I deactivated Google Play on my phone.
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I deactivated Google Play on my phone. The electricity company app was the first to be bricked. 'You must update.'
I wrote to them: ’I don’t have Google or Apple. Where else can I update the app?’ Nowhere else, they replied.
I wrote (politely) back: ’I can’t use your app any more then. It’s an odd requirement to make of your customers. A Norlys customer can only access all Norlys services if they are also a customer of one of two specific private for-profit US companies.’
@CiaraNi Fighting the good fight sister!
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@oldrup Jeg deler din indgangsvinkel. Jeg bruger så få apps som muligt. Websider, der fungerer, er altid fint med mig. At jeg overhovedet brugte Norlys' app skyldes en fejlfakturerings-saga, hvor jeg måtte nær-følge mit forbrug i en lang periode. (Er løst, heldigvis.) Hvorfor der er bedre features i app'en end på websiden kan jeg ikke sige dig. Uanset, er det stadig tilfældet, at de udelukker betalende kunder fra en af deres tjenester, når deres app kun kan bruges af Google- og Apple-kunder.
@CiaraNi Præcis. Altså hvis de alligevel vælger at tilbyde folk med "rigtige computere" den samme oplevelse på en web, så slår de jo alle fluer med et smæk.
Når man vælger at lave en app, skal man pludselig forholde sig yderligere to ret specielle platforme, særlige app-store betingelser, et hav af forskellige telefoner og tablets. Det er meget mere komplekst.
Og, lyder det som, i dit tilfælde burde det være unødvendigt.
Hvad gør du så? Logger på Google, opdaterer, logger af igen?
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@franciswashere It may have to be ready-made popcorn from the shop if the electricity company cuts me off for making them spend time defending their digital lifestyle choices
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@CiaraNi I'm trying to explain the same thing to the Swiss Government...
@leberschnitzel Good luck! I have started writing to companies to object to customer-unfriendly use of AI or services that are locked in to third-party Big Tech companies. I feel foolish, one small customer, but if enough of us do it, maybe they'll hear the collective voice.
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@CiaraNi i wonder if the app exists on a non-goog repository like Aptoide so you can update Goog-free
@weezmgk It's not in F-Droid, at any rate. And I assume it's not anywhere else, given that they had to reply 'Google or Apple only' after my initial question.
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@CiaraNi vi bør opfinde en mærkningsordning så man let kan se inden man vælger en leverandør om man kan bruge den på en suveræn platform. Hvad skal vi kalde det?
@sindum Det er et fremragende idé. Noget til digitale produkter a la Svanemærket eller Ø, der ved ét blik fortæller, at det er en platform-uafhængig løsning. Nu sidder jeg og spekulerer over, hvad det kunne hedde. Er blank lige nu, jeg tænker videre. Og måske har andre gode forslag.
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@CiaraNi I hope that all these companies will soon see the light and start developing alternatives. But we as customers can also do something. Namely, stop using them en masse. Then it will be over quickly. We are also letting it slide.
@AccordingtoWouter I agree so much. I keep thinking about exactly this. Money and greed is at the root of the enshittification and fascism. We hold the best weapon: mass boycotts. If everyone immediately stopped buying on Amazon, using WhatsApp, etc., they'd feel it.
In the specific case here, it's the electricity company. I can't just not be their customer. But I could delete the app and let them know why. I've boycotted others completely - deleted Spotify, am almost deMicrosofted, etc.
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@CiaraNi a former coworker works there. At least on one occasion she surprised me, and very positively, and doing so made me realise how much big companies can do good and give people a good experience just by having the right kind of human deal with customers, and "deal with" should always be "help".
@mk Ah! Nu forstår jeg. Agreed - it makes a world of a difference when an actual human at a company handles enquiries and actually helps, rather than just 'deals with', the customer. That's what struck me here - it was a genuine and considerate response.
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@CiaraNi
And some used to have websites that worked. An Post Banking specifically disabled that to have App only.
Also there is the erroneous claim that an Android or iOS app is more secure.Banking, billing & usage for services etc should only be licenced if they have a fully functional web site that works also with screen readers. An app should be an option.
Apps to play my local mp3s, read local ebooks, take and view my local photos / videos is OK, but none of those should report online.@raymaccarthy App only! Yikes, that is bad. The banking companies seem to act particularly egregiously in this regard.
"Banking, billing & usage for services etc should only be licenced if they have a fully functional web site that works also with screen readers. An app should be an option."
Agreed
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@ThePolishDispatch @CiaraNi
Revolut can't be used without an App.
An Post Banking has limited counter services without the App.
But PayPal and my Credit card work 100% on the website without an App. Both keep advertising the App, which I have never installed.
Also the daft Credit Card people think adding my account to Google Wallet and adding NFC is more secure.
I only use the CC online & the card lives at home. NFC is disabled. I have no intention of using Google pay/wallet. Or having Apple.@raymaccarthy @ThePolishDispatch People keep recommending Revolut to me, particularly in Ireland, it seems to be common there. Every time I say: nope, not a chance, not another app. I use cash and, when unavoidable, my bank card when I travel.
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@raymaccarthy @ThePolishDispatch People keep recommending Revolut to me, particularly in Ireland, it seems to be common there. Every time I say: nope, not a chance, not another app. I use cash and, when unavoidable, my bank card when I travel.
@CiaraNi @ThePolishDispatch
I have Revolut with a small float and purely for online where I don't want to use the Credit Card. I don't even have a Revolut plastic card, just a virtual one which saves money.
It's also a horrible app. -
@CiaraNi good job! PWA or desktop site!
No one should have ever gotten comfortable with “app stores,” not that we were given much choice. I remember jailbreaking iPhone 3GS. That gave me more features and control of the device than any we have today. The API restrictions of vanilla iOS and Android allow such insane abuse of the customer by the OEMs and telecom providers, locking you out of something you own.
(Looks like iPhone #jailbreak is still a thing but just barely…
.)@andrew Thank you for introducing me to 'PWA'. I looked it up. I have been wondering what to call the apps I have been switching to. I've been muttering about BigTech and non-BigTech apps, now I now that 'Progressive Web Apps' is the term for the stand-alone ones that aren't locked in to Big Tech.
And yes, agreed, we should never have got comfortable with the 'app stores' and a lot of other digital stuff we got entangled in. At least awareness of this is growing now.
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@raymaccarthy @weezmgk Agreed.
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@CiaraNi The google tie in is really annoying. The electric company also might find them self in problems with Alphabet in the future.
@jonfr600 The way the US and the BigTech companies are going right now, it's hard to know what could happen. A lot of companies and institutions are going to be in great difficulty if they don't move off the US solutions before something goes even more royally wrong.
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@CiaraNi So frustrating. "How did people do anything before iPhones and Androids?" They made it work. Websites, branch offices, mail-ins, what have you.
Except all those types of business presence got nuked once "just download our shitty app" became the cheap default.
It's never been a sensible choice to be so dependent on smartphones let alone 2 private OS vendors in 1 unstable country.
@AzureArmageddon Exactly right. Agreed to all of this. It sneaked up slowly on a lot of us. We got more and more entangled for years before we realised there was anything wrong. Doctorow's three stages of enshittification describe it perfectly. No wonder it's not easy to 'just leave'. It takes time and effort.
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RE: https://mastodon.nu/@suddigare/116194365649110453
@CiaraNi Some people from Sweden got inspired and has startede something.
@asbjornn Hvor fedt! Flot gået af dem. Danmark, Tyskland, Sverige - det vokser! Tak fordi du delte.
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@sindum Det er et fremragende idé. Noget til digitale produkter a la Svanemærket eller Ø, der ved ét blik fortæller, at det er en platform-uafhængig løsning. Nu sidder jeg og spekulerer over, hvad det kunne hedde. Er blank lige nu, jeg tænker videre. Og måske har andre gode forslag.
@CiaraNi
The software sovereignty scale -
@CiaraNi
The software sovereignty scale@notsoloud @sindum God idé!
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I deactivated Google Play on my phone. The electricity company app was the first to be bricked. 'You must update.'
I wrote to them: ’I don’t have Google or Apple. Where else can I update the app?’ Nowhere else, they replied.
I wrote (politely) back: ’I can’t use your app any more then. It’s an odd requirement to make of your customers. A Norlys customer can only access all Norlys services if they are also a customer of one of two specific private for-profit US companies.’
@CiaraNi aurora store?
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@CiaraNi aurora store?
@lefteristrip23 Thanks for the suggestion. I looked that up and it's a Google Play workaround. And I'd have to reactivate my Google Play app and log in to it in order to set up Aurora. It's a fine idea. In the specific case, I'll choose just not to use their app any more also on principle because they are locking their own customers in to a third-party company.
