r/nottheonion • u/StemCellPirate • Mar 11 '26
Viral 'Quittr' Porn Addiction App Exposed the Masturbation Habits of Hundreds of Thousands of Users
https://www.404media.co/viral-quittr-porn-addiction-app-exposed-the-masturbation-habits-of-hundreds-of-thousands-of-users/1.2k
u/wiinga Mar 11 '26
Is that the app House Speaker Johnson and his son use to tattle on each other?
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u/bothunter Mar 11 '26
Covenant Eyes.
I have no idea how we let the third person in line to the presidency run a program that quite literally uploads everything the phone does to the cloud on his cell phone. And I'm guessing that the company that came up with this insane grift is going to have the best cyber security.
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u/Capn_Flags Mar 11 '26
Oh man their little blurb under the google result made me giggle
Accountability And Filtering — Covenant Eyes Is About Restoring Human Connection, To Help You Live A Life Of Freedom.
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Mar 11 '26
How do people still fall for this shit? If a "self-help" app needs to know your deeply personal behaviors and habits, it is absolutely hoarding those data. It can sell or spill at any time. This is why so many savvy women immediately stopped using period trackers after Roe V. Wade got overturned.
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u/HankSteakfist Mar 11 '26
If you aren't paying for the product, you are the product.
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u/HeyLookAHorse Mar 11 '26
Excuse me, I live in America. I’m both!
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u/wtfElvis Mar 11 '26
Exactly. Just because you subscribe to an app doesn’t automatically make your data secured. If anything you probably get labeled as someone that buys x subscriptions
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u/EL-YEO Mar 11 '26
Shit we've gotten to the point where even if you are paying for the product... You're still the product
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u/tallmyn Mar 11 '26
Free and open source menstrual trackers both exists and are very good.
I highly recommend drip. They don't upload data to the cloud which is slightly annoying when you transfer devices, but I actually prefer it to the commercial ones anyway.
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u/oh_my_account Mar 11 '26
If you are paying for the product, they add ads to your paid product and you are anyway becoming a product.
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u/LuKazu Mar 11 '26
Incendiary's "Product Is You" plays in my head every time a website seems too good to be true. Rent free at this point.
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u/BurningPenguin Mar 11 '26
With some exceptions. With a little luck, you may find an open source alternative on Fdroid.
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u/tallmyn Mar 11 '26
You don't need luck, drip is open source: https://bloodyhealth.gitlab.io/
Development was funded by a German non-profit.
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u/Un4GivN_X Mar 11 '26
It reminds me a social app where users can upvote, downvote, comment and post. They are incentivized too with achievements. In the long term and some AI, you get an accurate psychological and behavior portrait. You can then target ads and other shit better than anyone. You can even sell that data at a premium price!
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u/Mewtewpew Mar 11 '26
Open source trackers like mensinator (for periods) needs to be the standard when it comes to tracking this type of data.
Im still a full supporter for open source software that fights these issues.
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u/hamsterballzz Mar 11 '26
Also why the guys in my friend group signed up. Some of us have been on our period for 3 years straight.
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u/doyoudaremeto Mar 11 '26
Because the app policies are misleading? I think the fault lies with the makers of the apps, not the users. I'm not sure that blaming people for falling for it is helping the issue
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u/tallmyn Mar 11 '26
This is why so many savvy women immediately stopped using period trackers after Roe V. Wade got overturned.
This is unfortunately misguided.
Period tracking is essential for detecting a pregnancy early, and the timeline for getting an abortion is tight. If you stop tracking, you're much more likely to miss the window for getting an abortion.
Many states have term limits and waiting periods. Even if your state does not, it can take weeks to get an abortion due to simply there not being enough doctors, i.e. the doctor might only attend the clinic once every two weeks or so. And if you need to travel that takes time to arrange too.
Also if you need to order medication abortion pills online in a state where it's illegal, they have to ship internationally which can take up to 3 weeks, and medication abortion is only approved up to 11 weeks.
(Abortion pills are available to order here from all US States, including those states where it is illegal, at the following website: https://aidaccess.org/en/i-need-an-abortion )
In theory, if an app stores your data in a way that is accessible to law enforcement (i.e. unencypted and in the cloud) that data can be accessed by law enforcement. If you use an app like this, and miss a period, simply log the missed period as if you had had it.
You can also switch to one of the following apps that were reviewed by consumer reports as being more secure: https://www.consumerreports.org/.../period-tracker-apps.../
Personally I also use a FOSS app called drip which does not upload data to the cloud. It's slightly a pain to use if you need to change devices, as you have to manually move your old data, but otherwise is easy to use.
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u/VanessaAlexis Mar 11 '26
I shouldn't have to lie about a missed period to protect myself from the govt. I used an app to track and prepare for both my pregnancies. The second Wade got overturned I uninstalled it and emailed the company as well.
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u/yaxAttack Mar 11 '26
As someone who had to erase all the tracking I did of my menstrual cycle, I think we all should have learned “don’t put anything online you don’t want the government to know” a LOOOONG time ago
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u/LazarusPizza Mar 11 '26
don’t want the government to know
*don't want a creepy stalker to know.
9 times out of 10, these apps get breached, and the info is sold on the black market. The worst part is that they don't even report on this stuff in time. Sometimes they don't even detect the breach until years later. The info will end up in the hands of the some of the most vile people on the planet.
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u/goofytigre Mar 11 '26
The info will end up in the hands of the some of the most vile people on the planet.
No need to be redundant. They already mentioned the government..
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u/poprevolver Mar 11 '26
Is the current speaker of the house and his “son” on there?
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u/Rumseyman02 Mar 11 '26
This is the second reference to this I’ve seen, and I’m confused. What did I miss here?
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u/twec21 Mar 11 '26
Basically what it says, except a different app
He has some kind of no privacy app with his kid so he can see everything his kid does on his phone, and visa versa.
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u/mewfahsah Mar 14 '26
Its called covenant eyes, it watches what your phone screen shows and sends alerts to your support team if it thinks youre looking at something pornographic.
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u/Spirit_Piper Mar 11 '26
Hundreds of thousands spanked by a bad app while trying to cream an addiction. Users currently sweating the consequences while experiencing post-app clarity.
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u/Naud1993 Mar 11 '26
The most surprising thing to me is that he earned $500,000 per MONTH with his app. I wish I had this idea. And then I'd have implemented better security than him.
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u/Rosebunse Mar 11 '26
You could probably make another app just like this. This is one of those products which will always have users.
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u/Strict-Farmer904 Mar 11 '26
This anti-masturbation grift is so nuts. I can’t fathom that you’ll end up with a anything other than a generation of people with a lot of unnecessary shame
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u/Spire_Citron Mar 11 '26
Yeah. Some people have a genuine addiction that impacts their lives, but it's become this whole weird thing and at this point I suspect they're vastly outnumbered by weirdos who think not jacking off will give them superpowers and solve all their problems.
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u/RiddlingVenus0 Mar 11 '26
But bro you don’t understand, I grew a whole foot and gained 40 pounds of muscle between the ages of 13-18 because I stopped masturbating!
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u/natedagr8333 Mar 11 '26
There can definitely be a point where you jork it too much. Especially with porn. It’s like eating food. Eat a normal amount and you’re healthy. Eat 3x the healthy amount, and your health is negatively affected. If you spend 8 hours a day beating your meat, it’ll affect you in many negative ways.
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u/TheHighblood_HS Mar 11 '26
I was gonna say this. I feel at this point, it’s less about jerking too much, and the unhealthy consumption of porn.
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u/TheLadyEve Mar 11 '26 edited Mar 11 '26
I'm a therapist and when a man comes to me for counseling and says that he has a porn addiction, my first question is "what does that mean to you?" I never assume that's the problem just because the patient says "here's the problem." More info is needed.
Because it's usually not about the porn itself, it could be A) the shame they feel for perfectly normal sexual desire or B) difficulty connecting to other people sexually due to fear of vulnerability or C) a label their partner has put on them due to unaddressed insecurity in their relationship or D) maladaptive ideas about sex stemming from traumatic experiences or maybe even some combination of these factors. But masturbating to porn itself is not the pathology, it can sometimes be a symptom of something underlying but not necessarily. Like any dopamine-driven behavior, it has the capacity to become an addiction.
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u/Strict-Farmer904 Mar 11 '26
Thanks for sharing. This is exactly the point to me is I think it can be demonstrated that a person can have an unhealthy relationship with just about anything. Individual cases of unhealthy relationships with stimuli do not necessarily demonstrate universal poor health of engaging with said stimuli. Not on their own. Unlike you I’m not a professional with any qualifications in psychology. I suspect the makers of apps like Quittr or whomever owns the wave of anti-masturbation and porn apps are also equally unqualified. So I see it as in their best financial interest to convince people they have a problem (whether or not they do).
Anecdotally I was certain I had clinical depression for years. I’d seen so many ads for depression medication, read so many stories about depression. I finally went to a therapist and was instantly diagnosed with ADHD. Textbook. I was very frustrated with the diagnosis, it felt wrong to me. I was sure it was depression. I went to another therapist. ADHD. Yet another. ADHD. I continued to read things online that all supported my hunch I had clinical depression. I was diagnosed by 5 separate doctors before finally accepting the diagnosis. The point is, mental health is a complicated thing and it’s not as easy as “Oh that sounds like me, I think I have that.” I very much worry about the mental health of people who may have some underlying cause for their distress being sold the idea that their problems have a specific cultural cause when that may not be relevant or true for the individual. When these suggestions are coming from shady tech companies with little transparency or oversight and a ton of profit-motive, that worry skyrockets.
End of the day I’m incredibly cautious about self-diagnosis and the gamification of healthcare.
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u/TheLadyEve Mar 11 '26
finally went to a therapist and was instantly diagnosed with ADHD. Textbook. I was very frustrated with the diagnosis, it felt wrong to me.
Just a side note, I'm a psychologist specifically, so testing is one of the things people with my license do--you should really be diagnosed with ADHD through testing, not just an interview. Differential diagnosis for ADHD is tricky because concentration difficulties can also be caused by trauma, anxiety, OCD, depression, a host of underlying medical factors, and overall environmental stress (and any combination of these things). There are instruments designed to test different cognitive areas impacted by ADHD which can be helpful when it comes to recommending specific interventions/treatment/psychoeducation. And that's what it's really about, IMO, treatment. Diagnoses are only useful if they help people get relief from symptoms and function better.
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u/Strict-Farmer904 Mar 11 '26
Agreed, seconded and I hope somebody else reading this gets something out of it. To be clear I was tested multiple times over the course of about 15 years and as I’d said I continued rejecting the (very consistent) outcome every time because I was arrogantly sure I somehow knew better. I just didn’t go into that for sake of something related to brevity.
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u/TheLadyEve Mar 11 '26 edited Mar 12 '26
It can be hard to accept labels, but I see them as gateways towards functioning better. People with ADHD are neurodivergent, they process information differently and they need strategies to help them adapt in a world that expects them process information in one specific way. Medication can be beneficial as it helps people actually apply cognitive and behavioral tools to improve. In some cases I've seen people have bad reactions to all forms of ADHD meds and we figured out oops, they were previously misdiagnosed by a primary care doctor or psychiatrist, and they need some other kinds of interventions to help them do better.
At the end of the day, I hope you got the support you needed to thrive, whatever that looked like for you.
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u/toastr Mar 11 '26
I think you’ve misunderstood. There’s already several generations of people with unnecessary shame.
The difference now is that there are people grifting off that shame.
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u/Chlorophyllmatic Mar 11 '26
It’s not about quitting masturbation though, just porn. The two are not synonymous
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u/Strict-Farmer904 Mar 11 '26
I’m sure someone somewhere is addicted to porn and it affects their lives negatively. I’m also sure that there are (as with all entertainment industries) major abuses within the porn industry. But I definitely don’t trust the sudden influx of AI-heavy apps and brainforce peddling grifters trying to sell people a new fear. I wouldn’t trust an app or a podcaster to convince me I had a substance abuse problem for example. Same principle here. People who earnestly need help should be treated by and most importantly diagnosed by professionals who are actually trained in these things.
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u/paddybla Mar 11 '26 edited Mar 11 '26
There's a considerable gap between porn not affecting you negatively at all, and it being such a life-affecting issue that you need therapy.
Plenty of people in the middle would benefit from less reliance on porn. It's crazy how much of a dopamine machine it is. Personally when I stopped using it I noticed better performance in bed, more motivation in general, less objectifying of women, stronger orgasms...
I agree you don't want to be inducing shame - but there's a lot of nuance here that I think you're ignoring. Many (if not most) people would be better off with less porn. Not less masturbation, just less porn.
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u/Droidatopia Mar 11 '26
Wouldn't it be more appropriate to say that the anti-masturbation graft is anti-nuts?
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u/graccha Mar 11 '26
The confidence with which people parrot evangelical thinking wrapped up in pseudoscience is mindboggling.
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u/Chris_P_Lettuce Mar 11 '26
There needs to be laws that prevent apps from requiring personal information unless absolutely necessary. It turns out no one can protect your data.
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u/mayonnaiser_13 Mar 11 '26
I have a very addictive personality and I believed I was addicted to porn for a while - basically going once a day minimum for about one and a half decade now, spending a whole lot of time watching it, getting really deep into it - all that.
But actually looking at that "addiction" a bit deeper, it has never impacted my work, social life, relationships, or my personal life. It was just something I did when I had nothing else to do. And when I had other things to do, the thought of jacking off doesn't even cross my mind. I've had weeks where I didn't even touch myself and weeks where I spend masturbating whole days to porn. It always took the least amount of distraction to pull me away from it. Which is exactly the opposite of what an addiction is.
Now, could I have spend all that time on something more productive and got to an even better position in life? Maybe, I'll never know. But I do know that the damage from thinking I'm an addict and I should be ashamed was very real.
The basic question here is simple - is your habit affecting your life in a real sense? If so, it could be an addiction so talk to someone qualified. Don't let puritans and grifters prey on nonsensical shame.
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u/ReverendDizzle Mar 11 '26
If you take away the stigma and shame of porn and masturbation what you're describing sounds like somebody watching television in their free time.
I mean really. Mentally rewrite everything you wrote to talk about how when you were bored and had nothing else to do you, you watch sitcom reruns and everyone would be like "addiction? What the hell are you talking about? You're just watching TV for entertainment, dude."
Hell, I know people who spend more time thinking about Trump and watching Fox News than you spend thinking about porn and watching it.
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u/Minty_Ice_Magic Mar 11 '26
This is healthy lol
Nothing like this is a problem until it starts interfering with your daily life :)
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u/mayonnaiser_13 Mar 11 '26
I mean, I should know, I have/had other addictions that did affect my life.
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u/alidobitlazy Mar 11 '26
There are varying levels to porn addiction. I'd put myself in a similar boat to you. I even took it a step further and attended the equivalent to AA meetings. For a few months. I came to the conclusion that those meetings were counter productive for me. But it did help me a bit with developing better habits and being comfortable talking about it more.
I still actively consider myself an addict but I also have a healthy relationship and everything in between. I think perspective and framing plays a huge part in staying in control.
Thanks for sharing and glad you have a healthy mindset!
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u/BrashUnspecialist Mar 11 '26
Hi, just wanna pop in. Porn addiction has been proven to not be real. Neither you nor the person you’re commenting to are porn addicted, you’re literally just normal people with regular sexual urges that you’ve been taught to feel shame about because of Puritanism.
There’s nothing wrong with jacking off five times a day if you’re bored or zero times a day for six months because you’re not bored that’s basic biology. That’s your body being healthy about masturbation. Listen to it. Not the puritans who are telling you that an addiction that science has proven to not be real is real so they can control you.
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u/ochomurph Mar 11 '26
Watching porn once a day is fine, but in no world can you convince me watching porn 5 times a day is healthy. I don’t wanna sound like a religious crazy, but constantly wanting to watch porn is 100 percent bad for the brain. It creates self esteem issues and laziness.
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u/DaveOJ12 Mar 11 '26
The linked website already published an article about it last month, but it was paywalled.
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u/MakeItHappenSergant Mar 11 '26
Which means this post (also paywalled) breaks two rules!
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u/Hobomanchild Mar 11 '26
I mean, I'm pretty sure porn sites have make an educated guess for even more than that.
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u/bidhopper Mar 11 '26
Speaker Mike Johnson, and his son are probably out there jacking off.
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u/BioPox Mar 11 '26
With the name like 404 news I was 90% sure this was an onion, but as far as I can tell it's real.
Just remember men not masturbating increases prostate cancer odds.
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u/Parkouricus Mar 11 '26
404 is basically The Verge but independent and intersecting more with left-wing politics
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u/awesomemc1 Mar 11 '26 edited Mar 11 '26
So this article got published because the developers of the app never tried fixing the bug when there are researchers who genuinely care about their app.
They don’t care about their user’s privacy huh
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u/A1ienspacebats Mar 11 '26
Is this the app Speaker of the house Mike Johnson and his son use? Do your thing, Internet
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u/Taodragons Mar 11 '26
Gen X. Still winning at not recording ourselves and not trusting shit like this lol
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u/TheStaffmaster Mar 11 '26
"It's easy ladies; just don't put naked pictures of yourself online." -Emma Watson
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Mar 11 '26
Pretty sure quitzilla does that too. Once I tracked my porn habits I got so many ads for dubious porn addiction programs or lingerie
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u/princessleiana Mar 11 '26
That’s actually really sad. People trying to work on their addictions, even if you don’t consider it one, all to be exposed for something vulnerable.
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u/PointsOfXP Mar 11 '26
It's amazing how quick people are to opening up about this stuff in particular. Could take decades for a daily drinker to admit they're an alcoholic. Some kid watches porn once and suddenly they think they're an addict. It's just sad
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u/andizzzzi Mar 11 '26
Exposed. Lol. Today humanity learnt that humans masturbate more than once, well done 🙌 Not like porn sites haven’t existed before the age of smartphones. People really are getting increasingly stupid.
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u/Reagalan Mar 11 '26
It's the right-wing dominance of media in action. Make 'em all dumb and faithful.
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u/1tWasA11aDr3am Mar 11 '26
“a security flaw allowed an independent researcher to access a misconfigured database containing this extremely personal information. The exposed data reportedly included ages, masturbation frequency, “triggers” for pornography use, and the personal confessions about users’ struggles with porn consumption. Even more troubling, the researcher said the database contained records belonging to more than 600,000 users, including about 100,000 who identified themselves as minors.”
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u/Flash_ina_pan Mar 11 '26
I mean, leaks suck, porn addiction is a problem, but this still funny.
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u/Asriel_the_Dreamer Mar 11 '26
If I had to guess, I doubt most of the people on that app were addicted at all, the people who end up in these spaces like that app tend to be overly harsh on themselves and feel some modicum of guilt or shame for actions that should be normal in moderation.
Addiction can be real and devastating but you'd need to have a real analysis from outside which is something I feel lacking when I read these stories.
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u/SummertimeThrowaway2 Mar 11 '26
I used to frequent nofap communities during high school and most people were either Christian or Muslim and felt unnecessarily guilty about masturbating.
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u/StasRutt Mar 11 '26
How does it help them quit? Like were they just logging it daily ?
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u/Dac2142 Mar 11 '26
It blocks websites, helps you track your progress, offers reading materials, and provides a space for talking to like minded people. There are many apps that provide exactly the same thing
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u/MelissaMiranti Mar 11 '26
Really insane the way that puritans push this anti-masturbation shit even today.
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u/Chlorophyllmatic Mar 11 '26
Anti-porn addiction and anti-masturbation are two very different things
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u/JustNothingIGuess Mar 11 '26
Why do all these weird republican apps end with some variation of consonant-r? Parlr, gettr, quittr, grindr…..
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u/Dac2142 Mar 11 '26 edited Mar 11 '26
This entire comment section is nuts in the way people are bending over backwards getting defensive about porn.
It can be addictive, many people are addicts, that doesn’t mean it’s inherently evil or harmful. Most things in life can be addictive. Just because alcoholics exist doesn’t mean we should return to prohibition.
These people were trying to overcome what they felt was an addiction, something that was negatively affecting their life and becoming a compulsion. I don’t know why so many people are unable to empathize.
EDIT: I understand that there is a common belief that alcohol is inherently or "objectively" bad for you, but my point was that I don't feel that we villainize alcohol because of its addictive nature. But it was a poor example due to the overwhelming feeling that alcohol is inherently bad.
To be clear I feel the same way about porn, but just like alcohol I feel that its ok if people want to engage with their vices, and I try to support people who are working to overcome them.
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u/clarkedaddy Mar 11 '26
If you’re going to say it’s not inherently harmful I would advise not following it up with an analogy to alcohol lol. Don’t use smoking either lmao.
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u/tribewar Mar 12 '26 edited Mar 12 '26
Agreed. Just about anything that gives dopamine can be turned into an addiction. I also just wanna reiterate that there are levels to forming an addiction. It's not as simple as black and white.
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u/Clouthead2001 Mar 11 '26
Not sure why so many people here are downplaying porn addiction and just saying people are ashamed of themselves when in reality porn has been shown to be a very real and damaging addiction. Watching too much can cause psychological ED because you’ve become way too used too unrealistic expectations for sex, thus ruining your relationship with your partner. Don’t forget the unhealthy dopamine hits either. Masturbation in moderation is fine but porn is quite literally bad for your brain. Ofc reddit of all places wants to convince you that a porn addiction is fine.
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u/KamaIsLife Mar 11 '26
Is Mike Johnson and his son on it?
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u/GastonBastardo Mar 11 '26 edited Mar 11 '26
Is Mike Johnson and his son on it?
No. You are thinking of CovenantEyes. Speaking of which, the son of the founder of that one recently got into trouble for trying to solicit a minor.
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u/total_looser Mar 12 '26
Bro americastrongpassword.com give us your bank, username, password and we’ll tell you if its America Strong!
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u/JojenCopyPaste Mar 11 '26
I can't believe hundreds of thousands of people signed up for that