[rekenaut]

In my pocket, I have a wallet, timer, alarm clock, calculator, telephone, atlas, directory, camera, stock broker, flashlight, tape measure, television, music collection, encyclopedia, transit time table, library, notepad, and translator. How are these utilities an illusion?

[msgodel]

The few among those things that even reliably function are covered in ads and defects to the degree that you're better off without them.

The illusion is that you're getting a computer and not a collection of knickknacks and appliances.

[Gigachad]

Almost none of those things have ads on the iPhone. All of them function reliably.

[tgsovlerkhgsel]

> covered in ads and defects to the degree that you're better off without them

Someone is deluded, and it's either all of the people using these apps despite being worse off due to doing so... or it's you. (And we're talking about actual utility apps, not something that you could dismiss as a dopamine trap.)