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MoviePass CEO says the app tracks your location before and after movies

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Re: MoviePass CEO says the app tracks your location before and after movies

#161

Post by mcast »

mynameisvlad wrote: post #153
csmiller wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Never heard of Sinemia. How is it different?

Looking at their plans ( https://www.sinemia.com/new-plans/ ) it's capped at 2 or 3 movies a day, available at any theater and in any format. You can also apparently buy advance tickets, which is a huge limitation for MoviePass. Their business model seems more sustainable than MoviePass, too. Well, at least when it's not heavily reduced due to the Oscar promo.

Per MONTH*, not per day. That’s a huge difference to MoviePass.

Re: MoviePass CEO says the app tracks your location before and after movies

#162

Post by heartles »

milesokeefe wrote: post #115
r00fus wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Huh. All the folks I know bring their libation (beer even sometimes) and even food into the theater. My wife and I always eat first, then take a small snack in her bag and that's it. Of course, we don't go to an upscale theater.

What theater lets you bring in outside food/drink? I've never heard of the practice, outside of theaters that let you bring your own growler for them to fill.

Afaik, none in the US let you bring food in, but it's trivial if anyone in your group has a hoodie or a purse

Re: MoviePass CEO says the app tracks your location before and after movies

#163

Post by mynameisvlad »

mcast wrote: post #161
mynameisvlad wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looking at their plans ( https://www.sinemia.com/new-plans/ ) it's capped at 2 or 3 movies a day, available at any theater and in any format. You can also apparently buy advance tickets, which is a huge limitation for MoviePass. Their business model seems more sustainable than MoviePass, too. Well, at least when it's not heavily reduced due to the Oscar promo.

Per MONTH*, not per day. That’s a huge difference to MoviePass.

Yes, which makes it far more sustainable.

Re: MoviePass CEO says the app tracks your location before and after movies

#164

Post by auggierose »

Never heard of MoviePass before (or are they connected to these strange Arnold Schwarzenegger meercats commercials)?

It seems cinemas are doing this already by themselves, for example Cineworld with its Cineworld Unlimited program for about £200 a year.

Re: MoviePass CEO says the app tracks your location before and after movies

#165

Post by bobbles »

abalone wrote: post #134

They will DEFINITELY run into trouble with Apple's app store policy. Apple doesn't outright ban apps that do this but they have to clearly state what they do when requesting location services permissions. There is a string called "app explanation" that has to state what they will use it for. Theirs says: "Find Theaters and movies near you, and be able to use the app to get tickets and the theaters." [1] There's nothi…

"be able to use the app to get tickets and the theaters." is this simply a typo that should be "and TO the theatres"? That would make sense if it actually gave you directions to get there at least...

Re: MoviePass CEO says the app tracks your location before and after movies

#168

Post by 0xmohit »

Hasn't it been demonstrated that apps can track user location even without requesting location or WiFi access?

  Android apps can track a user's location and glean potentially
  private, personal information – such as where you work or live
  – just by monitoring the internal sensors. More importantly,
  they can do this without ever needing access to a device's GPS
  or Wi-Fi permissions.
Source: Are your apps secretly stalking you? Android phones can be used to track you without permission [1]

[1] https://www.wired.co.uk/article/android-apps-can-track-you-w...

Re: MoviePass CEO says the app tracks your location before and after movies

#169

Post by tyfon »

Jasper_ wrote: post #74
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> How is this kind of "growth hack" not simply dumping[1]? "Dumping" is bad because it harms unsubsidized competitors. (It also pits foreign governments against private companies.) I fail to see who MoviePass hurt except its own investors. > Can healthy, truly profitable technology companies develop in an environment where they have to compete with startups that are ready and willing to undercut them by losing tons o…

> I fail to see who MoviePass hurt except its own investors. Games on the iOS App Store are generally free (or 99 cents). It is not profitable to recoup your costs by selling the product, because consumers will not pay for an app that costs more money than $1. In order to sustain this environment, the industry has moved to selling data, ads, and other sort of nonsense. Let's suggest that MoviePass successfully "disru…

> because consumers will not pay for an app that costs more money than $1

I'm quite the opposite. If a game on the play store is low priced/free and contain the "in-app"-purchases label I run far away.

It's a bit sad as some use this method as a demo with only a "full game" unlock in-app and I won't know. But I've been burned by that in the past, i.e. buy a full version without adds of a game and having the "full version" destroyed by adds a year later.

I'm generally extremely wary of buying anything on the play store now and have resorted to only using mail, signal, firefox with ad-block and my public transportation ticket app.. And the PS4 apps

Re: MoviePass CEO says the app tracks your location before and after movies

#170

Post by mijowi »

DrScump wrote: post #127
whoisjuan wrote: post #28

Any app that asks for your location can and will track you. This is so lucrative that Foursquare pivoted the whole company around the concept of location data as a service ( https://enterprise.foursquare.com/ ). Fortunately, you just need to revoke the permission (or don't grant it in the first place) if you want to avoid being tracked. If you're concerned about this, I'd definitely suggest doing a quick check of the…

I will never understand why people leave Location Services on all the time. I don't even install apps that request location when it isn't necessary for my needs (active geolocation, like mapping if I'm lost, hikes, and such). For Moviepass, and for the rare cases where I am lost or really need active directions, I turn Location services on. Then, it gets immediately shut off. (Similarly, I keep Bluetooth and NFC off…

I too choose privacy and battery life over the convenience of leaving location on all the time.
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