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Sneaking 1:00
A 60-second explainer of Sneaking, narrated over the same demo you can try yourself.
Try the interactive Sneaking demo
What this video covers
Sneaking is a deceptive pattern that hides, disguises or delays information the user would object to, revealing it only once they're committed. Extra items slipped into a basket, fees that appear at the final step, or a subscription buried in a "free" sign-up all work by withholding the bad news until backing out feels too costly.
Up front, you saw the real total and decided freely. Sneaked in at the last step, the same charge catches you mid-commitment, when abandoning feels like wasting all that effort - so you grudgingly accept. Nothing about the price changed; only when you were told. That timing is the whole trick, and it's why honest design puts the full cost where the decision is made, not after it.
