heresaPizza

They went from making premium products to buggy objects filled with ads

I tried it and it was not worthy. The thing they showed the most was tiktok, that has a decent web app and looks much better on a big display. The same applies for basically all of them.

Important note: companies can’t just build fake app stores for their own apps, but must allow other developers to publish apps on them. So unless someone builds a place for sketchy apps and they all pass the notarization process and don’t break any agreement, it’s highly unlikely

Is this bad? yes Is It worse than Google and Meta’s SDKs being present in every app? no, it’s just as bad

It is Apple’s fault, but the EU’s DMA will force Apple to allow alternative engines. However this raises many doubts: - Will Apple just allow every browser in the App Store or they’ll manage to use side load (which they’ll also be forced to allow) as the only way to comply? (Probably not legal but i expect them to try, would vastly limit an App’s user base as demonstrated by Android). - In the best scenario, wich is Apple letting Mozilla put the full Firefox in the App Store, would they be interested at all to port Gecko to iOS?

Actually there are many ways to set parental controls on device and lock them with a passcode or you could use third party solution that use the Screen Time API but are compatible with Android.

Being an iPhone + Watch + AirPods user I can say the exact opposite. The Watch is the perfect iPhone companion but it can’t replace it. Its screen is so small it makes me want to complete interactions as quick as possible. I love leaving the iPhone at home when I go for a walk and still listening music and podcasts, but it’s something that requires minimal interactions. Receiving notifications is great, but replying? terrible. Imho Apple should be a bit braver when designing the Watch UI. Put an always accessible now playing widget, let apps create more complex widget etc. (but still, I am thinking about glanceable informations or single tap actions).

And I didn’t mention the fact the iPhone has cameras and it’s not physically attached to you.

I had to buy a new iPhone because I damaged my 3.5 yrs old XS so bad repairing was not a reasonable option. However I would have just changed the battery and kept it for way longer if it still worked. There are proofs that in the past Apple slowed down devices, but I don’t think it’s a thing anymore (at least if you know about the toggle in the battery settings and are willing to change the battery after 3/4 years). Every modern phone can last 5+ years of you can resist the pressure of marketing (my dad is still using a midrange 2017 Samsung and only started thinking to change it now).

You can still use the official IDCAC list or another one in uBlock. It’s not as good in big companies’ websites (like google) that show their own interactive multi page banners bc the filters can’t simulate clicks, but it’s still good enough for an uncluttered navigation in most websites.

Not necessarily. I use an other extension to delete cookies and data from every website and uBlock Origin blocks connections to trackers. So all I used to get with this extension was a way less cluttered user experience. I will now replace it with a simpler uBlock list.

I guess google still has an idea of who you are. Since you don’t use the recommendations, you should try an alternative front end, so you don’t get tracked at all.

I use an extension on firefox that allows me to whitelist channels from the ad blocking (u need to use uBlock origin). However, it puts a limit on the amount of ads and i support directly my favourite creators on other platforms.

I’m in Italy and as long as you have the phone number, you can just use whatsapp. It’s the de-facto standard and everyone has it. I really don’t understand the problem.

Imho if RCS ever takes over SMS it will eventually get to a point where it’s equally obsolete. RCS requires carriers to support the standard and manufacturers to build features upon it that its not guaranteed will work as expected on all the devices. As much as i hate private companies having monopolies over online communication on entire countries, at least their services are reliable, accessible from basically every device and constantly improving.

I bet a different standard will be created instead. RCS puts carriers back into the equation, while major services (or as the EU calls them “gatekeepers”) just want to have as much control as possible.