It's called benevolent deception. Found the article you were referring to: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/02/why-some-apps-use-fake-progres

It's called benevolent deception. Found the article you were referring to: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/02/why-some-apps-use-fake-progress-bars/517233/ https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/02/why-s...