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points by devsda 3 days ago | 0 comments

This was the case with Google Assistant too.

Google has this pattern of all or nothing approach.

Maps refuses to show your *current* location if you don't enable location accuracy i.e. if you won't allow it to spy on your WiFi or Bluetooth it refuses to show your current location at all. GPS, what's that?

We can disable notifications and even phone access but physical activity is the one permission that cannot be disabled for play services !?

Google apps have a lot of WTFs!

[–] BoppreH 3 days ago

And the YouTube home page is blank if you have Watch History off. The recommendation algorithm still runs on the side bar of any video you watch, but the home page refuses to even show your subscriptions.

[–] ACCount39 3 days ago

Yeah, this is just Google punishing people for not enabling their data harvesting.

There's no reason they can't have a mix of "this is popular in general" and "your subs and likes suggest you'd like this" on the front page - they just don't want people to disable watch history. They are required to offer that as an option, but they'll never stop pestering you about it.

[–] OvervCW 3 days ago

I'm surprised they don't just store your watch history anyway , with the toggle option being "don't show me or people looking over my shoulder my watch history".

[–] TingPing 3 days ago

My watch history is set to 3 months. It used to constantly show things I had already seen. However eventually (years ago) I just don’t get repeats.

[–] syshyk 2 days ago

I have a whole add-on just to default/redirect me to my subscriptions page.

[–] SoftTalker 3 days ago

That could be seen as a feature.

[–] rolosa 3 days ago

That's actually a plus.

[–] latexr 3 days ago

> And the YouTube home page is blank if you have Watch History off.

That one I do like. YouTube’s homepage (at least without an account and with history off) is a cesspool of uninteresting clickbait garbage so I’m glad to have it off. I do agree they seem to think of it as some kind of punishment¹, which makes it all the more satisfying that it works as I want it.

¹ It’s now entirely blank for me, but I remember when they started doing this (it wasn’t always the case) they showed a message that suggested not having a homepage was undesirable.

[–] BoppreH 3 days ago

Agree, but it should at least show recent uploads from my subscription. It's stupid that I can visit "www.youtube.com" and not see a single video.

[–] aquentinn 3 days ago

Welcome to monopoly where they get the free videos from the sheep and still order you around. Why has Youtube not been disrupted btw, everyone gave up or did VCs order it?

[–] BeetleB 3 days ago

I have to say - I actually like this.

Imagine if you go to Google.com to do a web search, and it is a page full of recommendations on sites to visit. Would you want that?

[–] BoppreH 3 days ago

The difference is that I'm subscribed to a variety of channels on YouTube. Yes, I do want to see their videos on the front page. That's what the Subscriptions page is doing anyway.

[–] BeetleB 3 days ago

Yes, but what algorithm will it use to show videos from the channels you're subscribed to? Will you and everyone else agree with that choice of algorithm? The only one that makes sense is chronological. Anything else leads to similar problems as in the past.

[–] BoppreH 3 days ago

Yes, why not? Chronological is infinitely better than a blank homepage.

[–] BeetleB 3 days ago

I agree, but most people do not. A quite common complaint of Mastodon - even here on HN - is that chronological makes discovery difficult.

[–] Timon3 2 days ago

I find it hard to believe anyone prefers "no results" to "chronological results".

[–] dTal 2 days ago

You know what makes discovery difficult? A blank page

[–] bonoboTP 3 days ago

It's no wtf. Google is an ad company so they want all your data to target ads at you.

[–] WarmWash 3 days ago

People use Google everyday, block all ads, get extremely angry about Google's grubby advertising hands, and then when you tell them their are paid services like Kagi and Proton...."pay for this stuff? Nah, I have a right to it for free!"

[–] bonoboTP 3 days ago

Payment doesn't guarantee anything tho. We are right now in a thread about a paid product by Google still spying.

[–] amelius 3 days ago

Yes, it's almost like a fairy tale where children are offered candy but then very bad things happen. Hansel und Gretel, etc. We should have known all along!

[–] wingmanjd 3 days ago

Continuing with your Hansel and Gretel metaphor, the first time the candy turned sour for me was Goog-411. It was a service (at least over here in the US) that allowed you to look up local businesses via voice prompts over a phone call. When the service was still active, calling 411 via a mobile phone had a per-call cost, so a free lookup service seemed great.

I found out later that Goog411 was created to primarily train on the voice prompts from the users of the service. Left a really bad taste.

[–] Sayrus 3 days ago

> We can disable notifications and even phone access but physical activity is the one permission that cannot be disabled for play services !?

Sandboxed Play Services works on Grapheneos without physical activity so it's definitely not actually required by their services.

But I think they showed the best example of that behavior just recently: no AI, no Google search for students because search is "too integrated" with AI (https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2026/11/03/google-...)

[–] WmWsjA6B29B4nfk 3 days ago

I've just turned off location accuracy, google maps displayed a popup said results will be better if I turn it on, and after dismissing the popup it did use GPS to localize me with no issues.

[–] wafflemaker 3 days ago

GPS only navigation is really bad. Takes ages to get a lock, especially in bad weather.

There are though some more privacy friendly alternatives that I remember from playing with GrapheneOS settings.

[–] dTal 2 days ago

Funny, it works just fine for cruise missiles.

And on phones. In my experience, a hot start fix (with up to date ephemeris) shouldn't take more than a couple seconds. Maybe you have a bad antenna.

[–] wafflemaker 2 days ago

I'm comparing 0 GPS assist with full assist. Takes a few seconds and another few for a proper lock. With assist it's kind of instant. But I'm close to Polar Circle, maybe it's less sats over the North Pole?

[–] indigo945 3 days ago

This will only work for a few weeks, after which the location will be missing entirely. (Which just makes it more obvious that this is an intended feature, not a bug.)

[–] WmWsjA6B29B4nfk 3 days ago

If true, what you described makes it sound exactly like a bug, not an intended feature.

[–] franktankbank 3 days ago

A/B testing rules

[–] gherkinnn 3 days ago

Surely that approach is implemented to force people in to the all group.

Then again, anon YouTube no longer showing recommendations on the start page is what waned me off the website.

[–] marcosdumay 3 days ago

Last time I tried, Maps also refused to show a map at all, from anywhere if you didn't enable your location.

[–] user_7832 3 days ago

> Google has this pattern of all or nothing approach.

Call it what it is, please. User-hostile behaviour that compels you to turn their tracking on if you want to use any of the practically helpful services.

I'm a super privacy conscious person, and even I end up keeping many of these things on simply because I want to use for eg google assistant.