Your 'app' could have been a webpage (so I fixed it for you)

Post by teo_zero » Wed, Jul 15, 2026, 5:47 AM UTC

Silasdev wrote: post #477

jonahx wrote: post #362

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

My take is that they love apps for the simple reason they show as easily clickable buttons to enter. Most dread having to type a Web address for something they regularly do. Few know that they can create an "app-icon" from any Web page. Should be advertised more.

Post by pjmlp » Wed, Jul 15, 2026, 6:03 AM UTC

oblio wrote: post #474

gymhasanapp wrote: post #457

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The real reason is really simple tho, and we could identify it ahead of time even before apps existed: The average users sucks at managing bookmarks. Telling a user that a feature is a webpage instead of an app means that they, in their glorious tech illiterate brain, think they have to memorize the url. They don't want to do that. They want to "have it" so they don't forget it. And having it is easier in the app men…

This is trivially solvable with a good mobile OS level feature to create phone desktop icons from websites. Of course, Apple and Google will never do such a thing when their cut of app sales is ~$100bn globally.

Post by pjmlp » Wed, Jul 15, 2026, 6:04 AM UTC

vaylian wrote: post #405

adamwk wrote: post #402

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This doesn’t really make sense. Apps were pretty popular immediately after decades of web usage. There are many reasons to prefer an app. Even on desktop; if I’m using a service enough throughout the day, I want a native app, not a website.

Web sites optimized for mobile weren't really a thing when the iPhone launched. That's why apps shined on smart phones. Web designers did eventually catch up with the hack but the trend towards apps was already too established at that point and people thought that you need an app to use a service.

Post by pjmlp » Wed, Jul 15, 2026, 6:07 AM UTC

swishman wrote: post #438

da_chicken wrote: post #413

Earlier quoted context omitted.

End users don't care about if it's an app or not. What they care about: - Does it do what I need it to - Can I access it easily - Is it easy to navigate - Does it work or is it buggy - Is it slow - Does it abuse notifications - Is it prompting me to log in all the time - Are there too many ads - Can I use it on any device I have - Does it complain about updating constantly I don't think any of those actually has to d…

I feel like I'm taking crazy pills reading these comments. Apps are clearly better for end users. HTML and css is SUPER slow. It doesn't feel native, it doesn't feel good to use. You also get so many weird glitches with state refreshing, sessions being cleared, log in not persisting. Has anyone here actually used a PWA? You can feel that it's slow and clunky. Apps feel SO much better with the native UI, pre-downloade…

Post by pjmlp » Wed, Jul 15, 2026, 6:10 AM UTC

tlh wrote: post #411

EGreg wrote: post #381

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On iOS, I think the only two reasons to have an app are: notifications and access to contacts.

Rich widgets on the Home Screen are valuable too. As a web developer, I wish I were able to make widgets for people to put on their Home Screen to perform certain actions in less clicks, or have information from my (web) apps easily viewable at a glance. Which I know they would want. Right now, as far as I’m aware, for me to do that in iOS (and possibly Android) is to build those in native land.