One of Tumblr’s software engineers has said that Apple’s promotions for its own services are so pervasive that “iOS is adware”…
Steve Streza makes his argument in a blog post, making clear that he speaks for himself, not for his employer.
Streza provides illustrated examples for Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple News+, Apple Card, Apple Arcade, and App Store search. And he argues that it will only get worse.
If you don’t subscribe to these services, you’ll be forced to look at these ads constantly, either in the apps you use or the push notifications they have turned on by default […]
That growth-hack-style design comes at the expense of the user experience. In this post, I’ll break down all of the places in iOS that I’ve found that have Apple-manufactured ads. You can replicate these results yourself by doing a factory reset of an iPhone (backup first!), installing iOS 13, and signing up for a new iCloud account.
Apple-focused writers don’t call Apple out, he suggests, because we mostly subscribe to Apple services so don’t see the promos. I’m not sure that’s the case. Personally, I subscribe to Apple Music; have a free one-year trial to Apple TV+ that I’m unlikely to ever pay for; can’t get the Apple Card in the UK; don’t subscribe to Apple Arcade; and rarely if ever notice app promos in the App Store.
This issue is not going to get better. Apple is going to expand its services, both breadth and depth, and the adware problem is only going to get worse, unless people call out Apple for what they’re doing.
But it’s an interesting perspective. What’s your take? Do you find these promos intrusive or unreasonable? Please take our poll, and share your views in the comments.
