!smartphone_required@lemmy.sdf.org
‘The tyranny of apps’: those without smartphones are unfairly penalised, say campaigners
Submitted 1 year ago by nahostdeutschland@feddit.org to technology@lemmy.world
Comments
mox@lemmy.sdf.org 1 year ago
Zak@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Any time I’m required to use an app for something that could be a website, I leave the app a one star review.
reksas@sopuli.xyz 1 year ago
also those who dont want to install that spyware shit on their phones. Even if you dont care about the data collection it still consumes battery faster as more and more data is being transferred
Ibuthyr@lemmy.wtf 1 year ago
Yeah, I couldn’t be arsed to install that shit. I’m also not taking out my phone for this kind of bullshit. I’m sick and tired of smartphones.
benjaminb@discuss.tchncs.de 1 year ago
McDonald’s (in Germany at least) needs your location to “see when you arrive at the restaurant”. What the hell?! That doesn’t even work properly and they force it on me! I uninstalled the app and now I am actually happy, because without the promotion and discount stuff, I don’t eat McDanks that often anymore.
archchan@lemmy.ml 1 year ago
McDonald’s wants your IQ too. Seriously, it’s in their privacy policy.
RisingSwell@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 year ago
I use an app for OTR (petrol chain in Aus) and they’ve removed the requirement for location which is… Unexpected, to say the least. Anything except using the pumps on the app no longer needs it when all orders previously needed it.
steelrat@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Get $50.
ambitiousslab@lemmy.ml 1 year ago
This affects me a lot day to day. I have a phone, but it runs postmarketOS, not iOS or Android. It really shows me the importance of open standards. I feel that every business should be required to support open standards for each of the services they offer.
For me, buying train tickets used to be ok, but is getting harder now. Some train operators are really pushing you to use their app now, and getting rid of the option to download a PDF. It really frustrates me: it’s not like it costs them more to offer PDF download - if anything, it’s much cheaper to offer that functionality than to build and maintain an app for iOS and Android.
Back when I had an Android phone, I used Monzo, and it was so easy to send money to friends, set up standing orders etc. I wish they offered a proper web interface. Now, I use Natwest’s online banking, and it’s a real pain - I use the card reader to authenticate, then the website logs me out seemingly every 2 mins of inactivity. Some features, like pre-notifying that you’ll be travelling abroad, are only available on the app. I only see this trend continuing.
The concert tickets example in the article is insane to me. I can’t think of a use case that is better suited for PDFs, and that’s what we’ve been doing for the last 10+ years without any issues. It really is user hostile and excludes people on the edges of society who don’t fit, for whatever reason, with what the 80-90% do.
LodeMike@lemmy.today 1 year ago
The reason venues don’t allow PDFs is so that you’re forced to use their own platform for resale where they take a commission.
glitchdx@lemmy.world 1 year ago
apps allow user tracking and advertising though. Much more valuable to the corpos than a few lost customers.
benjaminb@discuss.tchncs.de 1 year ago
Also mich More valuable to Google, as they are the biggest Advertising company. I looked it up and according to this source I has ~70% of the pay-per-click market.
distortwave@lemmy.ml 1 year ago
The whole using your phone for everything from grocery shopping to just doing whatever Like getting deals or whatever?, Can it please go away?
They’re collecting our data anyways.
commander@lemmings.world 1 year ago
For some things it’s more convenient for customers. For others, it’s more convenient for businesses.
We, as customers, need to promote what’s convenient for us while ignoring what’s convenient for businesses.
Keep in mind: we are not on the same side as the people taking our money.
Xanthobilly@lemmy.world 1 year ago
It’s also a gigantic information harvesting ploy.
recursive_recursion@lemmy.ca 1 year ago
A mobile app requirement is an easy excuse for me to nope the fuck out.
glitchdx@lemmy.world 1 year ago
My old apartment had gates that could only be opened with an app. They took out the card reader and made it app only. Should have gotten out of there much earlier than I did.
redacted2@lemmy.world 1 year ago
the gates that slide over using a chain, they often have a removable link at the end. If you unhook the chain on the opener side, it will open one more time, then spit all the chain out trying to close it. I used to take that link out when living in complexes with those gates. Made life easier for most. Would take months for it to get fixed. They are just standard 1/2in x1/8in bike chain.
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
Yeah, that’s a nope from me. I’m trying to eliminate as many apps from my life as I can.
Amoxtli@thelemmy.club 1 year ago
Get out of the stone age.
AppleTea@lemmy.zip 1 year ago
this comment makes me wish for a Carrington Event in the 21st century
Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 1 year ago
Someone make a smartphone that isn’t a steaming pile of shit then. The pinephone was so close but struggled with SMS when I tried it.
icmpecho@lemmy.ml 1 year ago
I’m probably gonna get clowned for feeding the troll, but - this comment comes off a lot more harsh if you’ve ever experienced not having access to the Internet and a smartphone or computer.
I spent the better part of 16 years of my life with no TV, MP3 player, phone, Internet, or computer - and it has negatively impacted me in immeasurable ways. I couldn’t find work, because I couldn’t apply for jobs but also I didn’t know you could do that on the Internet - I also didn’t know YouTube existed, so I missed out on learning the things I liked, and I didn’t know I was being abused because I had no way of knowing that it wasn’t normal until I got access to help, via the Internet.
I wasn’t in the stone age - if I’d had options to do any of the above without a phone or the Internet, I’d be a different person today. Shut up, mate - not everyone can afford or has the opportunity to own a smartphone and data plan (which are rare and expensive in abusive situations like my past). Making services available in places like libraries and community centers without requiring smartphones and Internet would help so many people who have no ability to use them - those people are humans too.
and by the way while we’re at it: if we’re effectively paywalling access to basic human rights behind an IP address and cellular radio, those should be enshrined as human rights too.
SabinStargem@lemmings.world 1 year ago
I was raised in the boondocks. You couldn’t get reception there back in the 90’s, and there weren’t any kids or neighbors that I could visit without having to be driven. My parents didn’t have any community at all, so I in turn never learned how to socialize properly. To say the least, I never became comfortable with phones, even after moving into civilization. It just wasn’t part of me.
Isolation from people is a huge disadvantage in life, you don’t get to make friends, network, or learn what it means to be part of society. Here’s hoping that cellphones and whatnot become rights, as you have said.
However, some states might provide SSI recipients a LifeConnect program. You get a free smartphone and low-end plan.
cupcakezealot@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 year ago
the problem is also apple’s slow adoption (or outright refusal) to open up various web apis to make web apps more prevalent.
ladfrombrad@lemdro.id 1 year ago
I literally had to switch bank accounts because I couldn’t reset my password “on the web” and required me to use Virgin Money’s app.
Customer service agent(s) on the phone after prolonged discussions why their app wouldn’t work on three Android phones right in front of me surfaced, and I shit you not
Well sir, I have my iPhone here and can login just fine maybe you should buy one of those instead
That day I found out about this
Blisterexe@lemmy.zip 1 year ago
Dude that comment would make my blood boil, like holy shit.
sem@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 year ago
Your switch is guaranteed
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Over 11 million current accounts have been switched so far and over 50 banks and building societies are already part of the service.
The Account Switch Service Guarantee means your new bank will switch your payments and transfer your balance, and your old bank will take care of closing your old account. So you don’t need to worry.
j4yt33@feddit.org 1 year ago
Everything by Virgin is shit. I don’t understand why they’re so big
TheBrideWoreCrimson@sopuli.xyz 1 year ago
I also had to switch accounts because after an update, the banking app didn’t work any longer on my rooted phone and I couldn’t log in. Thankfully, I’ve been keeping two accounts since forever, with the main motivation being that banks really like changing their TOS and introducing all sorts of fees, which I don’t want.
TWeaK@lemm.ee 1 year ago
You don’t need an app to use a loyalty card…
But yes I am against supermarkets that only provide discounts if you use their loyalty program, which in turn allows them to track your purchases. Especially since many items are priced with the discount as the “fair” price and the full price is really just a money grab.
SlopppyEngineer@lemmy.world 1 year ago
If you do the calculation, the discount you get in the end is often just 1%. I don’t really care about that 1%. You can get more, but the time you have to invest to get a better deal makes less money than just work an extra hour.
And some of those loyalty programs have expiring points, that happen to expire just before you get to the tier when things get interesting. And when you do save up to the food stuff you find out the app is a lot better at collecting loyalty points and doesn’t work so great at exchanging them.
TWeaK@lemm.ee 1 year ago
The main thing this article is talking about is supermarkets in the UK that lock all their sale offers behind the loyalty card. Until about a year or two ago, you could go in and buy things on sale or buy one get one free or whatever offer, and then use (or don’t use) your loyalty card on top (to collect/spend points), but now you don’t get any discounts if you don’t have a loyalty card.
The article/campaigners are spinning this up into something about smartphones, because that’s how most people use these loyalty schemes now, but they still have the old style cards so that’s a bit of a red herring. The real issue is the way they’re tying their standard offers to the loyalty program, and making it more difficult for consumers not to get caught out paying full price.
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
Same. We have two grocery stores nearby, both with loyalty programs. One requires using the program to get discounts, while the other doesn’t (you just miss out on points). Guess which I shop at…
If I need to go to the other one, I’ll use my parents’ number so they get the points. I go maybe once/year if there’s a particularly good deal.
grysbok@lemmy.sdf.org 1 year ago
Last time I went to a new-to-me grocery store that I didn’t have a loyalty card for, I just used [local area code]-867-5309. Jenny hasn’t failed me yet.
Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 1 year ago
This kinda shit is why I go to Aldi instead. They give everyone the same low prices. Tesco have their clubcard and seeing how much more they want to charge me for not having one puts me off ever going there on a regular basis.
Also under 18s can’t get these loyalty cards here so fuck you I guess you have to pay a load more.
Photuris@lemmy.ml 1 year ago
[deleted]Zak@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Contributing to that Kinderficker changes my opinion of Publix.
ctkatz@lemmy.ml 1 year ago
especially if you don’t have an iphone. I have seen so many accessories and apps that were made for use on iphones which would also be useful for android devices as well. my transplant clinic has a patient portal that has an app for iphones but nothing for android so you have to use their website.
SolarMonkey@slrpnk.net 1 year ago
I switched thermostats due to the old one failing, and getting a basic smart thermostat was required for a hefty rebate that basically made it free… and the one I have now, the app thought my not-major-brand phone was a tablet. I couldn’t hit the button to turn down the heat, only up, because it was cut off due to scaling.
So yeah, requiring apps for interface is bad. Even if you are willing to use it there’s so freakin many various versions of android that it’s guaranteed to not work properly for a whole swath of people, mostly those on budget devices.
EngineerGaming@feddit.nl 1 year ago
Especially given that some of the common budget devices, like Huawei, lacks Google services. It is the reason why all the major banks here except one don’t require Google services.
tabular@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Even if you did want apps the majority only offer it from 1 of the 2 popular repositories (" stores "). It’s a shame they do not have a way to track that lost sale.
CubitOom@infosec.pub 1 year ago
If you don’t have a smart phone in the US, even temporally, your almost a second class citizen.
Then if you don’t install corporate apps on your phone, there are even more problems for you.
sem@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 year ago
I remember this being true almost as soon as smart phones and QR codes were invented. There were so many things you just couldn’t do as easily if you didn’t have one. Even in 2006.
cheese_greater@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Social Friendly Browser can usualky get around this
adarza@lemmy.ca 1 year ago
i don’t have one. i don’t want one, either.
yesman@lemmy.world 1 year ago
There should be a warning label on any establishment or product that requires a smartphone to use.
Ulrich@feddit.org 1 year ago
There was a food truck I went to one time that required you to download some app to look at their menu and order your food. They refused to accept a credit card or cash. I walked. So fucking stupid. I don’t know why people allow shit like that to exist.
SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 year ago
How about this:
At the apartments I recently moved out of, there were no quarter slots on the washing machines. They were an app that required a bluetooth connection to pay.
So if you lived there and didn’t have a smartphone? Go fuck yourself, you don’t get to do laundry.
EngineerGaming@feddit.nl 1 year ago
The more insane thing here for me is the fact that there isn’t a washing machine inside your apartment.
(btw lived in such once, apparently the owner wasn’t very wealthy. We washed everything by hand)
white_nrdy@programming.dev 1 year ago
Tbf, my building also uses an app for laundry. However they also have a machine in the laundry rooms where you can purchase an NFC payment card and put money on it. So you can use it without the app. Is that not the case with yours? If not, that’s 100% fucked
Vinstaal0@feddit.nl 1 year ago
That depends a bit on if it was advertised or not to have a laundry room. At least here in NL it is more common to have your own washing machine than to use a shared one so having a laundry room would be an extra to start with.
Still sucks though
Kusimulkku@lemm.ee 1 year ago
quarter slots on the washing machines
Thank god they decided to keep these free where I live
TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world 1 year ago
That is what I noticed. Everything these days require app to get shopping vouchers, book tickets, go in to your local gym, pay in store (we are being weaned off from using cash) etc.
btaf45@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I can’t even go to a high school football game without having an app.