#predatory apps

[sophieinwonderland]

We found an ad on Twitter for an app that promises to help people "relive" their childhood trauma!

Do this test and if you see the obvious dark blue shark instead of the white leg that's the same color as the background then you must be traumatized... probably... is I think what they're getting at?

And then the app can help you relive that trauma! Especially, it seems, if your trauma involves being caught in a predatory subscription you can't get out of!

Ah, yes! Enjoy reliving that financial trauma!

Relive the pain! 💫

🤬

[seasoned-salt-4]

Furuya art appreciation post (Also MangaUp sucks.)

[spaceysoupy]

Oh boy folks it gets worse! This is a long post, if you want the TLDR you’ll have to scroll. There is so much to go through as to why this is bad and this is only surface level research that I fear goes much, much deeper.

Here’s an endeavor OTC user who says you get charged the yearly subscription fee if you forget to cancel your 7 day free trial.

Not the monthly subscription fee, which is already bad enough at $24.99 a month, but $129.99 is automatically taken out of your bank account if you forget to cancel your trial in 7 days.

You know what else you can get for that price? Two months of methylphenidate using goodrx, with room to spare!

Now I could understand charging the monthly subscription fee at the end of the free trial, even if I think that practice sucks already, but most subscription based apps and subscriptions in general do that already. But they always charge the lowest end of the price range they offer. There is absolutely no reason why an app designed for adults with ADHD should be charging $130 dollars immediately after your free trial ends. None.

If that doesn’t scream “we made this to pump money out of a desperate class of people who increasingly cannot access the medication they need and are known to have impulse issues and forgetfulness when it comes to money” I don’t know what does.

But don’t take my words for it, look at theirs!

Endeavor OTC claims that 83% of participants saw clinical improvement in their ability to focus and 73% reported quality of life improvements within a 6 week study

Most adhd medication takes at minimum a few weeks to a few months to get the dosage settled and for lasting improvement to show.

As you can see here the median trial length for ADHD drugs for children was 4 weeks, with the majority not approved until 6 or more months.

And that’s just to 1) make sure the drug doesn’t immediately kill the kid and 2) make sure there’s some sort of desirable effect

And frequently these companies have seen criticism from medical professionals that these trials still aren’t long enough and don’t accurately study the long term effects of these medications.

So how is 6 weeks enough time to say that your mobile game can efficiently treat ADHD at a similar or greater level than ADHD medication?

It’s not, but the developers sure want you to think so!

You see they assign a number to Your Focus and Bigger Number means you’re Doing Better. I haven’t found any information as to how this score is calculated, but based on this description of the gameplay—because I refuse to play it myself and legitimize predatory company practices—we can assume that it calculates your speed, steering accuracy, timing, and maybe simultaneous task performance

So, basically any video game that monitors your progress, and consistent with skill progression in any video game as you get used to the controls and difficulty.

That 73% of adults reporting quality of life improvement can also be explained by the brain getting dopamine for playing A New Game that gives you Rewards, also making you feel good because yay, I’m finally doing something about my adhd! I’m gonna get better from this alone, right? Right!?

Even further worrying is the language they use surrounding the app. It isn’t a mobile game that may improve adhd, it’s “adhd medication” and it’s not a “session” but a “dose.” This is preying on both the already disturbing trend of anti-medication influencers and the adhd medication shortage. ADHD adults, suddenly without medication they relied on to function, desperate to try anything that may help them survive in a society that is not built for them. And if you’re not seeing improvement, well maybe you’re just haven’t played enough? Oh, sorry, “had enough doses.” Or if you don’t see improvement after a few months you have to keep playing and keep paying each month because surely it’s just a plateau, right.

This is already shitty enough for me to hate it with a passion, but hold on to your hats folks because it gets worse!

Let’s take a look at their study for the 85% focus improvement and 78% increased productivity cited figures.

Now, it’s a bit strange that they’re not citing the actual paper name or linked it in their description, but given that they’ve given the journal name and researchers, I can actually find it pretty easily. Hm, that name seems familiar…

Here we see that the name of the study is “A Single-Arm Pivotal Trial to Assess the Efficacy of Akl-T01, a Novel Digital Intervention for Attention, in Adults Diagnosed With ADHD”

“But Nebs, why is that important?” You might ask.

Because it has to do with how the study is run.

A single-arm trial is the simplest trial design you can possibly have. It’s where you take a small sample of individuals with the targeted medical condition, give them the therapy, and follow them over time to observe their response.

“This design is employed when the objective of the trial is to obtain preliminary evidence of the efficacy of the treatment and to collect additional safety data, but is not generally used as confirmation of efficacy. The design may be desirable when the available patient pool is limited and thus it is not optimal to randomize many participants to a control arm.” -Clinical trial structures Scott R. Evans, Ph.D.

Already off to a bad start, single-arm trials rarely confirm efficacy—i.e the ability to produce a desired result, efficiency—because they have several limitations, including, but not limited to: inability to distinguish between effect of the treatment and placebo affect, the effect of natural history, and no frame of reference.

The most basic thing we learn about in high school science class—control groups—and they had none. No people with ADHD symptoms without formal diagnosis trying the app, no people without adhd trying the app, no people with ADHD not trying the app, no comparison to general skill progression of any other mobile game not “designed for ADHD”

Oh but don’t worry, it still gets more shady!

Remember this guy?

Scott Kollins, PhD, chief medical officer. Of what? Oh don’t worry, just the company that makes the game! Which he was announced to have joined December 1, 2022, nearly a full year before the study was published.

According to LinkedIn, Caitlin A. Stamatis, one of the other names on the publication, is also the Director of Medical and Scientific affairs for Akili.

The third and last name on the publication, Catherine Mercaldi, is, surprise surprise, the Director of Biostatistics for Akili Interactive.

Looking into Akili Interactive’s financials and we find even more weird (but not illegal, I should say) things, like the fact that David Baszucki, the CEO of Roblox is an investor. Or the multiple venture capital companies that seem to be investing in and only investing in this company.

EndeavorOTC gleaned 126,000 first-time downloads, 4,200 active users and an average of $81.88 per user from June 6 to Sept. 5, 2023, the first three months it was available on the Apple App store.

Further, the app had a 67% two-month retention rate, according to the release. Akili made $341,000 during those three months.

So yeah, clearly effective for them to them to make money.

And yet Akili is laying off 30% and 40% of its staff multiple times a year and their 10-K form does not seem to reflect the reported efficacy of this “treatment.”

Aside from the predatory and shady business practices, poorly designed studies and aggressive marketing, the gameplay itself does not seem to be helpful.

A quick look at the reviews on the iOS App Store shows a concerning amount of comments—even those who rated in favor of the app—who have trouble with the sensitivity of the controls, and even ended up with wrist pain after just a few “doses.”

Another reviewer states that despite the app coming with an epilepsy warning, there is no mention of motion sickness.

This may be one of the ADE’s (adverse drug events) that 5% of participants reported in the study, but we cannot know for sure considering the study doesn’t even report what they were.

This game comes with an epilepsy a warning, but says nothing about motion sickness. I really wanted this treatment and the help it could provide, but playing it made me feel physically sick despite wearing a ReliefBand. I'd love to try it again if they develop a different game mechanism, but cannot use it in the current state. - Sep 22, 2023 rihyzy

An even more concerning review by Drewzer93 on Sept 25th suggests even more predatory marketing practices

I started to download this app and canceled the download. Well today I looked at my Facebook and somehow they were spamming my friends on Facebook messenger pretending to be me with their game adds. I changed my password to Facebook but I'm afraid they have my account information and are going to continue to send adds to my friends and the same will happen to them. People need to be warned.

Other poor reviews mention that gameplay is impossible if you are colorblind, detrimental if you have migraines or motion sickness, and creates joint pain from the amount of phone manipulation needed to “steer.”

And remember that thing I warned about before, how they charge $130 at the end of your 7 day free trial? Well turns out they don’t even wait that long!

I was just charged $130 after only 6 days when they say you get a week free. I was under the impression I had 7 days to cancel, not 5. This is intentionally misleading. The day even said the 24th was when I would be auto renewed however today is the 23rd. I was charged at 4pm so it's not like it was close to midnight or anything. I will be reaching out to Apple as this is unacceptable.

Yikes! The reviewer goes on to mention how it doesn’t even have reminders that your free trial is ending, something that is standard with subscriptions and easy to implement.

So clearly something is wrong here. We have

Efficacy studies that are single armed

Mislabeled and misleading study titles

Studies with conflict of interest not disclosed and entirely funded by the company creating the “treatment”

Predatory subscription practices that rely on you forgetting to cancel your subscription

A subjective, at best, measure of focus and attention that can be compared to skill progression of normal video games

A focus (hah) on ADHD symptoms that are widely reported to *not* be the biggest concern for people with ADHD

Description of a non-drug treatment as “medication” that “should be compared to leading ADHD medication” without actually comparing the two

A reliance on anti-medication culture to sell

A reliance on misleading ads to sell

The CEO of Roblox, widely criticized for its predatory business practices that do uniquely target kids with ADHD, being an investor in this company. What.

Strange discrepancies with insider trading, reported profits and employee retention

A “treatment plan” that cannot be adjusted according to user needs, is not monitored by a medical professional,

No guarantee in spoken or written format that even more predatory business practices such as buying coins, buying more plays, loot crates, etc won’t be added.

In fact, it is likely that the addition of a shop to buy outfits for your character and coins that you can only get by completing “doses” means that this will be implemented, like every other FTP game that ends up purely as a money grabber.

An inaccessible game for those people with ADHD who may also have epilepsy, migraines, motion sickness, vision loss, joint pain, mobility issues, autism, sensory procession disorder, or any other condition that may cause overstimulation

TLDR; this app sucks. Endeavor OTC sucks, Akili Interactive, Akili Labs, Akili inc sucks, this is not an effective treatment for ADHD and it certainly isn’t ADHD “medication.” anti-medication agendas suck, their research sucks, you should not give your money to this company, you should not try the free version, there is no evidence that it works any more than any dopamine creating mobile game with multiple tasks, and more evidence that is detrimental to you. You might as well play something actually fun that is FTP with no in app purchases, since they even admit in their own advertising that it’s not the most fun game, and only the “most fun medication to take.”

Every time I see that fucking endeavour otc thing that is literally a fucking mobile game that claims to BE ADHD MEDICINE I fucking lose it like say you don’t actually listen to adhd folks about what struggles and symptoms affect us the most without saying it.

[rachymarie]

this age of rampant data harvesting with next to zero consumer protections is so bad for schizospec fr (iykyk)

[not-poignant]

Why did the Patreon tiers go up so high in price? I really want to contribute and become a member but I can’t afford the $25 per month. I think last month it was $17?

I haven't changed my prices, anon.

However, if you or anyone signed up through the Apple store (i.e. you downloaded Patreon and signed up through the app), Apple has added a 30% commission that they're now taking/skimming on top of the creator's cost.

Patreon has sent out a couple of emails about this to people over the last 6+ months to warn them that this increase was coming. But they might have gone to spam.

The best way to get past this is:

To either cancel + sign up through a browser, OR, cancel and sign up through Safari on your phone (by bringing up Patreon on Safari or a browser). If I go to Patreon on my browser right now, I still see exactly the same prices. If I look on the Patreon app that was downloaded via the iOS app store, the 30% has been added. I get no choice in this, Patreon has been trying to put it off for as long as possible, this is just...what Apple does.

You will only get charged that 30% if you sign up to Patreon through the Patreon app via the app store, you can still sign up on an Apple phone as long as you don't use the Patreon app to do so. And! You can still download and use the Patreon app after that, just make sure you sign up on a browser first. This applies to all future creators of any kind that you or anyone else wants to support. Don't use the Patreon app to sign up for things.

It's really shitty that Apple has done this (and it's done it all creators, so anyone reading this who uses the Patreon app on iPhone, this applies to everyone you support.)

Also this 30% fee applies to anything you do on the app store - so many things cost more there than than through browsers, because Apple skims a huge amount off the top. (This is also something Dropout and other organisations have talked about too).

[littlestellababy27]

Sometimes you need a hard fuck and to be treated like a hole to use. Sometimes you need to passionately make love and be treated like the most important person in the universe. But either way, degradation or worship, you are still 100% deserving of respect and consideration. There is no point at which your safe word becomes invalid, regardless of the circumstances or the type of play. Anyone who says differently is an abuser.

Please, subs, I’m begging you to take the time to find a Dom/me who actually cares about your safety and well-being. It’s so worth it.

[maladaptivedaydreamsx]

vent/rant

I am so sick and tired of his stuff always being so expensive. It'd be nice if characters rotated once in awhile or something (speaking for those who enjoy some of the other "expensive" boys), but you know damn well they're gonna milk every mf cent and then some if they're even remotely popular. Just gonna start making up my own stories for him in my little daydreams, cause this shit just ain't it, even if I did have the money to (like way back). 100k is a damn scam at that 😒

[bueris]

"are you still watching? this video will pause soon" I put on a playlist you stupid fucking cunt the whole point is that I don't pause it and on top of that it's only been 14 minutes jesus christ you only want my attention so you can show me adverts that fill me with indescribable rage

[c1ittorus]

some of yall are really weird and you believe that you’re entitled to a person’s personal space and body. I don’t care if i’m showing my bare ass pussy to the world for free or if you’ve bought content, if I don’t consent to sexual conversations or exchanging private nudes then that’s motherfucking what it is. Get with it or get fucking blocked!

[kirianthedivorce]

Since my adhd diagnosis I’ve been doing a lot more reading up about adhd and engaging more with posts about it and literally all my targeted ads now are for subscription based apps promising habit forming with flashy colours and a promised deal of a free trial/hefty discount off the first month and I guess it’s just a bit depressing how blatantly these people are targeting people who are more likely to forget how many subscriptions they’ve got going on

[lucigraves]

I wish temu a very crash and burn and disappear forever

[sleep-deprived-tim]

A company with a shitty app that probably isn't actually affective in language learning shouldn't have multiple songs about why you should use said app. I think it blurs the lines between advertisements and actual artful expression via the means of parody. (If anyone unofficially made a song about the app pressuring the user to use it everyday to a entirely stressful way)

[ancient-string]

Im just gonna keep reporting ads for gambling apps as malicious ads because they fucking are

[proudfreakmetarusonikku]

pictures taken seconds before disaster

[signaturedish]

What are your new interests? I'd still love to read your work if you don't mind

Awww that’s so amazing to hear, it would be awesome if I didn’t chase everyone off entirely, y’all have been so much fun!!

Even if you don’t like my new stuff, I’d love if you stick around and just use tag blocks 👉👈 js

I kind of kept drifting after going crazy and writing like 50k for warrior cats, and now I’m fully in the novel trenches. Specifically I got really into Korean and Chinese web novels- idk if you saw The Untamed blow up on tumblr around 2020? They got me. I was toast.

Oh and horror podcasts. I knit and crochet and those rock for entertainment when you can’t look up often.

I’ve always got drafts open- I just don’t post until I have a solid ending in mind or enough chapters that I’m on the right track- and most are TGCF, SVSSS, and the one-off warriors/video game/Magnus Archives/etc.

Anyway!! I do plan to integrate interests from my main account here once I have time to compile and then overhaul, so a quick list of the most frequent fandoms are:

The Magnus Archives, Scum Villain, The Untamed, Malevolent, Heaven Official’s Blessing, Dunmeshi, and a handful of tinier fandoms like Ace Attorney.

If that’s wholly outside your interests no worries. If you do like one or more, run away before I find out and yap your ear off.

[agayconcept]

tumblr i s2g if i get one more fucking slew of pro-life christian cult fake-clinic predatory advertisements on this hellish app i am going to burn it all down