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I shaved 187MB off United Airlines' 439MB iOS app

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Re: I shaved 187MB off United Airlines' 439MB iOS app

#191

Post by dceddia »

stingraycharles wrote: post #170
eithed wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm no mobile developer, but why wouldn't stripping out symbols be default behaviour that publishing process performs?

I can imagine that in case of app crashes, having debug symbols makes debugging them much easier. Other than that, there’s unlikely to be a reason.

This is maybe part of it, but having shipped a macOS app that’s stripped of symbols, crashes can still be debugged as long as I’ve got the dSYM file that was made at build time, so I don’t think it’s a super strong argument. Tools like Sentry will catch the crashes and symbolicate them for you, if you’ve provided them with the dSYM. It can be done on the local machine too.

Re: I shaved 187MB off United Airlines' 439MB iOS app

#192

Post by a13n »

alberth wrote: post #65

You know what also have huge app sizes, it's various iOS email app. Fastmail is the only email/calendar app with a reasonable size (just 20MB) [0]. - Gmail (397MB) [1] - Outlook (328MB) [2] - Hey (69MB) [3] - Protonmail (128MB) [4] [0] https://apps.apple.com/us/app/fastmail-email-calendar/id9313... [1] https://apps.apple.com/us/app/gmail-email-by-google/id422689... [2] https://apps.apple.com/us/app/microsoft-outlook/…

You should check out Missive, it's even less at only 19.3MB. Also an incredible product https://apps.apple.com/us/app/missive-email-chat-tasks/id123...

Re: I shaved 187MB off United Airlines' 439MB iOS app

#193

Post by jacobr »

wodenokoto wrote: post #157
alberth wrote: post #65

You know what also have huge app sizes, it's various iOS email app. Fastmail is the only email/calendar app with a reasonable size (just 20MB) [0]. - Gmail (397MB) [1] - Outlook (328MB) [2] - Hey (69MB) [3] - Protonmail (128MB) [4] [0] https://apps.apple.com/us/app/fastmail-email-calendar/id9313... [1] https://apps.apple.com/us/app/gmail-email-by-google/id422689... [2] https://apps.apple.com/us/app/microsoft-outlook/…

> Fastmail is the only email/calendar app with a reasonable size (just 20MB) It's because it doesn't contain anything. You can't even see any UI, let alone emails without being connected to the internet.

I just went into airplane mode to try, and the app works fine on iOS. It shows a message about not being able to fetch new emails.

Re: I shaved 187MB off United Airlines' 439MB iOS app

#195

Post by digisign »

_fat_santa wrote: post #180
azalemeth wrote: post #70

I once flew United and, like the author, didn't realise this until I was on the plane for a ten hour flight. Downloaded the app for Android. I opened it. I was immediately ip-blocked for having a rooted phone, which was then kicked off the network and couldn't get an IP address. United cabin crew then started trying to sell me an iPad loan for the duration. I read a book and vowed never to fly with them again.

Unrelated to their inflight entertainment, United pulled this stunt on me the other day. - Flight at 11AM, boarding at 10:20. - Show up at 10:25, boarding doors are closed. - "Didn't boarding start 5 minutes ago" - "Yeah we close the doors once 95% of people show up, sorry, you should show up when boarding starts" - "Yeah but didn't boarding start 5 minutes ago, how was I to know" - "You should have known, sorry"

United is famous for its customer service. I have a few good ones myself, but won't bore you.

Re: I shaved 187MB off United Airlines' 439MB iOS app

#196

Post by squeaky-clean »

alberth wrote: post #165
meibo wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To add some context, Gmail also includes a lot of the core workspace apps(chat, meetings, etc) if you do have a workspace account, which most users will likely never see. All of that isn't needed on regular accounts, I guess, but it's probably easier for them to ship it as one app because people might get confused/are able to switch between their workspace and regular accounts in the app. Gmail is also supposed to be…

Isn't chat, meeting, etc all separate apps from Google (and not included in the core Gmail app). https://apps.apple.com/us/app/google-chat/id1163852619 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/google-meet/id1013231476

They've shoved all that functionality into the Gmail app. I actually uninstalled Gmail because it became the default app to open Google Meet video calls, even with Google Meet installed. I don't need my email app asking me for video and microphone permissions...

Re: I shaved 187MB off United Airlines' 439MB iOS app

#197

Post by digisign »

_hhkc wrote: post #121
azalemeth wrote: post #70

I once flew United and, like the author, didn't realise this until I was on the plane for a ten hour flight. Downloaded the app for Android. I opened it. I was immediately ip-blocked for having a rooted phone, which was then kicked off the network and couldn't get an IP address. United cabin crew then started trying to sell me an iPad loan for the duration. I read a book and vowed never to fly with them again.

They had a similar check for jailbroken iPhones. The last time I flew with them they seem to have fixed it.

Fixed to block or not block?

Re: I shaved 187MB off United Airlines' 439MB iOS app

#198

Post by squeaky-clean »

nindalf wrote: post #186
winrid wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Adding offline access would indeed be nice, but that wouldn't even add 2mb of code. I have entire native mobile games with multiplayer under 3mb. EDIT: just realized the app is a web view. Sigh

That was literally what the previous comment was trying to tell you.

Web view apps can still work offline if they're designed for it.

Re: I shaved 187MB off United Airlines' 439MB iOS app

#199

Post by tyingq »

azalemeth wrote: post #70

I once flew United and, like the author, didn't realise this until I was on the plane for a ten hour flight. Downloaded the app for Android. I opened it. I was immediately ip-blocked for having a rooted phone, which was then kicked off the network and couldn't get an IP address. United cabin crew then started trying to sell me an iPad loan for the duration. I read a book and vowed never to fly with them again.

I'm surprised there would be that kind of integration between the United app and their on-board WiFi, which appears to be run by Panasonic.

It sounds like you're saying the United app noticed your phone was rooted, and somehow it notified the on-board WiFi to block your ip/mac? Or am I not reading this right?

Re: I shaved 187MB off United Airlines' 439MB iOS app

#200

Post by lentil_soup »

mech4bg wrote: post #188

>It’s becoming somewhat of a popular trend in the airline industry to cut costs by having the passenger bring the hardware, and as an added bonus they get to force their way into your coveted list of installed apps. TBH I see this as a positive - less weight on the plane, less fuel consumed, less waste when these screens are junked, etc. I personally always take a ton of videos with me and just watch my own stuff, I…

> less weight on the plane, less fuel consumed

For a plane that's negligible.

Tbh, I don't want to sit on a 12hr flight watching a phone screen. I have to hold it on my hand, have nowhere to put it while eating, I have to plug it in to a charger as well (and it's never guaranteed there'll be a plug) + what the OP said about having to download more stuff to my phone I don't want or I might not have space for.

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