@epidiah

When I read these I ALWAYS assume that the app can track something that the website can't and they WANT you to use the app for that reason.

@epidiah It does point to what I'll call "intentional shitification".

The whole "download my app!" incentive structure in general is a scourge.

@Epidiah to which i always respond: 'yeah and my device works better without your spyware installed; Now shut up and send me HTML you chancer'

@epidiah it’s the “best viewed with Internet Explorer” of this decade.

Absolutely did not expect to strike a chord with everyone else on this one.

I'm going to mute this so that my notifications don't spend the rest of the day blowing up. But thank you all for being so cool about it. So far, going micro-viral on Mastodon has been a far better experience than it ever was on Twitter.

@epidiah PRECISELY!

@epidiah I think there's a few typos in the text. It should read "Install the app so we can monetize more of your data". What a misprint huh.

@Epidiah Is it mine again? It is usually mine.

@Epidiah Translate: "We're spying on you, but we can spy on you better if you install our spyware."

@Epidiah god i hate those notifications. You can easily block them on a desktop but on a mobile browser its more involved.

@Epidiah Agreed. Phone-centric UI is bullshit

@epidiah if they didn't keep popping up the message, the website would've been fine.

@Epidiah Always hated this, now you can't even log in on mobile web =/

@epidiah does it also jump under your thumb when you scroll because they couldn't figure out how to align the damn popup or is that just for me

@epidiah I use Troddit 😶 just because of this bs.

@Epidiah

I want the "For me is good enough" button, too!

@epidiah Oh, Reddit.

@epidiah They always misspell "we can track you better if you install our native app"

@epidiah LMAO 🤣

@epidiah

It's #JAFW (Just a FsckN Website) in my mind so... Yeah. Send me the HTML. Thnx 😆

@epidiah

Translation: ”We can't track you unless you use the app”

@epidiah@dice.camp I am continually impressed by how much effort Reddit is putting in to make using their website an absolutely miserable experience no matter what device you use it on or what app you use to do so

@epidiah ??? I mean, even better if they tell on themselves.

@Epidiah who's fault is it when the apps are so large I have to use it on mobile browser?😂

@epidiah I'm just happy they stopped telling me I could either use the app or open in Chrome when I visit from Firefox. I mean clicking to open in Chrome always just proceeded with Firefox anyway but it still annoyed the crap out of me lol

@epidiah File a bug report so they can fix their webpage.

@epidiah also in the app the adblocker doesn't work. Might have something to do with that message

@Epidiah

@Epidiah some day it's going to have been 20 years since i last installed somebody's app and discover that apps started supporting multiple tabs and pinch zoom 15 years ago.

@Epidiah "We want to encourage you to use a device that you probably don't have an adblocker installed on, where we can more easily collect marketable metrocs about you without your consent."

@Epidiah This page looks worse in the app [Download]

@epidiah This is very annoying.

Also: "log in to join the conversation"

ok...guess I won't be "joining the conversation" then.

@epidiah

@epidiah I have this issue with Reddit, so now I don't go there anymore :Hehe:

@epidiah I don't know, but it's a rather brutal indictment considering the abysmal UX nightmare that is the Reddit app.

@epidiah "looks better" is code for "looks better for our big data gathering systems". Often it doesn't actually look any better in the app at all.

@epidiah

A developer/moderator(?) for Reddit stated, at the time that they removed the option to disable the Reddit app popups, that it was to consolidate settings, and various other non-committal statements.

They tried to heavily imply the setting was returning elsewhere, without a single promise.

I really should dig back into that conversation..

@Epidiah this is my exact thought every time I see these prompts, immediately followed by, "sounds like your problem, not my problem" at which point I click the "stay here" button

@epidiah
This is exactly my reaction.
Followed by "if the site is this slow and terrible, the app is gona be so much worse".

@epidiah "Hi, yeah we made this crummy, bloated mobile web site but we promise we way better at making apps!"

@epidiah you can almost always insert "to our investors" into those messages with out braking the grammar and improving the clarity.

@epidiah but.... mobile first!

Fuck mobile first, my desktop has 4x 22 inch wide screen monitors vs my tiny ass phone.

Mobile first is fucking stupid.

@Epidiah it’s not even true. Facebook does look bad in the mobile browser. But Reddit looks fine 🤔

@Epidiah @simon_w I remain convinced that this is code for “we can track you better in our app.”

@Epidiah

Translated: our ad revenue is better in the app

@epidiah It's also untrue. I use excellent ad blockers and deshittification add-ons with Firefox, and as a result am rewarded with a superior online experience without letting the apps install all the garbage Corporate wants me to tote around with me so it's easier for them to 'tailor' advertising to 'suit my interests.'
#FuckCapitalism

@epidiah that always translates to me as “Please let us have more of your data! Use our tools to view content you already paid for!” No. No, I will not.

@epidiah I set up a userscript that redirects to an alternative UI. There is no login on this UI, but that's a good thing.

@epidiah@dice.camp I think it's...nah, it can't be reddit's fault. Must be the entirety of web standards.

@epidiah Plot twist: This looks better in the browser

@Epidiah in an App that is very likely just a browser with some crap bolted onto it?

@Epidiah My thought every time. What they really mean is "please install the app so we can track you better and send you push notifications later to get you back, and in return we'll let you use our slightly more developed wesite in an app wrapper."

“ooks better in the app” (as viewed inline) – I blame the Librarian.

@epidiah This is a dark pattern.

@Epidiah The Web’s.

@Epidiah Ouuuuuu snap

@epidiah

"We intentionally made this page look worse in your browser."

@Epidiah

Funny thing is that is not a web page, but a full blown app compiled to JavaScript anyway.

@Epidiah Browser devs for making a shitty mobile experience

@epidiah@dice.camp

said the wolf at Grandma's computer: "all the better to track you with, my dear"

🐺

@Epidiah
No, it doesn't. 😉
@LaF0rge

@epidiah https://github.com/libreddit/libreddit

@Epidiah the ads looks better in the app

@Epidiah 😂 exactly the right response

@epidiah @tmcarr economics

@epidiah Wait I thought things like electron were just as good as native UI

@epidiah plot twist: app is Electron

@Epidiah @shantini Thank you! Literally every time I see this.

@Epidiah adding to the flood: it's even more annoying when I get this on my #KaiOS browser, because they haven't even *provided* an app for me to install 🔍

And whose fault is that?

@epidiah This app could have been a website …

@epidiah I only have the reddit app because of those posts where it says you have to login to view them, cause they are nsfw
Yea you can change it to old.reddit.com but it gets annoying

@epidiah web devs are lazy lol

@epidiah Let me correct the message: "Massive user tracking and advertising works better in the app."

@epidiah@dice.camp No ability to block ads and or trackers? Then this page will always be better in the browser. No exceptions. 💢

@Epidiah @damon

Tbh I am not even sure it does look much better, their app is rubbish.

@Epidiah @thomasfuchs Touché!

@Epidiah I can imagine two reasons they want you on the app.

1. They want to track you more than the web browser allows.
2. They want to keep their site on your home screen and remind you that it exists with push notifications. This keeps you using the app.

@epidiah@dice.camp

@epidiah aka we can harvest more of your personal deets in the app?