appWash by Miele

Is this really where we’re at, as a society? I need an app to use a washing machine? Please, genius who made this piece of garbage, tell me one thing that was ever wrong with coin operated laundry. I am not saying there’s anything specifically wrong with this app, which a better app might improve upon (though to be fair, I’ve been “running a machine” for 20 minutes, and nothing has happened). I’m saying entire concept is ridiculous. What motivations did these people have, to come up with a tech-based “solution” to something that was never a problem in the first place? What start-up grant, funded by which taxpayers, was allocated for the sake of leaving me here in this hospital-lit hostel laundry room, with the fate of my socks depending on how efficiently “laundry support” can respond to my in-app message? Are we doomed forever—by some inexorable law of capital/history—to languish beneath the idiotic maxim of “If you CAN make something controlled by an app (which I, still sockless, remain unconvinced of in this case), you SHOULD?” These are the things I have time to wonder about, as I await a response from laundry support. In conclusion: does the app wash your clothes? In my experience, no. But does the app raise several morbidly fascinating questions about the state and direction of modern capitalism? Certainly. For that, I give it 2 (instead of 0) stars.

Using this app is as easy as it gets. The only thing I don’t understand is why on earth does the app not have links to the PDFs of quick start manuals of all their washers and dryers so one can take full advantage of the machines’ capabilities and be sure what all the buttons (-/<—>/+) and indicators (e.g. “PC”..?) mean, and to make sure I’m not doing anything dumb using a machine I have not used before..?

the interface of the new design looks nice, but prioritizes looks over usability. on the page where you choose your washing machine, the list of washing machines used to go across the whole screen. now they’re inside little text bubbles in a frame, way too small and difficult to read quickly. also PLEASE put the machines list back in numerical order. there are so many machines and it’s so hard to find the right one when the list isn’t in order. I don’t want all of the available ones at the top if it means they are all out of order. also, please add ability to save my payment method. right now I have to go all the way back to my apartment to get my physical card to type in the numbers if I want to top up the app.