this post was submitted on 03 Apr 2024
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AssholeDesign

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This is a community for designs specifically crafted to make the experience worse for the user. This can be due to greed, apathy, laziness or just downright scumbaggery.

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[–] [email protected] 63 points 8 months ago (2 children)

The state of people blindly using apps for everything is atrocious.

“But it saves me a 1USD on my fast food burger!”

[–] [email protected] 34 points 8 months ago (3 children)

Fast food charges you around double if you don't use the app. I think it's mostly about tiered pricing. They want the money from those willing to pay $15 for a burger AND they still want the money from people who won't pay more than $10. This way they get both.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Fast food charges you around double if you don't use the app.

In the US, I guess? Not where I come from

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago

In Italy it's also like this

You literally pay double the price if you order without using the coupons found in the app for McDonald's, Burger King and KFC

[–] [email protected] 13 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Makes sense. I don’t eat fast food, so I didn’t know. But no way am I installing apps for… basically any commercial thing.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Same here, but I do eat fast food on occasion. Their small discounts are not worth enough to compromise my phone's integrity and my privacy.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 8 months ago

Wendy's order through app showing around a 45% discount.

It's not a small discount. Of course just using the app isn't the only hoop. You also have to order correctly to maximize the discount.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 8 months ago

I just looked at their app permissions, and woof. It’s almost as bad as Threads.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

Those kind of apps have a special place on my phone: petercxy's shelter (don't install it from play store because in order to meet the Google requirements it has been nerfed). Apps installed there use a dedicated throwaway Google account and are completely disabled with a toggle on my launcher. (Lawnchair 2 has a toggle in the drawer for it)

If an app is installed in shelter it's on a completely separate partition and can't access any file or photo on your main one. And once you quit, they are all disabled like if the phone is turned off

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

It's just an incentive to install the app, the amount of data being harvested and sold/traded is basically the new economy.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

You could as much harvest more data from a browser honestly. Most apps are sandboxed, a browser shares its cookies.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Phone apps have access to significantly more data than a browser does, especially when people haphazardly agree to any and all permissions.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

If you believe that's really true I'm probably not the one to change your mind.

Browsers usually don't even ask for any permissions, where iOS and Android apps do, and explicitly state what data they'll steal.

It's much easier to fingerprint your behavior when using the web than it is when using apps.

Unless you're only talking about "the wrong kind of apps" but then I could continue about "the wrong kind of websites".

But hey, you do you. Happy tracking.

Edit: I feel sad that sites like The Verge et al. trick people who want to learn in those kind of directions. They're writers, not tech people. They earn from ads! Don't listen to them.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

Yes, I'm comparing the threat level based on the maximum potential akin to the likes of "those apps". Permissions are straightforward and will protect users just like ad blockers, decentralized static frameworks (JavaScript/CSS/fonts), and clearing cookies. But on average users are not well informed and aren't considering permissions, add-ons, or even which browser or app they use so I compare based on the potential threat level.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (4 children)

McDonald's charges a lot more without the app tho

fun fact: McDonald's app has tighter "security" than my bank app and won't even work on rooted devices

[–] [email protected] 20 points 8 months ago (2 children)

I can't believe that there's a whole generation of people who voluntarily installed a McDonald's app. I guess marketing works...

[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago

"but i can save a dollar by letting mcdonalds root itself deep inside my large intestine!"

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

When they introduced the app back in December 2016, they gave you a free burger/fish filet. Me and my college roommate took advantage of this and made accounts with sharklasers.com emails. We got 3 free burgers a day just by driving to the closest McDonald’s, down the road 10 mins to the next one, then back.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

Free burgers are definitely a big deal in college.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 8 months ago

McDonald's app is the fastest way to check if you installed magisk+shamiko correctly

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago

LOL! Glad I'm not the only one who thinks the Mickie app is locked down

McDonalds needs updates more often than my credit card app...

[–] [email protected] -1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

It absolutely will work on a rooted device. Mine is rooted and it works fine. Also, in my experience (maybe this is just in my area) outside of the points perk, prices are the same between the app and physically at the store as I have checked out of curiosity.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

there are bundles and deals which are only available in the app, usually you can save like 50% with them
depends on the region i guess ¯_(ツ)_/¯

e.g. I could either get a big mac for like 22zl? or big mac + medium fries + any sauce for 16zl, or a cheeseburger for 30% of it's price + 300 points (which you literally get back, exact amount for your order)