Thread

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

822 points · 601 comments · MC995

AnonC · 1790088825 · focus · HN ↗
I doubt John Ternus will change direction anytime soon, since it will look like he’s reversing the plethora of eyesore ads that Tim Cook added over his tenure.
But the Apple with ads is not the Apple that had some taste and discernment in the past. For a long time I’ve visited the App Store’s app update page directly (tap and hold on App Store icon to see the context menu option). Anytime I inadvertently go to the App Store home page or the few times I search, it’s an ad filled disaster!
From this article
> repeatedly attempting to prod customers towards even more of the company’s products might seem cheap, even distasteful.
From a recent post by John Gruber:
> Steve Jobs in 2011: 'We Build Products That We Want for Ourselves, Too, and We Just Don't Want Ads' [1]
Looks like Tim Cook, John Ternus and Eddy Cue really enjoy being swamped with ads in their products. Will there soon be a time when Apple executives start carrying some other brand’s devices with them to avoid having a rotten experience?
[1]: We don’t want ads <a href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/07/28/jobs-we-dont-want-ads" rel="nofollow">https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/07/28/jobs-we-dont-wa...
1. bluepeter · 1790096924 · focus · HN ↗
  Worth remembering that Steve Jobs championed "iAds"... <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthof/2011/12/13/steve-jobs-last-big-failure-iads/" rel="nofollow">https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthof/2011/12/13/steve-jobs...
  1. SllX · 1790097034 · focus · HN ↗
    Yeah & they veered so hard into tying to make them tasteful & not suck that it failed. Turns out the real money is in spyware.
    bitpush · 1790114956 · focus · HN ↗
    How so? This smells like Apple Distortion Field. "Yeah our ads are better. Its the other guys' ads that are bad".
    The problem with Apple is they make statements that they walk back gleefully at a moments notice.
    - Nobody wants a bigger phone - iPhone Pro Maxes
    - Nobody wants foldables - iPhone Duo
    - We've simplified the product portfolio .. ahem.
    - AI is bad - Ours is called Apple Intelligence. Totally different thing.
    Think Different indeed.
    UqWBcuFx6NV4r · 1790122531 · focus · HN ↗
    What a bad-faith comment. You just wanted to launch into an anti-Apple lecture and it doesn’t sound like you have the slightest clue about this specific topic. Have you watched the iAds presentation? They’re not like any other advertisements I’ve seen before. CERTAINLY not at the time. You can see exactly why advertisers didn’t bite.
    bitpush · 1790136774 · focus · HN ↗
    Honest question. If iAds were so good, why didnt it succeed?
    When something is successful its all Apple. When something fails, its just that others dont get it.
    Do you afford the same benefit to other people/companies? Why is Apple so special?
    sirwhinesalot · 1790150264 · focus · HN ↗
    Because they were good for the customer rather than the advertiser, and the money to Apple came from the advertiser in this case.
    bitpush · 1790151904 · focus · HN ↗
    Ads in Apple Maps. How is it user friendly?
    wolvoleo · 1790168346 · focus · HN ↗
    It's probably the single one time where I would actually want ads.
    For example roaming the city at 4am on a Saturday and trying to find some place with hot food. Google failed miserably at this. Eventually I found something but just because I knew it was often open at night. It was also marked open on Google Maps but never came up in searches there. Probably other places paid Google more for a listing despite being closed at that time.
    Not sure how Apple does with this as I don't have any Apple anymore except a work iPad. It's too limited for me in terms of what I can install. But there's certainly some room for improvement in mapping.
    theendisney · 1790208717 · focus · HN ↗
    Hah, that Google experience clicking though closed closed closed... Okay fine, i will accept my stupidity for even considering this approach. Wont happen again.
    maest · 1790216588 · focus · HN ↗
    There's an "open only" button?
    wolvoleo · 1790249399 · focus · HN ↗
    Oh I didn't find it, I have to say I don't use google maps very much. I normally use OSMAnd only. But most businesses don't bother updating their opening hours on openstreetmap.

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