Google Play Store and Apple App Store, but even with this kind of digital policing there are still ways a user can install apps banned by individual governments from sources other than Google and Apple. I also find it highly offensive that you are suggesting this high level of censorship and authoritarianism directly to Mudita, that’s just my personal feeling on the matter. Such audacity. Who are you to try and influence the dictation of which applications Mudita Kompakt users are allowed to install on their devices? Who are you to suggest such a thing? If you don’t like an app, then you do not have to sideload it onto your Kompakt.
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ICE is a law-abiding organization. Its border control officers are not “stalkers”. In fact they are mainly going after criminals who are guilty of serious crimes.
App that support or promote illegal behavior, of course, such as stalking and doxxing ICE agents in the USA, which is done on behalf of criminals.
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Calm down dude. If you lick that boot any harder you’ll strip away the leather. Yeah sure, ICE is going after hardcore people like grandmas, people attending their immigration appointments because they came here legally, rounding up US citizens including military vets. I’d ask how the kool-aid tastes but at this point I’m pretty sure you’re just a Russian shill.
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I’m afraid you can dox ICE agents with a laptop (OSINT) and you can pass information about them in dozens of way. The idea is futile against those who are determined.
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Again, this is so nuanced & I’m not sure asking an EU company, like Mudita, what it plans to do about apps that, perhaps, controversial in the US, even makes sense.
I’ll play devil’s advocate & lay this out for you because you raise an interesting question about apps that might be considered “illegal” or harmful in certain contexts.
I think this also highlights a deeper issue, once a company starts policing what’s “acceptable” software, we’re entering a very slippery ethical space.
A recent case involving a surveillance app called Covenant Eyes illustrates the danger of crossing that line.
The app was originally marketed as a faith-based accountability tool, meant to help people voluntarily manage their screen habits.
HOWEVER, it ended up being used by law enforcement in the U.S. to monitor families’ devices as part of parole conditions, even though the company’s own terms said it wasn’t intended for legal or punitive use.
Basically- the COMPANY says that this APP not to be used for legal proceedings in the first place, but courts in several US states are currently doing so.
The result? Innocent family members were monitored without consent, private therapy and legal communications were exposed, and people were penalized because of false positives and background app activity.
What started as a “good” app, meant to promote discipline and morality, became a tool for unethical surveillance and control.
This example really underlines why Mudita’s philosophy centers around personal responsibility, freedom of choice, and trust in the user.
Apps themselves aren’t inherently good or bad, what matters is how they’re used and who controls them.
Once companies or governments start deciding what’s “acceptable,” user autonomy and privacy can quickly disappear.
So rather than blocking “illegal” or “questionable” apps, Mudita’s approach is to empower users to make informed, mindful decisions about what belongs on their devices.
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Can we keep American politics off this forum, please? It’s already spreading everywhere else.
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Yes. PLEASE, let’s keep ALL politics out of this.
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Thanks to globalization and the Internet. 
The core of issue itself is interesting.
In Poland, people can’t sell their own produce plant seeds without going thru some weird process. It’s illegal but of course we ignore that in number of ways:
- Telegram and “weed-trading techniques”
- Selling as collectibles
- Passing for free from neighbor to neighbor (kindness)
But this is just ridiculous if someone now said, Telegram has to become illegal. In some cases it helps sustain under harsh conditions. Of course, I’m all hands down to in-person meetings prioritized over instant messaging but…
Same goes for counterfeit driver’s licenses and personal IDs, you can buy them on our local version of Amazon called Allegro as collectible items. Should Allegro be taken down for this, while it’s the biggest auction/shopping platform to date?
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