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My App Is Dead in the Water

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Re: My App Is Dead in the Water

#171

Post by awaywopassd »

elboru wrote: post #161
dsjoerg wrote: post #39

Why not launch Safari when the user clicks on an article? And make it clear that you have permission from HN to use their API? Having used your app for exactly one minute, that seems like it would address their concerns and preserve usability.

Yes, I don't know about others but I actually prefer this, I would see it as an improvement, URLs should be opened in a browser not the app, that way you have the full functionality enabled, but then again that's just my personal taste.

I agree. I also like to bookmark pages to read later. I hate it when I am required to go through additional step to open a page in web browser.

Re: My App Is Dead in the Water

#172

Post by scarface74 »

sonnyblarney wrote: post #165
scarface74 wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s only a “problem” for a relatively few techies. Most people would be better served by a wall gardened. Seeing the mess that the average consumer makes on thier Windows computers is evidence. My mom would never have to worry about getting malware because she searched for a printer driver if she had an iPad. Heck, she wouldn’t have had to worry about a printer driver at all. And if you want to see what happens on m…

I totally disagree and the evidence is Android. A) Android doesn't have some vast and ugly problem with malfeasance. B) It's entirely possible to educate customers that if they go outside of respected shops - they run the risk of problems. C) The 'Windows' analogy doesn't really hold because mobile OS APIs are totally locked down. Any app installed on Windows/Mac can effectively wipe out your machine. It's a huge ris…

A) Android doesn't have some vast and ugly problem with malfeasance.

https://drfone.wondershare.com/android-tips/top-android-viru...

It's entirely possible to educate customers that if they go outside of respected shops - they run the risk of problems.

People have been saying the same thing about PCs since the 80s. How has that worked out?

An android app has very limited API access, moreover, the user has to grant explicit rights.

Like “Access File System”,”read phone state”, etc.?

Fortnite isn’t a good example of anything.

https://www.cnet.com/news/just-as-critics-feared-fortnite-fo...

There's no evidence that people really benefit from fully walled garden.

Except that you never hear about the malware on iOS that is able to be installed on Android devices.

There's no evidence that people really benefit from fully walled garden.

There is plenty of B2B software on iOS, a large multinational company I use to work for distributed all types of apps for their employees that never went through the App Store. Another company I worked for distributed B2B software for other customers.

Moreover, there's evidence that they can't get the apps and functionality they need,

What apps does the general non techie consumer “need” or “want” that they can’t get on iOS.

Re: My App Is Dead in the Water

#173

Post by EpicEng »

_Codemonkeyism wrote: post #155
EpicEng wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Precedent is important. So important in fact that it is a widely used mechanism in courts of law when an issue is not cut and dry. If you lay out a set of rules which are only randomly enforced then your 'rules' become useless.

I didn't know Apple now was a "courts of law" in the US, this is huge!

Well that's one way to interpret what I said...

Re: My App Is Dead in the Water

#174

Post by epse »

z3t4 wrote: post #62
rpeden wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...that's what the app is doing. It was just opening the links in a webview inside the app instead of tossing the user over into Safari every time they click a link. There was no scraping happening.

How much control do the app have over a web-view? Would it for example be able to log user input (steal passwords), or insert content (ads) ? Do the web view make it's own https request ?

The app can tell the webview: open this URL. That's pretty much it. Injecting could theoretically happen, but only by showing a page that looks like the original but isn't.

Re: My App Is Dead in the Water

#175

Post by dpkonofa »

nikanj wrote: post #152
elliekelly wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One key difference (from a legal perspective, rather than a developer perspective) is that all of the above apps first display user commentary and the user is then given the option to open the link to read the entire article. This is an important distinction under the fair use doctrine: https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/fair-use-the-four-fa...

The key difference is, Twitter and Reddit are big. The app store rules are way more flexible, when you have millions of users.

That's not the key difference here. The key difference here is that the content author has control of the output. In the app in question, the app is scraping the content and the app developer is choosing how it's outputted. That's why the app is in violation.

Re: My App Is Dead in the Water

#176

Post by nambit »

salvar wrote: post #2

This seems weird enough to be an error of some kind. Not that Apple is likely to fix it, but enforcing this rule would exclude: - All Reddit apps - All HN apps - Twitter - Facebook - Google News - Any link or news aggregator I guess even a browser wouldn't fly, since it "displays full articles from multiple news sources."

? A lot of reddit and HN apps don't display the articles in app. Some of them open browser pages. I don't see how your "All ... apps" is quantified.

Re: My App Is Dead in the Water

#177

Post by richev »

avip wrote: post #103
pashabitz wrote: post #68

I think it's important to look at the broader issue: "App stores" are walled gardens, policed by corporations and are the opposite of freedom. The web is open and free. We made a deal with the devil when we collectively decided to write and use apps and not the web. This is just one symptom.

Alas, a walled garden is not the opposite of freedom. Indeed, in many places, living in a walled garden will make you factually freeer than your fellows outside.

Doesn't it depend on the size of the garden, and the diversity within?

Re: My App Is Dead in the Water

#179

Post by elliekelly »

i386 wrote: post #178

Very rich of Apple to reject this app when Apple News aggregates news, doesn't display original URLs, etc.

Apple News has a license to distribute that content from the content creators. OP doesn't.

Edit: To say I don't agree with the way the law shakes out with respect to copyright enforcement on the internet but that's the way it works right now. I would even suggest that recent legislation in Europe will pull us in the wrong direction. Just another example of why it's important for our legislatures (and increasingly, judges) to have a firm understanding of how technology works so we aren't left with these hamfisted applications of ancient regulations to modern technology.

Re: My App Is Dead in the Water

#180

Post by [deleted] »

Dotnaught wrote: post #169
avip wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A wall can provide much freedom, depending on what’s outside. Freedom is a complicated term.

Freedom is slavery; ignorance is strength. You're constructing a scenario to justify an abstract argument. The wall is the only salient feature in the walled garden metaphor. There's no terror lurking outside. If you mean to imply that Apple's oversight has some advantages, such as security, that's a separate issue. In the context of Apple's app store rules, the wall refers to Apple's rules. The absence of those rule…

[deleted]
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