I won't download your app. The web version is a-ok • Hacker News Board

Re: I won't download your app. The web version is a-ok

#221

Post by moring » Mon, Apr 06, 2026, 4:22 PM UTC

bryankaplan wrote: post #177

btilly wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not new. I read a UI book in the early 2000s that cited research showing that most users didn't understand filesystems. They would seem to, but then the idea that the same filename in two places was two unrelated files would just lead to a mental block. Those who got it, didn't find it hard. It's just that some people can't get it. The disconnect is not between some developers, and the younger folks. It is bet…

Did they also struggle to understand that some people have the same name yet are not the same person?

By that logic, operating system developers struggle to understand that putting two files with the same name into the same folder(1) is very much possible in the physical world.

(1) or referencing them from the same directory, which was the earlier metaphor.

Re: I won't download your app. The web version is a-ok

#222

Post by sdfjkhdfjkdhs » Mon, Apr 06, 2026, 4:22 PM UTC

KellyCriterion wrote: post #185

neutronicus wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> My parents save files on the Whatsapp chat That's becoming dangerously true of my wife and I as well, to be honest. The friction is just so much lower than Google Drive or whatever. As long as I handle it right away. It's just finding something from more than an hour ago that's intolerable.

I met a business partner who is doing some work for SME retail investors last week for lunch: He showed me his WhatsApp: People are sending _ALL_ type of critical documents by WhatsApp to him. Everything. (and bank statements are among the class of "less critical" documents in his case) My theory here is: "If you have any function in your product, people will use it for anything appropriate to them in a given minute"

I witnessed a cop attempting to manipulate some files I provided to him on a thumb drive. It was a slow laborious process of dragging files one at a time from the Windows image viewer to shared folder. I would have liked to just do a Ctrl-A, Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V, but that was way above his level of thinking and he didn't seem like the type who wanted an education. So I just sat there through the long, painful process--and then at the end he completely screwed up the report. Idiot.

Re: I won't download your app. The web version is a-ok

#223

Post by ChadNauseam » Mon, Apr 06, 2026, 4:24 PM UTC

jillesvangurp wrote: post #125

akshatjiwan wrote: post #21

That's my stance as well. Unless the website is completely broken or the devs force me to download the app by blocking features on the website I prefer the web. With responsive design becoming mainstream I'm fine with using my browser for 90% of my internet work. In some cases like Google docs it's painful to use the web version so I just use the app. EDIT: I wish they'd add a console to mobile web browsers though.

As a developer, I resent having to go beg for permission for getting my app published. It just rubs me the wrong way to have to play approval roulette with some bored jerk working for Apple or Google. I've had both reject things that were previously alright, then weren't, and then were again. I default to building web applications. Actually getting people to install your special app is in any case a race to the botto…

Same. My app is a PWA. Most users won’t install a PWA and won’t repeatedly navigate to a website so it limits the reach. But the advantage is that I can deploy instantly. I love when someone sends a bug report and I can tell them it’s fixed ten minutes later. Pretty great, compared to “it’ll be fixed in there business days” you get with the iOS app store

Re: I won't download your app. The web version is a-ok

#224

Post by mixtureoftakes » Mon, Apr 06, 2026, 4:24 PM UTC

ragnese wrote: post #129

camdenreslink wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reddit comes to mind. I have so many issues with their mobile website. The back button has been broken for years, comments will frequently just hang as loading indefinitely (only fixable with a hard refresh), videos will sometimes not be replayable, sometimes if you change the zoom on the page it will just hard refresh, etc. I'm not sure if it is intentional to push you to the mobile app, but I have to imagine the mo…

I'm especially angry that if you go to reddit.com in a mobile browser, it will sometimes fully block you from certain subreddits (not just NSFW ones) and tell you that you can only access it from the app. Meanwhile, you can easily visit the exact same subreddit by typing old.reddit.com/r/whatever. The outright lying bothers me so much. I refuse to be desensitized to lying just because everyone is lying all the time;…

reddit browser behavior got me into using frontends for various sites, such as redlib dot privacyredirect dot com

there are surprisingly many of them for pretty much every social media website.

Re: I won't download your app. The web version is a-ok

#225

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Apr 06, 2026, 4:24 PM UTC

sdfjkhdfjkdhs wrote: post #213

SunshineTheCat wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This hit the nail on the head. I find much of the HN community insightful and interesting, but in terms of consumer feedback (especially in a B2C environment) I wouldn't touch feedback here with a 10-foot pole. I don't mean that to be an insult, quite the opposite. Most people here are power users. But that is a galaxy away from how the average user interacts with the internet.

[flagged]

[deleted]

Re: I won't download your app. The web version is a-ok

#226

Post by ranit » Mon, Apr 06, 2026, 4:24 PM UTC

KellyCriterion wrote: post #49

What most people dont get: Most of folks on HN here are much older than todays "first customers" of 16y/17/18 For them: The "Smartphone is the internet", while for most of us the "Smartphone is an extension of the internet from our desktops" that we were used to (remember the years before dot com bubble, saying: "I will be down in the basement at the computer to surf on the net little bit" ? :-) But today, the very f…

> What most people dont get ...

The OP Blog post is comparing web versions vs applications. Both on the phone. And arguing that browser representation is often better than app functionality. Using desktop vs small screen phone is a different matter.

Re: I won't download your app. The web version is a-ok

#227

Post by maccard » Mon, Apr 06, 2026, 4:24 PM UTC

happyopossum wrote: post #32

8cvor6j844qw_d6 wrote: post #13

Web browser is a sandbox by default. Worst a sketchy site does is eat a tab, less if you run an adblocker. Native app? Background processes, hardware ID shenanigans, your contacts, location. The whole buffet.

> your contacts, location. The whole buffet. It's not like an app is getting those without your knowledge, and many times it's useful for an app to have your contacts or location...

But most of the time it’s really, really not.

Re: I won't download your app. The web version is a-ok

#228

Post by 63stack » Mon, Apr 06, 2026, 4:24 PM UTC

bigstrat2003 wrote: post #189

63stack wrote: post #123

Yes you will download the app because we will not offer a web version.

No, in that case I won't do business with you.

Unfortunately you won't be able to submit any expenses then, because the company uses this other company who only offers an app for accounting.

Re: I won't download your app. The web version is a-ok

#229

Post by tcoff91 » Mon, Apr 06, 2026, 4:25 PM UTC

adzm wrote: post #171

cush wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

NYT occasionally uses fancy interactive articles. They have games, and other things that are better on the app. The NYT app is actually very good

Every time I end up trying an app for things like this, I end up missing tabs.

There is no reason they can’t have a native tab navigator. It kills me that Google maps app doesn’t have tabs.

Re: I won't download your app. The web version is a-ok

#230

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Apr 06, 2026, 4:25 PM UTC

sdfjkhdfjkdhs wrote: post #213

SunshineTheCat wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This hit the nail on the head. I find much of the HN community insightful and interesting, but in terms of consumer feedback (especially in a B2C environment) I wouldn't touch feedback here with a 10-foot pole. I don't mean that to be an insult, quite the opposite. Most people here are power users. But that is a galaxy away from how the average user interacts with the internet.

[flagged]

[deleted]