Oh yeah all my old apps got taken down by Google because apparently, they don't like that I don't update my apps for no reason whatsoever, even though they were offline games...
Prisoners of Google Android development
241–250 of 318 posts
Re: Prisoners of Google Android development
#242Earlier quoted context omitted.
> And if it's just a web site, why do you need to "install" it? A link is surely sufficient? The point is that there are apps that can pretty much be built entirely using web technologies as PWAs, but in doing so they are no longer "just web sites" and they need functionality of installed apps, like notifications. For example, most banking apps on Android could be entirely rewritten as PWAs, but they'd need to make u…
Both of these features are available in browsers these days.
Well, obviously all the features that are available to PWAs are available in browsers - a browser is the thing that executes a PWA to begin with.
It basically is just a difference in use case and how most people thing about "apps" vs. "websites". If I have a long term relationship with a business, and I access its functionality frequently, I'd rather have it as an app on my homescreen.
Re: Prisoners of Google Android development
#243Re: Prisoners of Google Android development
#244Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree with you in many cases. At my professional company, we've made the decision to write native apps for Android, iOS, Windows, and the web, because we have pretty deep integration into each platform and want the best native experience for our users. But, for my personal apps (which is what I am talking about in this thread), I can't support that. Writing it once and maintaining it takes up enough of my free time…
> This app also doesn't have any integration with the system And this is suppose to be an argument for web apps?
Yes?
The WHOLE POINT of native apps is that they are better at integrating with the system. Like access storage, gps, camera, accelerometer/gyroscope, etc.
Besides that the only benefit of a native app is basically that the UI/UX will be closer to what the user is accustomed to.
Re: Prisoners of Google Android development
#245Earlier quoted context omitted.
How is it buried when it’s on the same level as everything else?
Because it doesn't make sense that it's part of the web share functionality to begin with. The native share dialog is about "I have this piece of content, now share it with one of these other apps", e.g. saving a document locally, or sending it with AirDrop, or saving to Google Drive, or sending as an email attachment, etc. Installing a site as an app on your homescreen has absolutely nothing to do with sharing conte…
So the toolbar on iOS has 5 buttons
Go back | go forward | share | bookmarks | see all windows
Do you think there should be a separate button just for “Add to Home Screen”?
Or could you just put the standardish share icon on your page and below it say “click here and choose add to Home Screen to…”?
Is that really that much harder than to tell someone to go to the app store?
Most people know how to scroll.
Re: Prisoners of Google Android development
#246Earlier quoted context omitted.
> This app also doesn't have any integration with the system And this is suppose to be an argument for web apps?
Yes? The WHOLE POINT of native apps is that they are better at integrating with the system. Like access storage, gps, camera, accelerometer/gyroscope, etc. Besides that the only benefit of a native app is basically that the UI/UX will be closer to what the user is accustomed to.
> Besides that the only benefit of a native app is basically that the UI/UX will be closer to what the user is accustomed to.
You realize you’re still not exactly making your case for web apps right?
Re: Prisoners of Google Android development
#247Earlier quoted context omitted.
But nowadays you can't really see the difference between good webapps and native apps. We also migrated our native apps to full SPA apps. And really it makes development so much easier. The apps we have are relatively simple without fancy stuff. But the css render engine is fast. Even on Android. And we reduced some of our apps from 30mbs of java code to 150kb of java/typescript. Plus as a bonus we can have a website…
> Ads, Auth and analytics So two of the three parts that are native are there to make it a worse user experience?
If you seriously think analytics makes for a worse user experience, then you're speaking out of ignorance.
Analytics tell developers exactly where bugs and crashes occur.
And on which devices or versions of the OS the problem is.
Without analytics it would take weeks/months to figure out exactly what line of code is causing the issue. Heck, the developers might NEVER KNOW that the software has an issue.
Apps would just keep crashing on users for years. And developers would have no idea why users were abandoning their product.
Nobody that has any idea what they're talking about would say that analytics makes for a worse user experience.
Re: Prisoners of Google Android development
#248Earlier quoted context omitted.
> And if it's just a web site, why do you need to "install" it? A link is surely sufficient? The point is that there are apps that can pretty much be built entirely using web technologies as PWAs, but in doing so they are no longer "just web sites" and they need functionality of installed apps, like notifications. For example, most banking apps on Android could be entirely rewritten as PWAs, but they'd need to make u…
Both of these features are available in browsers these days.
You might as well be arguing that people could just go to the bank instead of using technology.
There are benefits to having something installed. You can give anything installed the ability to send notifications.
Having to manage that permission on a per-website basis is way above the tech ability of most users.
But this is apparently difficult for "tech literate" people to grasp.
Re: Prisoners of Google Android development
#249Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not with a deadline (aka Windows). I usually work on the backend and/or front end (Web). This is a pretty new world for me.
And you have also never had a security vulnerability in one of your dependencies causing you to update your software? A new database version? A new version of whatever runtime you were using?
Why do you continue asking after you already got a "no"?
Like...is it so difficult to understand that someone hasn't had an issue like this before?
Re: Prisoners of Google Android development
#250Earlier quoted context omitted.
As keeps getting pointed out, every. Time. This. Gets. Raised: evidently most SPA’s are not written properly, because “back button not working properly” is easily one of the most common complaints.
It's not a complaint I've received about my applications. 15 years ago, getting it right took a ton development time, but today there are frameworks that handle it with minimal effort.
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