[ELI5]Why do loading progress bars seem to always stop at 99%
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There are two answers here. One is that some types of progress are easier to track than others. So, downloads or pulling files into memory, etc., we can track. Once that’s done, and the progress is “almost complete,” we then have to organize that information to be used, which can take a while, but isn’t easy to track, so we just consider it “one step” and leave the progress bar at “almost finished.”
The other answer is that all progress is a little difficult to track. So, often, you’ll get a product design person saying “how long does it usually take? 1-2 minutes? Great. Every 30 seconds, halve the remaining progress. So, go to 50% at 30 seconds, 75% at 60 seconds, etc. That way people will still feel okay waiting, even though we don’t have any actual information.” Which is fine, usually. The actual purpose of the loading bar is to convince the user not to panic and force-quit/restart the task. But then if you ever run into an actual problem/delay, and you’ve already halved the remaining time six times, you’re just sitting at 99%, and it looks like progress suddenly stopped, even though it’s been fake the whole time.
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