Do not download the app, use the website • Hacker News Board

Re: Do not download the app, use the website

#251

Post by socalgal2 » Sat, Jul 26, 2025, 2:41 AM UTC

andrewstuart2 wrote: post #157

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…

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.

Average, yes, probably an exaggeration. Some apps

iOS:

    wechat:          740meg
    gmail:           672
    google chat:     585
    uber:            582
    tiktok:          572
    headspace:       498
    instagram:       467
    doulingo:        462
    bank of america: 456
    capital one:     435
    expedia:         412
    linkedin:        402
    doordash:        392
    google:          379
    facebook:        365
    unitied airlines:355
    chase:           352
    google photos:   348
    line:            346
    amex:            339
    google maps:     336
    youtube:         329
    booking.com:     320
    citi:            319
    amazon music:    317
    snapchat:        316
    lyft:            307
    wells fargo:     292
    strava:          283
    twitch:          279
    rotten tomatoes: 262
    airbnb:          254
    youtube music:   245
    whatsapp:        239
    mlb:             220
    discord:         212
    tinder:          202

of course Apple doesn't list the size of their own apps like Apple Maps, Photos, Music, etc...

I am quite surprised at a few apps I know are just a webpage, because I can to go to the webpage and see it's exactly the same, are still 40meg to 80meg. I'd expect them be able to be as small as a few K. Open a webview, navigate to https://mycompany.com. The end

Re: Do not download the app, use the website

#252

Post by chr15m » Sat, Jul 26, 2025, 2:42 AM UTC

This website needs an "upvote harder" button.

Re: Do not download the app, use the website

#253

Post by Gigachad » Sat, Jul 26, 2025, 2:42 AM UTC

spauldo wrote: post #237

ljm wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Reddit is one of the cases where a native app makes sense. Some of the 3rd party Reddit apps were great. But I'll eat my hat before I'll install Reddit's own app. Reddit killing off 3rd party apps is why I post here and not there.

How does an app for Reddit make sense? It’s an image and text platform. There’s no weird hardware apis required.

Native apps make sense when you need to tap in to platform specific features like the Lidar api and such. They don’t make any sense for most websites.

Re: Do not download the app, use the website

#254

Post by dbetteridge » Sat, Jul 26, 2025, 2:45 AM UTC

paranoidrobot wrote: post #168

The government where I live has a no-interest loan scheme for installing energy efficient appliances. Handy, so I used it to fund heat pumps and insulation. The scheme is administered by Brighte. I signed up on their website. Everything going well for 6 months or so. Then out of the blue, an email from them: "We just launched our app". Yeah, no, not interested. A few weeks later, another "You should use our app, it's…

Victoria?

But agreed the push to apps sucks, I just assume in these cases it's so they can spam you with notifications about "new products" they're offering, like my bank likes to regularly offer me loans at terrible interest rates

Re: Do not download the app, use the website

#255

Post by masterj » Sat, Jul 26, 2025, 2:48 AM UTC

sltkr wrote: post #181

wonger_ wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should! The browser APIs are straightforward: navigator.mediaSession.metadata = new MediaMetadata({ title: song.name, album: song.category, artwork: [{src: song.imagePath, type: 'image/jpg'}] }) navigator.mediaSession.setActionHandler('play', player.play) navigator.mediaSession.setActionHandler('pause', player.pause) navigator.mediaSession.setActionHandler('nexttrack', player.nextTrack) navigator.mediaSession.set…

Does it work on iOS too?

Yes: https://caniuse.com/mdn-api_navigator_mediasession

Try using Spotify's mobile web app for an example. Works great.

Re: Do not download the app, use the website

#256

Post by cheema33 » Sat, Jul 26, 2025, 2:48 AM UTC

transcriptase wrote: post #68

reflexe wrote: post #60

I think that while data is a major point here, in my opinion, these are the reasons apps are preferred by developers: 1. Persistence: while websites are very easy to close, deleting an app is much more difficult and usually requires pressing on some “red buttons” and scary dialogs. It also makes sure the user now has a button for your app on their Home Screen which makes it a lot more accessible. 2. Notifications: wh…

And why does a developer care about those things if not for the fact it means they can collect data even when the user isn’t actively using the service?

> And why does a developer care about those things...

I have several apps on my phone where I am interested in receiving notifications.

1. Airline app. While traveling I need to know about gate changes, flight time changes, etc. etc. 2. Credit card app. I have turned on notifications for all changes above $10. 3. Bank app. I have turned on notifications for all transfers. 4. Moen water meter app. If there is a water leak at my house, I need to know. 5. Server monitor app. If my website goes down, I need to know right away. 6. Google smoke detector. If there is smoke in my house, I need to know right away. 7. Tesla app. If I didn't close the door properly and walked away, the app lets me know. 8. Security camera app. If there is unexpected movement at my home or office, I get an alert. 9. WhatsApp and other messaging apps. When someone sends me a message, I get an alert.

And those are only the things that immediately come to mind. If you were a developer of some of these apps, would you be able to provide these same functions in a user friendly way with a web app? Genuinely curious.

Re: Do not download the app, use the website

#257

Post by jombib » Sat, Jul 26, 2025, 2:50 AM UTC

card_zero wrote: post #245

spauldo wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reddit is one of the cases where a native app makes sense. Some of the 3rd party Reddit apps were great. But I'll eat my hat before I'll install Reddit's own app. Reddit killing off 3rd party apps is why I post here and not there.

I too switched from Reddit to HN during the API protests of '23. But I always browsed through old.reddit anyway, I never used the third party apps. I'm aware of names like RIF and that everyone said they were great, but what was great about them?

Better features, less ads, smoother experience and in the case of Apollo—the one I used—it just looked much better.

Re: Do not download the app, use the website

#258

Post by jorisboris » Sat, Jul 26, 2025, 2:50 AM UTC

kristopolous wrote: post #147

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 "download app" notifications on reddit are like some kind of art project to maximimally annoy you. Probably the worst offender is facebook where they have what can only be called an intentionally broken mobile website - the idea of losing the person's name if you edit a comment, the page deciding to reload you back to the main page if you switch tabs to research something or the post box clearing out if you switc…

And it literally blocks users from using messenger in the mobile browser, I need to ask for desktop website

Re: Do not download the app, use the website

#259

Post by reactordev » Sat, Jul 26, 2025, 2:52 AM UTC

xtracto wrote: post #249

ljm wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

This is so funny. For me, it was as if the "monkey's paw" had played me. Back in the early 2000s, I loved desktop applications. My thinking was that there's no way a web app could do what a desktop application could. I loathed slow, proprietary, online-requiring, HTML based web apps . 25 years have passed, and now we DO have some "native" device apps... but they are just HTML web elements bubdled in a freaking custom…

You never experienced the horror that is XAML. Not HTML, not native control either, it’s a weird middle ground of platform lock-in that you couldn’t escape until recently.

What I miss are the days where one could Win32 call a window up, and it looked like every other. Not sugar for me and none for thee.

I cut my teeth programming GUIs, I still like making GUIs - immediate mode guis, event based guis, animated guis and informational guis. I left front-end web dev when every 6 months there was a new framework, a new new, and everyone dropped everything for it. I understand why React ate the world at the time but it’s gotten to the point where it’s no longer standards driven, its ecosystem driven, and even then it’s leaking.

What I love about these hybrid apps though is that from Apache Cordova (PhoneGap) onwards, they’ve all looked really really good. Proving that a normal user can’t tell the difference. Which makes solo-dev or small-dev dev easier. Go with what you know. No need to learn flutter, or SwiftUI, or Kotlin.

Re: Do not download the app, use the website

#260

Post by II2II » Sat, Jul 26, 2025, 2:52 AM UTC

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.

I tend to use Reddit on mobile as a read-only medium, but I don't see why one couldn't contribute to conversations/wikis with a mobile browser. One can certainly do so through their website with a desktop browser. If there is a barrier, it would be artificial.

It's also worth noting that I have nothing against apps. I use them to read RSS feeds, download podcasts, etc.. Yet those are independent of any particular service and there is enough choice between apps that I can use one that respects my privacy. I am not being limited in any way. If anything, it is more empowering since the developers of a dedicated RSS feed reader is more likely to design an app that is directed towards the needs of its users. In contrast, the Reddit app is directed towards the needs of Reddit.