March 31, 2026
Gov app or gov hack?
I Decompiled the White House's New App
White House app busted for secret ad‑blocker vibes and creepy tracking, internet loses its mind
TLDR: A coder peeled open the new White House app and found it stripping cookie pop‑ups and paywalls from other sites while shipping with hidden location‑tracking powers, and the internet erupted. Some users love the government accidentally making a super ad blocker, others say it’s creepy, partisan and dangerous for press freedom.
Online sleuths cracked open the new official White House app and the internet immediately went, “This is the most Trump app ever.” Tech commenters are howling over two big reveals: it’s basically a fancy news site dressed up as an app, and it secretly nukes cookie pop‑ups and paywalls like a government‑grade ad blocker. One popular comment joked, “So the U.S. government is now pirating journalism for me? Based or terrifying?”
The wildest debate: some users are cheering the app for silently deleting those annoying “accept cookies” banners and subscription walls, calling it “the first useful thing any government IT has done.” Others are horrified that a U.S. government app is injecting its own code into private websites, with one user calling it “state-sponsored uBlock Origin with a badge.” Privacy hawks are extra mad that the app quietly ships with location‑tracking code and a link to an immigration tip-off form, while still shouting slogans like “Greatest President Ever!” and “Text President Trump,” which many say makes it feel more like a campaign tool than a neutral government service.
Memes are everywhere: people posting fake screenshots of the app auto‑removing Congress from their taxes, or labeling it “OnlyFans for executive branch propaganda.” The mood? Half laughing, half terrified, and fully glued to the drama.
Key Points
- •The White House released an official mobile app built with React Native and Expo SDK 54, running on the Hermes JavaScript engine and distributed via the App Store and Google Play.
- •The app’s backend is a WordPress site at whitehouse.gov using a custom whitehouse/v1 REST API namespace to serve home, news, live streams, policy, and other content.
- •Hardcoded strings and links in the app promote Trump-related messaging, including “THE TRUMP EFFECT,” “Greatest President Ever!,” texting President Trump, TrumpRx.gov, TrumpAccounts.gov, and a direct link to the ICE tip form.
- •The app’s WebView injects JavaScript into every loaded page to remove cookie/GDPR consent banners, login/sign-up walls, upsell prompts, paywalls, and similar elements, and forces scrolling via CSS.
- •Despite an Expo plugin named `withNoLocation`, the OneSignal SDK’s native location tracking code is present, and location tracking can be enabled if an internal flag is set and the user grants Android runtime location permission.