Why do so many apps make you watch an animation before showing results instead of loading instantly?
Not trying to rant, I'm genuinely curious and feel like I'm missing something obvious.
I commute in NYC and kill time with mobile games and those little reward/survey apps. One thing that drives me nuts is how often they show a fake-looking animation or progress bar after you tap something like "claim reward" or "check results." Sometimes it's a treasure chest opening, a spinning wheel, a "calculating" screen, etc. It usually feels like it takes longer than it should, even when my connection is fine.
So why do apps do this on purpose? My hot take is that at least some of it is psychological rather than technical. If they instantly tell you you got 3 cents or that you lost, it can feel cheap or abrupt. Make someone wait 2 to 5 seconds with an animation and suddenly it feels earned or more important.
But is there also a real engineering reason, like syncing, fraud checks, or server calls, or is it mainly to manipulate attention and keep you engaged? And why do some apps do it when nothing seems like it actually needs to load, like a daily check-in?