Writing release notes for consumer software doesn't make sense. They are a throwback to boxed software and should be abolished: 1. With A/B testing and server-

Writing release notes for consumer software doesn't make sense. They are a throwback to boxed software and should be abolished: 1. With A/B testing and server-side feature flags they don't reflect what the user will see. 2. With technology like React Native and PhoneGap changes are decoupled from shipping an updated ipa/apk. 3. With most apps shipping quickly (some every 2 weeks) localization of release notes becomes a long pole. 4. Simple text is not effective for showing users potential benefits or training how to use something. 5. They can be misleading...saying something like "fixed a startup crash" doesn't mean for a particular user the startup crash they are experiencing is fixed. 6. More and more users have automatic update turned on and don't even see release notes is the app store UI. 7. Users don't read release notes (or anything really). HN folks may read them...normal people do not. Do you know what version of Facebook.com you are using and all the new features they push out daily? How about Gmail? Nope, you use products for core functionality and then discover what's new in the course of actually using them and not in a text pop-up up front. This is how apps should be. A much better and more effective strategy is contextual in-app callouts / new user experiences. The above only applies to consumer products. I believe release notes can be valuable for enterprises/frameworks/libraries/tools/etc. PS: I know all about the tradeoffs...I wrote release notes for Mac OS X, Firefox, and Facebook. I was the one that decided to stop doing them at Facebook for the above reasons.