Ads on Apple Maps

Vortigaunt 12 points 11 comments May 06, 2026
ads.apple.com · View on Hacker News

Discussion Highlights (5 comments)

slwvx

I don't like my hardware and OS provider turning me into a product to be sold

RickS

heh. Could the apple maps team ever be paid a higher compliment? They really, truly, made it. I remember 15 years ago when apple maps was an absolute laughingstock that couldn't hold a candle to the big guys. But look at them now. They made it genuinely good. It'd been my only map app for years until I downloaded google maps for a road trip and was perplexed by all the squares I didn't ask for telling me about Arby's and Toyota dealers. "People tolerate this?!" Long enough to be the villain.

m463

You know what I do? I have a second iphone. main iphone - mostly revolves around phone and messages. lockdown mode. no bluetooth, no wifi, no location services, privacy stuff all restricted. I also do some web browsing. I run adblock which lets you filter lots of stuff. apple id signed out. and my second iphone - offline iphone. I install it using ethernet with outside connection (usb->ethernet dongles work for iphone) I delete MANY apps, like phone, messages, tips, stock, health, news, tv, all happily. I install some 3rd-party apps. I sign into the app store only with apple id. I install adblock and enable it. I install audible and kindle, add books/audiobooks (adblock prevents some ad connections like kochava.com) translation (offline). siri (offline). maps (offline). All of these have offline data that I download. Then I sign out of icloud (the app store conveniently kind-of-signs-you in) -> and I disconnect the phone for the last time. then I turn on: - bluetooth on. - location services on. - camera with location services. - siri I don't use wifi, just the ethernet to my (local only) network. I use some apps that talk to my local network - omnifocus, nextcloud. and I have an offline phone that doesn't phone home. the maps problem is: apple offline maps last 30 days then disappear. There are lots of complaints online about this. "I was in timbuktu with no internet and couldn't navigate back to the village because the maps expired". If I need them have I wipe the phone and start over. Jerks. also audible downloads auto-remove when you get to the end. hard to find settings: Downloads -> settings -> auto remove books: off Maybe excessive, but it makes me happy.

_aavaa_

And just like that, the reason to use Apple Maps is gone.

SupremumLimit

It used to be that they included a bunch of software to make their hardware more useful. But I guess they couldn't resist squeezing out a bit more revenue through enshittification. The profit motive is ultimately too strong. Ads on the lock screen and in the dock next?

Semantic search powered by Rivestack pgvector
8,303 stories · 78,303 chunks indexed