| ▲ | theamk 4 days ago |
| it's worse than that - those locks are bluetooth-based, so they don't care about the cloud. What happened is that they are disabling the app, so it is no longer usable. |
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| ▲ | gblargg 4 days ago | parent | next [-] |
| So many of the smart apps won't even launch without an Internet connection (i.e. connection to their cloud services), even if you just want to control local Bluetooth devices. |
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| ▲ | m463 3 days ago | parent | next [-] | | friend got a canon camera. you can install the canon app to use bluetooth/wifi to transfer the photos to the phone. At some point the app went from thre app allowing limited permissions to insert into camera roll, to full permissions to access all photos on the phone. | |
| ▲ | thrashwerk 4 days ago | parent | prev [-] | | I hate that. I recently bought a G-Shock watch, it can connect to your phone via Bluetooth, it was a selling point but may be convenient to sync the time with a quick connection. First, the G-Shock app displayed a prompt that it won't work with animations turned off which is just baffling. I have them disabled in Android settings under accessibility options because I find them frivolous. Then with the animations enabled the G-Shock app says that it's EOL since mid 2023, now CASIO WATCHES app is for everything. Install CASIO WATCHES, doesn't complain about animations being disabled which is an improvement but then when I want to add a watch it says I need an account. Two local devices connecting via Bluetooth need a goddamn online account! Uninstalled that shit immediately. I don't regret the purchase, I like the watch and it works perfectly without any connection crap but boy is all this online nonsense annoying. | | |
| ▲ | Borealid 3 days ago | parent | next [-] | | There is an open-source app ("Casio G-Shock Smart Sync") for syncing time with g-shock BLE watches. Some of them are also compatible with Gadgetbridge (also OSS, but much richer in functionality). | |
| ▲ | m463 3 days ago | parent | prev [-] | | Bought a garmin watch. You can use it entirely offline. It is a refreshing alternative to all other watches. That said, they are putting some functions behind the garmin connect app, which is troubling. | | |
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| ▲ | flyinglizard 4 days ago | parent | prev [-] |
| Apps require constant maintenance. If you just leave an app in Play Store or App Store and don’t touch it for a while, in couple of years it will be gone. Compliance requirements, obsolete APIs, forceful upgrades by the Apple/Google all see to that. That means you need to keep the app project updated and all dependencies in reasonable form. It’s not outlandish if you are a big company but as someone who oversaw the development of platforms where you had apps dedicated to hardware - it definitely takes effort. I can understand why companies want to cut loose ends here. |
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| ▲ | vrighter 4 days ago | parent | next [-] | | they don't require constant maintenance. They are forced to receive constant maintenance. Ex if you don't release updates, you get delisted. But you wrote a calculator app. What updates and maintenance does it require that wasn't forced on you by google/apple by changing out the os from under you, or simply because they feel like it? | |
| ▲ | wobfan 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | This is wrong. Yes, they require constant maintenance. But that maintenance is pretty limited in scope, if it is required even. All they have to do is to push some updates once or twice a year at max, and maybe update the usage of some APIs. It's not like these companies can't do it. In the grand scheme they wouldn't even notice it if one of their developers would do that. It's that they just don't want to. They're greedy as hell, and they don't care about you. Even if it would be too much work at one point, e.g. if Apple would finally update their Bluetooth stack more often then every 10 years, and the API completely changes. Why not just open source the whole app, or at least their interface so independent developers could develop something so not all of their products need to go into the waste? Because even in this hypothetical scenario, one thing holds true: They're greedy and they don't care about you. | |
| ▲ | noodletheworld 4 days ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | I unironically look forward to the world where this is solved by unsupervised AI agents incrementally upgrade these apps to keep them evergreen... ...and the Lovecraftian gradual drift as incremental recursive hallucinations turn them into still... mostly working... strange little app-like-bundles of Something Weird. | | |
| ▲ | pavel_lishin 4 days ago | parent [-] | | I don't know why I have to take a selfie of myself to start my washing machine. I also don't know why it requires me to stare at it for 30 seconds afterward, or the machine shuts off. The face is my own, for the first 15 seconds or so, but then it's not. I've checked, it's a pixel perfect copy, it's not being slowly adjusted as I watch it, but for the rest of the day, the face I see in the mirror isn't my own, either. But my laundry has never smelled so fresh. | | |
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| ▲ | bmandale 4 days ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | On the other hand, if someone searches "appname apk", they will be able to download it forever, and install it for another year (thanks google!). | |
| ▲ | dylan604 4 days ago | parent | prev [-] | | just yet another example of dying companies could be heroes by releasing their code to the public |
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