Thank you for your question!

For the "big stupid button" and inaccessible text problems (YouTube and Whats App), I'd say that the antidote is Superhuman (I have superhuman on desktop, but can't speak for the iphone app as I'm on Droid): Superhuman actually gives you more choices than normal, for example, if you hover over an email address, a popup shows with a button to compose a new email, and a copy email address option.

There's also the phenomenal Liquid program, available on Mac, takes this to the next level. For example, it allows you to highlight text and hit the keyboard shortcut to open the Liquid app: in the app, you have myriad options beyond copy and past, including "copy sentences that contain X," "copy and edit" etc. -- it's a lovely program, and the developer is a visionary: see his presentation at Ted Nelson's Intertwingled conference: https://youtu.be/Kn_gH3L2SPU

For the lifts that railroad you, I think the closest counterexample is the Google Maps route planner, which has a nice button you can hit to "add a stop" -- say if you need to get gas but don't want to abandon your trip. Arguably a feature that we could survive without, but it's one that many users appreciate, I'm sure. I would have really appreciated this button in those lifts, when I or someone else got in one destined for the wrong floor.

For a descriptive loading bar, the Evolution email client (multiplatform) has a traditional left to right progress bar which is helpful. The excellent DNF package management program (Fedora and other distros) has an itemized progress tracker, letting you know every item that is downloaded, installed and checked (not just, say, the one program you're installing but all the dependencies) with a progress bar for each.

It's tempting to be a GNU/Linux chauvinist about this, but that would be a big mistake, as there are tons of this genre of sin in that universe, too.

Thanks again!

Oliver