PulseSMS was recently sold and the decline is already starting.
serves me right for updating it without knowing it's already screwed.
*It looks like Pulse SMS has been bought by Maple Media - get ready for intrusive ads?*
<https://www.androidpolice.com/2020/10/29/it-looks-like-pulse-sms-has-been-bought-by-maple-media-get-ready-for-intrusive-ads/>

Question:
At what sub version did Pulse SMS start adding their crappy in-house ads?
<https://i.postimg.cc/Qd21dwVw/pulsesms01.jpg>

I recently set up an Android phone and realized that PulseSMS version
5.6.3.2878 is now serving annoying pseudo-ads for their own upgrade.

As I recall, they never did that before.
Also notice the Google Play Store lies that they aren't serving ads!
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=xyz.klinker.messenger>

If you use PulseSMS, what version do you have and does it serve ads for
itself?

And how can the Google Play Store get away with lying about the ads?

Andy Burnelli wrote:

> *It looks like Pulse SMS has been bought by Maple Media - get ready for intrusive ads?*
> <https://www.androidpolice.com/2020/10/29/it-looks-like-pulse-sms-has-been-bought-by-maple-media-get-ready-for-intrusive-ads/>

I ran a few experiments as to which PulseSMS is a known good version.

As for the ads, I guess Google Play Store doesn't count "in-app ads" as ads,
or whatever they're called when they're entirely inside the app. This is the
first time I've seen this happen that an app is advertised to not have ads,
and yet, the company (in this case, Maple Media) that bought the app is
allowed to promote their own app inside the app.

To find when the last known good Klinker (not Maple Media) Pulse SMS date
was, the article is dated OCT 29, 2020 so the cutoff point might be then.
<https://i.postimg.cc/Qd21dwVw/pulsesms01.jpg>

The version on October 27, 2020 was "5.4.6.2816" so that may be the latest
known good version (before ads) for all we know at this point in time.
<https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/maple-media/pulse-smstablet-messenger/pulse-smstablet-messenger-5-4-6-2816-release/>

When I installed "5.4.6.2816", "Settings > About" said it was owned by
"Luke & Jake Klinker" so this is probably the last known good version.
<https://i.postimg.cc/1tjcm7KJ/pulsesms03.jpg>

When I updated it to "5.4.10.2828" from December 29, 2020, it immediately
popped up an ad saying "Welcome to the modern era" and it tried to force me
to pay. I had to punch out of that so this is probably the Maple Media folks
playing their games. Setting > About said "Maple Media".
<https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/maple-media/pulse-smstablet-messenger/pulse-smstablet-messenger-5-4-10-2828-release/>

I wasn't able to back-install that older version ("5.4.6.2816") without
deleting the newer version ("5.4.10.2828"). But luckily Android stores the
messages somewhere so deleting the newer version and installing the older
version doesn't lose the messages.
<https://i.postimg.cc/3RdsFtgX/pulsesms02.jpg>

What is lost are the "conversion settings > conversation name" which if you
had customized them, those customizations are lost when you delete the app.

Most of you (almost all of you actually) won't have that problem because you
have a contacts.db sqlite database, but I don't so I have to name my
conversions (otherwise just the phone number shows up).

In summary, I "think" the last known good version of PulseSMS is 5.4.6.2816,
which will say it's from Luke & Jake Klinker & not from Maple Media.

I will let you know if ads pop up, but I don't think they will as this
version is apparently the last version before Maple Media bought them.