alt Hacker NewsProbably hard to do for many but the solution seems be not to have their apps installed. It’s crazy to me that people tolerate FB et al on their devices where you have absolutely no control over what they’re doing.
Replies
bandrami • last Wednesday at 6:54 AM
Yup. When I deleted the FB, X, and Reddit apps both my productivity and my phone's battery life skyrocketed.
I assume that's why those companies try to actively degrade the experience on the website.
Hilift • last Tuesday at 8:27 PM
Reddit has fairly intense device fingerprinting. And they sell data for AI training.
I agree wrt Facebook, but there’s a long tail of useful apps-that-should-be-websites; 1 click for an app versus 45 seconds searching through tabs and re-logging in (etc) can be meaningful, especially when there are fifty of them.
My healthcare provider recently yanked the mobile version of their portal website, and forces users to download their app. Personally, I see the security angle, but still feel like it’s a punch in the face and so I just went back to paper billing and using a PC for healthcare stuff. More of this is coming, I suspect.