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Apple testing new App Store design that blurs the line between ads and results

9to5mac.com

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Re: Apple testing new App Store design that blurs the line between ads and results

#261

Post by Traubenfuchs »

Hammershaft wrote: post #219
mdasen wrote: post #21

This is what basically everyone else has done over the past decade. Google used to put a different background behind ads in its search ( https://www.fsedigital.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Google... ). It made it really easy to tell what was an ad and skip over it quickly. Now it's a lot harder to quickly notice what's an ad and what isn't. Sites used to have banner ads. Now they show posts that look exactly like t…

Amazon is particularly wild because you can use the site without realizing %70 of your results are ads.

I‘d argue it‘s often 100% unless you are looking for things so extremely specific no one paid ad/placement money for it.

Re: Apple testing new App Store design that blurs the line between ads and results

#262

Post by gverrilla »

k2enemy wrote: post #148
atonse wrote: post #8

More and more evidence that the a-holes with spreadsheets are taking over at Apple and they’re completely devoid of any ideas on the software side. I heard someone randomly say that they should replace Tim Cook with Scott Forstall. I chuckled at the idea but this might be a great idea. Apple is having its Ballmer moment. Google did too before AI lit the fire under their feet. Who is going to be Apple’s next Nadella?…

I could not agree more. It probably doesn't help that I just spend an hour trying to figure out how to update to 18.7.3 on my iphone. It turns out you can't. The only way to get security updates now is to upgrade to iOS 26. Apple no longer supports security updates to old major versions if the device is capable of running the new major release. Apple is no longer making choices that benefit customers, but ones that b…

If in the past it has, it was precisely to reach the present situation. It's naive to expect these companies to be pro-costumers. They would rape your mother if they could - the only reason they don't is because that would make you not buy their product and falsehoods.

Re: Apple testing new App Store design that blurs the line between ads and results

#263

Post by port11 »

VerifiedReports wrote: post #255
apparent wrote: post #252

The search results in the App Store are ridiculous. Sometimes I search for an app by name and have to scroll through dozens of other apps before finding the one I had searched for. App Store search is as broken as Apple Mail search, if not worse.

Amen. App-store search is an offense sham, wasting users' time and stealing from developers. And +1 to pitiful Mail search. But Apple has long suffered from a peculiar learning disability in regard to search. Not only does Finder fail to find files matching search strings that it's showing you IN THE CURRENT DIRECTORY... but both Finder and Spotlight provide no option to include WHERE it found stuff in search results…

The Finder issue can be alleviated if you include the path bar in your Finder window, at least it is so before Tahoe. So you highlight a search result and the path bar shows you where it is.

Search on iOS Mail is… what is it doing? I can see the e-mail right there, but Mail can’t find it. Especially if it needs to be « connected to power and on Wi-Fi ». Why?

Re: Apple testing new App Store design that blurs the line between ads and results

#264

Post by niek_pas »

mlhpdx wrote: post #217

This is an interesting left hand vs right hand thing. Apple is making it more difficult for find a particular app while coding assistance is making it easier to build one. At some point those curves intersect and the App Store becomes irrelevant.

Not as long as Apple requires you to manually re-sign your apps every 7 days without a $99/year developer account.

Re: Apple testing new App Store design that blurs the line between ads and results

#265

Post by port11 »

whywhywhywhy wrote: post #111
rgovostes wrote: post #104

This makes no difference, because I can’t remember the last time I installed an app other than for the occasional airline. From 2008-12 it was genuinely exciting to see what new apps were being released every day. Mobile games from that era had cultural impact. I bought $2 apps without a thought. But Apple incentivized monetization above all else and killed that excitement. Now you can’t find a tip calculator that do…

It’s because no one bothers with pay once apps anymore the only way to get customers is free app and tricking them into a subscription. Entire system raced the price people would pay for iOS software to 0

I’m building a pay-once app, but as mentioned in another comment, the business advisors don’t believe in that model.

Since I’m unemployed, I need them to approve my financial plan, and they’re really pressuring me into a subscription model. It’s crazy how many spreadsheet folk don’t think of anything but recurring revenue with a captive customer base.

Re: Apple testing new App Store design that blurs the line between ads and results

#266

Post by gverrilla »

nikitaga wrote: post #131
madeofpalk wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

macOS absolutely, definitely, 100% has ads. Buy a new Apple Watch and notice that the settings app with have a [1] badge trying to upsell you to buy AppleCare+. They obscure dismissing these by clicking the "Add AppleCare Coverage" button and then having a button that says actually no.

My MacOS "100%" does not have any ads. But I don't use Apple watch or Apple online services, so that's the difference I guess. You don't need to buy a Windows Watch to get ads on Windows though. They'll be right there anyway, and more of them.

Didn't know that was possible (not a mac user).

Re: Apple testing new App Store design that blurs the line between ads and results

#267

Post by morshu9001 »

rtpg wrote: post #229
morshu9001 wrote: post #223

I read the title then looked at the screenshots and thought what? It still says "ad."

It is kinda interesting how like every company seems to go through this flow of highlighting that something is an ad (usually even with some differing background color like what Google used to do!), and then they just pull back differentiators more and more until it really is the smallest minimal marker possible

For sure it seems intentional. I wonder if they used to be more afraid of the FTC.

Re: Apple testing new App Store design that blurs the line between ads and results

#268

Post by hsbauauvhabzb »

tartoran wrote: post #109
bool3max wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What’s interesting to me is that no matter how “hidden” the AD indicator may be, my brain always seems to very quickly train itself to swiftly skip such posts when scrolling/browsing. Or I could simply be another clueless victim of advertising. If only I could know the number of sponsored posts I never consciously acknowledge and am influenced by on the daily.

If the vast majority of people recognized ads and skipped them as more technically minded people do, they'd either not do that or step up a notch and make them even harder to spot. The reality is that these dark patterns do work for a large part of the users. We're the lucky few who can stay away though it is taxing and tiring.

Or at least we’re arrogant enough to think it doesn’t affect us.

Re: Apple testing new App Store design that blurs the line between ads and results

#269

Post by rwoerz »

yomismoaqui wrote: post #13
atonse wrote: post #8

More and more evidence that the a-holes with spreadsheets are taking over at Apple and they’re completely devoid of any ideas on the software side. I heard someone randomly say that they should replace Tim Cook with Scott Forstall. I chuckled at the idea but this might be a great idea. Apple is having its Ballmer moment. Google did too before AI lit the fire under their feet. Who is going to be Apple’s next Nadella?…

Can we use "ensheetification" to describe this phenomeon? (sure I'm not the first to use this word)

That description really excels

Re: Apple testing new App Store design that blurs the line between ads and results

#270

Post by hsbauauvhabzb »

beAbU wrote: post #192
mdasen wrote: post #21

This is what basically everyone else has done over the past decade. Google used to put a different background behind ads in its search ( https://www.fsedigital.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Google... ). It made it really easy to tell what was an ad and skip over it quickly. Now it's a lot harder to quickly notice what's an ad and what isn't. Sites used to have banner ads. Now they show posts that look exactly like t…

On amazon.ie at least, the sponsored products are so hilariously out of place it's dead easy to spot them, and banner blindness kicks in. E.g. I search for "nuk baby bottle warmer" and the first result is a window washing squeegee and the second is a bathroom grime scrubber.

Works as intended. If you’re looking for a baby bottle it’s reasonable to assume that your house is in disarray from the whole new baby in the house thing, and it’s above average probability that you’ll buy completely unrelated products during your search.
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