Live data from Hacker News

My small revenge on Apple

javierantonsblog.blogspot.com

281–290 of 471 posts

Re: My small revenge on Apple

#281

This is a perfect example of why Sign in with Apple is so great: it hides my e-mail and real name from people like the author who are clearly intent on using this information to sell me stuff I don't want.

I wish there were more established patterns around progressive disclosure of personal information. I want to use an app for a while before I start inviting them into my inbox and text messages.

Android (from v10 I think?) does that - deferring the request for permission X until it's actually used.

No more giving Camera permission to an app just because it supports sharing photos, which you know you never want to do, or whatever.

(Yes, this was possible beforehand by manually refusing specific permissions after granting all, or vice versa. But it could be unpredictable and cause app crashes etc.)

Re: My small revenge on Apple

#282
This is the pettiness I'd feel embarrassed about if I'd ever let it come to fruition.

Restricting Apple ID to the mobile app seems more than enough, the snarky popup goes too far. As a user, I don't care about your personal beef with Apple. Simply explaining that the button was added because of Apple's restrictions in the first place and that you never wished to support it in the first place should suffice.

I appreciate your willingness to lose customers to make a point against Apple. A little more... nuance would probably make it a lot easier to gather support from others.

Re: My small revenge on Apple

#283
Honestly the whole app could probably use a UI overhaul. The button looking different than other social logins isn’t the problem; the app looking completely alien to any version of iOS released in the last 10 years is the problem.

Re: My small revenge on Apple

#284
post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The messages sent to the "anonymous" Apple id mail are just forwarded to the user's inbox, aren't they? How is that any different from any other email address.

It isn't. My problem with AppleID is nothing more than that they forced AppleID on me. I would have voluntarily added it otherwise. But now because of this, I really really dislike it to the point that I will refuse to implement it in other platforms where it is not mandatory And I think Apple's behavior should change so I am making this public

Asking an honest question: if Apple didn’t force this, would you really add this voluntarily?

Because this response tells me you’re willing to compromise your user’s experience because of your personal issues with Apple.

As a user, this does not give me confidence in your decision making.

It’s somewhat understandable to be annoyed, even angry at Apple. But the moment you decide to pass that on to your users is the moment you’ve forgotten the most important humans in this story.

Of course, it’s your right to do what you want, and if that means taking a stance against Apple ranks higher than your user base, I suppose that’s your prerogative.

But that definitely would make me hesitate to use the app.

Re: My small revenge on Apple

#285

I like the angle of "Sorry, Apple ID only works on Apple devices." The rest of the popup seems unprofessional and would make me reconsider using the software, out of fear for what other unprofessional things may end up happening. But the bit I highlight is a nice jab at Apple and something I think you can get away with professionally in a web app. It mars their login brand a bit by showing that it isn't useful everyw…

Thanks, the web app isn't published yet and I will take this into consideration

Thank you for fighting the good fight.

Apple is making it impossible to have real customers and real businesses. They're turning us into serfs of their unfair ecosystem.

It's one thing to build interconnected products, but to grow the pie so large that all commerce and communication with 50% of Americans goes through their polished gates, to be stripped, taxed, and even cloned, is an abuse of power and position. It's a strip mining of our industry. An over fishing that has greatly decreased the probability of success for small, independent players.

Until the DOJ forces them to open up (or break up), we're stuck in this war zone.

I'm going to follow in your footsteps. Hopefully many more do as well.

Re: My small revenge on Apple

#286
Dude, apps small and large still send personalized emails. If you want your users’ names so bad, just ask. It seems like you would just prefer to do name = google_data_json.name rather than ask your users for their name and let them decide if they want to give it to you. This is exactly why I love that Apple introduced Sign In with Apple; it gives the user more control over what they want to give out since it’s their data.

Also your revenge is not on Apple. They’re a behemoth and won’t notice. You pointed this out in your post so you are obviously aware of it but the only people you are hurting are yourself and your users. If you know this and willingly charge along, all I can say is that says a lot more about you than it does about Apple. Good luck.

Re: My small revenge on Apple

#287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> we use the email address as a fraud signal for some payment providers This is not in the interest of the user. As a user I do not want yet another company getting my details and assembling a profile on me under the excuse of fraud prevention, especially when my bank offers 3D-Secure which shifts all fraud liability back to the bank. > all the sorts of emails that users tell us again and again are very important to…

> As a user I do not want yet another company getting my details and assembling a profile on me under the excuse of fraud prevention This is only done after an explicit opt-in when using just that payment method. It's actually done as part of a credit check and those have to be very explicit.

That’s when you explicitly ask the user for their real email address. This is not difficult unless you want to make it so for the purpose of raging at apple.

Re: My small revenge on Apple

#288

I like the angle of "Sorry, Apple ID only works on Apple devices." The rest of the popup seems unprofessional and would make me reconsider using the software, out of fear for what other unprofessional things may end up happening. But the bit I highlight is a nice jab at Apple and something I think you can get away with professionally in a web app. It mars their login brand a bit by showing that it isn't useful everyw…

Thanks, the web app isn't published yet and I will take this into consideration

For a more professional notice, I'd try something more like "Apple required us to choose between either supporting Sign-in with Apple in the iOS app, or disabling the logins of all existing users who had signed in with Google and Facebook. In protest of these abusive requirements, sign-in with Apple will not be supported online."

Re: My small revenge on Apple

#289

I like the angle of "Sorry, Apple ID only works on Apple devices." The rest of the popup seems unprofessional and would make me reconsider using the software, out of fear for what other unprofessional things may end up happening. But the bit I highlight is a nice jab at Apple and something I think you can get away with professionally in a web app. It mars their login brand a bit by showing that it isn't useful everyw…

> I like the angle of "Sorry, Apple ID only works on Apple devices."

Except it's inaccurate, it works on Android, Windows and in browsers https://support.apple.com/kb/HT211687

Agreed on all other points though, if you want to garner sympathy from your users, that's definitely not how to do it.

Re: My small revenge on Apple

#290

I like the angle of "Sorry, Apple ID only works on Apple devices." The rest of the popup seems unprofessional and would make me reconsider using the software, out of fear for what other unprofessional things may end up happening. But the bit I highlight is a nice jab at Apple and something I think you can get away with professionally in a web app. It mars their login brand a bit by showing that it isn't useful everyw…

And I actually think the message is more biting with only the first sentence. It works better when you don't take it too far.
Post reply on HN