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Apple has added persistent 'ads' to iOS, and it's driving users crazy

822 points · 601 comments · MC995

  1. bm3719 · · focus · HN ↗
    My flip phone is a completely ad-free experience. I would recommend it for just that reason (among many, many other benefits).

    With no channel for ads in your life, when you step into public spaces, you realize how much of our linguistic and visual spectrums are polluted by ads. The ad is always the same message too: "Buy this!" it screams as loud as it can, often trying to do so over the noise floor of other ads.

    Remove ads from your life and behold the vistas of thought that open up, those previously drowned out by mindless noise.

    1. CodingJeebus · · focus · HN ↗
      I want (and plan) to have a flip phone one day, but work necessitates that I have a mobile OS that can support things like MFA, unfortunately.
      1. BoxOfRain · · focus · HN ↗
        You might want to check out the Bigme HiBreak phones, they're basically low-mid Android phones with e-ink screens. They work perfectly well for the dull functional things expected of a phone, while rendering all the addictive and spammy patterns pretty ineffective. I've found my one very useful as an intermediate step between a dumbphone and a traditional smartphone.
      2. thoughtpalette · · focus · HN ↗
        I tried out dumb.co. Their flip phone supports maps, MFA, Uber, imessage/call forwarding.

        I unfortunately didn't use it nearly as much as I thought I would have. It's also significantly bulkier in my pocket than my 13 mini. Loved the idea though.

        1. asdff · · focus · HN ↗
          Why though? I mean you can use your 13 mini like that and just delete everything but those couple apps you actually need.
          1. thoughtpalette · · focus · HN ↗
            Mostly for nostalgia, I loved my Kyocera flip phone growing up. And yea, I basically just added time management tools to IG and Reddit on the 13 and I've been fine.
      3. asdff · · focus · HN ↗
        Why do you need a flip phone though? Just use your smartphone as you would a flip phone. Don't install ticktok. Problem solved.
        1. mahboi · · focus · HN ↗
          Because the iPhone has some ads for Apple services baked in, which is what the article is about. But it's really minor. The people complaining about this don't actually have iPhones, haha.
        2. red369 · · focus · HN ↗
          I think I agree with the idea that it is better to turn the smartphone into the phone you want, but I think it might require a bit more work than just not installing TikTok :)

          I doubt you&#x27;d see many ads in the iPhone Assistive Access mode, which can (sort of) turn an iPhone into a feature phone. You might also need to swap out a few Apple apps though. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;support.apple.com&#x2F;en-sg&#x2F;guide&#x2F;assistive-access-iphone&#x2F;welcome&#x2F;ios" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;support.apple.com&#x2F;en-sg&#x2F;guide&#x2F;assistive-access-iphon...

      4. magarnicle · · focus · HN ↗
        My flip phone runs a very limited Android, but enough to install Aegis for MFA. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;opelmobile.com.au&#x2F;product&#x2F;touch-flip&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;opelmobile.com.au&#x2F;product&#x2F;touch-flip&#x2F;
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