Deth

This dark pattern has been around for a while. I remember Etsy doing it, and I know Facebook does it. There have been other sites too, but I can’t remember what they are.

You know how the notification will icon will be highlighted and say that you have one or more messages. You click on it, and it tells you to install the app. The worst of the worst will imply that you have a message when you don’t. That seems to have settled down a bit. It will say to install the app to view your messages when there are none. It will have some random number there, though.

If I wanted to install your bloated app, which is most likely another copy of the browser engine and bloated with trackers, I would. I have finite resources on my Android devices, and the fad is no expandable memory. The main goal in that is planned obsolesce. In the process of removing the microSD slot, I’m sure they saved a fraction of a cent.

If I wanted a random notification about spammy things, I would install your app. Nothing is more useful than the random notification interrupting what I am doing to say some spammy deal.

These apps add no value or do anything that the website can’t do for me. The dishonesty used on so many websites these days makes a snake oil salesman look honest. Everything is just such a giant race to the bottom. The sooner the tracking and ads bubble pops, the better.