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“It works better in the app”

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Re: “It works better in the app”

#121

Post by aljgz »

mapontosevenths wrote: post #28
brk wrote: post #9

At this point the barrier for me to install an app is pretty high. If you're going to needlessly gate certain functions behind an app that work on a desktop browser (or could work in-browser), then I just won't use those functions. If by extension that degrades the value I get from your site, then I just won't use the site, and I won't be contributing to ADU stats you promote to advertisers. Every single company has…

If your app is just a webpage that forces me to use an app just so you can spy on me I just won't use your product. I've switched brokers over it, I swapped banks, I stopped shopping at certain stores. I'm done. The only say I have is in how I spend my money. Those companies won't get any of mine if I can help it. I am the customer, not the product dammit.

> The only say I have is in how I spend my money.

This. I get Frame.work and install Fedora. Use Firefox for everything possible. Once my current phone dies, I'll get a Fair phone, Motorola, or whatever gives me control.

Can't complain if I keep choosing hostile products for some convenience

Re: “It works better in the app”

#122

Post by 4chandaily »

nunez wrote: post #83
brk wrote: post #9

At this point the barrier for me to install an app is pretty high. If you're going to needlessly gate certain functions behind an app that work on a desktop browser (or could work in-browser), then I just won't use those functions. If by extension that degrades the value I get from your site, then I just won't use the site, and I won't be contributing to ADU stats you promote to advertisers. Every single company has…

100% same. So many apps are just a WebView vessel for Crashlytics and Sentry and Dog knows how much more tracking. (My phone is always VPNed into my home network which has DNS-level ad and tracker blocking. This doesn't cover all the bases though.) Some, like Home Depot, have websites that are terrible and battery-draining enough to make the app nominally useful by comparison.

>Some, like Home Depot, have websites that are terrible and battery-draining enough to make the app nominally useful by comparison.

I don't take this as a signal to install the app. It is a signal to avoid the store. They clearly don't feel like they need to work to gain your business, and instead take it for granted. You can see this indicated by their actions - they clearly feel that it is more profitable to inconvenience you for a token amount of tracking data than to serve your needs. Why continue to use them?

Re: “It works better in the app”

#123

Post by goosejuice »

tpmoney wrote: post #51
goosejuice wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the web did fine. People can't pin a web app because Apple made it difficult for them to do exactly that.

Burger menu -> share -> add to home screen is difficult? How do you pin a web app in Android then?

Have you ever tried communicating this to consumers of a web app? Our android customers get a nice little install popup or a push of a button.. it's pretty seamless. With TWA it's also trivial to put it on the play store.

Re: “It works better in the app”

#124

Post by ulyssys »

joshuakcockrell wrote: post #77
em3rgent0rdr wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "do something that can be done in a web app" I'll bite. What important features can only be done in an "app" but not a web app nowadays?

It’s also about friction. No one wants to troubleshoot a card decline by logging into their mobile browser bank account in checkout at the grocery store.

> “Just log into your bank account on the mobile web browser” is a pretty clunky way to see why your card declined.

But that's because the user experience as designed is more hostile or not otherwise accounting for mobile use--right? Or are you saying there is a limit to the web platform's ability to reduce friction?

Re: “It works better in the app”

#125

Post by ryandrake »

GJim wrote: post #111
pbhjpbhj wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the average user doesn't know the app is there to circumvent tracking protections in browsers and doesn't realise the app is most likely just a web page in a wrapper. I was at a car park in UK and you didn't have to install an app, just scan the QR to go to the web page, simple payment. Sadly they then messed it all up by not offering payment through normal services.

> just scan the QR Lord no! Scanning a random QR code.... where is the worst it will take you? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crrpknqpgzlo

Yea a QR code is only marginally better than requiring an app. I shouldn't need a goddamn smartphone to conduct business and live in society!

Re: “It works better in the app”

#127

Post by ralusek »

arthurezende wrote: post #5

It's almost impossible to use social networks on mobile without installing their apps

I just finished making a social application (for skateboarding) with the express intent of making it fully featured/pleasant to use on mobile simply as web app, without login or installation.

Web is such a powerful platform and so many people still treat their web applications like they're just interactive documents. I think the most bothersome thing on mobile web is if an application has shifting framing ("chrome") when you pan around, like you're looking at a PDF.

https://skatanica.com

Let me know, but I developed it almost entirely focused on iPhone SE as a target to give myself the most claustrophobic possible experience, and I think that helped guide a lot of the decisions.

Re: “It works better in the app”

#128

Post by ryukoposting »

alkonaut wrote: post #113

I don't mind apps, even apps that are basically just browsers showing a web site. The biggest reason is that apps, at least on iOS, just behaves better. It might be that the auth persists longer or that there are notifications or whatever. It's not without issues obviously. Most of the time the first thing I have to do is update the damn app just to order a burger or park my car or whatever it is I'm using it for. An…

> Most of the time the first thing I have to do is update the damn app just to order a burger or park my car or whatever it is I'm using it for

It's interesting how different things bother people in different ways. Because when this happens to me, I want to throw my phone into the sun. It's a viscerally irritating experience that sticks with me for the rest of the day.

I have my essentials (browser, email, Signal) of course. But besides that, nearly all my apps fit into one of the following 3 categories: transit (airlines, rideshare, city bikes), finance (banks, brokerage), and...

baseball. MLB has put a shocking amount of effort into their apps. The ticketing experience is genuinely really good, so much better than any ticketmaster trash. All apps are trash, unless you're a baseball fan, in which case all but 2 apps are trash. I guess.

Re: “It works better in the app”

#129

Post by tpmoney »

afavour wrote: post #95
tpmoney wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Burger menu -> share -> add to home screen is difficult? How do you pin a web app in Android then?

There’s a whole API that the browser provides to prompt users to install: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Window/befo...

I’m not sure one can say Apple is intentionally making it difficult to install a web app to the Home Screen because they haven’t implemented a draft proposal to the w3c working group that proposes a spec only chrome has implemented and no other browser except chrome and its derivatives supports.

Re: “It works better in the app”

#130

Post by Quarrelsome »

Oh I'm so glad it works this way round too. Kinda sick of the web being ruined by http pages that tell you to download a binary. Is anyone bothering trying to narrow that gap between native and web on phones so we can resume the process we were undertaking back in 2010 before smartphones re-promoted binary applications for whatever reason?
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