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Comment by tl | Hacker News Reader

Here's an exhaustive list of companies running ads in the Settings app:

1. Apple - examples include Apple Arcade, AppleCare+, Fitness+

I was so shocked when I saw an ad in Settings I took a screenshot. It's dated December 8th, 2020. Prosecution of Apple for abuse should have started at least that long ago.

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I 100% believe that's the case, but I'm curious about the details.

I think integration with a specific product is ok with branding and a link to their website. Like you'd have FitBit, Nike+, or whatever under a fitness tab in settings.

But it sounds closer to the banner ads on the bottom of the screen like a lot of free android apps do.

How do they display the ads?

> How do they display the ads?

It's not "ads" per se, but when you are eligible for a promotion such as free Apple TV+, Music, etc - there's an option all the way at the top that appears. You can open them and press "decline" and that particular promotion goes away.

Not great (especially considering the services are shit), but very tame compared to the advertising you usually see.

Format an iPhone and start using it without and Apple ID, you will get blasted with notifications to signup to their services daily.

I'm sure they did thorough research on what "temperature" to set initially. They've probably already completed the research on the most effective way to turn up the "heat". Once you have a mechanism like that, it only makes sense to get the most value out of it. It's a dark pattern.

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