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That's exactly what I do! Google and Apple could instantly fix the problem (of co-mingling essential and marketing notifications) if they wanted to. The curre

That's exactly what I do! Google and Apple could instantly fix the problem (of co-mingling essential and marketing notifications) if they wanted to. The current situation is like getting opted in to "street signs and flashing billboards". It's stupid.

dvngnt_ 3y ago
on android this is a solved problem via notification categories.
- grotorea 3y ago
  It's a solved problem if the app developer wants it to be. Else it can just throw everything into the same category.
- bqmjjx0kac 3y ago
  I recall some apps seemed to keep inventing new categories that I hadn't blocked yet.
- Nursie 3y ago
  These exist on ios too, but apps don't always respect them and will occasionally push 'important' marketing messages alongside the functional stuff. In general this is a fast way off my handset.
FridgeSeal 3y ago
I have an iOS device, so can’t speak for Google, but I suspect that’s what Apple has been _trying_ to do. The problem is that these apps are essentially adversarial in their notifications. If you have a mechanism for “only the most essential notifications”, then they simply mark all their notifications as “essential” (looking at you Uber). Try to limit their notifications using “only is summary” or disabling them and the app will gleefully deny you all notifications, rendering it basically useless. Uber is particular is guilty for this - the app is conspicuously free of meaningful notification controls.
- drdeca 3y ago
  > If you have a mechanism for “only the most essential notifications”, then they simply mark all their notifications as “essential” (looking at you Uber) then perhaps Apple should say to them “either don’t mark these kinds of notifications as essential, or you get removed from the App Store”?
  - copperx 3y ago
    The solution is tried and true. Let the user mark notifications as spam and have a locally running spam filter. I'm sure we'll get that soon. Enforcing notification categories is unfeasible for all apps.
- saganus 3y ago
  I use Glasswire (Android) and block apps from accesing the internet, when not using them (e.g. Uber). It's a bit of pain to turn it on before use, and off again afterwards, but I've realized it's much less stressful than having notifications popping up at all times. YMMV
  - phanimahesh 3y ago
    Appears to be unmaintained. Not available for newer. Android versions. Any alternatives people tried and recommend?
  - photonbeam 3y ago
    As someone who hasn’t used android in 10 years, what you are describing seems like a warzone
    - saiya-jin 3y ago
      Depends what apps you use and notification settings, ie I don't have any uber app and my notifications are clean, just what I need.
  - astrange 3y ago
    That wouldn't stop iOS notifications; those are pushed from Uber's servers to the phone, not to the app.
rodgerd 3y ago
The EU is about to make it literally illegal for them to do so, so no they can't.
cjpearson 3y ago
Apple used to ban advertising push notifications. They began allowing them to avoid claims of anti-competitive behavior.
- neilparikh 3y ago
  The funny thing was that even Apple violated that rule themselves: https://marco.org/2014/12/01/app-store-rule-5-6 https://marco.org/2014/12/01/app-store-rule-5-6
madaxe_again 3y ago
This is not a problem from their perspective - it is a revenue centre. They’re doing the psychological equivalent of slash-and-burn deforestation - there won’t be a next generation of engineers, just a legion of addicts with attention spans measured in microseconds, but it’s profitable this quarter, and that’s all that matters.
dalore 3y ago
Google has this. You can make notification types as silent or normal or priority. Notifications from the same app have groupings of what type of notifications they will send. And you pick which ones you want to be notified about.
- MereInterest 3y ago
  Doesn’t this rely on the app developer maintaining the correct labeling of each category? An unethical developer would just mix advertisements into all notification category, while an ethical developer wouldn’t be sending the spurious notifications in the first place.
  - dalore 3y ago
    That is true. But careful the app developer that abuses this position, for they will more likely be the app I remove from my phone.
ldng 3y ago
GDPR is the acronym you're looking for ^^ Seriously, it helps a lot gating abuses like that.

dvngnt_ 3y ago

on android this is a solved problem via notification categories.

grotorea 3y ago
It's a solved problem if the app developer wants it to be. Else it can just throw everything into the same category.
bqmjjx0kac 3y ago
I recall some apps seemed to keep inventing new categories that I hadn't blocked yet.
Nursie 3y ago
These exist on ios too, but apps don't always respect them and will occasionally push 'important' marketing messages alongside the functional stuff. In general this is a fast way off my handset.

FridgeSeal 3y ago

I have an iOS device, so can’t speak for Google, but I suspect that’s what Apple has been _trying_ to do. The problem is that these apps are essentially adversarial in their notifications. If you have a mechanism for “only the most essential notifications”, then they simply mark all their notifications as “essential” (looking at you Uber). Try to limit their notifications using “only is summary” or disabling them and the app will gleefully deny you all notifications, rendering it basically useless. Uber is particular is guilty for this - the app is conspicuously free of meaningful notification controls.

drdeca 3y ago
> If you have a mechanism for “only the most essential notifications”, then they simply mark all their notifications as “essential” (looking at you Uber) then perhaps Apple should say to them “either don’t mark these kinds of notifications as essential, or you get removed from the App Store”?
- copperx 3y ago
  The solution is tried and true. Let the user mark notifications as spam and have a locally running spam filter. I'm sure we'll get that soon. Enforcing notification categories is unfeasible for all apps.
saganus 3y ago
I use Glasswire (Android) and block apps from accesing the internet, when not using them (e.g. Uber). It's a bit of pain to turn it on before use, and off again afterwards, but I've realized it's much less stressful than having notifications popping up at all times. YMMV
- phanimahesh 3y ago
  Appears to be unmaintained. Not available for newer. Android versions. Any alternatives people tried and recommend?
- photonbeam 3y ago
  As someone who hasn’t used android in 10 years, what you are describing seems like a warzone
  - saiya-jin 3y ago
    Depends what apps you use and notification settings, ie I don't have any uber app and my notifications are clean, just what I need.
- astrange 3y ago
  That wouldn't stop iOS notifications; those are pushed from Uber's servers to the phone, not to the app.

rodgerd 3y ago

The EU is about to make it literally illegal for them to do so, so no they can't.

cjpearson 3y ago

Apple used to ban advertising push notifications. They began allowing them to avoid claims of anti-competitive behavior.

neilparikh 3y ago
The funny thing was that even Apple violated that rule themselves: https://marco.org/2014/12/01/app-store-rule-5-6 https://marco.org/2014/12/01/app-store-rule-5-6

madaxe_again 3y ago

This is not a problem from their perspective - it is a revenue centre. They’re doing the psychological equivalent of slash-and-burn deforestation - there won’t be a next generation of engineers, just a legion of addicts with attention spans measured in microseconds, but it’s profitable this quarter, and that’s all that matters.

dalore 3y ago

Google has this. You can make notification types as silent or normal or priority. Notifications from the same app have groupings of what type of notifications they will send. And you pick which ones you want to be notified about.

MereInterest 3y ago
Doesn’t this rely on the app developer maintaining the correct labeling of each category? An unethical developer would just mix advertisements into all notification category, while an ethical developer wouldn’t be sending the spurious notifications in the first place.
- dalore 3y ago
  That is true. But careful the app developer that abuses this position, for they will more likely be the app I remove from my phone.

ldng 3y ago

GDPR is the acronym you're looking for ^^ Seriously, it helps a lot gating abuses like that.