Comment by thirdsight | Hacker News Reader

Comment by thirdsight | Hacker News Reader

Well my $50 of this was blown on my wife and kids' 3 iPads buying in app upgrades for apps that were supposedly free but weren't and paying cash for apps that supposedly block ads but don't and apps that transfer files that don't work. Oh and games that crash all the time.

I suspect this is the case for a chunk of that $10B.

Really not impressed with the whole ecosystem and will not be investing further in it.

Edit: to clarify. They didn't buy the apps, I did. No in app purchases were made at all by anyone. The reviews are hopeless - unlike amazon for example there are no reviews or ratings of the reviews so you cant determine the difference between idiot reviewers and idiot developers until you've paid for it. Ad blocking is to stop the piles of malicious and idiotic pages forcing popups and apps down on you like its 1998 again. User alexpenny found a reference to this below - thanks: http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/06/shady-app-install-ads-are-a...

Edit 2: it appears HN has limited my efforts to defend myself in replies...

Edit 3: this is happening only on iOS devices. I don't have any android devices. This does not happen on any of my desktop machines running Firefox + AdBlock Edge. In fact I get no popups or install attempts at all and never have done.

Sounds like there's a mysterious issue wrt your situation, because all of those things are obvious even to near tech-illiterate people.

Apps can offer in app purchases (that's a feature), and they prompt you for your approval and password when you install something that costs. There are also parental controls to further restrict this. To complaint about this is like letting your 6 year old drive your car and complain that he wrecked it like it's the car company's fault.

Also, why you'd even attempt to find "apps that supposedly block ads" is beyond me. Have you even read anywhere that those work with iOS? Apps are in frigging sandboxes.

Plus, those apps CHOSE to be offered for free WITH ads. It wouldn't be ethical to the developer to take ads off of those apps in the first place, even if you could. Sounds like a totally cheapskate-y move.

As for "games that crash all the time" you do know that there are tons of quality titles for iOS right, even for huge companies like EA? You don't have to download every el cheapo (or "free with ads" you'll then try to block) game and then complaint. If one cannot trust oneself to access an app before buying, there are review sites. Thousands of those. Plus user ratings on the app store itself and lists of top and recommended apps.

>I suspect this is the case for a chunk of that $10B.

A very small chunk, and I doubt a chunk that has anything to do with any hacker proper.

The prompt and parental controls were added only after lots of complaints and a class-action suit involving minors purchasing IAPs and apps:

http://www.itunesinapppurchasesettlement.com/

Since parent didn't supply a date, it's possible he was recounting experiences before the changes were made.

> Plus, those apps CHOSE to be offered for free WITH ads. It wouldn't be ethical to the developer to take ads off of those apps in the first place, even if you could.

As a user I'm not going to allow your app to waste my limited data plan with ads, learn to cache them, or do something clever when the device is connected via wifi.

For various reasons, ads can not be easily cached.

Ad networks impose their restrictions, but if you can guarantee an amount of impressions, you can start selling ads by yourself.

If you don't want ads then don't use the app. It's not your God-given right to use an app that a developer worked hard to create.

If you want to display ads in your app, you can display ads promoting your products, or sell ads by yourself, this is what I meant with "do something clever when connected via wifi".

Maybe in the country you live the mobile internet is cheap and unmetered, but the appstore is international, if you don't want to deal with international users, you are free to lock your app by region. It's not your God-given right to use the user's data plan as you wish, even worse, in some countries you are going to waste your user's money in many orders of magnitude to perceive a cent (or less) for a banner.

If you are not going to care about your users, then don't complain about users not caring about your efforts.

>As a user I'm not going to allow your app to waste my limited data plan with ads, learn to cache them, or do something clever when the device is connected via wifi.

You have the option to NOT use the app. You are not entitled to free ad-less apps created by other people's toil, anyway.

I didn't said that I want an ad-less app, I said that I don't want to have ad traffic wasting precious megabytes, not everyone lives in a country with cheap internet.

Regarding your edit, did you notice it's happening on Google Play too and has nothing to do with Apple or Google?

Bad ads serving malware are a problem on desktop just as much as on mobile.

The App Store states that an app "Offers In App Purchases".

Parental controls are there. It's your own fault.

I don't enforce parental controls. This is about banner ads and web sites forcing you to download apps from the app store.

No web site "forces" you to download apps from the app store.

Quora doesn't agree. http://www.hanselman.com/blog/IdLikeToUseTheWebMyWayThankYou...

That has fuck-all to do with Apple.

Quora uses shitty UI dark patterns on the desktop, too.

> I suspect this is the case for a chunk of that $10B.

Why? AppStore sales keep going up year after year. That would suggest most people have a good experience. I think most people might have more realistic expectations. Your gripes are basically with software in general. Occasionally you get a dud app, crashy game, or otherwise regret a purchase. This has been my experience with software for the last I dunno 25 years or so. It takes some effort to find the good software for any platform. We all put up with it because we know there is very good software out there. It's worth the effort to seek it out.

There are plenty of sensible parental controls you can put in place. You have nobody to blame but yourself.

On them, not by them.

Gotta' read reviews before you buy anything on the app store.

I don't enforce parental controls (restrictions). They are too old for that crap.

However I don't want adverts in web pages that have detected an iPad forever redirecting to the app store. Then when you switch back to safari they reload and back to the app store app again unless you are quick.

It's like the bad old days of the Internet again playing banner whack a mole.

This has been a recent phenomenon, that as of yesterday started gaining public acknowledgment.

http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/06/shady-app-install-ads-are-a...

Malicious ads on ad networks are hardly a recent phenomenon.

You can download (free) browser apps, Terra for instance, that spoof the browser useragent (ie, firefox, another one iirc).

  You have nobody to blame but yourself.

Which is why Apple settled their class action on this subject, and as a direct result altered the appstore to mark free apps with IAP as such.

I think you misunderstood the OP. The problem is not that his kids bought things behind his back.

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