‘The tyranny of apps’: those without smartphones are unfairly penalised, say campaigners
-
This post did not contain any content.
Not having a phone really sucks in this day and age. Imagine getting out of jail for something stupid like marijuana possession and then a parole violation due to a missed appointment. No one will hire you with your rap sheet. You live in a halfway house with a bunch of petty BS every day. And you can't keep up with your parole demands because of how much your lack of a phone gets in your way. At the end of the day, there IS a way to succeed if you make the right choices, but shit, it's just so much harder for some people to make the right choices when every day is crisis mode. And all because of WHAT?
-
I'm shocked.
Right off the top of my head, I can mention an entire finacial institution that only exists through an app. No website, no physical locations, no nothing. It's one app and that is it.
I mean I use Cashapp, but I could also not use it and my life wouldn't be much harder
-
Can't your purchases be tied to you via credit/debit card number? I mean obviously you can use cash, but I don't see a lot of people using cash
yes, that still doesnt give the store your home address, phone number, etc etc like signing up for a rewards card does.
-
Every service and site had their own malicious toolbar they'd ask you to install and / 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.
Ohh, I see. That makes a lot of sense. I understand the comparison now, ty
-
The same goes for customer loyalty cards. All market tracking schemes should be rightfully banned.
At least you can not only ask other customers for their cards, but also sometimes be offered theirs without even asking.
-
In the US, if you don't have the loyalty card, you're paying more for groceries. For the stores we use, any sale prices are contingent upon using the loyalty card. This can add up to $5-$10 per order.
I use a loyalty card pretty often. It's just that it is almost always another customer's card) And in case this is not available - a barcode of some rando's loyalty card I found online, the valid ones are often easy to find.
-
I used a flip phone for a month to help curb my screen time addiction. The number of restaurants, stores, etc. that simply expect it of you to have a smart phone was eye opening.
I have seen a bit of that, but every time it turned out to have an option without. For example, one chain wanted you to use an app for making orders - but when you say "I am sorry, I have a dumbphone", it turns out there is a tablet for this on the reception.
-
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.
Unless you bothered to check the laundry room when you were looking at the apartment, you wouldn't know. No warnings.
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)
-
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.
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.
-
My S21 is on the verge of losing regular security updates, and I hate it. The battery is fine, the camera is more than adequate, I do not want to upgrade.
So would you not recommend me getting a refurbished s20? That's the most recent model that still has microSD slots and I've seen them for 200. But I'm not sure about security...
-
My S21 is on the verge of losing regular security updates, and I hate it. The battery is fine, the camera is more than adequate, I do not want to upgrade.
I'm rocking an S8 as long as I can, but no updates in 5 years is starting to cause compatability issues. I'll have to look into /e/OS soon I think.
-
That...
Is that not illegal where you live?
America has next to no protections for tenants, only landlords.
-
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)
It's actually incredibly common in US apartments for laundry to be a common area.
Having a unit in your apartment means you're at least well-to-do. Poor people can mostly go fuck themselves.
-
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.
-
What ticks my off is that I have the stupid Safeway card and the stupid Kroger card. But now there's more deals, better deals if I do a digital coupon requiring the app on my phone, too. It's not enough to know about all the regular items in my home, from celery to toilet paper, but they also must need to hoover up all my digital into as well? Dude, just buy it from Meta or whichever jerks have it all. Half-price grapes ain't the right price.
Yeah multiple layers of s***; I'll be honest I never figured out how to use the digital coupons for the second layer of discount; seems like it's not in the Kroger app but some other scammy telemetry scamming 3rs party. I paid the $2.99 for the ice cream I stead of 1.99
-
what's the rationale for IT not wanting to pay for the fobs?
Managers probably sold apps as a cost cutting measure
-
what's the rationale for IT not wanting to pay for the fobs?
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
-
Every service and site had their own malicious toolbar they'd ask you to install and / 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
-
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.
-
comment unavailable
If you want to read this content, please download our app:
https://customblogs.vercel.app/download-our-app-pleaseRisky click of the day.
