There are downsides with downloading their app just to input bad data, but it’s a fun thought.

edit: While we’re at it we might as well offer an alternative app to people.

I posted in [email protected] to collect recommendations for better apps

The post: https://lemmy.ca/post/32877620

Leading Recommendation from the comments

The leading recommendation seems to be Drip (bloodyhealth.gitlab.io)

Summarizing what people shared:

  • accessible: it is on F-droid, Google Play, & iOS App Store
  • does not allow any third-party tracking
  • the project got support from “PrototypeFund & Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the Superrr Lab and Mozilla”
  • Listed features:
    • “Your data, your choice: Everything you enter stays on your device”
    • “Not another cute, pink app: drip is designed with gender inclusivity in mind.”
    • “Your body is not a black box: drip is transparent in its calculations and encourages you to think for yourself.”
    • “Track what you like: Just your period, or detect your fertility using the symptothermal method.”

Their Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@dripapp

    • Shardikprime@lemmy.worldEnglish
      26·
      17 hours ago

      They don’t know what a file is, but they can use an app store, to download an app, create an account, log in, and interface with the UI to load data.

      Got it

      • alsimoneau@lemmy.caEnglish
        2·
        10 hours ago

        I did specify a text file. And yes, they’ve been doing the second one since they were 5. Not all tech skills are transferable.

      • frostysauce@lemmy.worldEnglish
        61·
        17 hours ago

        Yes, actually. Downloading apps, making an account, logging in, and using an app are all things they have done before. Opening up Notepad on their computer (if they have one) and saving a text file then navigating back to it later and opening that file is something they probably have never done before.

        • Shardikprime@lemmy.worldEnglish
          25·
          17 hours ago

          Right, they never opened a pdf file, or any other type. Nor they know how to write as well

          Got it

          • Wereduck@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
            2·
            15 hours ago

            Coming from someone who worked tech support for some time: There are lots of people with no grasp of basic computing concepts working office jobs in which they sit at a computer all day. Some even highly educated and specialized. lawyers, managers, marketing consultants, insurance salespeople… young and old. They can use Word, and Outlook, and Chrome, and phone apps, but the concept of a file or folder, or utilizing files and folders to organize information, are alien to some. Doesn’t help that some (especially mobile) OS’s do a lot to obscure that layer from people, and people can often get by with rigid workflows or by calling tech support a lot. Not judging them. Well at least the ones who were nice to me. I don’t know how to change my oil. I mean none of the people I’m thinking of did either. But I don’t know how to do whatever lawyer managers do all day(meetings?). I realize there is some self selection in who calls tech support every day, so having worked tech support might have skewed my perception of the average office worker.

            • Krzd@lemmy.worldEnglish
              1·
              9 hours ago

              Did a stint in tech support, and had a fucking lawyer call me because his brand new laptop wouldn’t turn on. The charging cable was sealed in the original plastic bag.
              It seems some people are just completely unable to form reasonable thought-chains when it comes to technology.