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'The tyranny of apps': those without smartphones are unfairly penalised

theguardian.com

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Re: 'The tyranny of apps': those without smartphones are unfairly penalised

#761

Post by kelnos »

xxr wrote: post #347
joshdavham wrote: post #127

I’m fascinated by this phenomenon of apps proposing solutions that are far worse than the previous existing solutions. For example: 1. Parking apps are worse than parking meters. 2. Tinder is worse than IRL speed dating. 3. Duolingo is worse than language classes. 4. Airline apps that are worse than just printing a boarding pass. 5. Etc It really makes me frustrated as someone who builds software and generally thinks…

A few months ago, I had to use street parking in Long Beach, California. They no longer had individual meters along this particular street, but rather one parking sticker machine. The parking sticker machine was broken, so I had to download the advertised parking payment app which was not one of the parking apps I already had on my phone. Finally, I had to pay an additional “convenience” fee on top to use this app th…

Ugh, that's gross. And I bet if you hadn't paid, gotten a ticket, and then defended yourself by saying the machine was broken, they would have still fined you because the app was available.

It should be illegal to have that sort of setup... if the lowest-common-denominator form of payment is broken, then it should be free.

Re: 'The tyranny of apps': those without smartphones are unfairly penalised

#763

Post by Symbiote »

quantified wrote: post #679
mrweasel wrote: post #426

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't trust apps, I don't mind using them for stuff that doesn't matter much, like parking og supermarket loyalty programs. For travel information, absolutly fucking not. I print everything. At the airport I mostly see people using their phones as boarding passes, I absolutely refuse to do that, I have zero trust that that will work as well as the paper boarding passes.

I really hate that the basic cost for participation has gone up, a smartphone and quality internet (in the USA) can be a significant cost. But I've never had a problem with a screen capture of a boarding pass, and I've found the Apple wallet to work as well. The airport kiosks are good for printing out the pass when you check in, or even for just printing if you checked in on-line 24 hours prior.

I usually print a boarding pass at the airport kiosk — I always have luggage to check anyway, and there's then no concern if my battery dies etc.

But at the automatic gates to security, and at the boarding gate, I think the majority of people having trouble scanning their boarding pass are using a phone. For those elderly people who can't scan a paper boarding pass, the staff can immediately help — but they're much less able to help scan a barcode on a phone, which might be set too dim, be turning to landscape mode, etc.

Re: 'The tyranny of apps': those without smartphones are unfairly penalised

#764

Post by kelnos »

dehrmann wrote: post #365
joshdavham wrote: post #127

I’m fascinated by this phenomenon of apps proposing solutions that are far worse than the previous existing solutions. For example: 1. Parking apps are worse than parking meters. 2. Tinder is worse than IRL speed dating. 3. Duolingo is worse than language classes. 4. Airline apps that are worse than just printing a boarding pass. 5. Etc It really makes me frustrated as someone who builds software and generally thinks…

> 4. Airline apps that are worse than just printing a boarding pass. Whenever I fly business class for an international trip, I always check in at the counter. It's just as fast, but getting that boarding pass printing on cardstock and tucked into the photo page of my passport feels so quaint and charming.

> I always check in at the counter. It's just as fast

Having waited in several check-in counter lines because the airline's app insists that a human needs to check my travel documents before giving me a boarding pass, no, it is so not just as fast. Even for business class. Even if there is no line, I can tap through a mobile app check-in flow (in the comfort of my own home!) faster than a check-in agent will usually verify my identity and print a boarding pass. Regardless, I'd rather not add that kind of variability into the airport process, and have to pad my arrival time even more.

> getting that boarding pass printing on cardstock and tucked into the photo page of my passport feels so quaint and charming.

This made me smile :)

Re: 'The tyranny of apps': those without smartphones are unfairly penalised

#765

Post by Symbiote »

tokioyoyo wrote: post #171
ryandrake wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don’t people just print their boarding passes at home before they leave for the airport? Or worst case, use the kiosks at the airports which print passes? Very few of the passengers in line ahead of me are using their phones.

Depends where you are and which flights. Around me, maybe 60% of people use mobile. From the other 40%, some probably got their paper tickets when they checked in their baggage and going with that now. > boarding passes at home before they leave for the airport It’s been years I’ve heard or seen anyone doing it. Even my parents in their 70s get theirs at the airport.

Ryanair (3rd largest airline in the world) insists on people printing their boarding pass like this, or using their app. They save money by needing fewer terminals at the airport.

Re: 'The tyranny of apps': those without smartphones are unfairly penalised

#766

Post by dennis_jeeves2 »

afandian wrote: post #516

I'm glad to see people talking about this. I'd love to see a new right: The right to not have your phone on you. For whatever reason. Maybe it was stolen. Maybe it's being fixed. Maybe the battery is dead. (Maybe you don't want to get a Google or Apple account. But that's not the only use case.) All public services and essential services (government services, banks, car parks, etc) should respect this right. It's biz…

>It's bizarre that people think it's such an outlandish request.

Bizarre but not surprising. Tyranny of the masses.

Re: 'The tyranny of apps': those without smartphones are unfairly penalised

#767

Post by Symbiote »

lucb1e wrote: post #597
realityking wrote: post #341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In that - hopefully exceptionally rare case - the gate could just print you a boarding pass. It’s not a big deal.

I didn't know that. Based on what do they print a boarding pass, or perhaps rather: why don't they check {whatever the answer to the previous question is} at boarding instead of you having to hold onto a pass that apparently is a proxy for something else?

I've had a boarding pass reissued at the gate based on my passport.

Some airlines in Europe check both the boarding pass and the passport/identity card at the boarding gate, to ensure people haven't swapped boarding passes within the airport. I think I see this on flights outside the EU, but I'm not sure.

Re: 'The tyranny of apps': those without smartphones are unfairly penalised

#768

Post by seabombs »

joshdavham wrote: post #127

I’m fascinated by this phenomenon of apps proposing solutions that are far worse than the previous existing solutions. For example: 1. Parking apps are worse than parking meters. 2. Tinder is worse than IRL speed dating. 3. Duolingo is worse than language classes. 4. Airline apps that are worse than just printing a boarding pass. 5. Etc It really makes me frustrated as someone who builds software and generally thinks…

Though there are exceptions (even amongst your examples IMO), of the good-fast-cheap triangle I feel the majority choose fast and cheap.

Re: 'The tyranny of apps': those without smartphones are unfairly penalised

#769

Post by bmoxb »

odiroot wrote: post #507
2shortplanks wrote: post #167

One thing this article doesn’t mention is how this all falls apart when you spend time in more than one country. My UK bank (Barclays) won’t let me install their app on my US iPhone (i.e. my phone that uses a US based iCloud account). Tesco won’t let me use their loyalty app. I can’t install an app that’ll let me order Starbucks or McDonalds in the UK (I only have access to the US versions of these apps). I can’t wat…

This is all rather easy on Android. You can have multiple Google (Play) accounts set to different countries. But most app developers don't even enforce it. I had UK bank apps installed through my "German" Google account.

I don't see why I should even have to set up multiple accounts. For the vast majority of these apps, I see no reason they need to be geo-locked anyway.

Re: 'The tyranny of apps': those without smartphones are unfairly penalised

#770

Post by creer »

Henchman21 wrote: post #266
Boogie_Man wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At what point does this constitute a hostile action against the user and what degree of retaliation is appropriate? Open question for everyone.

I’m gonna punt on the question of where the line is for hostile actions and use some past legal justification of “I know it when I see it” and I see it clearly here. The second part is the more interesting question to me: Appropriate reactions would seem to include: - finding a new doctor/practice/provider. Super hard in practice as they seem to be geographical monopolies a la the cable networks - providing appropria…

- Call the office and ask them to read the message that they couldn't be bothered to put in regular email.

- Switch to paper mail notices

(Here, health insurance "improving" their web site - again - to a useless two-factor auth that loops indefinitely.)

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