How often do you pause to read the release notes?

2026-05-23 18:21 UTC

Some apps on my phone will pop up with a dialog containing the release notes the first launch after an update. I find myself dismissing them almost immediately since due to automatic updates, I don’t go into an app aware of updates and anticipating changes I have a task in mind when opening the app and just want to get straight to it It’s not always obvious where to bring up the release notes again once they are dismissed. So I wonder, do developers include such popups with the expectation that many users will stop to read them, are most users just as hasty as I am, or both?

Replies (6)

@yermaw@sh.itjust.works 2026-05-23 18:24

They’re counting on nobody reading them

Open ##2801507
@Shellofbiomatter@lemmus.org 2026-05-23 19:00

Quite the opposite. I don’t update my apps at all and only read patch notes to determine whatever to update or not

Open ##2801841
@Arcane2077@sh.itjust.works 2026-05-23 21:39

I don’t use alpha/beta software

Open ##2803249
@Hudell@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2026-05-23 22:15

If the app opens it automatically on update, I usually read them. If not then I only go after changelogs for apps I care about and apps that broke.

Open ##2803375
@howrar@lemmy.ca 2026-05-24 02:03

It depends on how relevant I expect those changes to be to me. For programming languages or libraries I use often for example, I’ll always read change logs. For other software, I’ll likely only look at it if I’m waiting for a specific bug fix or feature.

Open ##2804893
@WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works 2026-05-24 08:14

I prefer reading the release notes before updating, because if there was something I don’t like often I can’t just go back. other then that it would be better if past release notes would be readable in the app, so you can read it later.

Open ##2806745