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Do not download the app, use the website

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Re: Do not download the app, use the website

#221

Post by zholer »

chpatrick wrote: post #217
zholer wrote: post #215

The primary challenge here is that companies are hamstrung by browser-level API's by companies like Google and Apple where they provide them only if you build an app. This forces developers to keep maintaining and providing apps, even though every developer knows that their headaches would be less than halved if they could just support the same capabilities via browser-level apis.

99% of apps don't need any native feature.

true, but 99% of the apps don't generate any traffic at all :) If you look at the top 1% of apps, all of them could have been PWA's but can't. Here is a case study from aliexpress who achieved a 104% increase across all users for conversions when they deployed as a PWA: https://web.dev/case-studies/aliexpress

Re: Do not download the app, use the website

#222

Post by ljm »

rustystump wrote: post #134

I cannot agree more and this has always been a pet peeve of mine. Most native apps are some half gig large where even the heaviest website is a few mb. They dont let you highlight text and have other bizarre design choices. Even worse, they request importing contacts list which isnt even an option on the web. Native apps could be butter but more often than not they are like margarine. Smooth, oily, and not good for y…

A lot of native apps are just wrappers around a JS context with a few bridges into native APIs and they are pure data grabs.

Reddit always asks you to use its native app, for example. Why the fuck would I care so much about Reddit that I want it outside of my browser? Same goes for any other website.

Re: Do not download the app, use the website

#223

Post by LostMyLogin »

dbtc wrote: post #161
andrewstuart2 wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

500MB average seems like a gross exaggeration. I agree apps are oversize but I have maybe 2 native apps on mobile that are so large.

Chase Mobile for iOS is 350MB; far from 500, but still baffling why an app would need to be that large just to show me some numbers. Capital One is 435MB... Garmin Connect is 518MB for some stupid reason, while Strava is half that and Gaia GPS (great app), is under 100.

Gaia used to be so great and I used it every day but it’s really hard to support Outside.

Re: Do not download the app, use the website

#224

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

rustystump wrote: post #134

I cannot agree more and this has always been a pet peeve of mine. Most native apps are some half gig large where even the heaviest website is a few mb. They dont let you highlight text and have other bizarre design choices. Even worse, they request importing contacts list which isnt even an option on the web. Native apps could be butter but more often than not they are like margarine. Smooth, oily, and not good for y…

Most apps, these days, seem to be “hybrid,” where they use a system like Ionic or React. These systems usually slap on some considerable libraries.

I understand why, but I’m not a fan of hybrid apps. I like to do native, which results in much smaller, faster, and more efficient apps. It’s just not as cost-effective, if you want to support multiple platforms.

However, native apps aren’t automatically well-behaved ones. In fact, they usually have access to even more tools for eroding privacy or user agency.

Good behavior is up to the app developers, and that doesn’t seem to be much of a priority, these days.

Re: Do not download the app, use the website

#225

Post by LostMyLogin »

redbell wrote: post #123

> If you've ever opened Reddit, LinkedIn, Pinterest, or practically any popular service on your phone's web browser, you've likely encountered it. Another website that asks to Get The App is https://imgur.com/ , every time you open a link to just view that image you instantly got asked to Get The App. It's really annoying!

The worst for me is when you open Google Maps in the browser and the appears with the blue continue button. If you click it, it opens the iOS store page. If you then move back to your browser it re-opens and focuses the iOS store page one more time.

Re: Do not download the app, use the website

#227

Post by thfuran »

dylan604 wrote: post #53
montroser wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The author is not contesting that the app experience is better. Yeah, the web experience is worse -- because the product people are treating the entire web presence as a _marketing surface_ for the app. So, the web version is basically an ad for the app. This is true of Reddit, Yelp, and others. How could it not be worse? It's too bad because it's not like the web is incapable of providing a beautiful ux for those pr…

> No, it's not for you... This is key. Companies pushing apps is not for your benefit. It's so they can further monetize you right under your nose and with your full permission by accepting their EULA. This is just a furtherance of the if you don't pay for the product you are the product.

We have moved beyond that. Even if you pay, you’re usually still the product.

Re: Do not download the app, use the website

#228

Post by fugalfervor »

urbandw311er wrote: post #8

Don’t forget the ability to send push notifications. I think that’s one of the main reasons — it turns your whole relationship with a product on its head: you lose control over when you’re engaging, instead they can literally push their services and ads on you.

On Android/Graphene, I recommend permanently turning on do not disturb and adding apps to the allowlist. Opt in to notifications, rather than opting out.

Re: Do not download the app, use the website

#229

Post by thfuran »

charcircuit wrote: post #186
II2II wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Take Reddit, which is one of the few sites mentioned here that I use. At least initially, the value provided is getting rid of the constant prompts to load the site in the Reddit app. Even though I use old.reddit.com, which doesn't have those prompts, there are times when it redirects me to the new website automatically. Does it offer value beyond getting rid of those messages? Perhaps, but I doubt that it is the typ…

How about the value of being able to talk to people who share the same hobby you do. Or the value of being able to see a community made wiki about some topic you are trying to learn about. Even being able to see cat pictures is valuable to people.

You can do that on the website.

Re: Do not download the app, use the website

#230

Post by scarface_74 »

bitpush wrote: post #207
scarface_74 wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes that’s why there are so many great PWAs on Android and companies don’t make apps for Android and instead tell their users to use the web app… And Spotify hasn’t had in app purchasing of subscriptions on iOS for over a decade. Apple has never once said you would get malware by using Safari.

Spotify was an example, but since you were harping on it. Why is it that on desktop everyone uses spotify.com to listen to music, purchase subscription but when it comes to iPhone, we have to install an app from the App Store. Who do you think is stopping from that happening?

Well seeing that you could play music in the background from Safari since 2007, Spotify is the one forcing you to use an app

Apple makes no money from the Spotify app being on the iPhone and hadn’t for over a decade.

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