The Temu app experience is getting a fresh round of public dunking after Cabel Sasser posted an unedited video of what he described as a nearly two-minute app launch sequence on Mastodon. Sasser said the sequence “will be studied for generations,” and Daring Fireball’s John Gruber followed with his own account of buying from Temu once and then living with the aftermath.
Gruber said he placed a single Temu order on Aug. 20, 2023, when the app was ranked No. 1 in Apple’s App Store. He described the service as a marketplace packed with extremely cheap goods, including what he identified as knockoffs of Apple accessories and devices. The order arrived at his P.O. box on Sept. 2, he said.
The purchase was less a haul than a controlled experiment in discount-commerce chaos. Gruber said he paid $48.81 for seven items: two Apple Watch-style straps priced at $1.88 and $2.34, an $8.98 pair of AirPods-style earbuds, $10.25 wireless earbuds labeled “Lenovo” that he said were not made by Lenovo, a $16.49 Apple Watch Ultra-style smartwatch, a $1.79 magnetic lanyard, and a $3.46 iPhone case.
What happened when someone tried the Temu app?
According to Gruber, the box arrived in rough condition, and the products performed about as well as their prices suggested. He said the iPhone case was too weak to fit the phone correctly. The watch straps were usable in the limited sense that very cheap straps can be usable. The smartwatch powered on and showed a color interface, though he said it did not resemble watchOS and used a plastic case.
The watch bands also failed at a basic mechanical job, Gruber said: they did not lock into the watch’s slide-in channels and moved around instead. He said he briefly tried the two pairs of Bluetooth earbuds, could not get either working, and stopped because he did not want to put them in his ears. He did not recall much about the lanyard.
Temu’s reach remains substantial despite no longer sitting at the top of the U.S. App Store’s Top Free Apps chart. Gruber said it was still in the top 25, ranking No. 19 in the morning and No. 22 later that day. He also said the company’s slogan remains “Shop like a billionaire.”
The more durable part of the experiment may be the inbox trail. Gruber said Temu sent seven order-related emails at first, covering confirmation, shipping, delivery, a coupon tied to a late arrival notice, and a review request. After that, the marketing kept coming.
By the time he wrote about the experience, Gruber said he had received 916 Temu emails tied to that one order over 1,076 days, just under one per day on average. In the early period after the purchase, he said Temu sent multiple messages per day. He also noted that some subject lines shortened his name while others spelled it out.
Sasser’s Mastodon video captures the app side of the same story: a launch sequence crowded enough to become the evidence. Gruber’s account adds the supply-chain and retention layers: ultra-cheap products, aggressive email, and an app that remains popular enough to matter.
This story draws on original reporting from Daring Fireball.
