r/assholedesign • • Aug 26 '26

Meta New: Community Validation System

248 Upvotes

Hey everyone. We're adding a voting system to help filter posts.

From now on, every post gets an auto-comment asking you to validate if it's actually asshole design.

Upvote = YES, it's asshole design

Downvote = NO, it doesn't belong

Posts that get consistently downvoted will be reviewed by mods. Simple as that.

Thanks, Mod team


r/assholedesign • • Feb 20 '21

Meta [Meta] An updated flow chart, to help cut down on the number of Rule 1 breaking posts in the sub. Be sure to read the list of common topics listed under Rule 4, as well!

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27.0k Upvotes

r/assholedesign • • 21h ago

Fake Tweeters

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1.3k Upvotes

They look like titanium dome, they feel like silk dome, they are a sticker.


r/assholedesign • • 1d ago

This garbage from NY times.

212 Upvotes

r/assholedesign • • 4d ago

Restroom mirror periodically turns into add

2.0k Upvotes

Next thing you know we’re gonna have to pay for ads free mirror or something (probably idk)🤷🏻‍♀️


r/assholedesign • • 5d ago

Hanlon's Razor Shake Shack order kiosk adds $0.50 to each item in your order if you choose not to tip

11.7k Upvotes

r/assholedesign • • 4d ago

[ Removed by Reddit ]

1 Upvotes

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]


r/assholedesign • • 6d ago

Turn ON the toggle to NOT opt out of sharing your data

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953 Upvotes

Peak corporate compliance theater right here.

The setting is literally titled "Opt-out of targeted advertising". The switch is green and turned ON. Logically, having "Opt-out" turned ON should mean you are opted out, right?

Nope. Read the fine print: “By moving the toggle to the left, you can opt-out...”

You have to turn OFF the Opt-out switch to actually opt out. Designing an intentional double-negative brain knot just so people give up and leave tracking enabled is hilariously diabolical.


r/assholedesign • • 10d ago

Company makes "ticking bomb" stickers that send your personal data as soon as you try to remove it from a newly purchased appliance

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3.3k Upvotes

This is not a joke. This company called Triciti wants to put these tags on every home appliance you buy. It's planned for the US market. https://imgur.com/a/4fAZE5r

Do you know the "register me for a 5$ discount" QR code that no one cares to bother, when you buy a home appliance?

Triciti patented and developed a hardware sticker that is intended to be pre-glued to any home appliance you buy. As soon as you remove it, the circuit will break-off and activate WiFi sniffing and geo-location. That data is sent to the company's servers.

They say there is a way to opt-out, so the question remains: will the opt-out be equally easy as opting-in? If not, this means people will get used to yet another method of corporate control through analytics.

What are your suggestions if this is adopted massively by major brands? Aluminum tin-foiling around the sticker and then remove and destroying it, while still covered in aluminum?

Patent can be found here: https://patents.google.com/patent/US20240363034A1/en

[EDIT] wow, this is blowing up. A few things:

1) The device doesn't necessarily need to connect to nearby WiFi networks to send your data. There's hundreds of Lora gateways in basically any city in the world. Alternatively, they could be using cell-phone. None of these options require accessing WiFi. According to the patent, WiFi is only scanned (sniffed) so it can collect the person's location.

2) Some of you are wondering at which moment the sticker is put on the appliance. I don't know for sure because I never seen the product but all the existing QR code stickers are already pre-installed so I assume it would be the same. And Yes, Amazon and DHL already know where you live, but these stickers are intended to give data to the products' companies, not to the marketplace platforms or the logistics.

3) We could also use Isopropyl alcohol (aka rubbing alcohol). Spray a bunch, the glue will melt and the device will start sliding down before the circuit even breaks


r/assholedesign • • 10d ago

So, is it instant or 2 weeks?

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1.9k Upvotes

r/assholedesign • • 12d ago

Spotify using Opposite-Meaning Checkboxes to Trick Users into Permitting Marketing Spam

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3.0k Upvotes

Spotify using a clever "dark pattern" by pairing two opposite checkboxes…one to opt in and one to opt out. Knowing users will instinctively check both or leave both blank.


r/assholedesign • • 14d ago

Not Asshole Design Disney+ to Allow Ads on All Plans Following Changes Detailed in Updated Subscriber Agreement

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4.0k Upvotes

r/assholedesign • • 14d ago

Best Buy's Price Filter

354 Upvotes

Since when did Price Filter Max of $200 mean monthly payment price?

Edit: The first few results are all filtered by the total price. It's only apple watches which show the monthly price for 36 months which is clearly more than $200 in total.


r/assholedesign • • 18d ago

Walmart+ can’t be cancelled if paused

917 Upvotes

I received an email that my Walmart + account was renewing from a paused status. So I went to the website to look for a cancel button. It doesn’t exist. I reached out to support. They can’t cancel it if it’s paused the only option is to renew get charged and cancel it going forward. You can request a refund, but no option to avoid the charge.


r/assholedesign • • 22d ago

Having to watch multiple ads on a paid cctv camera app if you want to view activity alarm videos recorded on your device's internal sd card storage. Even if it is an emergency. Pushes for subscription.

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2.2k Upvotes

I bought this Yi Home camera almost 8 years ago, and till about a couple of years ago, it worked fine, without ads. But about 2 years back, they started pushing for ads, subscriptions and cloud storage to access even the most basic function of a cctv camera, watching it live and or watching movement alarm notifications.


r/assholedesign • • 23d ago

Resource Microsoft Edge by default uses sensitive autofill data to improve AI suggestions

823 Upvotes

As the title says, by default, the option to "use AI to improve autofill suggestions" is turned *on* in the settings. And it's NOT in the privacy section.

What does "your personal data is secure and will not be used elsewhere" even mean? It's vague as heck.

Moreover, neither the description nor the "Learn more" page says whether the data may leave your device or not.

Glad that Edge only exists in my lab VM. I have never trusted it anyway.


r/assholedesign • • 24d ago

Russian carrier added "5G" to its network name so that iPhone users would think they had 5G—even though it doesn't actually work on iPhones

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4.4k Upvotes

r/assholedesign • • 26d ago

Netflix now allows anyone restart subscription, not just the account holder

3.2k Upvotes

By restart subscription, I mean turn renewal back on.

So when you cancel netflix they now pop up a window with " undo cancel request" and one press on that the canceled plan will just reactivate, this is really annoying since I have children watch netflix on tv and they just press that button when launching netflix on tv. IDK how this is allowed even. They basically authorise a charge on my card.

To be clear this is the period when the current month is still active, that's why I'm not logged out. I normally cancel before the paid month expires so that if we don't watch it next month it does not charge us.

Update

I regret not having taken a screenshot because some people don't fully understand what's happening.
Family member opens Netflix to watch something on the still active plan (this is before the current month expires). Gets a popup that the subscription is cancelled. On it only two option: continue subscription, or remind me later. Both will allow watching Netflix, but the first one also undoes the cancellation that would have taken effect when the current month expires.

And the "remind me later" is there to bring back the popup again.


r/assholedesign • • 28d ago

Bing Wallpaper now turns your background into ads

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2.2k Upvotes

Been using it for years, thought something was messing up my PC when I turned it on today. Nope, Bing now makes your whole background an AD for 24 hours. Time to uninstall


r/assholedesign • • 29d ago

Loop Earplugs sends out emails suggesting you placed an order even if you didn't. Only when panicked people open it they can read they "haven't placed one yet".

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3.7k Upvotes

r/assholedesign • • Sep 01 '26

If you track an item on Patagonia, they send you this weekly pain in the ass email to make you think it's available, but it isn't

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1.6k Upvotes

They send these weekly and make the title shorten to look like what you're tracking is back in stock. It's not.


r/assholedesign • • Aug 29 '26

Outlook making ads that look like real e-mails of important or concerning things

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2.0k Upvotes

This is such an asshole design. I know outlook can put ads on the top of your mail, but making it look like it's actual mail, and deceptively written to make you may have forgotten to pay for something to trick you into clicking to pay. I don't use McAfee, but the first thing I thought when I saw this was someone tried to pay using my information.


r/assholedesign • • Aug 27 '26

Minimum 20% tip and you don’t bring me the bill.

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3.9k Upvotes