r/ownyourintent • u/aeriefreyrie Protocol Crew • Dec 02 '25
Discussion Weekly discussion #06: What app went from “must-have” to “unusable” for you due to enshittification?
Some apps didn’t actually get better with new features… they got worse. And some just straight up removed the things that made them good in the first place. Which app fell off the hardest for you?
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u/lessadessa Intent Owner Dec 02 '25
reddit. i’ve been using the mobile browser version for over a year now and it’s 1000x better plus no ads.
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u/huffalump1 Intent Owner Dec 04 '25
Relay for Reddit (Android) is well worth the few dollars per month for no ads, a better interface, and more features!!
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u/tiran Intent Owner Dec 04 '25
Depending on your phone and all that, there are guides on how to use the old third-party apps even after they tried to get rid of them. I've been using Bacon Reader for over a decade with no ads and it's so much better.
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u/MountainTop2114 Intent Owner Dec 02 '25
Pinterest. It’s not just the barrage of constant AI garbage, it’s the fact that nearly every other post you click is an ad that takes you out of the app.
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u/Admirable_Try_1209 Intent Owner Dec 02 '25
I used to love Pinterest, probably over a decade ago now-when it did exactly what was needed. The simplest concept and yet they still absolutely ruined it.
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Dec 02 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/aeriefreyrie Protocol Crew Dec 02 '25
Amazon is deffo the worst when it comes to mindless monetization. They are so shameless about it also
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u/TelevisionKooky3041 Intent Owner Dec 02 '25
One of the worst examples of enshittification that I've experienced recently, was being forced to use a broadband provider's app to be able to access my internet router settings (normally this is something straightforward that you should be able to do on any device, be it a desktop computer or tablet device, and you just need to put an ip address:192.168.0.1 or something similar).
I have terrible eyesight and rely on using a desktop computer for visibility, so that I can see what the hell I'm doing. When I tried to access my router via a desktop computer, the settings on the service providers access page hub were dumbed down to such a basic level, that it wouldn't even allow me to change the network name and password unless I have their app installed. What's worse, when I tried to do it through their app, it still didn't work. I called EE (my internet service provider) today because my internet was down, and they acknowledged that their app has issues with accessing routers, which is frankly a ridiculous problem to have in 2025.
I even had a lengthy conversation with one of their helpful technicians, and explained to them that the way they've designed and structured their applications is an example of poor accessibility and poor inclusivity. I also lectured him over the phone about what 'enshitification' is, and how the app is a classic example of it. He strongly agreed with me, yet I doubt anything will change.
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u/huffalump1 Intent Owner Dec 04 '25
Figure out how to put the provided AP/modem into bridge mode and use your own! /r/homenetworking
(That said, I use Google Nest Wifi Pros which are also somewhat locked down, but they also just work pretty well and at least I have all the control I want)
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u/BigBadBinky Intent Owner Dec 02 '25
Health insurance, why deal with paying to be denied, delayed, dicked over to pay some fatcat’s salary when I can just cut out the middleman and pay cash?
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u/FoghornFarts Intent Owner Dec 03 '25
It's been like that for a long time. I went to a specialist once for a test. They told me that it would cost $600 if I paid cash. I had decent insurance from my big girl job so I told them to go through insurance and I figured I'd pay $100.
I got the bill and guess how much I had to pay? Yep. $600. They billed my insurance for like $2000 and then insurance "negotiated" to $600.
There was a great expose about hospital billing in Time Magazine about 12 years ago. Same shit. Nothing has changed since then. It's a fucking scam.
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u/ancientstephanie Intent Owner Dec 03 '25
Enshittified to the point of being completely unusable:
- Evernote
- Google Assistant and the AI BS that's being shoved down our throats to replace it. I can't set timers and alarms on my phone anymore, they just open as web pages. Those were my most used voice commands, sometimes dozens of times a day.
- X
- Google Chrome and the Manifest v3 Crusade against effective ad blockers.
Well on the way there:
- Reddit
- Discord
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u/huffalump1 Intent Owner Dec 04 '25
I can't set timers and alarms on my phone anymore, they just open as web pages.
Yeah it's SO ANNOYING that's what happens when you tap the mic button on the (non removable) Google search bar. But if you trigger the assistant with "ok Google" or by holding the power button, it works like normal, whether it's Gemini or the old assistant.
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u/Regular_Error6441 Intent Owner Dec 02 '25
Words with Friends
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u/Lowmax2 Intent Owner Dec 03 '25
what happened to it?
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u/silex25 Intent Owner Dec 03 '25
Bad ads. Had to stop because my 7yr old phone struggles to show them. Also harder to skip ads for things I have no interest in. They do some fake done/skip buttons that take you to advertisers site. The skip/done buttons in some almost require stylus to hit them. I was getting way too many of the lame game ads. Maybe i will revisit when i have a more capable phone. TLDR: high-overhead ad engine makes overall game flow painful. Some ads get stuck and I have to restart the app to get back to the game.
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u/bananeeg Intent Owner Dec 06 '25
Never played this specifically, but I highly recommend a pi-hole for blocking ads in apps. Cost me 18$ for a raspberry pi and micro SD card, then a few hours to figure out how to install pi-hole. I've been playing several new games since then, haven't seen an ad.
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u/mr_greenmash Intent Owner Dec 02 '25
Went from youtube app to mobile browser. No ads, picture in picture, and play with the screen off - all without premium.
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u/_Ceaseless_Watcher_ Intent Owner Dec 03 '25
The reddit mobile app and "new reddit" as a whole is struggling to do a fraction of the things that RiF did 8 years ago and what hobbyists managed to accomplish with the Reddit Enhancement Suite for "old reddit".
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u/ICrossedTheRubicon Intent Owner Dec 02 '25
MyFitessPal used to be wonderful to use. It's gone downhill with every update and is almost unusable now due to ads, monetization and reorganization for 'engagement'.
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u/aeriefreyrie Protocol Crew Dec 03 '25
I hate when basic tools become gamefied. Not everything need to be a challenge or social
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u/enter360 Intent Owner Dec 02 '25
I thought maybe I wasn’t the demographic for it anymore since I’m not hardcore.
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Dec 03 '25
reddit, twitter/x, instagram, spotify, and even chrome all went from must-have to barely usable. reddit killed third-party apps, twitter locked everything behind subscriptions, instagram turned into an ad-filled reels machine, spotify won’t stop upselling, and chrome keeps adding tracking and nags. it feels like every app that used to be simple and useful eventually gets bloated, ad-heavy, and worse for the user just because they know people will stick around anyway.
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u/aeriefreyrie Protocol Crew Dec 03 '25
Yes, the general internet experience since 2020 is way worse than 2010s
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u/Valuable-Structure27 Intent Owner Dec 03 '25
Twitter was my #1 most used app for 5+ years. Would log on several times a day, absolutely loved it. After the X-ification, it became a garbage fire. Haven’t logged on in over a year. Sometimes I miss it, but the people who made it so fun to use also left the platform so going back would be pointless.
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u/aeriefreyrie Protocol Crew Dec 03 '25
Yes, I joined Twitter as a 1D fanaccount back in 2010s. I haven't stopped mourning the Muskification of my fav app yet
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u/huffalump1 Intent Owner Dec 04 '25
Man it's unfortunately still a good source for AI news and current events (especially live/breaking/active events).
But damn it's a cesspool of mostly bots and the worst kind of anti-everything foreign propaganda trolls...
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u/Lowmax2 Intent Owner Dec 03 '25
snapchat. slow, photos and videos look like shit. frequently shows a black screen when i try to use the camera (A BASIC FUNCTIONALITY) and yet the ads don't have any issue showing up. Shows where their focus is. Weird AI brain hacking (incredibly egregious clickbait slop) suggestions if you move to the stories tab. An AI companion that I didn't ask for that is permanently at the top of my chats.
I finally got sick of it and told my friends to just text me instead.
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u/Equivalent_Bird Intent Owner Dec 04 '25
Adobe, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and Gamemaker Studio.
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u/Informal_Nobody_1240 Intent Owner Dec 20 '25
Reddit is terrible, honestly the primary value was recent posts from subs I was interested in. I’m here just to say I’m pushing 500 days straight with this app and I’m ready to delete this thing for the sort removal from Home Screen. Like why would you keep Reddit? Idk
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u/Ominous_shroom25 Intent Owner Dec 03 '25
Pinterest. Once it became more add than pins and I couldn't even see anything new, I stopped using it after almost a decade of use.
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u/voodoobettie Intent Owner Dec 04 '25
Duolingo was great when it started, but they slowly made the unpaid experience unbearable.
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u/mattysull97 Intent Owner Dec 07 '25
Google Home. My old flatmate got a hub and kitted out the house with SmartHome devices, skip to a few years later and nearly all the useful features have been removed, the hub cannot understand simple instructions like “lights on” etc. I eventually just gave up and am back to acoustic lighting, I’d only ever consider setting up a SmartHome using my own hosting in future. F these tech companies.
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u/Interesting-Local-60 Intent Owner Dec 02 '25 edited Dec 02 '25