Why is the Oral-B iOS app almost 300 MB? And why is Colgate's app even bigger..?
Smart toothbrush apps from Oral‑B and Colgate weigh in at hundreds of megabytes, largely due to poorly optimized assets like high‑resolution PDFs, prompting broader criticism of careless mobile engineering and bloated toolchains. Commenters question why toothbrushes need apps at all, arguing that the real motive is data collection and marketing rather than oral health, though a minority see value in features like brushing guidance and gamified tracking for children. The thread uses these apps as a case study in how trivial products become overcomplicated, privacy‑invasive, and resource‑heavy without clear benefit to users.
App Size and Technical Causes
- Main discovery: Oral-B iOS app ~300 MB; Colgate’s even larger. Much of Oral-B’s size is attributed to bundled PDFs and many large image assets for product models.
- Several commenters argue these images could be far smaller (hundreds of KB each, better formats like AVIF, vector graphics) or fetched on demand.
- Others say shipping assets locally avoids mandatory internet dependency and CDN costs, but even then call the packaging “lazy” or “unoptimized.”
- Comparison: Android version of Oral-B app is ~67 MB, suggesting platform/tooling and team differences.
- Broader point: many iOS apps are large due to Swift, third‑party libraries, and lack of aggressive dead‑code removal; Android’s modern app format is cited as more size‑efficient.
“Why Does a Toothbrush Need an App?”
- Skeptical view: apps exist primarily to collect data, enable marketing/upselling, and create another push‑notification/channel to the user.
- Some see it as emblematic of “late-stage tech” and IoT excess; a $2 manual or simple electric toothbrush is considered sufficient.
- Supportive view: apps can:
- Track brushing duration, frequency, and pressure.
- Provide quadrant/coverage guidance and pressure feedback.
- Gamify brushing, especially for kids (animations, avatars, streaks).
- Help habit‑formation for users who respond well to quantified feedback.
Privacy, Data, and Monetization Concerns
- Many worry about:
- Health and device IDs being collected and correlated via data brokers.
- Potential future ties to insurance pricing or targeted advertising.
- Overbroad permissions (contacts, location, media) and dark patterns.
- Others note much of this tracking logic is small; the bloat is mostly assets and generic ad/analytics SDKs.
Design, Ethics, and Regulation
- Some argue a toothbrush app should not embed AI/ML models or require an app for core functions (e.g., changing modes).
- Proposed principle: if a feature can be done on‑device without an app, it should not require one.
- Debate on whether regulation/consumer‑protection should restrict “defective by design” products vs. letting the market reject them.
Developer and Industry Reflections
- Agency‑built brand apps are portrayed as driven by marketing whims, analytics, and library stacking, not efficiency.
- Observed correlation: organizations with better internal security/engineering culture tend to ship smaller, cleaner apps.
- Some developers admit their own apps have grown large due to piling on features, libraries, and media, even when core functionality is simple.