[wwweston]

There has to be an entire category of UX problems like this, even with Apple products (maybe especially with Apple products), where some well-meaning set of product owners decides they're going to automatically detect something that might normally be a user input (like mode of travel), and then it turns out their heuristics for detection weren't thought through carefully enough and run afoul of a use case they didn't account for.

[mikeash]

There's a strong belief running through the Apple developer community that having a setting means you didn't think hard enough about the defaults. There is some wisdom in that idea but sometimes people take it way too far.

[jimminy]

Actually had this happen the other day on Facebook.

Unfollowed a friend due to some strain on the relationship, and just needed to avoid them temporarily and didn't want to see anything from them. They shared some of my content, which placed them in my notifications.

Notifications can only be marked read, not deleted, so it was somewhat stressful. it's a very minor use-case, but there is no remedy but to get other interactions to force the notification out of sight.

[underwater]

Facebook offers tools that are more fine grained than unfriending. You can block someone, unfollow them so they don't appear in your feed, or turn off notifications for the piece of content they shared.

Exposing more controls is always a balancing act. From a user experience perspective it can add complexity to the product, this can make it feel more confusing. The privacy setting, for example is very powerful but the UI is built so that most complexity is hidden until you need it. There is also engineering debt. Once a feature is added it is very hard to remove. A setting like hiding notifications on a per-user basis would have to stay in the codebase for all time, even if Facebook decided to stop showing the UI to new users.

[dzhiurgis]

I'd put this bug here - on iPhone 6S opening camera stops music. Presumably something to do with Live Photos which are disabled. They also did some fix in iOS 9.2 - leaving camera now resumes music.

[seanp2k2]

See also: automated bathroom fixtures. What if I want to fill up a glass, rinse something off, or get more than one hand towel? Why have the designs of these not significantly improved in 10+ years?