Why do apps keep updating, adding features we don't need? \ stacker news ~tech

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Why do apps keep updating, adding features we don't need?

2043 sats \ 29 comments \ @NeuroNinja 30 Sep 2023 tech

Every single messenger app looks same these days. They almost all offer stories, video/audio calls, profiles etc.

Self-destructing stories in my opinion started with Snapchat stories, then Insta, Whatsapp after being bought by Meta, and now appears in Facebook's Messenger too alongwith web Facebook interface.

Similarly, so called shorts/vines started and then caught up with TikTok, and now it's everywhere from Youtube shorts, to Insta shorts, and now I guess Twitter is going similar way too.

WhatsApp recently released a feature where we can follow and see stories of the celebs. I don't want to see celebs on my messaging app. If i want to follow, I will do that on any of their public handles like Twitter or Insta, NOT ON my WhatsApp. How hard is this thing to understand to people running these companies, making their apps BULKIER, SPAMMY and BUGGY, limiting their userbase and downgrading their real UTILITY by each update.

Insta was sick for sharing photos, before meta's takeover
Facebook was by far the easiest way to connect to lost old friends. You could have just searched by name without fear of being tracked.
Youtube was the way to see genuine videos, without people click baiting you for monetization.
Similarly, Whatsapp was the best way to say goodbye to carrier messaging. It retired leading services like Viber/Skype when it added video+audio calls.

But now, I think there's a point when they should stop updating, just make your framework sleek, make UI and security patches and release the f*****g app, don't add any more features that are not requested. One reason for the useless updates might be monetization and visibility. But, I think it hurts the framework in long-term.

I sometimes fear that SN might go the similar route, I might be mistaken.

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258 sats \ 2 replies \ @9ener1c 30 Sep 2023

It’s due to straightforward human incentives.

These companies have employees. They want to keep their jobs, and some will also want to gain more money or status through recognition of their efforts. So what do they do? They come up with new features.

This can work just fine in small teams without competition between those tasked with coming up with those new feature. The worst examples are due to an org having too many people tasked with coming up with product changes, which creates incentives that result in a worse user experience, like you’re describing.

1 sat \ 1 reply \ @SimpleStacker 30 Sep 2023

A friend at Google said pretty much the same thing when I asked why Gmail keeps getting worse and worse.

1 sat \ 0 replies \ @9ener1c 1 Oct 2023

Yeah, Google probably suffer quite badly from it.

Apple, on the other hand, generally don’t have product managers so suffer little from this particular problem.

91 sats \ 2 replies \ @Michelson_Morley 30 Sep 2023

I've been a part of this process as a developer many times. In my experience, it's not stupidity or maliciousness but rather the natural way every system evolves unless you have a good team, who fight against it.

Here are the three reasons that I know lead to it (there may be others as well of course):

Developer Tyrants / Designer Despots, in other words, low cooperation between builders and customer relators. Everyone has a good idea, and the instinct is to just make it, but with no customer testing you've invented a horse with wheels. Applies to both design and developing, everyone. (except me, my ideas are fool proof)
Scope creep. It's fun to build something, and then keep realizing how your thing could also do X and Y and 4 and Å, etc. Do one thing well, that's the cure. If you have a creeping boss, the one thing to do well is straight up murder (but don't quote me on that— not a murder expert)
Enshittification. This one is what happens to youtube etc, why they remove the dislike button for instance. As a platform begins to have a loyal userbase, their focus shifts from pleasing their ~~products~~ users, who don't pay nuthin, and instead their advertisers get better UX.

50 sats \ 1 reply \ @NeuroNinja OP 30 Sep 2023

Thanks for your reply, each of your point deserves a whole chapter in a book about how to build a great team and customer relations

10 sats \ 0 replies \ @Michelson_Morley 30 Sep 2023

That's very kind of you. If you're interested in what makes a good team, there's a fascinating study that Google did a few years back where they tried to learn about that very thing.

Is a good team just "as many of the most competent experts you can muster"? Turns out, no!

Their report details 5 points that productive teams follow, but the first point is the crucial one, and quite easy to implement (no matter if you're a boss or a grunt!):

Productive teams have "psychological safety". Literally, it's okay to be stupid. It's okay to say dumb ideas, ask n00b questions. This is the key factor in deciding team effectiveness.

It works extremely well. I implement it by (when I'm in charge, especially) telling people when I made a dumb mistake, and by asking questions that feel a bit embarrassing ('hm.. what exactly is a "computer"'). It's like magic, for real, how much it improves morale. As I like to say— if you can't make errors, you can't error correct, and error-correction is the cornerstone of the not-walking-into-walls lifestyle.

Here's an article about it: https://medium.com/the-mission/the-results-of-googles-team-effectiveness-research-will-make-you-rethink-how-you-build-teams-902aa61b33

42 sats \ 1 reply \ @0fje0 30 Sep 2023

You've had some good, insightful responses already. On a topic I care about quite a bit, so I'll be sure to check back here.

I don't yet see anyone reacting to your closing comment:

I sometimes fear that SN might go the similar route, I might be mistaken.

This may be the proverbial unpopular opinion, but I actually share your concern here.

What gives me hope and keeps me here though, is that I do think SN is breaking new ground in many important ways. Sometimes the pace of innovation here feels almost bewildering to me. It's tremendous fun to watch it unfold, but not always clear to me how SN is going to avoid ending up on a similar route.

11 sats \ 0 replies \ @NeuroNinja OP 30 Sep 2023

Yes, it's amazing to see it unfold in real time. New updates, ideas and releases. But I always liked apps at their initial stages. It will be interesting to see its future. :)

31 sats \ 1 reply \ @TheBTCManual 30 Sep 2023

Whenever I see features added to an app that I will never use I always assume there is a large cohort of people lowering their use of the app and the app is now trying to increase usage time, most of these apps aren't going to see dramatic user growth, so its all about keeping them in the app as long as possible

Influencers also play a big role in being the useful idiots who create content/drama to keep these features going, they're like a massive decentralised marketing company for features like stories

10 sats \ 0 replies \ @NeuroNinja OP 30 Sep 2023

So many apps were useful before they start making tactics to increase their usage time, ad revenue, sponsored features, pro subscription etc. I remember ES File Explorer, CamScanner etc. to be so useful, before they started using all these feature tactics.

3 sats \ 2 replies \ @pow 30 Sep 2023

I think Smartphone innovation has reached it's peak

11 sats \ 1 reply \ @NeuroNinja OP 30 Sep 2023

I definitely agree, there's noting insanely new or creative in last 6-7 years except for unnecessary foldings and camera filters.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Zepasta 1 Oct 2023

Fingerprint under glass.
Small camera hole directly on the glass.
(almost invisible) Camera behind the glass.

These were the only cool new/creative things i've seen in the last few years, everything else is copy-paste.

11 sats \ 3 replies \ @Monotone 30 Sep 2023

I think it's about competition. If applications are not developed and updated, it will not attract new users and because of the lack of new features these users will leave for competitors. It's business and it will always be like that in commerce. Money wins, unfortunately.

The case is better with non-profit organizations and open source supporters.

I too am frustrated by adding completely unnecessary features, but alas.

18 sats \ 2 replies \ @NeuroNinja OP 30 Sep 2023

But ultimately it kills their apps in long term, like no-one uses ES File Explorer or CamScanner anymore because of this junk. Similarly, Facebook is seeing decline in userbase too because whatever it offers can be realized by Insta too. Aren't they digging their own graves?

We need a linux-like ecosystem in Smartphone industry. I remember there was a beautiful unix based OS (SAILFISH OS), it was sleek and beautiful, but not adapted properly.

22 sats \ 1 reply \ @Monotone 30 Sep 2023

I agree with you. But on the other hand I am glad that this is happening. Because alternatives are emerging that are devoid of these drawbacks and make people think about their privacy. After all, all these corporations are collecting tons of information about us that we wouldn't really want to share.

I've deleted accounts from most social networks and use open alternatives. And if there are no alternatives, I don't use them at all)

5 sats \ 0 replies \ @NeuroNinja OP 30 Sep 2023

This makes sense

10 sats \ 0 replies \ @zuspotirko 30 Sep 2023

It's all about user growth. It doesn't matter how many users in total, just the percentage change from a year ago.

Throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks. As long as you are trying out new features there is reasonable chance of another user number growth phase.

User number must grow. As long as user number grows the investors won't ask about profitability of business model. The longer you can push the uncomfortable question of profitability in the future the better.

1 sat \ 0 replies \ @ryu 1 Oct 2023

Nostr for all its benefit is tragically a great example of continuous complicating of something that was intentionally designed simply just three years ago.

1 sat \ 0 replies \ @037447d9ca 30 Sep 2023

because they can. the purpose of those apps is not communication, it's to milk as much data points as possible from their userbase WhatsApp is malware. remember: if you're not paying for it, you are the product. just reject that shit and use free software

1 sat \ 0 replies \ @Tjacten 30 Sep 2023

Sometimes the worst part is when they remove features you really like.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @sp 1 Oct 2023

Technically it's called scope creep, and it's due to very poor product management practices. Plenty of articles explaining why it happens - the bad news is that you can't do much about it, just ditch these shitty products and use something else