Kudos to the app's creator. Looking at the app review dates, it looks like the idea predated the one I posted on HN four months ago:
> Sounds like a start-up idea...
> "Don't have time to sit and read a novel during your busy schedule? Subscribe to receive carefully-curated and abridged novels via SMS. We will space out the texts during your busy day so you have the time slowly digest and experience the same novels your friends are talking about at the coffee shop, but on your own schedule."
I wanted to check out the app and found it hilarious that I had to go through a rabbit hole of links to other articles about the app to actually get to a direct link to the app. lithub --> mentalfloss --> WaPo --> AppStore
Any idea why articles do this--is it for engagement or SEO?
Honestly, I'd guess it's just laziness and/or naivety; one publication does a story and puts in their referrer link, and then the person at the next publication just copy/pastes the link they found to the first story rather than doing the extra work to get the direct link. Then the next publication sees that story, and pastes a link to that one, etc...
Oh yes, I was using this for a while to read an old serial, it's really great but I found I simply don't like reading on my phone, even small bits at a time. If they could pop a new chapter into my e-reader every once in a while that would be phenomenal.
I think I found your answer. Even then, paid apps/services still do that too.
In the Play Store, it just says it collects User ID, App Interactions, and Diagnostics, all for Analytical purposes. It doesn't seem like it collects location data.
I don't know if they really need User ID rather than some kind of instance indentifier, that's the only somewhat-shady thing I see.
> Sounds like a start-up idea...
> "Don't have time to sit and read a novel during your busy schedule? Subscribe to receive carefully-curated and abridged novels via SMS. We will space out the texts during your busy day so you have the time slowly digest and experience the same novels your friends are talking about at the coffee shop, but on your own schedule."
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31054389