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Apple is developing a feature for using apps without requiring full downloads

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Re: Apple is developing a feature for using apps without requiring full downloads

#61

Post by kitsunesoba »

habosa wrote: post #57

Android has Instant Apps. Not sure how others feel but I hate it. Compared to a website it's slower to load, harder to share, and outside of my normal flow. I guess it would be cool for a demo but I dunno. Also iOS apps are so large this won't be practical at all on cellular data.

>Also iOS apps are so large this won't be practical at all on cellular data.

They don't have to be. For example Tweetbot, which is a fully functional app, is only about 7MB. It's not hard to imagine that a single screen of an iOS app specifically optimized for space could be only a fraction as large – considerably smaller than the average site these days (10MB+).

Re: Apple is developing a feature for using apps without requiring full downloads

#62

Post by scarface74 »

diggan wrote: post #6

> this new API, we can say that it allows developers to offer interactive and dynamic content from their apps even if you haven’t installed them Also formerly known as Web Applications but now made by Apple with the added features of less control from the developers, a 30% mandatory fee if you accept any payments of any kind and locked to just one platform.

So tell me again why I would want a slower, less feature fill web app? Also, what makes you think I would put my credit card info on a random website?

Re: Apple is developing a feature for using apps without requiring full downloads

#63

Post by scarface74 »

sillyconvalley wrote: post #26
diggan wrote: post #6

> this new API, we can say that it allows developers to offer interactive and dynamic content from their apps even if you haven’t installed them Also formerly known as Web Applications but now made by Apple with the added features of less control from the developers, a 30% mandatory fee if you accept any payments of any kind and locked to just one platform.

Vendor lock-in and ridiculous pricing sounds like just about every SaaS startup in the world. But it's Apple, so it's not okay.

And if you don’t want to participate in the market that has the most money to spend, I am sure other companies would love to.

I no more want a web app on my phone than I want an Electron app on my computer.

Re: Apple is developing a feature for using apps without requiring full downloads

#64

Post by scarface74 »

diggan wrote: post #25
snarf21 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, it does have a difference. You have full access to all native capabilities on the platform. That isn't true from a webapp. I'm not casting judgment on which is better but it is different. Actually, I wish this feature was a combination of install and run with parameter in a single step, controlled by the OS.

True, but that's only true because of Apple wants it to be like that, not because there is some physical impossibility to integrate native platform APIs in the browsers.

So if Apple single handedly ports native APIs to WebKit, how does that reduce lock in if Chrome doesn’t have the same standard?

Re: Apple is developing a feature for using apps without requiring full downloads

#66

Post by atomi »

diggan wrote: post #6

> this new API, we can say that it allows developers to offer interactive and dynamic content from their apps even if you haven’t installed them Also formerly known as Web Applications but now made by Apple with the added features of less control from the developers, a 30% mandatory fee if you accept any payments of any kind and locked to just one platform.

I upvoted you because, to me, you're pointing out what should be fairly obvious to everyone. It seems clear to me that big tech companies have been pushing for ways to usurp the open web.

Re: Apple is developing a feature for using apps without requiring full downloads

#67

Post by giancarlostoro »

dheera wrote: post #24
diggan wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It requires three things that are famously hard for Apple (and Google and many others too, not just Apple, to be fair) to achieve: - Work with others on standards - Expose things on a open platform that won't allow you to have full control over what's possible for developers and users to do and use - Admit that sometimes you're wrong and you have to change according to others

If all you want to do is deviate from standards on purpose, just change to and base64 encode the .html file (for no reason) and call the resulting file .iapp. Done. Standards broken. Proprietary status achieved with minimal effort. Change ".css" to ".bss" if you want to go the extra mile. and leave everything else as-is? Sounds like a win-win for both developers and biz dev.

This is partially what the Fitbit Ionic is doing actually hah.

Re: Apple is developing a feature for using apps without requiring full downloads

#68

Post by mrtksn »

I have an app written in Swift and weights between 8-20Mb(depending on device and iOS version), which is not too far of from a typical website these days and the startup times are phenomenal(between 250-500ms, depending on the devıce).

Writing in Swift is a delight and this is the feature I was dreaming about because having the user to install the App is not easy these days(100 impressions on Appstore Search would get me about 8 installs) however the people who install it are quite happy according to the feedback.

I would imagine that the experience is similar to Apple's AR experience on Safari, which I feel can be improved but much nicer than opening the Appstore still. Let's hope that it's not too limited and can be possible to give a good feel to the user about the App's full functionality.

The article talks about letting the dev to pick which part of the App would be presented but I suspect that the actual implementation would be similar to making an App Extensions - basically creating a separate mini-app that shares the codebase and the resources.

Re: Apple is developing a feature for using apps without requiring full downloads

#70

Post by novok »

mrtksn wrote: post #68

I have an app written in Swift and weights between 8-20Mb(depending on device and iOS version), which is not too far of from a typical website these days and the startup times are phenomenal(between 250-500ms, depending on the devıce). Writing in Swift is a delight and this is the feature I was dreaming about because having the user to install the App is not easy these days(100 impressions on Appstore Search would ge…

With Objective-C apps, it used to be even better, in startup and in app size. I think you can still get similar app size if you make a pure Obj-C app today.
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