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Ask HN: Is this an example of an Apple dark pattern?

2 pointsby shartshooter4 months ago
Lately I&#x27;ve gotten into creating music and use tools like Logic to generate .wav files.<p>Every time I open a new .wav file it defaults to Apple Music.<p>If I go to a given file and right click and select &quot;open with application&quot; I&#x27;m able to choose VLC. Great right?<p>Except, that ONLY applies to that specific file. The prompt at the top of the Finder says &quot;Choose an application to open the document “my_wav_file.wav”.&quot;<p>Shouldn&#x27;t I be able to EASILY set VLC as my default for every .wav file that I open?<p>This feels like a dark pattern. Apple is making it counterintuitive for me to set a default application that is not Apple&#x27;s and I&#x27;m guessing that files I upload to Apple Music somehow end up on their servers and are processed by them(maybe that&#x27;s a bit of a tin-foil stretch, but you get my point).

3 comments

thatxliner4 months ago
You can, if you press Get Info, you can set the default application for ALL files of that type
amelgares4 months ago
Option-Right click on a file in Finder and choose &quot;Always open with&quot;. To discover options like this, in any menu hold down the option key to see menu items change.
cratermoon4 months ago
As other comment noted, it&#x27;s under Get Info. It&#x27;s hidden a bit but it&#x27;s been like that for decades.