Get the mobile app, not the extra monitoring
BlackTechLogy: Know what permissions you're giving your app to avoid overspending
This post is part of a series entitled “BlackTechLogy.” Click here for the archived posts.
Dogs are the cheapest physical trainer you’ll ever need. They don’t care about your work deadlines or your Google Meetings. When it’s time to walk, they’re staring in your face and ready to roll. My dog learned early on that I’m a neat freak. If I take too long, she’ll walk over to my entertainment center and purposely push her nose into one of the photo frames. There’s a 99.9% chance that I’m going to stand up to put that frame back in place. And like clockwork, she jumps up on my legs as if to say, “Ready to walk now?”
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Easy fitness, right? Yes and no. I also got into the habit of walking past a Burger King for breakfast meals (when they used to sell the Impossible sausage sandwich) if I took one route. And before I started boycotting McDonald’s, I’d beeline for the Golden Arches for Free Fries Fridays. The mobile app made it super easy for me to look up local deals and discounts, so I’d be searching for a deal as soon as I walked out of the door. Discount M&M McFlurry? Absolutely! I’d use my PayPal account or Google Wallet to pay and pick up my order curbside. Then, the dog walk would continue.
Recommended Read: “Can Your Device Keep a Secret? ~ Playing Devil’s Advocate With Consumer Privacy”
And when I didn’t stop at either of these franchises, my dog would freeze by the entrance doorways, wondering why I wasn’t stopping. Sometimes I’d give in and order on the app right at the door. Other times, I held strong and walked on by. (And I was baffled the one time my dog dropped down flat on the sidewalk like a pancake as if to say, “If I don’t get one of those fries you always drop on the sidewalk, you’re going to have to drag me home.”)
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As an Amazon Affiliate, I earn a percentage from purchases with my referral links.
But while the waist of my pants was getting as tight as my weekly budget, I realized there was one thing I could do to stop myself from going here — or anywhere else.
First, turn off the notifications. If you don’t know about the weekly deals, it’s less tempting to buy anything. (This works as well to stop yourself from department store shopping or online shopping for non-food items too.)
Second, when I had more than one phone number, the two-factor authentication would only be on the smartphone (or tablet) that I left at home.
Third, make sure the mobile app permissions are off. If the app doesn’t know I’m near one of these fast-food restaurants — because my location is off — then I don’t know the local deals. (On an Android phone, choose Settings, then Privacy, then Permission Manager. On an iPhone, choose Settings, then Privacy & Security, then App Permissions.)
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As an Amazon affiliate, I earn a percentage from purchases with my referral links. I know some consumers are choosing to boycott Amazon for its DEI removal. However, after thinking about this thoroughly, I choose to continue promoting intriguing products from small businesses, women-owned businesses and (specifically) Black-owned businesses who still feature their items on Amazon. All five of my Substack publications now include a MINIMUM of one product sold by a Black-owned business. (I have visited the seller’s official site, not just the Amazon Black-owned logo, to verify this.) If you still choose to boycott, I 100% respect that decision.
Fourth, uninstall the mobile app. Even if I bought something from a fast-food restaurant on Tuesday, that didn’t mean I needed to have the app lurking in the background on Wednesday. There were times when I thought it was “too much trouble” to download the app again, or I was too close to the location to download, order, pay and wait. I kept on walking.
Fifth, unsubscribe from the e-newsletters and don’t keep survey coupon codes in your bag. If you get discount deals via email, it’ll tempt you to download the mobile app before you leave home. And if you don’t use the app much, it’s hogging up storage that could better be used for something else.
While no app should have access to know your location unless it’s absolutely necessary (ex. a Wag! walker needs to leave the app location on so the owner can see the route walked during those 30-minute and hour-long walks), by monitoring the security permissions, this can also make your smartphone experience feel less intrusive. As for your dog wanting Burger King hash browns, that’s a struggle I lived out this morning — and marched right on by because I didn’t want to pay full price when I had survey coupons at home. Still hungry but saved money!
Did you enjoy this post? You’re also welcome to check out my Substack columns “Black Girl In a Doggone World,” “BlackTechLogy,” “Homegrown Tales,” “I Do See Color,” “One Black Woman’s Vote” and “Window Shopping” too. Subscribe to this newsletter for the weekly posts every Wednesday. Thanks for reading!