Pandora anti-patterns disrespect its users and ruin its experience. Shame on them…
Today I was listening to Pandora. Its my go to service for streaming music. I used to be a pro user but decided to reduce spending on little things that were adding up to see if the free versions would cut it (sorry Evernote, you got cut too). The reason I had a pro account with Pandora was the ads. There were some Farmer's insurance ads that were terrible AND would run as video. Nothing like streaming video on an older iPhone + paying for data for "free" music. The couple of bucks a month for Pandora was worth it to avoid Verizon's insane overage charges.
And now another anti-pattern is back with Pandora. The tiny tap zone. And I mean tiny. I suspect this interstitial/pop over ad is intended to appear to perform well (boosting sales for Pandora). It achieves its goal but… it also frustrated me and reminded me that there are still designers out their that are not making the world better. No shock really, but its annoying and disrespectful.
What do you think happens when you tap just off that tiny X? My expectation it that the target actually larger than the visible UI and that you will still close the add if you are a pixel or two off. Tapping in that area should dismiss this ad… I was wrong. If you miss that tiny, tiny target, the app creates a new Mumford & Sons station and changes your station to the newly created station.
I had to delete the station (sorry Mumford & Sons, but I miss that banjo) and then go back to my Black Keys station. And try again to remove the ad, and of course, I missed the target and recreated that Mumford and Sons station and deleted it… and gag. That combination of anti-patterns pissed me off, cost Mumford & Sons (they are paying for taps I assume?) and has me looking at other streaming options.