this post was submitted on 01 Jan 2025
297 points (94.3% liked)

Showerthoughts

30103 readers
591 users here now

A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. A showerthought should offer a unique perspective on an ordinary part of life.

Rules

  1. All posts must be showerthoughts
  2. The entire showerthought must be in the title
  3. Avoid politics
    • 3.1) NEW RULE as of 5 Nov 2024, trying it out
    • 3.2) Political posts often end up being circle jerks (not offering unique perspective) or enflaming (too much work for mods).
    • 3.3) Try c/politicaldiscussion, volunteer as a mod here, or start your own community.
  4. Posts must be original/unique
  5. Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Spotify wrapped started this trend seems other apps are following through. Seeing a summary of things you did with there app. Kind of gives you a hint how much other things are being tracked.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 23 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I doubt it.

The kind of data used for "wrapped" type summaries are usually the kind of data that users want to be tracked because it powers features they want.

Like Spotify wrapped is based of Spotify play history, and being able to see your recently played songs is a feature people want.

Duolingo wrapped is based on lesson progress, and it has to track your progress else it doesn't know what lesson you're doing.

idk what other apps do this, it's pretty rare for me, but afaict it's all just normal stuff.

Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of privacy problems that apps try to fuck with, but I don't think that yearly wrapped is likely to be one of them.

[–] captainlezbian 10 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Yeah I don't mind apps keeping track of how I've been using them. But if duolingo tells me where my friend got married and congratulates me on keeping my streak through that then we're gonna have some concerns

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 days ago

Lucy does keep saying that she is always listening rather ominously

[–] other_cat 17 points 3 days ago (2 children)

My to do list app had a wrapped and I was deeply displeased to see it.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)
[–] Ironfacebuster 5 points 3 days ago (2 children)

"You bought $300 worth of candles every month!"

Don't remind me 😔

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago

Use Fossify notes

[–] Codandchips 10 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] wabafee 7 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)
[–] Codandchips 8 points 2 days ago (2 children)

It's not my job to educate you

[–] Feathercrown 3 points 2 days ago
[–] wabafee 2 points 2 days ago

perfect 👌

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 days ago

That actually requires very little data compared to the amount of data being collected. They collect absolutely everything all the time.

[–] RegalPotoo 92 points 3 days ago (2 children)

data retention

It's the opposite - most regulatory frameworks require that you only retain data if you have a "legitimate purpose" for holding on to it; providing app features absolutely is a legitimate purpose, so by having a "wrapped" you can justify holding on to everything a user does - after all, you need it to provide features.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Nope. Especially under GDPR. To use an example of Spotify - having a "wrapped" is not part of the core offering and is not necessary for the service to work. Meaning they need your permission to store that data (or other legal framework).

[–] astanix 20 points 3 days ago

I love hearing about how protective the GDPR is and wish it was a worldwide initiative with the teeth to truly protect humanity from themselves.

[–] lurklurk 1 points 2 days ago

Music recommendations are part of the core offering though and keeping play history is pretty vital for that. There might be local ways to do it but probably not as good

[–] wabafee 9 points 3 days ago

That's interesting never thought of that.

[–] satans_methpipe 7 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

The whole 'wrapped' summaries thing dovetails perfectly into social media narcissism. It's quite a spectacle to witness.

Edit: the phrase I was looking for came to me:

Sharing 'wrapped' anything is solid gold self-absorbed dipshittery.

[–] Kerred 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I enjoy it for retro achievements because it said I spent 60 hours playing Dragon.Quest 8 for the PS2. But that's probably because it's all free.

And oddly enough it was the only wrapped I got as I don't do subscription based stuff.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 3 days ago (9 children)

I use the journalling app Daylio, which has a wrapped feature. It's all done locally, on device. Not every implementation of this feature is spying on you.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 days ago (1 children)

This app is pretty cool. Just saying this because it let me export my data when I wanted to stop using it. Which is not a common feature in proprietary software so hats off to the devs.

[–] hikaru755 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

not a common feature in proprietary software

Just so you know, the GDPR mandates that you can at any time get a full export of all your personal data from anyone who's processing it in a common, machine readable format. It is laudable though to have that integrated as a feature in the software, rather than jumping through hoops contacting support etc.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago

Just to add on, it's not just they let you export data in a cool PDF, it also lets you export the data as a CSV so it can be parsed by other things.

[–] bcgm3 3 points 3 days ago

Antenna-Pod does it this way as well.

load more comments (7 replies)
[–] electric 26 points 3 days ago (12 children)

Isn't that just basic data they already kept track of?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 days ago

A boring dystopia

load more comments (11 replies)
[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago (1 children)

The only software that could do that for me was Steam; saying when I played which games how long, and if it appeared to be on a Steam Deck or not. It did not nearly track all the Deck data, it seems if the Deck has no Internet connection for long enough it kind of just discards data it held and it never gets synced to Steam. For my desktop it was accurate, but only the game time stats it already let me know it tracks.

Since nothing else could “wrap” my annual data I think I'm going fine.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I know Steam itself says it doesn't track your playtime while you're playing offline. Not sure about the Steam Deck, though.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 days ago

It's also a fun way to see how good their data is

For a few of the apps, the data was very limited and/or very wrong. That made me happy

[–] Duamerthrax 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Which apps do that? None of mind have suggested anything.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago (5 children)

I'm aware of spotify, youtube, and to a lesser extent strava and duolingo.

I don't use either one of them, but people have posted screenshots from all those on social media.

load more comments (5 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›