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Comment by tomc1985 | Hacker News Reader

tomc1985

I stopped downloading apps because, first and foremost, they enabled every stupid little company to access my notifications bar. Now every stupid little marketing droid is sending me stupid chipper messages about whatever stupid thing they think I should care about.

Yes I can turn them off. No I should not have to. These people should respect other peoples' space.

And it's gotten worse! If polluting the notifications bar isn't pathetic enough, Facebook now begs you to "help thousands of users" with a review in-app. Windows 10 lockscreen is begging me to try Cortana. EVEN MY F@%#! camera app does this now!! STOP TELLING ME WHAT TO DO ASSHOLES!

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Oh boy, I forgot just how much of a problem this was on Android. I've been using an iPhone for a little over a year now and it seems to be dramatically better in Apple's ecosystem for some reason. This post brought back nightmares where I'd check my Android phone and have 10+ notifications that were 100% spam.

1. what kind of shady apps were you installing? What you describe is against Google ToS and results in a ban from the store.

2. long press on the notification to see what app sent it, then press to disable any further notifications from that app (or better yet, give it 1-start and uninstall it).

sincerely, a windows phone user

(edit: my comment is down-voted for stating how Android works??)

I think notifications are off on iOS by default, and the first time you launch the app, it asks you "[App] wants to send you notifications" and you have to explicitly allow it. Same thing with accessing your contacts/calendar and stuff.

Well it isn't on Android.

You can long-press on the notification and hide it though, since 4.3.

Still, users should not have to perform this. There is no consent.

A big reason I switched to iOS is that Apple cares about letting me control what runs on my phone and how much apps can nag me and what they can access. Google does not care about this at all and it's reminiscent of the huge risk of downloading anything on a PC. That's exactly what I'm trying to get away from on the phone.

Funny, I switched to Android because Apple exerted complete control over what software I could run on my phone, to the extent that I can only run the apps they allow me to, but I get your point.

I guess I decided that Google's BS was a little more palatable than Apple's BS.

Tho not ideal, I've been jailbreaking every iPhone ive had for 4 years now. Best of both worlds.

And how long will they let you have that control?

As soon as the winds change, just you wait. They'll have some bullshit excuse about engagement or control, but it will be gone just the same.

Unless you are some sort of app reviewer and install hundreds of apps I would say the Google method is better. You get notifications served by default and its a quick long press right in the notification bar to mute all future notifications if needed. Apple wants you to make this decision early on when often I don't even know what type of notifications an app serves.

I think Android 6 changed this to make users granting permissions explicitly when running app. But, it might take years for phones and apps to upgrade to android 6.

Yep, using Android 6 now and I think the app has to ask for notification permissions on first app launch if I'm not mistaken.

Android does not have a permission system for notifications. A user can disable them for an app.

Hmm. I could swear since upgrading recently that I've been asked whether an app can send me notifications. Could be wrong , I have a large mishmash of Android and iOS devices lying around the house.

can this have been an in-app dialog?

many apps simply ask you if they can show you notifications.

Hmm, I wonder why.

protip: don't use google play for apps. Only download apps via F-DROID, which only provides open-source apps and removes "anti-features" (or explicitly warns about them in a prompt before installing).

"No I shoul not have to." Consistent behavior of defaults in this regard would best be managed by the OS.

Which should default to "the user wishes to be left alone except for the things they explicitly cares about"

At least the web browser disables site-generated notifications by default, and it asks me before turning them on.

Yeah, you shouldn't have to turn them off. But on my phone at least, the default is off. The app asks and you say no.

I just wish the default (Google) camera app in my Nexus 5X didn't crash circa 50% of the time when I zoom out.

The apps I have already give me enough grief. Why would I want more?

P.S. Also WRT apps, cough security cough

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