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

Post by sdwr » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 6:56 PM UTC

mihaaly wrote: post #137

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…

What is shocking is that deception is the common. Accepted, argued for by some. Loosing trust of the site/app doing the deception is the result. Becoming common, accepted, trend, and then loosing trust in the whole industry is the result.

Post by throwaway2037 » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 6:58 PM UTC

mschuster91 wrote: post #462

PlatoIsADisease wrote: post #408

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>you discover that there's a heap of functionality and convenience you'll have to let go, and add complexity and cost to your setup. Which is? Every time I got an Apple product, it felt like a step back. They were late to widgets, late to AI. Their security is historically poor.

> Every time I got an Apple product, it felt like a step back. They were late to widgets, late to AI. Their security is historically poor. It's not a bad thing to be late to AI. Most of it has shown to be a complete waste of time, money and resources. As for poor security - this has got to be a joke, right? If anything, it's the Windows world that has a piss poor track record when it comes to security. Apple meanwhil…

    > It's not a bad thing to be late to AI.

Post by mikkupikku » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 7:06 PM UTC

gnatman wrote: post #407

mikkupikku wrote: post #326

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The sickening truth is that most normals don't turn their attention in another way even when they recognize an ad for what it is.

Why should they if they’re buying some commoditized item on amazon, for example? I bought an ergonomic ice pack for my knee this morning, something I couldn’t find in the store near my house. Why should I scroll past the first, cheapest, decent looking item that meets my needs? As a moral duty, perhaps. At any rate, advertisement doesn’t necessarily mean scam.

Post by morshu9001 » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 7:11 PM UTC

Dylan16807 wrote: post #287

morshu9001 wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wasn't there to read the text, the screenshots say everything. Thought I was looking at the wrong pic cause it seemed obvious.

> I wasn't there to read the text, the screenshots say everything. That's the exact kind of attitude that will make people miss an "obvious" marker. And I wouldn't call that tiny thing on the third row of text obvious. Even knowing it said 'ad' somewhere, it took me several tries to find it.

Post by ulrikrasmussen » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 7:13 PM UTC

dymk wrote: post #409

torben-friis wrote: post #311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>It's shocking that Apple hasn't done this trick yet when everyone else started doing it years ago. They sell a walled garden. If shit gets inside the walls, we might as well come out. I’m not willing to pay the apple tax any longer. Let the ad sellers pay if they’re the main costumers.

It’s still better than the alternatives