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My rule is: if I get a single notification that I find useless, I'll immediately disable that notification channel (I'm on Android; I'm not sure if iOS has a co

• mikecoles 4y ago
  You are more kind than I am. After one spam notification, a one star review is left and the app is removed.
• xahrepap 4y ago
  I follow the same rule. But I will also then go one star review it. I will also one-star review any app that prompts me to review it by first asking me if I like it (sneaky sneaky!)
  • karmakaze 4y ago
    I'll go one step farther and uninstall it if I haven't used it recently or often.
    • weego 4y ago
      I'll go that one step further and cast my phone into a shallow grave, having salted the earth it's buried in so that nothing may grow there again.
      • deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]
      • bryanrasmussen 4y ago
        I'll go that one step further and build a time machine and go back in time and kill myself before I have a chance to even install the app.
        • earleybird 4y ago
          "luxury" - sorry, wrong skit
      • dredmorbius 4y ago
        I blew up a planet once.
    • hdjjhhvvhga 4y ago
      I'll go one step further and try to bash it whenever I have a chance [0]. [0] Yes Free Now I'm talking about you.
  • stjohnswarts 4y ago
    Oh yeah I definitely do that with the "rate our app" if I've not so much as done more than open it up lol
  • Phlogistique 4y ago
    For some reason I had never thought of doing that. Thanks, I will do so from now on!
  • faeriechangling 4y ago
    Lol I do this too. If I see an "are you enjoying our app" banner I will immediately click yes, follow the link to the store, and then immediately 1 star. Even if I enjoy the app and use it daily. Companies that attempt to filter out negative feedback can pound sand.
    • sadamhus 4y ago
      Why? If you like it, why not give it a good rating and review if you’re going to take the time. For ratings apps can only present them officially like once or twice a year on apps. So once you rate it, then nothing should bug you again. What’s wrong with companies attempting to get positive feedback from those who like the app. The people who don’t like it, or when there’s one little thing wrong, go out of their way to one start it anyway (like if they have popups that ask you if you like the app even though it addresses the problem you have and that’s why you downloaded it). And if it is free, well, then going out of your way to one star it is a real bummer for that dev trying to make something of value for free and grow via star ratings and having you detract from that. (Unless they are free and collecting and selling all your data - at that point, and if they did this in a shady way although that’s hard to do because of disclosures - I could see giving a low rating review.) just seems overly critical in my opinion but maybe efforts like yours will change dev behavior overall.
      • faeriechangling 4y ago
        I expect a company to roll over and show its neck if it wants me to give it a good review, none of this “we’ll have separate processes for positive and negative feedback” nonsense. I don’t want to put the developers who DON’T engage in such ploys to be put at a disadvantage, and intuitively I know that they are put at a disadvantage unless people act in the way that I act. That ends up rewarding cowardice instead of bravery and transparency.
  • Kiro 4y ago
    That sounds harsh. I kindly ask if they want to leave a review to support me in my app. What's wrong with that? Haven't received any complaints and I got a lot of nice reviews I presume I wouldn't have gotten otherwise.
    • thewebcount 4y ago
      What’s wrong with that? It’s fucking irritating. It’s not my job to do marketing for them, and frankly I resent constantly being asked for feedback on every interaction. I bought a lightbulb. Please rate it! I bought toilet paper. Please rate it! It’s like being around a really insecure person who’s constantly trying to win your favor. Just be a good person and it will happen, but try to do it and you make it way worse.
      • Kiro 4y ago
        I provide a free game with no monetization and if they play more than an hour I ask if they would like to rate it. That's the only payment I get beyond donations. How is that unreasonable and worth giving me a 1 star for?
        • xahrepap 4y ago
          There are a few patterns here I didn’t dive into in my original comment above. 1. I don’t use a lot of apps. I prefer web for most things. It turns out the apps I do download are from bigger companies (YouTube, Netflix). It’s annoying to be nagged by these companies. I already pay them $x/mo and now they’re asking more from me? Please leave me alone. 2. Many apps are first asking if I like it THEN prompt me to review if I say yes. It is my understanding that this is against the rules for the Apple App Store. If it’s not it should be. That’s shady behavior. It’s so common that I’ve been conditioned to not even believe that the first prompt is even real. I feel like I’m literally being Phished for reviews here. I don’t like it. So yes, I’m to the point where I assume all nag-ware is employing some manipulative dark pattern and I default to 1-star review. Yes I will one star review some apps that don’t deserve it. But at this point those developers are playing in the same sandbox as all the bullies and I can’t tell them apart anymore. I have to protect myself. I don’t have the mental energy to try and distinguish between the good guys and bad guys anymore. It is my opinion that Indie developers need to find a better way to market themselves. The water has been poisoned on reviews. Sorry if you disagree with me. But that’s where I’m at now.
• stormbrew 4y ago
  > I'm on Android; I'm not sure if iOS has a concept of channel-specific settings Sadly iOS doesn't really have this in the same way :(
  • stjohnswarts 4y ago
    Some apps like uber/lyft have a setting for app critical notices vs what amounts to ads tho
  • scarface74 4y ago
    iOS has “Time Sensitive Notifications” that can be enabled separately for Uber in settings while other notifications are turned off. I’ll see if it works.
• sonicggg 4y ago
  I use a similar system for Slack notifications. Got an unwanted @here call? Mute channel entirely.
• gnicholas 4y ago
  I have a similar rule, but sometimes it's really hard to figure out (1) whether the app distinguishes between different types of notifications, and (2) where the setting is to turn off the new nuisance notification type. IME, Lyft and Uber are the worst. For Lyft, their notification preferences are buried under "Privacy: Choose what data you share with us". Not the first place anyone would look!
  • lrem 4y ago
    That's why Android has the system-wide pane for those. No space for (most of) dark patterns. And if someone goes out of their way to "accidentally" mess with that system (oops, this promotion went into the navigation category, silly me), they deserve to go all out silenced.
    • mynameisvlad 4y ago
      That’s entirely developer decided. Most are starting to recombine channels to get around the feature.
      • lolinder 4y ago
        The parent clearly knows that, hence their second point: "And if someone goes out of their way to "accidentally" mess with that system (oops, this promotion went into the navigation category, silly me), they deserve to go all out silenced."
        • mynameisvlad 4y ago
          Accidentally or intentionally misclassifying notifications is not the same thing as getting rid of the categories entirely.
  • cuu508 4y ago
    On Android, long-press a notification, then tap on a gear icon. You will see a list of notification categories for that app.
• nomilk 4y ago
  Useless notifications is a super dangerous game to play, since one lame "McDonalds has 25% off" *cough: Uber Eats* results in notifications being turned off and poorer outcomes for all parties from that moment on.
  • resters 4y ago
    Yes. Especially since the most useless ones seem to come when I’m driving.
  • lozenge 4y ago
    They are relying on 90% of people not knowing how to get to the notification settings. It's not dangerous, it's A/B tested...
    • abacadaba 4y ago
      guess im in the 10% of customers they lost. i know how to change settings but still easier to uninstall.
• natly 4y ago
  My rule is: Disable notifications immediately regardless, if I find myself wishing I had gotten a ping instead of opening the app to check, I turn it on (which never happens, it's off for everything).
• Larrikin 4y ago
  I've found that apps that properly set up channels on Android where your can easily block promotional notifications, don't abuse their notifications, and ones that don't put all their notifications through a couple different channels making it impossible to turn off only the ones you don't want. Amazon and Uber are examples of apps that abuse this.
  • hdjjhhvvhga 4y ago
    I just turned them off altogether. It turned out I can do well without them. If Uber is telling me the driver will be there in 4 minutes, I check my phone in ca. 4 minutes, it's not a big deal. On the other hand, getting a notification I haven't asked for is unacceptable as it steals my time. App creators think it is innocuous, but I have dozens of apps on my phone, and won't tolerate any user-hostile choices.
  • robocat 4y ago
    I install Uber when I need to use it, then deinstall it after pickup. If I forget to deinstall it, Uber kindly send me a notification reminder (random text with with a percent symbol within it), to remind me to deinstall it.
    • wardedVibe 4y ago
      Definitely stealing this idea, thanks
    • abruzzi 4y ago
      this is exactly what I do for most apps-install to use, remove after use. For Uber its easy since I only use Uber when I'm traveling in a country where I don't speak the language (Uber makes hailing rides in a foriegn country easy, though we used Yandex in Russia since Uber wasn't as common.) In some cases, I keep the app, but completely silence it.
    • efreak 4y ago
      at least on Android there's no need to completely uninstall it. you can disable the app with force stop; this should allow it to get updates, but shouldn't allow it to run again until you open it manually
• izacus 4y ago
  > My rule is: if I get a single notification that I find useless, I'll immediately disable that notification channel (I'm on Android; I'm not sure if iOS has a concept of channel-specific settings) for that app. Even if the channel can include useful notifications, as the article discusses. Well, the developers have started fighting against that by not splitting notifications into channels anymore. Now you just get "General" channel were basic functionality and spam can't be separated. The modern world of user abuse is great.
  • distances 4y ago
    I usually simply uninstall the app on the first clearly spammy notification. Why wouldn't I? It immediately sours the app image. If it's borderline I will first try silencing the channel like the parent commenter.
    • izacus 4y ago
      Those rules only work until you're required to have such app installed to do, for example, credit card payments.
      • fxtentacle 4y ago
        Where i live, GDPR and related laws make it illegal to mix advertising permissions with functional permissions. So that's never going to happen.
        • izacus 4y ago
          I've spent plenty of time working on GDPR compliance in EU and I can directly tell you there's nothing in GDPR that would say anything like that. GDPR talks about data collection and says nothing about having your own business spam you with advertisement (as long as they don't collect data outside their GDPR restrictions).
          • anticristi 4y ago
• SpacePortKnight 4y ago
  Lately I've been disabling notifications for almost all apps including Uber and food delivery apps. I can always open up the app to check the status when I want to. The only spam I've left on my phone is now the needless SMS.
• why-el 4y ago
  This is what my strategy is more or less, but for emails. If a startup sends me a "Welcome to X", I treat it as "Don't forget to unsubscribe from X".
  • version_five 4y ago
    This is a good idea. I almost always get caught by this. Last week I had to make Notion account for something, immediately started getting daily spam from them. It's the same everywhere, they think signing up is somehow a license to spam. It has the opposite effect, it destroys any good will towards the company. Slack is another big offender. Every time you sign up to a new channel you're back on a spam list for some reason. I don't know who is coaching these people, but like notifications, it's a big reason why I often just don't bother signing up for stuff
• furyofantares 4y ago
  I used to do it roughly like this, then I noticed how much more pleasant my wife's experience is. She just has them all turned off.
  • mrweasel 4y ago
    By default I never allow notification. If I start to notice that it would have been helpful to get a notification from an app, I will see if that's something that can be enabled.
• zbrozek 4y ago
  I disable all notifications from an app at first strike.
• ComputerGuru 4y ago
  This is also my policy - except: Uber just sent me a notification to celebrate pride month with Uber (by booking a car??). I don’t see how to turn off these promotional notifications but I need my Uber notifications so I’m aware when my driver is outside. I’m still not sure if I should block all Uber notifications.
  • SAI_Peregrinus 4y ago
    I just uninstall such apps until I need them. But I rarely use Uber/Lyft/etc, so it's no hassle to reinstall once or twice a year.
  • SnowHill9902 4y ago
    Wow that’s cool, did you celebrate? (Block unless you are actively waiting for a car.)
  • davidjfelix 4y ago
    Spoiler - they probably know and don't want to destroy their reliable spam channel. I turn them off and either keep the app open when I've ordered a car, or temporarily turn them back on while ubering and turn them back off when I get a trash notification. This definitely strikes me as one of those comments you see on HN that is wildly impractical at scale, but it's what I do.
    • shostack 4y ago
      Which is why strict app store policy enforcement is the only way to really end this.
      • SheinhardtWigCo 4y ago
        That won't happen. This is the most significant advantage the app stores have over PWAs.
  • justsomehnguy 4y ago
    > by booking a car?? by hooking a car, of course *agressive eyebrow movements*
• 2OEH8eoCRo0 4y ago
  That's my rule as well. I disable all notifications that are not an actual human that is trying to get in touch with me.
  • stjohnswarts 4y ago
    Even from your bank and credit cards?
    • deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
    • 2OEH8eoCRo0 4y ago
      Notifications? Yes. That leaves USPS and email.
• deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
• mattlondon 4y ago
  I do this too. If it is a commercial company (e.g. Starbucks from the article) then I sometimes make a point to act innocent and contact their support people to ask why I am not getting order update notifications after "turning off the ads" or whatever. Hopefully the message will get through.
• duxup 4y ago
  Same, I don’t have time to dork with notifications I don’t need. Once I get a bad notification I have no faith in an apps willingness to do what I want.