tl;dr of the tl;dr: Fuck apps in general
this post was submitted on 30 Jan 2026
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Enshittification
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What is enshittification?
The phenomenon of online platforms gradually degrading the quality of their services, often by promoting advertisements and sponsored content, in order to increase profits. (Cory Doctorow, 2022, extracted from Wikitionary) source
The lifecycle of Big Internet
We discuss how predatory big tech platforms live and die by luring people in and then decaying for profit.
Embrace, extend and extinguish
We also discuss how naturally open technologies like the Fediverse can be susceptible to corporate takeovers, rugpulls and subsequent enshittification.
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They have done this even before everything was Appified, at least in the US. My local grocery store used to give out customized bar code key chains. They scanned the barcode when you started checking out to tie it to your account, and apply the discounts.
Now, my store's app lets you build a list online, and when you tell it what store you are going to it sorts the list by aisle. I now use that exclusively. It saves me so much time. I find that useful, and worth the exchange of my tracked shopping habits.
However, I refuse to install their app on my phone, and interact with the list through their website. I feel there is just so much more tracking they can do with an app on your phone vs. a website login.
Don't forget [dynamic pricing](Dynamic pricing is coming to grocery stores : NPR https://share.google/qVJDIXMPOU4F5gJ7u) coming soon to a store near you.
I will never install an app on my phone for a grocery store. I've stopped going to Kroger and Albertsons stores. Local coops for me.
For people that actually need to scan a loyalty card, I recommend Catima from F-Droid. Instead of having a bunch of proprietary spyware crap-apps, you have all your cards to scan in one place. No network permission needed.
For phone number loyalties, we are all Jenny (AC#)867-5309