Monday, July 16, 2012

License Agreement Screens in Mobile Apps are a Really Bad Idea

Launched the latest update to The Weather Channel app and this is what I see:
IMG 0832
License agreements in apps are a terrible idea. The only app I've ever seen implement something like this is the iTunes app, and that has widely been derided as terrible user experience.
I know I've never seen this on a web site, I'm sure weather.com will never show a license agreement before showing the front page. Why should the app be different?
Worse, the App Store already includes a provision for license agreements, and custom ones at that. Every app gets a generic license agreement that Apple has written by default. However, if you want to provide a custom one, you can.
In the App Store page for The Weather Channel app, I've highlighted the relevant link.
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Screen Shot 2012 07 15 at 12 49 38 PM