Earlier quoted context omitted.
If the app store allowed you to install bookmarks, I doubt most people would notice.
It does. It's called a PWA.
That is not an App Store functionality, that is a Safari functionality
Your 'app' could have been a webpage (so I fixed it for you)
391–400 of 571 posts
Re: Your 'app' could have been a webpage (so I fixed it for you)
#392Nobody here is talking about the fact that a significant number of users want apps, too. I'm responsible for an internal tool at the company I work for, hosted as a website, that handles a bunch of miscellaneous tasks that other employees need. Think reimbursements, documentation and reporting, gathering and presenting business data. That sort of thing. When I took it over, it was desktop only ( a lot of formatted pa…
Okay I guess? So then you politely answer to them the “app” is their web browser of choice! Problem solved
Re: Your 'app' could have been a webpage (so I fixed it for you)
#393Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, that part was a bummer. I get that Apple has incentives at cross purposes there. Do they have a higher bar than Google? Can we even tell?
From experience doing mobile development at work, natively for both Android and iOS, Apple does test and run your app to make sure it works and that it does what it promises to do. I can see it because we issue both Google and Apple accounts and I can see when they get used. While Apple's app review is harsh, it did make our app higher quality and they are quick to reject when there are bugs. They run our app on ever…
That's really interesting - thank you for sharing! I've only ever submitted to the App Store, so I didn't know!
Re: Your 'app' could have been a webpage (so I fixed it for you)
#394Earlier quoted context omitted.
Facebook only made sense in the context of living on a college campus… I think it doesn’t quite fit this pattern because realistically users were rarely in the “good fit” case for only ~4 years. Then, for each user, it becomes this sort of awkward slowly decaying network as people move on. I agree with everything else you said though.
Facebook was once a friend network and they added more and more advertising and slop to it. If you were the frog in the pot as it heated, it feels normal to you that your feed is entirely made of spam. If you're still out of the pot now, it seems foolish to jump in, unlike when it was lukewarm.
People are on because their family & friends are. Once on, it's hard to un-glue because it keeps zucking you in.
Re: Your 'app' could have been a webpage (so I fixed it for you)
#395Earlier quoted context omitted.
That sounds less like wanting apps, than simply having no idea what's going on.
Honestly, they probably would have been perfectly happy with a bookmark on their home screen, but have you ever tried walking someone who doesn't know how to enter a url into their browser through the process of making a home page bookmark on their phone? Ultimately I ended up making a PWA that does nothing except act as a bookmark. Which was way more of a PITA than it should have been.
>Ultimately I ended up making a PWA that does nothing except act as a bookmark.
Which is exactly what I was going to reply to your original post.
I am willing to bet 80-90% of user don't want / need / care if it is an Native app. They simply want the website / PWA bookmark icon on their App Screen selection.
The problem right now is the experienced of getting a PWA on to an App screen is not user friendly or in someway user hostile because it goes against the fundamental service revenue of their App Store model.
Re: Your 'app' could have been a webpage (so I fixed it for you)
#396Treefort [1], the company where I work, provides a no-code cross-platform app builder (iOS, Android, web) for streaming apps, and probably the only really big feature we've noticed that browsers don't support is media downloads for offline listing/watching in an app, although that might actually be possible now [2].
That said it seems like we're constantly coming across things that are sub par or sometimes broken on the web that work in native apps. E.g. autoplay, background playback (TBH this is a real pain on Android too [3]), notifications, and there's probably more.
For instance, I've spent a good chunk of time today and yesterday battling the address bar on mobile Safari, which sometimes animates up/down, changing window.innerHeight, while we're trying to run an animation, leading to some layout issues.
This is really unfortunate because for a host of reasons the web is so much nicer to develop for than the App Store/Play Store, and all of the missing features are things that browsers could support.
[1] https://treefortsystems.com [2] https://web.dev/articles/pwa-with-offline-streaming [3] https://dontkillmyapp.com
Re: Your 'app' could have been a webpage (so I fixed it for you)
#397Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's a cool project. Sort of a more open Trailforks alternative?
Thanks! Sorta kinda... But also different. The main idea was to solve the gap of how many trail systems have colored loops, or signed/colored loops made up of multiple "trails", and Trailforks (et al) has no concept of that. So the situation a user finds themselves in is being at a trail, with Trailforks up, wanting to follow the "Orange" loop (for example), and Trailforks doesn't show that. Hopefully the "Orange" lo…
That’s cool.
Our local trail association did that. Well, actually we went from an old “become a member to download GPS files” to “go find the trails on Trailforks”
But that was when Trailforks was more open and less locked down.
We’ve discussed replacing Trailforks with something better/more under our control, but haven’t gotten around to it.
Re: Your 'app' could have been a webpage (so I fixed it for you)
#398Earlier quoted context omitted.
> No, Dell will not give you a refund for something purchased at a retailer. They're legally required to.[1] [1] https://lovdata.no/dokument/NLE/lov/2002-06-21-34/KAPITTEL_5... Section 35 Edit: Forgot there's an English version.
I don't understand how this functions in practice: if business A sells a widget to reseller B who sells it to reseller C who sells it to the customer, there's multiple layers of markup. How can the original manufacturer be expected to refund the purchase price? Reading the law, it does not say that the consumer is entitled to a refund.
> if business A sells a widget to reseller B who sells it to reseller C who sells it to the customer, there's multiple layers of markup. How can the original manufacturer be expected to refund the purchase price?
Simple. They operate within the law and provide the customer with a refund, or they get fined. From the consumer's point of view, this is irrelevant. Business can fix this B2B issue between themselves however they wish, so long as it doesn't affect the consumer. If you don't like it, then don't do business here.
Here's a case where a consumer complained directly to the manufacturer,[1] and the Consumer Disputes Commission ruled in favour of the consumer.[2] It's not even the core of the issue, but just mentioned, since it's settled law.
> Reading the law, it does not say that the consumer is entitled to a refund.
Refunding is one possible remediation, see section 32 (cancellation) and section 26 (The consumer's rights in the event of defects). That option cancels the purchase contract, meaning you as the consumer give the item back, while the seller gives you the money you paid for the item.
[1] https://www.forbrukertilsynet.no/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/...
'Innklagde er klaget inn i kraft av å være produsent av syklene. De er følgelig ansvarlige for kjøpsrettslige mangler etter direktekravsreglene i fkjl. § 35.'
Rough translation: 'A claim is lodged against the defendant due to it being the manufacturer of the bicycles. The defendant therefore liable for for defects accordance with the rules on direct claims set out in section 35 of the Act relating to consumer purchases.'
[2] They didn't rule in favour of the consumer's demand to have the manufacturer pay for their jacket that got damaged following them falling of their broken bike. They did rule in favour of the cost of repairing the bike (a new handle bar that the consumer bought themselves to fix the issue), so the manufacturer is on the hook for that.
Re: Your 'app' could have been a webpage (so I fixed it for you)
#399I wish PWAs took off, or a "desktop" environment for phones and tablets that allows me to save a simple website shortcut as an app. I want my phone to be the portal to the places I want to go to and the things I want to see. I want to have the same experience going to a web app or website I regularly visit as with a normal app. Like, I want to click on an icon and be there. I don't want to click on the browser and th…
You can already do this, browser allow you to add a website as an icon and it acts completely like an app. Even iOS allows this, try adding HN to your home screen.
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Re: Your 'app' could have been a webpage (so I fixed it for you)
#400Nobody here is talking about the fact that a significant number of users want apps, too. I'm responsible for an internal tool at the company I work for, hosted as a website, that handles a bunch of miscellaneous tasks that other employees need. Think reimbursements, documentation and reporting, gathering and presenting business data. That sort of thing. When I took it over, it was desktop only ( a lot of formatted pa…
> We take tech literacy for granted, because it's like a dozen levels down fundamental to our entire field. But the tech illiterati exist, and they love apps. They "love apps" because apple and android have spent billions to break their mental models and convince them that "you use apps to do things on your phone". Literally. That's the extent of most people's understanding. So, sure, they "want" apps in the same sen…
That is a great analogy! I still remember the day my cousin explained that there was a whole internet outside of AOL…