There should be a warning label on any establishment or product that requires a smartphone to use.
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.
Any time I’m required to use an app for something that could be a website, I leave the app a one star review.
Phone apps are nothing more than modern toolbars. And in case you forgot or missed this phase of the internet…
Click to win a FREE LOBSTER Dinner 🦀🦞🦐
Man I miss this era of the internet. It truly felt like a new frontier.
I clicked, but all I got was a dancing stripper and something called Conficker.
Peak internet wdym
No argument there, especially with Bonzi Buddy lol
“2020 search”
Bruh someone’s grandma needs help, we need to fix this computer, it looks like it’s about to get stuck on zombo.com.
I want a re-made Bonzi buddy with AI.
I don’t vouch for these, as I have not used them. But, I found this rewritten one and this one with LLM.
needs more sheep
Yeah, Bonzi Buddy!
Then you could agree with any barely computer-savvy person that such things should be killed with fire.
Now a lot of very competent person will try to persuade you how you are a luddite and wrong, except 5-10 years ago they’d also promise some bright tech future in addition to that, and now you’re just wrong because they can exist in that environment and like it, and you can’t.
you can’t.
Can, but refuse. Big distinction for me. I’ve lived through these arguments once already, and have watched their computers keel over and die several time from the viruses these toolbars often bring, and I will now watch as their phones do the same.
Could you expand on that thought a bit more? How is an app like the internet tool bars of old?
Genuinely curious. I’m a little too young to have experienced internet toolbars like the ones in your image.
Every service and site had their own malicious toolbar they’d ask you to install and / or* sneak it into the install for other software. They also came loaded with malware and or siphoned data from you. Older/more tech illiterate people would have browsers looking like the picture above and come to you wondering why their computer is so slow or why they keep getting viruses.
Plus the even simpler: apps are like browser “toolbars” because they’re just a veneer to collect more data, add more tracking, appear to be useful without actually benefitting the user over a simple web page
Ohh, I see. That makes a lot of sense. I understand the comparison now, ty 🙏
@alekwithak @techforwhat Norton Antivirus is still at it
Hooboy
No Virtua Girl?
I flat-out refuse to do business with any that requires I use an app. I won’t even scan a QR code for a restaurant menu; that’s my cue to go eat elsewhere.
I don’t mind the whole online menu thing. It’s probably an environmental net positive, but it’s bs if they don’t have ANY physical copies for those who can’t or don’t want to for whatever reason.
If they wanted me to install something, though, that’d be a 100% instant nope.
I mean I simply refuse to as QR code phishing is a thing
You might enjoy SecScannerQR then. It makes it easier to vet QR codes by giving an option to search for the URL instead of going there directly.
Isn’t that standard behavior though? I’ve never seen anything that opens a URL directly instead of just showing it to you with an option to access it.
Ooh. Now do iOS.
Ew
No, you stop doing iOS.
I mean you just need to audit the URL before going there.
An online menu requires power to be used (on people’s phones and the server). Is that really a minor contribution in comparison to printing paper and maybe laminating it?
Considering your average printer is a piece of shit that needs to be replaced quite often, yes, using a website is probably more energy efficient.
Most companies will be using laser printers, some of which may outlive me. Toner is cheap and lasts an age.
Inkjet printers are cheap for a reason. They’re a scam.
That and those servers are going to be running anyway. Powering a simple restaurant website is a grain of sand on the beach of internet usage.
Yeah, exactly. If you’re worried about the power draw to host a few hundred KB PDF file, you probably shouldn’t be using Lemmy, because scrolling through your feed probably uses 100x that in energy costs.
You have to remember that the shared hosting or aws, or wherever is going to be cheapest to host a simple website is also going to be very power efficient. Wasting power is just throwing away free money, and if there’s one thing corporations don’t do, it’s throw away free money.
Generally companies use service contracts to keep those things working so mo they wouldn’t be replaced often. They are just a piece of shit
Scan QR code. Order on your phone. Pay on your phone. Asks for a tip.
So uh, what exactly am I tipping you here for dawg?
that stuff is nice as an option. There’s a bar I go to that I can order my food and drink to the table my friends are at, while I’m walking to the place, and everything just arrives shortly after I sit down. Other people get offended about how fast I get served, it’s always amusing. I also enjoy not interacting with the staff, nothing against them, brain just doesn’t brain sometimes.
But what if I didn’t have a phone? or if I left home without it? 24/7 pocket rectangle is not natural.
Losing your phone now is like losing not just your wallet but simple access to everything.
Can confirm. Brother had his phone stuck in LA for 2 weeks.
- Hard time signing into some sites as they only had text for 2 factor
- Modern alarm clocks are awful, you only get two options and must be plugged in, so if you want 3 alarms while you’re outside of your house? Fuck you.
- Harder to track public bus routes as not only can you not call dispatch, you can’t check with the app.
There’s probably more but those affected him the most. Genuinely weird that in 2025 alarm clocks are stuck in 1985.
The funny thing about qr codes for restaurant menus to me, as someone that studied menu design. Is that actual menus are designed specific ways make the restaurant more profit and make it easier for people to find what they want. Whereas qr codes often bring one to a hastily designed list of categories which are not only less intuitive but also less manipulative. So people will end up taking longer to order less profitable dishes.
Hell yeah, consumer win. I like selecting an item and it offers me changes or addition options that I never would have considered!
But really, it means they can hire less people so they gain profit anyway.
I’ve been to some that try to upsell you during the checkout process. Big pop up comes up “Add x to your order for $y.99!” Shut the fuck up!
Dennis Takes a Mental Health Day is probably the most accurate portrayal of me ever written.
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
have you tried stop being poor?!
Begin by just getting a house already.
So am so tired of people crying about it.
JFC just ask mom and dad for the down payment… Can’t you holdna a steady job?!
Maybe I could try buying and scalping an iPhone on eBay
:thinky face:
Kids these days just don’t want to work
See that’s the thing, I work far too hard and after a night shift and then getting onto a “customer support” agent reveals the cracks in our society.
Maybe you could work harder too!
Everyone I know works pretty hard and is underpaid but the teeveeue keeps saying nobody wants to work.
Deep inside I know the teevee never lies 🤡
It was the sheer arrogance of that “supervisor” I escalated it to and I hate to think how someone like a pensioner would’ve dealt with them that day wanting to access their bank account, especially since all the local branches have been closed 👺
RIP Yorkshire Bank
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.
Everything by Virgin is shit. I don’t understand why they’re so big
Dude that comment would make my blood boil, like holy shit.
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
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.
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.
Thats actually pretty nice. And on the subject of cars: I don’t get why (some) people with E-Cars say they are so much “greener” and then use like 10 different apps for the car, recharging, etc. Those servers produce so much, really, so god damn much CO2… (Not saying combustion engines are better, but…)
My Kia Sportage PHEV came with a “Kia Connect” app. There is a monthly charge but I get first 3 years for free. It’s got some sort of useful things but I don’t really use it much anymore. More likely than not I won’t bother to pay for it when the free years are up.
Understandable. In Germany it isn’t customary to have an AC, but I got one. It’s from Mitsubishi and has some cloud remote control app thing. I mean, ok, controlling the temperature from not home is maybe useful, but I haven’t and will never use it. I just set the Temperature and go on Auto mode…
McDonald’s wants your IQ too. Seriously, it’s in their privacy policy.
Hello McDonalds. My IQ is 500, so do I get like, free stuff or something?
Ok, that is crazy.
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.
You can still live in the US without apps… For now
Social Friendly Browser can usualky get around this
These useless apps make Linux phone adoption harder, fuck them!
everyone wants to force you to use apps instead of websites, despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of apps are just websites…in a app wrapper, because normal websites and normal browsers have inbuilt protections for you.
Apps don’t.
Idiots install apps, give them the 400,000 permissions they ask for, then go on their merry way…ignorant to the fact that they just installed a data vacuum on their phone thats siphoning everything off of it to be used and sold and resold for marketing purposes… Even the phone itself its not safe, cause its sitting there, listening to your conversations, even when not on a call, to more “Accurately” spam you with bullshit.
because normal websites and normal browsers have inbuilt protections for you.
Ding ding ding.
Yep, 100%. That digital coupon is you getting paid $0.33 for the data they collected from you.
Phones are not listening and if you have proof post it. No security researcher has ever posted this.
[https://youtu.be/0dGqR4ue8dg?si=tA1s-S3jdz2SwEoo](Idk i trust Snowden’s take on this over yours)
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yeah yeah, people said the same thing about google home and amazon alexa for years… until data leaks proved that was a lie, too.
It’s called “Active Listening”
https://www.404media.co/heres-the-pitch-deck-for-active-listening-ad-targeting/
I for one cheer and root for my flip phone friends.
I’d never do it, but we have one at work and he’s singlehandedly causing so much grief at work. Because none of the engineers wanna use a security app for login. They want a fob.
IT refuses to pay for fobs and wants us to use an app, but they also don’t want to pay for a phone for anyone in engineering just to use the security app because it opens a floodgate of people with company phones.
It’s just wonderful to watch this fight from the sidelines sipping tea.
I have no smartphone and am unable to access any of my college resources or email from home because you need a security app for remote login. I’ve got in trouble a few times for it but idk what I’m supposed to do. I wasn’t able to access my Exam Timetable because of this and had to ask some friends when the exams were because my teachers didn’t know (somehow). It’s very annoying.
Edit:
It also took a few weeks of difficulty to get the free bus pass the college gives out as they only gave it out on the bus pass app, I have a card that you scan, I’ve never had any issues with the card and yet EVERY day people complain about the app not working as you need an internet connection (in an area with dodgy internet) for the app and the app is apparently not very good in other areas. I think people are starting to get jealous of my bus pass card.
You could install an android emulator on your personal computer then run the authenticator from there.
The OC said in a different comment that you must be on the college network to set it up.
You don’t need to tag me, by the way; I get a notification if someone responds to me directly.
sorry, I’m viewing this from mastodon so the setup’s different.
All good. Hope you have a great day!
Yes, it’s a specific one. App only.
The authenticator requires you to be in the college’s network to set it up for the first time and I don’t have a laptop.
Ah, that does complicate matters. Good luck.
BRB pulling up to a QR code scanner with my 15 inch thinkpad w520 running on 92whr of battery consuming literal watts of power because it’s from 2012.
Hopefully i’m not an inconvenience.
what’s the rationale for IT not wanting to pay for the fobs?
Managers probably sold apps as a cost cutting measure
Presumably they’re expensive and someone needs to manage them.
My company’s approach is “we’ll pay your phone bill if you use an Authenticator app on your phone.” Cheaper for them, plus they don’t need to buy company phones or fobs, and who’s going to complain about their phone bill getting paid?
A previous company tried similar but required putting your phone under enterprise management. A lot of us disagreed with that
They’re not expensive at all.
Well, my old company sure made a ridiculous profit selling them. You may be looking at the cost per fob hardware, but not including the management cost. They are much more expensive than an authentication app, plus authentication apps are mostly managed by someone else, and you don’t have distribution overhead
In my experience, the only thing that really made them more difficult than managing end users who were using an authentication app instead was having to facilitate getting the fob to the users and replacing them occasionally and they were dirt cheap… Like less than $5 apiece.
what exactly is the management cost here?
at my old company they simply ordered a yubikey for you amd forgot about it. nobody kept track of it. i didn’t even need to return mine when i was leaving. the part they manage is the user account. the hardware you get once and use for added security…
This may be relevant
My job does this too. It’s literally just cost cutting. The fobs expire and need to be replaced every so often but the app lasts “forever”.
IMO the fobs pay for themselves because what they are spending on fobs is the same as what they’re spending on IT members answering calls all day for employees that are having login issues with the app.
I worked a job where I had to have an app that tracked me wherever I went. I finally had to tell my boss I couldn’t use it anymore because it was killing my battery in like 3 hours.
If I was still working and a job wanted me to put an app on my personal phone I’d tell them to go fuck themselves.
Just another way capitalists thieve money from its workers.
I’d never do it, but we have one at work and he’s singlehandedly causing so much grief at work.
tell him the funny internet man that replied to you told him that he was based and that we collectively appreciate his efforts of basedness.
I for one cheer and root for my flip phone friends.
Why are you cheering for a lack of self-control?
Smartphones are great. You just need to be smart enough to not let them use you.
It should put into perspective who is a useful idiot, and who is not.
Perhaps his friends do not have smart phones, because they do not want smart phones.
Yes, but why don’t they want smartphones?
As I’ve been making an effort to replace apps with the browser version of the service. It’s so abundantly clear that companies don’t want you using their website.
Even if they don’t outright cripple functionality, they’ll hound you endlessly to install the app.
It’s infuriating to say the least.
Even if they don’t outright cripple functionality, they’ll hound you endlessly to install the app.
Still don’t understand the logic of doing that.
It’s like saying,
“Our website is nigh unusable, please install our app instead. We pinky promise our app works”.
It’s because you have control over your browser, but they control their app and all its trackers, ads, etc
Yep. They want you to use apps, cause all the permissions you give the app makes it much easier for them to harvest all your data for marketing and selling purposes.
That’s exactly it. Easy to block ads and trackers on a website, but more difficult or impossible on some apps.
One of the banking apps won’t show the total balance of the account unless I’m using the app. How ridiculous.
It’s also a gigantic information harvesting ploy.
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.
apps allow user tracking and advertising though. Much more valuable to the corpos than a few lost customers.
Also mich More valuable to Google, as they are the biggest Advertising company. I looked it up and according to this source they have ~70% of the pay-per-click market.
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.
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.
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.
THIS IS ACTUALLY SO REAL FUCKING SMARTPHONES I HATE STEVE JOBS FUCK YOU WHY DID YOU RUIN TECHNOLOGY.
ok rant over, but seriously though, it’s so fucked how you basically just need a smartphone to do ANYTHING these days. I don’t want a phone, i have no use for one.
Not sure if we can really blame Steve Jobs for this though, he wasn’t around when things turned to shit. The iPhone he introduced was merely a phone, web browser, email and music player.
I think it’s fair if we blame Tim Apple for this and the other big tech CEO’s of the recent past.
it was his idea, his vision. I blame him post mortem, because steve would’ve wanted the ecosystem to work flawlessly, and regardless of whether or not he was here today, we would have the same problem.
sounds like you DO have a use for one…
i mean sure, but do i WANT to use it for that? No, i just want to fucking pay for my shit and leave. I don’t want your stupid little QR codes, i don’t want your silly little NFC, just accept card or fuck off.
Just because you can invent some schizophrenic use for a smartphone, doesn’t mean i have a use for it.
In Flanders, 🇧🇪, teachers have a card that gives them certain benefits. Free acces to musea, exhibitions,… This year they made it app only. You need to buy a smartphone to get your benefits…
Surely that falls afoul of some sort of equality legislation/disability legislation?
in the height of covid panic, there was a wheelchair bound, oxygen tank connected, customer whom I still respect for unrelated reasons, who insisted on entering my store without a mask because he was disabled. My dude. If you are so weak that a mask would kill you, you should not be going to stores right now. Do you not know that there’s a plague happening!?!?!? There are delivery services, and it doesn’t cost that much.
Americans will find any excuse to justify their lazy entitled bullshit.
wat
if you’ve ever worked customer service, you’d understand
How does what you said have anything to do with my comment.
You’ve never worked customer service, so of course you don’t understand.
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