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by kccqzy 1020 days ago
Several years ago when I was testing the Apple Maps navigation UI, I started a random navigation trip at home, looked around and tested the UI out without actually driving anywhere. Looked fine until I pressed the power button. Then I found that the Apple Maps hijacked my lock screen to display its own UI. That's the point I noped out of Apple Maps. This is malware-level behavior. No app should be able to override my Lock Screen. Especially not a first-party app because third-party apps are so well sandboxed that they cannot do that. Where are the cries of antitrust?

Apple Maps is malware. Any app that could modify system level behavior such as the Lock Screen is malware. You probably don't agree, but still I will never use it.

3 comments

I get what you’re trying to say and it makes sense if you think of your phone as a tiny computer. An app should not be able to escape out of its window and app-level capabilities and it should be clear if an app is running or not.

I don’t share the same view, because I consider my iPhone an appliance. If my goal is to get to a place, I’ll let the appliance do anything and everything to get me there, including changing the UI or jumping out of my hand and leading the way.

you're entitled to your preferences in UX, but it's a bit melodramatic to call that malware.
No I agree, it's abusive behaviour but the people that use it are conditioned to accept it.