Huh. I've never gotten this and my default browser is Firefox. Does this happen when you import bookmarks into Firefox from Safari, or every time you use Firefox?
Is it? It's a nudge at best, which you can probably taxonomize as "advertising" but its for a thing you already have and users genuinely might not have noticed.
Now, they had a different notification in the past for MobileMe that was truly an ad because you didn't have to be an existing customer for an upsell nor did it come with the OS by default (this was after iTools got rebranded by Apple), and it just wanted you to go to their website to look at the product and maybe buy it, download it and install it. (this was mostly the pre-iCloud-Drive backup solution that was itself a holdover from iTools)
I think technically anything that points you to a place where money could be made is an advertisement, and even advertising mDNS devices on a local network is doing the "hey you, there is a thing over here"-thing. But there is a big difference between creating a universal spot in software to load arbitrary advertisements for new products vs. in-product purchase options (which obviously tend to lean more into the upsell category of ads than the nudge for mindshare category of ads).
The whole 'try safari' thing is one I do actually see on new accounts, and sometimes on first startup with browsers, but IIRC once dismissed they don't come back again. Heck, it even is less persistent than the post-install highlights notification you got from major OS upgrades.
Perhaps the Browser-notification is best compared with Microsoft's OneDrive notification in the Security settings where they suggest that using a free OneDrive account is the "One True Way" to stop ransomware.
I think the fact that you already have the app installed is not a mitigating factor, it actually makes it worse: I can't uninstall Safari. They put it on my computer, I chose not to use it, and now they're specifically targeting other applications they want me to switch away from.
It's not only a new installation issue either; I've had this laptop for 7-8 months. It's only happened 4-5 times, and I assumed (without verifying) that I get it whenever Safari has updated. For what it's worth, I have turned off notifications from Safari; this is the OS itself saying "I see you're using another browser; have you thought about using ours instead?"
I guess it's perspective-dependant. Computers are really more sold like appliances the last decade or so, and as such the specs they are sold on depend on the combination of hardware and software. For the general consumer, any deviation from the expected and advertised performance would be A Bad Thing™, and modifying the base facilities would count as such.
Now, for me (and perhaps you too) I see it much more as a collection of interconnected hardware devices, with various firmwares in ROMS and Flash EEPROMs, boot loaders and operating systems on mass storage devices, and a few ISAs, ABIs and APIs to make sure it all works to a certain standard. In practical terms, that doesn't really matter to anyone else, not to Apple, but also not to Microsoft, HP, Dell etc. So we're back at "the thing is a black box appliance" and as such, the base advertised features should be properties of the appliance as bought by the customer. This also means that any deviation from that will either mean someone has to spend (or waste) time and energy on telling an angry customer that their BitCoinBrowserXXL is the reason the battery is empty after an hour, and that it is their own fault, or that the device is defective, or that the advertisement was false. If you are a for-profit company, would you not cut that "waste" of support by 33%?
There is always the fear that the company is doing an evil thing and wants to harvest your life, but if Apple wanted to do that, they could. It's more likely that it's just part of the energy saving subsystem to direct users to optimal usage scenarios and things like "dim display automatically" and "use safari" are part of those scenarios. There really isn't much else gained by using Safari, not by Apple and not by the user. So either both gain a "yes the battery does last longer and the computer is responsive", or they both lose that. There is no PII telemetry in Safari, and cross-device data sharing (like Bookmarks) are encrypted within the iCloud Circle if you are using that, so Apple can't see that either (except if you also enable iCloud Backup on an iOS device), so for data harvesting, it's not really an incentive.
What would be an interesting option is a "do not use notifications to suggest optimal software-hardware interactions" checkbox somewhere so they can just list side-effects near the actual preferences instead of all over the place.
Never had that one, but from the docs you apparently can select it, say you do not want the free thing and it will never come back and also not be replaced with an ad for unrelated products. Edit: until you apparently log in on a new device and if it is new enough you get the same offer.
Still only once per account though. If you have a family setup it's actually only once per family even, I'd imagine it reverts back to once per account if you leave the family.
So basically, if you don't like seeing it, activate it and then immediately cancel it, and it should never come back.
Interesting, I haven't checked with the rest of the family, but would that also mean that the trial is family-scoped so that you can't all trial it individually?
If you dismiss that it’ll never come back again. This goes for all their music, tv, etc. services. And this also goes for features like Siri and Apple Pay, if you opt out there’ll be a reminder in settings and if you decline it’ll never come back.
It's a very Apples to Oranges comparison to be honest. Settings is an app that you don't really need to open that much to begin with, and the "ads" they show are more like promotions that you can use only once on your account. It's a bait for sure, but it's at least a bit beneficial to users if they are ever interested in trying that service.
Explorer is something Windows users interact with constantly, putting ads right next to the actual content view is SO different to ads in settings, at least to me.
As others have mentioned this isn't the only ad Apple has tinkered with recently, I don't think they should be off the hook by any means, I just think Microsoft have been way more dubious recently.
Why can't the OS just be an OS though without ads anywhere? Clearly if you install firefox you want to use firefox, otherwise you'd switch back to safari.
Because ads is the only way to make constant money from consumers if you don't sell hardware with the OS. That said, not all notifications are ads. Sometimes, a notification is just a well-intentioned notification that only a small portion of users take offence to. I bet that if they made a "Safari Rewards Points" program that would annoy the hell out of everyone.
I believe they are referring to Apple’s encouragement to sign up to/in to iCloud within the Settings app on iOS, suggesting that this is an ‘ad’ on a par with the Microsoft ad shown in the OP.
Not even close. If you go to iCloud (a tiered service with one free offering and only paid options beyond that), you get product messaging about iCloud. Not "how to write confidently in this other unrelated product that you don't have but you can buy from us".
Not showing up for me at any time, perhaps this is that complementary thing you get for new iCloud accounts and new Apple devices? (Or was that the one free year thing?)
While it is probably advertising for a service, it's not a generic place for arbitrary advertisements. I believe the difference between "there will be random ads here" and "you bought a thing, this is what you get with it for free if you want it, or you can remove it and never see it again as a normal option" is pretty big.
My iCloud account isn't new. It's many years old. The device I have is old but only 3 months old. I bought it from someone else and it's still under warranty so maybe that's why.
> I believe the difference between "there will be random ads here" and "you bought a thing, this is what you get with it for free if you want it, or you can remove it and never see it again as a normal option" is pretty big.
That's a fair point. I do notice Apple going in the wrong direction though. Even the "search" tab in the App Store now shows ads for random apps (before doing a search). That's fairly odd.
For the store I sort-of understand it, it's a store after all, the only purpose is to extract money from customers (in exchange for services/goods), and with a non-physical store the only real distinction you can make is how high at the top of a list your product sits. That said, I don't really use it that often anymore as I already have all the apps I want or need. Perhaps also why I tried the arcade a while back but didn't really end up using much of it for long.
> Even the "search" tab in the App Store now shows ads for random apps (before doing a search). That's fairly odd.
The random searches I've seen always have to do with my previous searches in that box. I think this is probably a case of Apple not having a good App Store search suggestion engine. (This happens in the Podcasts app as well.)
- normal search for the list of apps that exist
- paid search positioning on top of that
- previous searches you made
- suggested results just for you
and then somehow blending that into a bad list of search results. (this is just a crappy guess on my part)
On one hand I don't care all that much, on the other hand I know there are people that do go browsing the store looking for new stuff to try out, and using search seems to be the only reasonable way to go looking for things with so many apps being available.
After combining that with your other post, perhaps the formula they are using is iCloud account on a 'difference' device where it calculates if the new device is 'better' than the old one, thus was a device upgrade and therefore you may want to try the arcade. Personally I don't care for the arcade, but it does seem to be some sort of one-off notification when something in your device/account mix changes.
Reminds me of the Office365 trial tile in Windows that doesn't actually do anything but when you open the start menu it is always there in accounts that are newly signed in to a computer. It's not really in the way, but it is always in your face until you remove it (but then it does stay away).
It's definitely annoying indeed. I do wonder how this could be done better because after asking around for a bit there do seem to be a lot of people that aren't aware of any free trials yet are definitely interested in trying it out.
I think they’re referring to the upsell of iCloud. If you’re not subscribed to even the $1 tier or wherever, there is a line under the iCloud menu item to upgrade. I don’t think it’s especially egregious but some might have a different opinion.
They're probably talking about notifications probing you to add your card to Apple Wallet.
I'm not sure if you get them if you never touch Apple Wallet, I always get them when I transfer to a new phone or reset my current phone and need to setup my cards again before they can fully transfer.
It's annoying, but never felt it was comparable to Microsoft.
Say more?