Apps - at what point is enough enough?
Discussion
dcb said:
To say nothing of having no privacy in the places and times you drive.
A bloke down the street has a Tesla, which tracks his movements.
No way am I buying a Tesla or anything similar.
Back on topic, whenever I get asked to download an app, I tell them I haven't got a smartphone.
If they can't cope with that use case, then then don't get my business. QR codes, random apps, etc
I refuse to co-operate. If pushed, I can easily claim to have left my reading glasses behind.
I also gave up with car parking charges a long time ago. I always park for free in the public
street and spend a few minutes healthily walking to my destination.
It has saved on keeping loose change in the car, car park fines and faffing about downloading
random crapware apps, to saying nothing of keeping fit.
Do you have Google maps? By default it tracks your movement a!l of the time.A bloke down the street has a Tesla, which tracks his movements.
No way am I buying a Tesla or anything similar.
Back on topic, whenever I get asked to download an app, I tell them I haven't got a smartphone.
If they can't cope with that use case, then then don't get my business. QR codes, random apps, etc
I refuse to co-operate. If pushed, I can easily claim to have left my reading glasses behind.
I also gave up with car parking charges a long time ago. I always park for free in the public
street and spend a few minutes healthily walking to my destination.
It has saved on keeping loose change in the car, car park fines and faffing about downloading
random crapware apps, to saying nothing of keeping fit.
monkfish1 said:
ecsrobin said:
monkfish1 said:
An no, i wont have a ticket on my phone. The whole phone/app thing is WAY to unreliable, and frankly, beyond my abilkity to risk rocking up at a station or airport, reliant on nothing other than my phone.
Tried it once on a ryan air flight. That was an unmitigated disater which i still prefer not to think about.
The biggest issue with it all, if there is a problem, there is NO help available. whatever goes wrong or doesnt work, is YOUR problem. And it almost always doesnt work.
I’d suggest this is user error. Tried it once on a ryan air flight. That was an unmitigated disater which i still prefer not to think about.
The biggest issue with it all, if there is a problem, there is NO help available. whatever goes wrong or doesnt work, is YOUR problem. And it almost always doesnt work.
I haven’t had a physical ticket for anything in at least 4+ years but probably more (except for the local theatre last month).
Train a couple of times a month for the last few years all booked on Trainline either prior to departure or as I walk to the station. Scan the QR code on my watch and the barriers open every time without fail. Guard on the train wants my ticket phone out show them and scanned (my railcards on my phone so don’t use the watch for that).
Flights to Austria this year all boarded the flight using phone I had everyone’s (7persons) tickets and just swiped across plus everyone’s covid passes again no issues, that’s been the same for the past few years of flying.
Theatre since covid is QR codes works first time every time.
As per my last sentance, if it doesnt work, or doesnt make sense, there is no solution. There are invariably no instructions or guides. No one to ask. You are just left to it.
The whole thing relies on having a greater level of understanding than i actually have. If i went to a restaurant and i had to order on an app, leaving aside id refuse, where do you download it from? How do you find that? How do you do that on your phone. How do you "install". These might be second nature to you, but to some of us its a complete mystery.
I managed to install "absolute 80's radio" onto my phone once. Its never worked, ive no idea why or how to resolve.
You're saying you can't get to the shops, because booking a train ticket online and having the ticket sent to your email is beyond your ability - then I suggest you educate yourself and learn how to do it.
WindyCommon said:
I took my family to a gig last night.
This required:
- Ticketing app, to receive the tickets I'd bought online
- Venue app, to "access services" (eg. book parking) at the venue
- Queuing app - to join a virtual queue for food from a busy restaurant
- Restaurant app - to order food at our table
Just booked something at the London o2 on ticketmaster. Got all the way through payment to the last page to be told that the tickets would only be available on the o2's own venue app. This required:
- Ticketing app, to receive the tickets I'd bought online
- Venue app, to "access services" (eg. book parking) at the venue
- Queuing app - to join a virtual queue for food from a busy restaurant
- Restaurant app - to order food at our table
No email option, no ticketmaster option, just o2.
The o2 app reviews are pretty consistent, ' worst thing ever'. In particular needs multiple accounts and sign ins, has to be running real time at entry, no downloading the ticket. So you are reliant, in a venue entry queue, on phone, power, signal, and back end servers all working.
No ability to give others in your group their own ticket so if someone is held up either everyone is screwed or someone's not getting in.
What an utter pile of absolute b
ks.Had to use a parking app at the weekend for the first time.
What a crock of st.
Car parks make enough money to invest in contactless machines, or if you're going to charge that much accept notes (I'd taken change for this purpose, just not enough!).
Ten minutes wasted on the fking app, then another ten wasted showing the next poor bd how to do it.
Poor bds one and two pooled their change for poor bd number three so the old Doris didn't have to worry about it.
What a crock of s
t.Car parks make enough money to invest in contactless machines, or if you're going to charge that much accept notes (I'd taken change for this purpose, just not enough!).
Ten minutes wasted on the f
king app, then another ten wasted showing the next poor bd how to do it.Poor b
ds one and two pooled their change for poor bd number three so the old Doris didn't have to worry about it.Newc said:
Just booked something at the London o2 on ticketmaster. Got all the way through payment to the last page to be told that the tickets would only be available on the o2's own venue app.
No email option, no ticketmaster option, just o2.
The o2 app reviews are pretty consistent, ' worst thing ever'. In particular needs multiple accounts and sign ins, has to be running real time at entry, no downloading the ticket. So you are reliant, in a venue entry queue, on phone, power, signal, and back end servers all working.
No ability to give others in your group their own ticket so if someone is held up either everyone is screwed or someone's not getting in.
What an utter pile of absolute bks.
This is to stop ticket touts hoovering up the tickets and being able to pass them on at a profit. It makes it easier for you to buy tickets at face price because they haven't sold out to some robot 5 minutes after putting them on sale. It's not ideal, but it's better than not being able to go.No email option, no ticketmaster option, just o2.
The o2 app reviews are pretty consistent, ' worst thing ever'. In particular needs multiple accounts and sign ins, has to be running real time at entry, no downloading the ticket. So you are reliant, in a venue entry queue, on phone, power, signal, and back end servers all working.
No ability to give others in your group their own ticket so if someone is held up either everyone is screwed or someone's not getting in.
What an utter pile of absolute b
ks.No issues with any of that, but my transaction is with ticketmaster, who are the sole outlet for the tickets, and who already have an app, which can be used at multiple venues.
So why do I need a venue specific app, and one which is universally slated by all its users? Oh yes, that's right, solely because they think that they're going to be able to hoover up my info and sell it on.
So why do I need a venue specific app, and one which is universally slated by all its users? Oh yes, that's right, solely because they think that they're going to be able to hoover up my info and sell it on.
otolith said:
Awful lot of apps being pushed for tasks which could be done perfectly adequately on a website, and I am sceptical that anyone but their marketing departments benefit from it.
If you build a website you take on all the responsibility and cost of securing it. If you build the same thing in an App it's much cheaper and simpler to cover that aspect of the design because you can simply turn on the necessary bits as you're designing the app and you have access to the phone's security hardware and software. You can also use the phone to store information locally, rather than having to put everything on a webserver. The app is essentially running the 'website' locally with the amount of data being managed and processed on the cloud vastly reduced.
I think the internet was best mid-late noughties. A time of hope and humour, before the puritans had taken over, and before the rise of social media. Annoying ad pop-ups were a thing of the past and there was a thriving forum for every interest. Now pop-ups are back on the form of cookie-control 'we care about your privacy'... and everything has just become twice as bloody hard as it should be.
paulrockliffe said:
otolith said:
Awful lot of apps being pushed for tasks which could be done perfectly adequately on a website, and I am sceptical that anyone but their marketing departments benefit from it.
If you build a website you take on all the responsibility and cost of securing it. If you build the same thing in an App it's much cheaper and simpler to cover that aspect of the design because you can simply turn on the necessary bits as you're designing the app and you have access to the phone's security hardware and software. You can also use the phone to store information locally, rather than having to put everything on a webserver. The app is essentially running the 'website' locally with the amount of data being managed and processed on the cloud vastly reduced.
For the vast majority of apps which have no functionality beyond an online purchase of a ticket and bugger all local user data, there is absolutely no technical reason to use an app. It's a nonsense.
Bacon Is Proof said:
Had to use a parking app at the weekend for the first time.
What a crock of st.
Car parks make enough money to invest in contactless machines, or if you're going to charge that much accept notes (I'd taken change for this purpose, just not enough!).
Ten minutes wasted on the fking app, then another ten wasted showing the next poor bd how to do it.
Poor bds one and two pooled their change for poor bd number three so the old Doris didn't have to worry about it.
The only issue with parking apps imo is that there is more than one of them.What a crock of s
t.Car parks make enough money to invest in contactless machines, or if you're going to charge that much accept notes (I'd taken change for this purpose, just not enough!).
Ten minutes wasted on the f
king app, then another ten wasted showing the next poor bd how to do it.Poor b
ds one and two pooled their change for poor bd number three so the old Doris didn't have to worry about it.All the car parks in my area use RingGo. Once set up it's a piece of cake as it saves your reg (multiple if need be), uses your phone location to identify which car park you are in, and accepts Apple Pay so no need to save card details in app. You say how much time you want and 10 minutes before it expires you get a text message which prompts you to pay for more remotely if you need it (no need to return to car park to extend).
I went out earlier this afternoon and seeing people crowded round the single ticket machine trying to tap in the reg number on a non qwerty keyboard on a screen that is invisible under sunlight highlighted to me that this is where an app works well.
If you really want, if there are no parking wardens around you can walk off and start paying for parking 15 minutes later. Might be the difference between paying for one hour or two. Can't do that with a ticket.
The ONLY problem is if I go further afield I know I'd need to go through the whole process of setting up a different app. If there was just one it would be excellent.
Brainpox said:
The only issue with parking apps imo is that there is more than one of them.
All the car parks in my area use RingGo. Once set up it's a piece of cake as it saves your reg (multiple if need be), uses your phone location to identify which car park you are in, and accepts Apple Pay so no need to save card details in app. You say how much time you want and 10 minutes before it expires you get a text message which prompts you to pay for more remotely if you need it (no need to return to car park to extend).
I went out earlier this afternoon and seeing people crowded round the single ticket machine trying to tap in the reg number on a non qwerty keyboard on a screen that is invisible under sunlight highlighted to me that this is where an app works well.
If you really want, if there are no parking wardens around you can walk off and start paying for parking 15 minutes later. Might be the difference between paying for one hour or two. Can't do that with a ticket.
The ONLY problem is if I go further afield I know I'd need to go through the whole process of setting up a different app. If there was just one it would be excellent.
I parked in Devon last weekend, had the choice of 3 parking apps and the first time I’ve seen that and actually useful as I didn’t have to download another app. All the car parks in my area use RingGo. Once set up it's a piece of cake as it saves your reg (multiple if need be), uses your phone location to identify which car park you are in, and accepts Apple Pay so no need to save card details in app. You say how much time you want and 10 minutes before it expires you get a text message which prompts you to pay for more remotely if you need it (no need to return to car park to extend).
I went out earlier this afternoon and seeing people crowded round the single ticket machine trying to tap in the reg number on a non qwerty keyboard on a screen that is invisible under sunlight highlighted to me that this is where an app works well.
If you really want, if there are no parking wardens around you can walk off and start paying for parking 15 minutes later. Might be the difference between paying for one hour or two. Can't do that with a ticket.
The ONLY problem is if I go further afield I know I'd need to go through the whole process of setting up a different app. If there was just one it would be excellent.
Newc said:
Just booked something at the London o2 on ticketmaster. Got all the way through payment to the last page to be told that the tickets would only be available on the o2's own venue app.
No email option, no ticketmaster option, just o2.
The o2 app reviews are pretty consistent, ' worst thing ever'. In particular needs multiple accounts and sign ins, has to be running real time at entry, no downloading the ticket. So you are reliant, in a venue entry queue, on phone, power, signal, and back end servers all working.
No ability to give others in your group their own ticket so if someone is held up either everyone is screwed or someone's not getting in.
What an utter pile of absolute bks.
I went to a concert at the SSE Arena at Wembley the other week. Luckily* we didn't need the app as Dad has disabled tickets so we get in via an easier entrance but the main tickets were the same. Phone only, via the appNo email option, no ticketmaster option, just o2.
The o2 app reviews are pretty consistent, ' worst thing ever'. In particular needs multiple accounts and sign ins, has to be running real time at entry, no downloading the ticket. So you are reliant, in a venue entry queue, on phone, power, signal, and back end servers all working.
No ability to give others in your group their own ticket so if someone is held up either everyone is screwed or someone's not getting in.
What an utter pile of absolute b
ks.Was the weekend of the Fury fight at Wembley stadium... My phone showed 5g all day but may as well have been turned off. No bandwidth at all, people were having a horrendous time paying for things and showing tickets and etc, was a great day to be a people watcher!
Anyone else use Santander online banking (on the website) ? If you make a transfer to a new payee it requires an OTP auth code along with typing in your 5 digit online banking login pass number. The OTP codes are 8 random numbers and letters eg. ZV2UW58C. From the moment you submit the payment, you get 20 seconds (!) to type in your login pass number and OTP code before it expires and you have to start again, and that includes the waiting time for it to arrive on your phone. It's utterly ridiculous and nigh-on impossible for an oldie to do.
I've complained about it several times with them but just get "you should use the banking app on your phone then it will be quicker for you". Given how fat fingered I am on a tiny touch keypad I fail to see how it would be quicker; if anything it would take even longer, but "install our app" is the default answer to any technical issues these days. I note on the Santander app it wants permission to access all your personal files, folders, camera, microphone, location, contacts and other apps. Er, no ta.
I've complained about it several times with them but just get "you should use the banking app on your phone then it will be quicker for you". Given how fat fingered I am on a tiny touch keypad I fail to see how it would be quicker; if anything it would take even longer, but "install our app" is the default answer to any technical issues these days. I note on the Santander app it wants permission to access all your personal files, folders, camera, microphone, location, contacts and other apps. Er, no ta.
beko1987 said:
I went to a concert at the SSE Arena at Wembley the other week. Luckily* we didn't need the app as Dad has disabled tickets so we get in via an easier entrance but the main tickets were the same. Phone only, via the app
Was the weekend of the Fury fight at Wembley stadium... My phone showed 5g all day but may as well have been turned off. No bandwidth at all, people were having a horrendous time paying for things and showing tickets and etc, was a great day to be a people watcher!
Paying on a phone/watch doesn't require internet connection?Was the weekend of the Fury fight at Wembley stadium... My phone showed 5g all day but may as well have been turned off. No bandwidth at all, people were having a horrendous time paying for things and showing tickets and etc, was a great day to be a people watcher!
r3g said:
Anyone else use Santander online banking (on the website) ? If you make a transfer to a new payee it requires an OTP auth code along with typing in your 5 digit online banking login pass number. The OTP codes are 8 random numbers and letters eg. ZV2UW58C. From the moment you submit the payment, you get 20 seconds (!) to type in your login pass number and OTP code before it expires and you have to start again, and that includes the waiting time for it to arrive on your phone. It's utterly ridiculous and nigh-on impossible for an oldie to do.
I've complained about it several times with them but just get "you should use the banking app on your phone then it will be quicker for you". Given how fat fingered I am on a tiny touch keypad I fail to see how it would be quicker; if anything it would take even longer, but "install our app" is the default answer to any technical issues these days. I note on the Santander app it wants permission to access all your personal files, folders, camera, microphone, location, contacts and other apps. Er, no ta.
I'm not sure but I think you can block some of those permissions.I've complained about it several times with them but just get "you should use the banking app on your phone then it will be quicker for you". Given how fat fingered I am on a tiny touch keypad I fail to see how it would be quicker; if anything it would take even longer, but "install our app" is the default answer to any technical issues these days. I note on the Santander app it wants permission to access all your personal files, folders, camera, microphone, location, contacts and other apps. Er, no ta.
Currently in Australia and New Zealand for work and needed multiple apps for visas / pre flight information / Covid / check in etc etc.
The in laws are thinking of travelling to NZ to visit family either this year or next and I don’t think the can do it, neither are tech savvy and only have 1 smart phone between them.
The in laws are thinking of travelling to NZ to visit family either this year or next and I don’t think the can do it, neither are tech savvy and only have 1 smart phone between them.
LeeM135i said:
Currently in Australia and New Zealand for work and needed multiple apps for visas / pre flight information / Covid / check in etc etc.
The in laws are thinking of travelling to NZ to visit family either this year or next and I don’t think the can do it, neither are tech savvy and only have 1 smart phone between them.
I've been meaning to go back to Oz since 2020 to see family... I think I'll keep putting it off. The in laws are thinking of travelling to NZ to visit family either this year or next and I don’t think the can do it, neither are tech savvy and only have 1 smart phone between them.
I've been on holiday 3 times since the start of the pandemic.. well since Dec 2020 and not required a single app. Everything was either online via a web form and tied to my ticket/passport or a PDF if I needed a copy to show someone. More often both.
You can always count on the Australian government to make things 20 times harder than they need to be.
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